Day 0-1 of our Puerto Rican adventure

Our first full day in Puerto Rico brought us around the former Spanish colonial city of Old San Juan. Old San Juan, with its brightly colored buildings, great food, magnificent fortresses, and mysterious corners was by far my favorite part of the trip. I'm so glad we stayed here. I'm also glad we hit up the Guess store and bought three shirts at 50% off!!


View from our hotel, the Sheraton Old San Juan


Cruise ship


Calle de Cristo at dusk


Calle de Fortaleza





Catedral de San Juan


Dinner at the Gran Convento Hotel. The restaurant was La Bohemia, and the food was just okay. This was before we learned to ask the locals for restaurant recommendations. No more high-priced seafood. Bring on the mofongos!


More cruise ships


Statues along Paseo de la Princesa, outside the old city walls


Raices sculture and fountain, depicting the Taino, European, and African ancestors of Puerto Ricans


View from one garita (guard tower) to another. I know my sister would love these little nooks and crannies.





Puerta de San Juan (1630), one of three portals through which supplies and colonists entered the old city











El Morro fortress


U.S. Coast Guard patrol outside San Juan


Just beautiful


View of La Perla, with San Cristobal fortress in the background.


Yet another cruise ship


Outer wall of El Morro








Plaza of El Morro


Flags of the Spanish military, Puerto Rico, and U.S.A.





View from the bathroom. At least the ventilation is good.








Love these guard towers and little peep holes.





Wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of this.








La Perla, the world's most picturesque slum. According to lonely planet, "it has been home to centuries of dispossessed, desperate people who have survived by their wits, creating their own microculture based on street crimes. Under no circumstances should you walk into La Perla."


Calle de Barbosa


Calle de Norzagaray - pretty but with some shady characters lurking around





Drinks at our hotel


Nachos with plantain chips. Plantains, a cousin of the banana, are the reason we got through the trip without any constipation.

On Day 3, we visited El Yunque, the only rainforest located in the U.S. National Park system.

La Coca Falls


View from El Yunque


DJ ate a lot during the whole trip


Creeks around every corner


A view from the top, before the clouds and rain set in. We hiked to the top of El Yunque, and were greeted to beautiful views of...this:


An anticlimactic finish: eating soggy subway sandwiches in the pouring rain.

We had a couple hours to kill before our kayaking trip to the bioluminescent bay in Fajardo, so we drove around north east Puerto Rico, bought souvenirs from Wal-Mart (don't tell my old APALC boss), took a nap in a random parking lot, and ate at a place that tasted very similar to El Pollo Loco, and got lost.

The good thing about getting lost is that you find pretty places like this.


Snacks from roadside stands. We thought the ground beef had a funny taste, but maybe it was because it was the taste of salty beef mixed with sweet fried plantains.

I wasn't able to take photos of our bioluminescent experience, but it was phenomenal. Rowing through Laguna Grande in Fajardo, we could see our oars and kayaks glow a beautiful green. Even the little dynoflagellates cry out in praise.

On day 4, crippled from our hike in El Yunque the day before, we decided to take it easy by visiting the local beaches.

Doesn't this just make you want a mojito with a little umbrella in it?

And that's really all we did.

Day 5 brought us inland to the world's 3rd largest cave system, Rio Camuy.

Tram to the caves.


If I had less fear, I would want to try spelunking. That seems like it would be fun.





Our next stop was the Observatoria de Arecibo, site of the world's largest radio telescope. Because this was featured in two movies (Contact and 007) and because are were both from, like, Hollywood, we felt it our duty to visit. Plus, I have a feeling my dad would really dig this place.

And now for some pics of this wonderful city.

La Casita


Plaza de Colon, Old San Juan


Popular local sandwich joint, where we ate brunch every day.

























And this is for you, dad. Just for perspective, there is a man standing at the center of the platform above the dish. DJ really really wanted to walk on the suspension bridge and join him, but was disappointed to find out that that wasn't part of the tour.