Today we leave Puerto Rico and head back home to Portland, Oregon.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Puerto Rico - Day 15: May 12th
For the last few days we have been at the Coqui Inn doing laundry, watching television, and swimming. It turns out, we don't have as much money left as we thought we did, so we decided to cut the trip a couple days early and leave tomorrow, the 13th. The plan for tonight is to get some food, take a swim, and get some rest. Not only is it my 27th birthday tomorrow, but it's also a full day of air travel. We take off for New York at noon, then from New York we head back to Portland. We should touchdown in Portland around 9:30, and hopefully be able to hit up the bar for a couple drinks to celebrate being older.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Puerto Rico - Photos
These are a couple photos I took on my camera phone walking on an overpass in Isla Verde, Puerto Rico of cars at night.
Puerto Rico - Day 12: May 9th
Our last morning on the island of Culebra, and the return to the mainland of Puerto Rico. Both islands, Vieques and Culebra provided a lot of relaxation, and fun for us. It really was worth it to visit them. But now, it was time to get back on the ferry for our last hour and a half ride to Fajardo, Puerto Rico. From Fajardo, we took a cab and headed back towards Isla Verde and checked in to the Coqui Inn. This would turn out to be the last hotel we would stay in on our trip, and the last area of Puerto Rico we would visit. The plan, is to check into the hotel and take some of their tours to the areas around Puerto Rico such as Ponce, and Aricebo to visit the Camuy Cave System and Aricebo Observatory. This never happened. Apparently, there was some sort of accident at the caves, so all tours had been shut down for the time being, and of course, the Aricebo Observatory was on the same tour as the Camuy Caves. The two things we looked forward to seeing the most on the trip, we would never see.
Puerto Rico - Day 11: May 8th
This will be our first and only full day in Culebra. We started out by walking a few blocks away from our guest house to Carlos Jeep Rental to rent a jeep. It actually pays off to rent a vehicle on this island since there are so many beaches, and they are so spread apart. Our first trek was to Zoni beach. In order to get there, we had to take back roads, and sometimes dirt roads only wide enough to fit one car, but once we got there, it all paid off. Zoni Beach was amazing. The sand was warm, the water was crystal clear, and there were only about 6 people on the whole beach. We had it ALL to ourselves. After some swimming, and a little makeshift snorkeling, we got back in the jeep and headed towards Brava Beach. This, didn't turn out so well. Our guidebook "Let's Go: Puerto Rico" told us it would be a short drive, only a 20 minute hike to the beach, and there would be some great turtle watching. The drive was fine, but the hiking was horrible. We made it about 30 minutes in to the hike, before the tail got so bad and impassable that we had to turn around and head back to the jeep. From there, we head to Flamenco Beach. We arrived at the beach around five p.m. and because of that, no one was there. To be honest, I didn't find the beach that spectacular. I thought Zoni Beach was nicer. We spent a little while at the beach then headed back home to shower up, and then head over to Mamacita's for dinner.
Puerto Rico - Photos
Pictures From Top To Bottom: All of these pictures were taken on my camera phone except for the bottom two taken by Selena with the digital camera. Wall art in Culebra. Zoni Beach. Streets and waterways of Culebra. The jeep we rented at Carlos Jeep Rental. Me swimming at Zoni Beach. Me walking down a street in Culebra.
Puerto Rico - Day 10: May 7th
Another early morning! Up at five a.m. to catch the ferry back to Fajardo, then on to another ferry at nine a.m. towards the island of Culebra. Leaving the island of Vieques was sad, but we both looked forward to the new island that we would be exploring by the afternoon. The island of Culebra is even smaller than Vieques, but is supposed to have one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Flamenco Beach. The ferry ride was about the same as the ferry to Vieques, right around an hour and a half. As soon as we stepped off the ferry we were greeted by Terrie, one of the owners and operators of the Palmetto Guest House. Usually finding a place to stay for the night can be a bother, but this wasn't the case in Culebra. Our hosts Terrie and Mark Hayward were amazing. They had a wonderful guest house, and would take care of anything for us we were interested in doing. Snorkeling, renting bikes, renting a jeep, talking to us about the local beaches, and picking us up and dropping us back off at the ferry, they did it all. Our first night in Culebra we spent the day relaxing in bed, then stepping out to a local restaurant Dinghy Dock for a dinner right next to the water surrounded by tarpon.
Puerto Rico - Photos
Pictures From Top To Bottom: The two pictures were taken by Selena with the digital camera. Since there was no cable television in our guest house, we ended up doing a lot of reading. This picture is of me reading our Puerto Rican guidebook. Let's Go: Puerto Rico. The next picture is of some wild horses walking down the beach next to us at Sun Bay. The last pictures are ones I took on my camera phone of some of the beach at Sun Bay.
Puerto Rico - Day 8: May 5th
Even though the island of Vieques is small in size, it did actually offer a lot of stuff for us to do. Not only were there beautiful beaches, but there was kayaking, bars, good food, and wild horses running around the island. In total, we spent four days and three nights on the island, all of which were spent in the town of Esperanza. The main strip of Esperanza was lined with guest houses, restaurants, bars, water tour shops, and souvenir stores, which provided all we needed to comfortably stay in the very small area. The main attraction to Vieques for us though, was the Bioluminescent Bay. The Bioluminescent Bay is a bay off the coast of Vieques that is filled with Bioluminescent plankton. These plankton are special because of their natural defense mechanism. If something hits them, or moves around them they light up. Because of this, if you kayak, swim, or splash around in the water it all lights up around you. It was amazing. Our tour through Blue Caribe Kayak Tours brought us to the bay, provided us with the kayaks, had us kayak to the middle of the bay where the most action happens, and allowed us to get out of our kayaks and swim around with the plankton. This made the whole trip for us. The tour was around 2 hours long, and only cost us $45. The island of Vieques also brought me my first taste of real Puerto Rican food. Mofongo. In all, we made a great choice going out to Vieques. It had the perfect mixture of relaxation and fun for us.
Puerto Rico - Photos
Puerto Rico - Day 7: May 4th
Fully rested after a couple days in Isla Verde, we called a cab and headed toward the eastern city of Fajardo, Puerto Rico. Fajardo is the gateway city to two small islands off the eastern coast of the mainland. Vieques, and Culebra. For a mear $2.25, and an hour and a half ferry ride we will arrive on the small island of Vieques for 3 nights and four days of beach, kayaking, and nature. This will prove for me to be the nicest place to visit so far on the trip. It may not be a very exciting place to live, but the island of Vieques was a great place to visit for a couple days. Since the island is so small, they have no real form of taxi service on the island. What they do have are Publicos. Publicos are just like taxis, only instead of a taxi company, these are cars owned by the drivers. You catch them at the main parts of the island, they cost around $3 a person per ride, and they bring you to other points of interest on the island. It's almost impossible to get a Publico driver to stop anywhere off their route. None the less, we were able to track one down once we got off the ferry, and had him drive us across the island to the town of Esperanza where would we be checking in to the Trade Winds Guest House.
Puerto Rico - Day 5: May 2nd
Getting tired of being in the touristy part of the city, we decided to take a cab back to the suburbs and to the area of Isla Verde, and to the Hotel Villa Del Sol for the next couple of nights. It was the perfect opportunity for us to have another drinking night since the hotel had a bar and pool table in the lobby. What started off as a couple drinks and a couple games of pool ended up in a $117 bar tab, and me getting pushed in to a swimming pool with all my clothes on. For some reason, people just enjoy talking to me when I've had a couple of drinks. I met an older guy who reminded Selena and I of Tommy Chong, only white. He offered to meet us in the hotel lobby the next morning and show us around the area, and I agreed. As you can probably guess, I didn't wake up at the right time the next morning, couldn't really remember talking to the guy, and didn't end up leaving the hotel room until noon. The whole day ended up being a catch up on rest day. We ordered some pizza, turned up the air conditioning, and laid in bed all day.
Puerto Rico - Photos
Pictures From Top To Bottom: Me at Fort San Felipe Del Morro Keeping a look-out. Me walking down the streets of Old San Juan. Me with a group of cannonballs from Fort San Felipe Del Morro. Selena in Old San Juan. Me with a Pina Colada at Barrachina. The rest are scenery pictures I took with my camera phone of Fort San Felipe Del Morrow and Santa Maria Magdalena De Pazzis Cemetery.
Puerto Rico - Day 4: May 1st
Five miles. We walked almost five miles in all today. We walked EVERYWHERE around Old San Juan. We started out taking a tour of Fort San Felipe Del Morro. What seemed like 1,000 stairs later we walked across the huge lawn and over to the Santa Maria Magdalena De Pazzis Cemetery. From there we took a walk to the Fort San Cristobal, across town to the bus depot, and back up the hill towards our hotel making sure to stop at the birthplace of the Pina Colada, Barrachina Restaurant. I found out about this place while watching the Puerto Rico episode of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations. He was right in everything he said. Although the Pina Coladas we got were good, the way they make them now is sad. They basically have three slurpee machines at the bar with Pina Colada mix inside them. They take a glass, add some rum, then add the Pina Colada slushy. It's all pre-made. I made sure to sit in the same seat he did when he was there, and take a picture.
Puerto Rico - Photos
Pictures From Top To Bottom: Pictures of both Selena and I at the beginning of the walk around Fort San Felipe Del Morro. The rest are pictures I took on my camera phone of the scenery around the Fort San Felipe Del Morro.
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