Puerto Rico - A Week on the Island

Wanted to finally post a few pics of Puerto Rico. It was a flip flop vacation on steroids. The currency is the same, there is no need for a passport, and everyone speaks english. Some would argue that it would have been easier to just go to SoCal and save the money and the awful plane travel time. However there are some things that make the trip worth while. I loved the old city of San Juan.

 In many ways it reminds me of the French Quarter in New Orleans. Its streets are narrow and cobble stoned. The metal lace balconies and tiny shops add such an ambience. We stayed at El Convento Hotel - which was a 16th century convent. It is well located - but not worth the price.

The best idea is to wonder about the old city and to avoid La Perla - which is on the north portion of the city. Its basically a slum that has a spectacular view. Our taxi driver would tell us later that its not as bad as the press gives it credit for - but still a place to avoid. The rest of the old city is a wealth of old fortifications and small trendy shops and restaurants.
      To the south of the city is where all the cruise ships arrive. The streets that radiate out from this point are uber touristy. As you get away from that section the bars and clubs are much better.

I personally like Cafe Punto - which is next to the Capella Cristo - a small bar that serves somewhat watered down sangria - but an excellent place to catch some shade and read a book. We found ourselves hitting this place up on a regular basis. Around the corner is The Wafflery, a restaurant that serves a collection of lunch foods on waffles. This is actually an amazing combination and actually impressed Maria - which is praise from caesar regarding food. The first night that we arrived we went out to Barrachina - which has an amazing central courtyard and is where pina coladas were supposedly created.

As far as trendy bars are concerned - there are too many. Go nuts. We had a particularly good time at The Mezzanine at St. Germain - a very sleek upstairs bar. You need to travel up a small winding staircase to the upper level. Its decorated like a trendy bar in 1920's Paris. The balconies surrounding the main dinning area are particularly spectacular to just lounge about. Also, La Madre is an excellent mexican restaurant and bar. They play old cartoons on the wall and the drinks are not watered down here. The food here was enough to make Maria smile - which was good enough for me.

I would recommend just spending time figuring out which bar works out for you. The ones on Calle Fortenza are not bad, but can be touristy and overpriced. The ones around Casa Blanca have great views of the sun setting.

 Now one note about hotels - DONT USE THEM!!! There are a ton of luxury apartments all over town that are much more spacious and bigger than your average hotel. Whats more - if you are spending a week out here then you can get them for a much lower price and if you are traveling with a group of people this is a much better choice.

El convento was a nice hotel. While we were there, there were two separate weddings. In the center of the hotel was a Tapas restaurant called Picoteca - but the smells of cooking grease are pervasive through out the hotel. Again - go with a short term apartment rental

 Night life in Old San Juan is fantastic. We got our fill of Salsa dancing and on the weekends there were a ton of music venues all over town. We managed to find a few places were the locals were playing guitars and charades.

There were a few independent art galleries that we managed to get into as well. You just need to keep your eyes open for them.




Dont forget to hit at least one reggie bar when your out there as well.



Ok, I've learned a long time ago that flip flop vacations and lounging is not exactly our type of vacation - at least we can't sit still for too long. There are a bunch of urban hikes in the old city that are worth your time.
Watching the sun set from the old fortifications, called El Murro on the western portion of the city is spectacular! It seems that everyone comes out at twilight to fly kites, have a picnic, and walk about the green expanse that leads up to the old fortress.



The Paseo Del Murro is another excellent hike - its a walkway that surrounds the outer walls of the city and makes for a good space to go running as it is uninterrupted with cross streets and congestion. Just exit the city from the red gate and go for it.

We also made it a point to hit two places out side of the old city. The first was the Rain Forest - kind of a let down in retrospect. The trails trough the forest were nice - but overall I wasn't really impressed. I think one really needs to go closer to the equator to get to a more substantial ecosystem - Costa Rica comes readily to mind

The 2nd destination was the bio luminescent bays. THIS IS A MUST! We got loaded up into kayaks and traveled through a stinking swamp that was infested with mosquitos to get to this place. Maria and I had some experience with Kayaking and managed to get through without out too much trouble - but there were others that tipped their kayak and went neck deep into fetid water. Once we got to the bay, however it was well worth it. Pick a night with a new moon to go and watch the water light up.

Ok, so overall Puerto Rico has some unique things to check out. Next time I think we will hit the city of  Ponce on the south portion of the Island as well. I can only offer the following tips:

1) Don't got for a hotel - rent an apartment

2) Don't rent a car - traffic REALLY sucks

3) Everything goes slow in PR - be patient

4) CLOSE YOUR WINDOWS AT NIGHT - EVEN IN THE CITY

(Mosquitos are everywhere)

5) Hit the biobays

6) Avoid La Perla