Sunday, March 22, 2009

Boriqua


Went to PR for a short weekend getaway -- Friday to Sunday. The schedule was very tight and a lot was squeezed into the short time frame but it was fun. Sleep can wait!



Day 1:

Head to Old San Juan. We were lucky enough to find street parking. Visited El Morro fort which is on the tip of the island with a great view of the ocean. Lunch at Jibralito -- pernil, delicioso mofongo, langostines with garlic, and rice and beans (of course). Headed over to
San Lornenzo to drop off Peter at his baseball game. Drove to Humacao but nothing there so I headed back and watched some baseball. I had a driving mishap. It was dark and accidentally ended up on the off ramp of a highway. There were red signs a few feet past the exit with sentence written on it which I couldn't read. Wasn't sure but it felt wrong so I did a 180. Luckily, cars started coming down the ramp just as I had turned around.



Day 2:

Left for Fajardo for the ferry to Vieques at 3am thinking the ferry was at 6am and people would be waiting early to go. Not only was Vieques not as popular a destination as we thought it would be, the ferry was at 9am. We could have had several extra hours of sleep. Oh well. Slept in the car instead.


In Vieques, we rented another car -- Tracker with scratches and dents all over, cracked signal, passenger window could not roll down and no radio. Checked into our hotel, The Great Escape. A hidden hotel with a crazy steep and rocky driveway.

Our biolumicent bay tour was amazing. Thought of switching operators because there were 20+ people but he was so well organized it felt like it was a small group. The operator's name was Abe's Snorkeling. He told us what cause the water to glow, how we can help maintain it, etc.

After driving around, we decided you definitely need to rent a jeep to get around Vieques. The roads are totally ridiculous -- rocky dirt roads. Apparently Culebra is more popular b/c it's cheaper and you can camp out there.


Day 3:

Headed back on the 1pm ferry to Fajardo. We drove around looking for Peter's game in Ponce. The directions we received we terrible: drive along this road, turn right, keep going until you pass two government buildings, go under a highway, pass a hotdog vendor, etc etc. Haha. Through some divine miracle we found it. I went my own way and drove to El Yunque. It was beautiful and lush and green. The roads were fun to drive on. They were windy all through out. It was pouring rain when I got to the top so I dropped in the souvenior shop and bought some coquis (frogs). They're so cute.

Trip was short but fun. It was my first taste of PR and I thought people were friendly and a beautiful state/country/island. What is this place? Food is good but it's heavy. I tried the icies from a couple of vendors but the best one was by El Morro. So light and smooth. Mmmm. They can't really drive which is quite annoying. They like to sit in the left lane. They also have some of their own alcohol that they ferment with roots and fruit underground. I think it's ron cana. I tried some with tamarind which was sour and sweet at the same time. It was strong but good.