We showered up and headed to La Plaza del Mercado Santurce, which is a Farmer's Market by day and a dining/entertainment spot at night. Lots of people and music, we grabbed some empanadas and other fried treats at a smaller stand called Frituras. We put our name in at a restaurant with a small outdoor seating are in the Plaza called Boronia and went to enjoy a drink while waiting for a table. They called us when a table was open and I split a fried cheese with guava sauce appetizer and enjoyed a delicious conch mofongo for dinner. We walked around a little after dinner and then headed back to the apartment, as I wanted to get an early start to beat the crowds in old San Juan the next morning.
Day two, I make some delicious Puerto Rican coffee I bought at the grocery store and get everyone up around 7am to walk around Old San Juan. We make the quick drive over and find all day parking for $3, a steal compared to Seattle parking prices! We wander in and out of little cobblestone streets, taking photos of and enjoying all the brightly colored buildings. It is a beautiful old city, especially when there are few people out yet. We walk past Castillo San Cristobal, but it isn't open for several hours. We enjoy the ocean views from the old, massive, crumbling city walls, as Old San Juan is a small island connected with bridges. 
We wander above and past La Perla, the colorful, old shantytown directly outside the city wall. Wade and I wander through a cemetery on the hill right along the ocean. You probably know by now that I love wandering cemeteries, and this one is set in one of the most amazing settings. We stop and watch people surfing and see large cargo ships pass. 
In addition to my usual trying to find my headstones or grave markers and trying to find the oldest or youngest person, there are also dog, cats, chickens, and iguanas roaming around to play with. One green iguana rustled out of a broken grave and scared Wade half to death! Finally, we head back and find Naomi who was napping in the grass. We stop at Mil Letras Art and Coffeehouse a sandwich, pastry, and you guessed it... coffee. 
By now, Old San Juan is waking up and getting more crowded. We head off to Fortaleza Street, as I want to see the colorful street of umbrellas I had heard about. We happened upon a building that looked non-descript from the outside, but a man invited us in. 
Turned out it was the Seminario Conciliar de San Ildefonso and there was a sweet older gentleman that seemed to take great pride in the building. He kept encouraging us to explore all of the rooms and areas inside. It was really gorgeous inside, and a nice reprieve from the crowds and heat of the day with peaceful gardens, detailed architecture and vibrant colors. 
Afterwards, we headed to the fort with the lighthouse, Castillo San Felipe del Morro or "El Morro". The plan was to renew my recently expired annual National Parks pass, as I need one and it would cover each person's $7 entry fee, but they had run out at that fort. The ranger was pretty sure the had annual passes left at the other fort, which was back near where we parked. So we headed back to Castillo San Cristobal. 
It is the largest fortress of the Americas and was full of artillery ramps, cannons, tunnels, and great views of the city. The weather is starting to look a bit stormy and Old San Juan is packed by now. Naomi stayed in Old San Juan, but Wade and I head back to the car and go for a late lunch. We ate at La Casita Blanca, a spot suggested by Dan, a friend from my freshman year of college that grew up in Puerto Rico and returned after college. The restaurant is cute, built in a little neighborhood house. They have a small daily menu on a chalkboard that they bring to the table, along with complimentary fritters and plantain soup to start. I enjoyed my lunch of chicharrones pollo (like fried chicken) with rice and beans, with several shakes of the homemade hot sauce on the table. They also bring complimentary shot of chichaito (anise liquor) with 3 coffee beans. Afterward, we decide to drive to beaches out of San Juan in an area to the northeast called Loiza, recommended to me by another friend. It was a nice drive, as once you are out of the city, it feels like a totally different place. Driving on a more "jungley" road with some sad, squished iguanas on the road who had come to sun themselves and didn't get out of the way of traffic, we reached the small beach town with food shacks along the road and small secluded beaches all along the road. Sadly, the weather just didn't make for a nice beach afternoon, but it was still a fun little adventure.
The next day, I had a plan to walk back to the La Plaza del Mercado Santurce to check out the farmer's market during the morning and take photos of some of the fun graffiti mural art we had passed. Bonus for Wade is that he could sleep in! Naomi joined me and we had a nice little walk. The market wasn't really all that great, but it was totally different looking in the daylight. We split a fruit shake and I had some fried empandas for breakfast. Naomi grabbed some fruit and I grabbed some meat and cheese from the butcher for hiking snacks. Wade came and picked us up and we headed on a trip to the infamous "Pork Road" in Guavate that I heard so much about. I planned a few stops along the way, as we didn't want to get to lunch too early. First, we stopped at a botanical garden in Caguas, but looked more like a golf course at the entrance and the admission fee seemed a bit high so we headed to town. Caguas seemed like a cute town. They had family fun stuff set up in the town plaza. And a few small museums which are all within an easy walking distance. 
We visited the history museum and tobacco museum before heading for lunch. Made it to Guavate, where there are roast pig stalls all along the road. We headed to the coordinates of one that my friend Dan said was best. Ordered our portions of roasted pig with extra skin that was crispy and delicious before heading to the cafeteria style area to pick out some sides. It was soooo yummy! After lunch, we decided to take a different, longer way back to the city. We continued on through mountains. The winding roads had beautiful views and around almost every corner was a small roadside bar. Sadly, Naomi apparently gets motion sickness, so she did not enjoy the ride as much as Wade and I did. 
We stop at Canyon de San Cristobal and take in the fresh mountain air. There are these cool trees that have brown bark, but peels underneath with different shades of orange, red, and green. It reminded me of when we used to use colored crayons on paper and then cover the colors with black crayon so that when you scratch the black off, the colors show underneath. We walked over to the lookout point to the canyon and river below. 
Next, we hopped back in the car and headed to an old hydroelectric dam lookout in Comerio on the Río La Plata. We pass through a few smaller towns with no traffic lights, as there is no power still. People just blare their horn and go through the four way stop. The dam was built around 1910, but is no longer in use. We headed back to San Juan. Naomi prepped herself to go salsa dancing in Old San Juan while Wade and I met with my friend Dan, who I hadn't seen since freshman year of college, and his family for dinner. We ate at a place called Mi Defensa Los Pescao. It was really a treat to get to see an old friend and meet his wife and kids and the food was fabulous. It was both interesting and heartbreaking to hear their stories about Hurricane Maria. There was also a stray cat at the restaurant that I really wanted to bring home with me. It was so friendly and would bop up like a bunny to reach your hand so you would pet it. Wade may or may not have caught me the next morning researching how to bring a cat from Puerto Rico back to Seattle. There are soooo many stray animals all over Puerto Rico, abandoned or lost after the hurricane. As some had not been spayed or neutered, they are now having stray kittens and puppies running around.On the fourth day, Naomi slept in after her big night out and Wade and I headed out for our car trip, around the island. We headed to Arecibo to go on a cave tour of Cueva Ventana.
We ended up on the first tour and were lucky to only have ourselves and another couple on the tour (the next tour had a huge, loud girl scout troop). The cave was fun and we got to see bats, a few cave spiders, and a Puerto Rican yellow tree boa. The cave opens up to the top of a limestone cliff, giving a window to the beautiful valley below. 
Next, we headed to the second world's largest single dish radio telescope at the Arecibo Observatory. We wandered and played at the exhibits at a fun little museum before heading to the lookout. Completed in 1963 in a large sinkhole, the dish is an impressive 1,000 feet wide and 167 feet deep. It is known for being the first to directly image an asteroid, and discovered the first planets outside our solar system, as well as studies of extraterrestrial intelligence. After the observatory, we headed to lunch at Restaurante Hacienda Lealtad in Lares, a coffee hacienda/cafe on a mountaintop. The hostess spoke was the only one who spoke English, but she managed to get us a table on the beautiful outdoor porch, overlooking the canyon. 
We both had excellent hamburgers with fried plantains on it and for dessert, I enjoyed one of the best mochas I have ever had. On the way out of the mountains, we drove through San Sebastian to see waterfall Collazo before heading to the coast to check out the beach town of Aguadilla. Aguadilla seemed pretty hard hit by the hurricane and the beach boardwalk was still needing to be rebuilt. 
We were going to stop at a nearby beach, but I needed to put on my swimsuit and the bathrooms were all shuttered. We headed toward Rincon, which also had beaches. I had picked out a beach to relax at but somehow we missed it and ended up in the next little town. Someone gave us directions back and we turned around, hit up a fast food restaurant to change (they don't seem to have public restrooms at gas stations, but no one at fast food restaurants seem to mind if you use their bathrooms). When we got to the beach, it was not the relaxing bob in the ocean I was looking for. Being Sunday afternoon, it was party central with music blaring from all directions. We headed back to the small beach in the next town over and had a quick swim. The town also had noticeable hurricane damage, but some of the residents had prettied up the town with little potted plants using recycled tires and things as planters by the side of the road. Sadly, we were too late to make it much further before the sun set, so I missed out on the abandoned Aguirre Central Sugar Mill. We headed back towards San Juan. It was a terrible drive back. The driving is bad in Puerto Rico during the day, but at night it is an absolute nightmare. Construction zones for miles led to cars driving 60 miles an hour past you in the shoulder. There are cars with fake sirens that they turn on and off to get people to move over. Those stray animals I mentioned earlier are also running around on the side of the highways, and we see a dead cat. Cars zip in and out of lanes and no one uses a turn signal. Everyone is tailgating the car in front of them since if there is any space at all between cars, they seem to think several cars should switch lanes and squeeze in there. And of course the only signs in English are to pay at the toll areas. Thankfully, Wade is a good driver and we make it alive. And I did get to occasionally hear the sound of coquí (the small Puerto Rican frogs), but never did see one on trip.On the last day in the city, we head to El Yunque, the only tropical rainforest in the national forest system. Sadly, the hurricane did quite a bit of damage and only two hikes were open. Most of the hikes I wanted to do to waterfalls and swimming holes were closed due to downed trees and unstable landslide danger. But always nice to get out on a hike! On the way up, we stop at a roadside stand called La Muralla where a couple finishing their food say the food is fabulous.
We ordered several things from the counter (all fried goodies, like much of Puerto Rican food)and it was indeed delicious. The best was the mashed potato beef relleno... I have to figure out how to make that at home. We did the Mt Britton Tower hike, avoiding most of the crowds by taking a service road up. 
We reached the crowds at the top as one group of guys were playing music on a speaker and had their hiking necessity, beer. At least they were nice and shared a beer with Wade. The views from the tower were great and then we walked back through the rainforest path, where you could see regrowth efforts being made in what looked like hay rolls. 
We stopped by La Coca Falls and Bano Grande on the way back out of El Yunque. Oh, and of course we stopped for another mashed potato beef relleno. We drove back the longer way through Loiza for a little afternoon beach and swim time. We found the perfect secluded beach. the weather was perfect and the water was clear water. We got in lots of swimming, although there were some territorial fish that kept nipping at us or chasing us around. 
I walked the whole beach and then came back for another dip in the ocean as Wade went out to check out some afternoon fisherman that showed up and headed out to the rock jetty. Naomi soon joined me in the water, but only because she was chased in by a pack of wild looking dogs. As the sun was setting, we headed to nearby Pinones for dinner. Most of the little food stands Wade and I had seen open on Friday were now closed, so we stopped for a meal at a yummy (and way cheaper than the city) seafood restaurant called La Mamacita. Nice last day in San Juan, as tomorrow we check out of our San Juan AirBnB and head for the island of Culebra!
No comments:
Post a Comment