Yo Soy Puertorriqueno

I officially feel like I am Puerto Rican. I swam in their beach, I slept in their hotels, I ate their food, I even practiced my espanol a bit, including ordering my food in their language. I definitely don't look Puerto Rican, since I slathered on the sunscreen every chance I got, but nonetheless, I feel a little more cultured than before this trip. A big hug and "thank you" go out to Grandma Rasmussen for staying with Reagan and playing endlessly with her for four days straight. They had a great time going in the stroller, going to McDonalds, playing in the dollhouse, playing outside with all the neighbors, and exploring the beautiful metropolis of Concord.

Our flights in were LONG and the entire plane erupted in claps and cheers when the wheels finally touched down in San Juan. Here is our group waiting for all the luggage in the SJ airport.

So...in no particular order, here are my Top Ten for our trip:

10. Swimming in the hotel pools. Both of our hotels had pretty amazing pool areas. Below is a pic of the pool waterfall at the Intercontinental. This was usually where we stopped to take a dip after being at the beach, thus getting rid of the grimy, sandy feeling that only the beach can leave you feeling. The Ritz-Carlton, our first hotel, had a heated pool, which was nice, but the Intercontinental wasn't, which actually felt better. Sometimes the muggy, hot weather called for a cool pool rather than a warm bath. But we did enjoy the pools quite a bit, even spending an evening down at the Ritz pool with friends, then relaxing in the Jacuzzi and hitting up Denny's for late night shakes.

9. El Yunque Rainforest. This is the only official rainforest in the United States and it was pretty cool! Don't get me wrong--it wasn't the Amazon or anything...in fact, we didn't see any wildlife, except these really cool snails below:
But the rainforest was the greenest, wettest place I have ever been to, with some amazing plants and the smell was so fresh. We drove up there and did a short 0.8 mile hike with our friends, Matt and Melissa Savage. After getting lost a bit (Puerto Rico road signs are horrible), we finally made it to the trailhead. It was pouring rain, but we hiked anyways and the rain actually added to the ambience of the area. Look at Melissa's shoes below...what a trooper. She hiked almost 2 miles uphill, then downhill in those.Behind us is this man-made dam which holds in a huge pool appropriately called Bano Grande. You can't swim in it, but we wouldn't have wanted to anyways, since it looked like chocolate milk.

The stream cascaded down the entire trail, especially near the end. I dropped our camera and messed it up, so it was hard to get a good, clear shot, but I really like this one of Matt.
Here is that man-made dam again.
Us and the Savages at the trailhead.

For our hike, we went 0.8 miles completely uphill to this tower (kind of a mini-Coit), that overlooked the entire Yunque area and most of the Puerto Rican island. However, it was totally foggy and we could barely see anything! It was still pretty cool to be up there, though, surrounded by clouds (yes, it was fog, but it could have easily been clouds!) It reminded me a lot of Pali Lookout on the island of Oahu. Minus the crazy bees.

Every now and the, the clouds would part and we would get an excellent view of the Fajardo (northeast) corner of the island. It was gorgeous.
Other highlights from El Yunque were meeting some Puerto Ricans at the top of the tower and talking economics a bit with them. They were impressed with Matt and Matt's spanish. They told us how bad the economy was in PR right now and how there aren't enough jobs for qualified people. Many people have degrees and work as cashiers in a grocery store. They also consider Americans rich. I never ever have considered myself rich, but that day we saw how poor the island can be and I really thought to myself, "wow, I am rich." Family is so important out here and it is easy to see why: it is all they have! It was an eye-opener for me.
8. The water sports here are...AMAZING!! The Ritz hooked us up with free kayaks, snorkel gear, and sailing. We kayaked quite a bit, and towards the end of the trip my hands were getting a little blistered. The water is warm, clear, and this amazing blue/green color. Kayaking was the first thing we did when we arrived in Puerto Rico. We couldn't wait. We went sailing twice. The first time was with the Berrett's and the wind was good. We went fast and had lots of water spray up. The second time, with another couple from Matt;s work, the wind was slow, so we didn't go fast. It was still cool just to float peacefully, though. The kid who was sailing us around on the Hobie-Cat, worked there for 5 years and raced Hobies prior to that. He was a pro. He and Matt bonded :) Snorkeling was cool, but it kind of freaked me out how cloudy the water was. It was totally different from Hawaii. The fish here are not used to people, so they are scared and hide in the reef when they see you. Matt and I snorkeled once together, but then I was told that watersnakes lived in the coral and I was DONE!! Matt went quite a few times after that. He went with a few friends from work (below) and then the last day, we kayaked out to this little island that supposedly had good reef and Matt snorkeled out there while I kayaked him around. The best watersport by far was the wave-running we did on the last day there. This was not complimentary of the hotel, we had to pay for it. But it was well worth the money. We got 30 minutes and Matt was overjoyed when he reached a whopping speed of 71 MPH. It was such a rush. We went back and forth, even catching air quite a few times. I dropped Matt off for a few minutes in the "swimmers only" area so that I could go alone, then we changed so that he could go alone. Unfortunately, I crossed the line into the "swimmers only" area and the workers came out and yelled at me. Oops. Anyways, that was too much fun for us--exactly the thrill ride we were looking for. Definitely one of the favorites.
7. El Morro and Old San Juan were the historical adventures that we took while here. Puerto Rico has so much history, especially Spanish. The buildings are old and literally tell of many many wars long ago. The streets are cobblestone and discolored. It was fascinating, especially if you are history buff like Matt. We went with three other couples, the Sebra's, Berrett's, and Savage's. We started out at El Morro, definitely the most popular point in Old San Juan. The grass area in front was a mecca for kite-flyers, as evident in the photo below. El Morro is in the background.
We toured around in the fort. Little areas like these below (which barely fit a person) were sniping areas used when the invading boats were coming in.

A cool view with San Juan in the background. The stone is so dang old...and covered in pigeon poop.Matt paid tribute to his Spanish roots and loved the Spanish military flag that flew next to the American and PR flags. See how stern he looks? He means business.There was a "triangular" staircase, as well as a "circular" one. Whatever made them think that they should have two different designed staircases we will not know. But here is the triangular one.The walls protecting El Morro and the San Juan area were huge. Pictures couldn't do them justice, but if you look closely, you can see me standing below it. That should show how tall they were. It reminded me of Lord of the Rings a little bit. Without the hobbits and elves.The vast blue ocean went on forever, especially from the viewpoint of El Morro. We just sat there and pictured the Spanish Armada coming in. We took this picture because everyone else was. Matt is holding these pretty sweet flags...or not. Actually these are the three mentioned flags flying high over the inside of El Morro. The left one is Spanish military, the middle on is Puerto Rican.

ummm...I shouldn't have to mention what the right-hand one is, eh? :):):)

Looking out west from El Morro. This bay here is what contained all the ships and military, so it was what El Morro was created to protect.

Matt and his cannonballs.

My history-loving, war-buff husband. He retains info like I have never seen. Me?...I have more of a selective memory. I can remember the song that was playing in the car on the way to our first date together, but I cannot remember a single thing we read on El Morro.

By the way, the song was "High Life" by Counting Crows.

This is a much closer shot of El Morro...can you spot the three flags?After El Morro, we walked along the old cobblestone streets of San Juan. Little street vendors lined the blocks, as well as many shops, hotels, bookstores, and restaurants.

This is the entrance to San Juan, also called the "Gateway to the Carribean." It definitely didn't look like this back then, they have spruced it up a bit with the brick red paint. My selective memory is coming into play here and I can't remember what was inscribed on the white square...something religious, though. There were tons of naked people statues everywhere, I guess it is just part of the culture. This one was rather interesting. Matt didn't want to get in the photo, but I made him. I'm not sure who the statue is supposed to be of, but the woman has a nice tushie, huh? There was a newly married couple on the other side of the fountain getting pictures taken. Quite the background for your wedding day photos!It was getting late after this and we were all getting hungry. Old San Juan has some fantastic restaurants, but none of us felt like Puerto Rican food (you'll see why below), so we opted to go for Mexican food at Lupi's. The food was so-so, but the service was terrible. We were the only ones in the restaurant, but it took forever to get our food and drinks and the refills cost 2.00. I ordered a combo plate with chicken taco and beef burrito. Matt got a chicken sandwich and fries. Neither was anything to write home (or blog) about, so I will leave it at that. Puerto Rico didn't have good-tasting water, so I opted (for the first time in my life) to get a Diet Pepsi instead of a glass of water. I thought Matt was going to fall out of his chair when he heard me order that. I am queen of "just a glass of water, thanks."

6. Laying on the beach. Or, translated...means, 'heaven.' We enjoyed doing this a few times. There were beaches right in front of the Ritz and Intercontinental that had complimentary lounge chairs, towels, and nice cabana boys who would set up umbrellas for those looking to stay shady. Unfortunately, that was neither Matt nor I, and Matt has the sunburn to prove it.

5. Tho bioluminescent bay in Fajardo. There are only 6 of them in the world and four are in Puerto Rico. The other two are in Bahamas and somewhere else I couldn't understand the guy say. I don't have photos of this because it was at night and we kayaked and I didn't want to get the camera wet. After seeing El Yunque Rainforest, we drove a little ways to Fajardo Beach, where a little company offered a kayak tour of the bay. We paid 40 bucks a pop for this, but soon found out it was well worth it. Matt even claimed it to be his favorite part of the trip. We kayaked through this little canal that was covered with trees and totally dark. Kinda scary, in an Indiana-Jones type way. After the canal, we ended up at this lagoon, which is home to some microorganism that glows with movement. When we put our paddles in the water, they glowed! The tour guide gave us this schpiel on the history, etc. Then he said that they used to allow people to swim in it, but decided to make it illegal a year ago, in order to protect the bay from perfumes, deodorants, etc. Then the tour guide added, "but if anyone accidentally falls in, now might be a good time." Matt wasted no time on that one. He dove right in. His entire body was lit up. Such a cool experience. I wish I had our own photo of it, but you can see tons online here.

4. The sweet hotels. The sweet hotels. Matt's company went all out and we stayed at the Ritz-Carlton the first two nights. Ummm...when they say "Ritz", they so are not kidding. The service there is indescribable. I didn't pass a single hotel worker that didn't greet me warmly. It smelled so good and the views were amazing. We switched rooms soon after getting there (two doubles to a king), so the pic below is a view of our first room. The second was better, but I didn't get a shot of it. We were so happy to be here!

The Ritz pool area in the background. Our third night was at a place down the road that Matt booked on priceline. It was the Intercontinental, which was another beachfront resort. We so cannot complain about it. This is our view from the balcony, which was on the 16th floor. Looking down kinda made me want to vomit with dizziness, but I managed to snap a photo of the city below.

This Ritz-Carlton photo is taken on the beach, with our hotel and pool area in the background. Not too shabby. I am so used to the average, nice hotels, that this seemed out of this world. I am sure others are much more used to it. :)

A beautiful morning on the Isla Verde beach. 3. Puerto Rican food SUCKS!! I am not kidding. I was totally up for a tastebud adventure and Matt's company catered a Puerto Rican dinner on Friday night (pic below) and a lunch on Saturday afternoon, plus a breakfast on Sunday morning. The first two meals were horrid, but the breakfast was American food, so that was awesome. Anyways, it is lots of pork, fish, and they had octopus salad at the dinner. They had this banana salad and I was like "sweet!" I love bananas, so this will be good. Not. It was an unripened banana that had been sauteed with onions. Gross. They had this chicken and potatoes that really wasn't bad, until Matt found like tons of bones in it. I guess they have never heard of boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Most people raved about the paella, but since I don't eat seafood, I missed out on that one. The rice with beans was allright, too, but I had to avoid the weird-looking green things in it. Even the desserts were odd.

On the upside, there was a Denny's down the road that made a fabulous French toast slam breakfast and we ate twice at the beachside grill located in the hotel. They made a killer grilled cheese sandwich, caesar salad, and club sandwich. We also took advantage (twice) of Burger King and Subway.

I love American food.

Even the "Tres Leche" dessert wasn't exactly mouth-watering, but it sure looked cool (even without my flash).
We are smiling here because, even though we didn't enjoy the food, the passion fruit punch was to die for. I think I had like 5 glasses. They kept asking me if I would like another one and I kept saying yes. Eventually, they stopped asking and just brought them out.

2. Temperatures and weather: it is night and day here! One minute it will be sunny in the 90's, the next minute it will pour rain for 15 minutes, then the sun will come out again. So unpredictable! The general pattern was beautiful, clear skies in the morning, with clouds moving in in the early afternoon. Sometimes it would stay with rain until the evening, but most nights it did clear up. The beachwater was so warm, it felt like a bath. Especially in the bio bay--almost too warm!

1. Our trip home was an event in itself. We had only a 40 minute layover in Fort Lauderdale, which included an airline change and rechecking bags, security, etc. We knew we would struggle to make it. We ended up sending home our bottles with another couple a day early, so that we didn't have to check any luggage. The attendants on the first flight let us exit the plane before anyone so that we could have a chance of making it. We ran through the airport and barely made our flight out to Oakland. That was a huge relief. Matt snapped this great view of the Carribean sunset outside of our plane window.

We arrived home to find all was well. What a relief. Grandma and Reagan had a fantastic time. When Reagan woke up in the morning, she didn't react to us at all. She just stared at Matt and I, as if to say, "what are you doing here?" She eventually warmed back up to us again. It's good to be home!

This didn't exactly make the Top Ten, but it is an honorable mention:

The official sport in Puerto Rico: cockfighting. Yeah, you read it right. It is pretty strange. there was a place right by our hotel that we passed many times. On our way to the airport, Matt managed to snap a rather fuzzy photo from our taxi as we passed by.