Just got back from a week w/ my special lady in our 51st state... Puerto Rico! We like the Caribbean and this seemed like a pretty easy trip to take a bit of the edge off the holidays and to burn a few vacation days before I lose 'em! We started w/ a couple days in old San Juan, spent a night in the jungle in the middle of the island, and then relaxed on the beach at Rincon for a few days. It was a fun trip and we had a nice time. PR has a few hits and misses as you may expect. It is not particularly close to the U.S. mainland but unlike other islands it really is alot like Florida. The roads are mostly paved and in pretty good shape. There are McDonalds, and KFC shops everywhere. Cell service is really good. There is a ton of litter and it is all derived from shitty US companies!! A few quick take-aways... We went into a Walgreens one day and I have never seen so many people in a pharmacy before. Seriously. We noticed the same thing at various times throughout the week. The parking lots would be packed and people were jammed in there like it was a mall or something. So if you are a Puerto Rican kid, apparently you stocking will be filled w/ shaving cream, soap, vitamins, and a VHS tape of Beauty and the Beast. Item numero duo... the food sucks. It is mostly fried and really not good. We had one pretty solid meal all week, Tapas in Rincon was pretty good and they had a nice setting and excellent service. We also had a pretty good meal at a small place off the side of the road in Rincon w/ a big pig on the sign. They had slow roasted pork w/ rice and beans and sweet plantains that was really good. Oh yeah, La Bombonero in Old San Juan was really good. Try the rice and beans w/ the ham croquettes and a fresh squeezed OJ... you will not be sorry, or hungry. Otherwise we had a shit ton of fried plantains, fried jalapeno poppers, fried meat rolls, french fries, fried grease. The best part is that everyone has a "homemade" fried plate but suspiciously they all look exactly the same? You can also get nice fruit that is really cheap from road side stands.
Our hotel situation was much better. Our first stop was the Gallery Inn in old San Juan. It was a cool place. Very eclectic as it is put together by a wacky older artist lady. Plants, parrots, and odd art are everywhere. But it is comfortable and has lots of cool spaces, a nice honor bar, and we had a great room w/ a view of the ocean. We then stayed one night at the Casa Grande Mountain Resort. It was very quiet and clean. The food was nothing special but not terrible... except this weird desert thing that looked like jabba the hut. That was kind of weird? They also had directions to a hiking trail that did not actually exist? It was supposed to be a kilometer 5. Well there was a KM4 and a KM6, between them? An old guy sitting at his house/bar and a drive way w/ a horse some chickens and a horror movie house. Ok, next up was over on the western part of the island Rincon. We stayed at Tres Sirenas which is a cool place w/ like 4 rooms right on the water opened by some new yorkers. It is clean comfortable and the service was very good. The beach is great for swimming and they make a nice breakfast brought right to your room every morning. There is no other food or booze there but we had a kitchenette and there are other places that are great for a quick bit or a rum punch right down the beach. That was my favorite place for the week.
Couple other quick notes. I got shat on by a bird in old San Juan. Good luck? F*** that and f*** that damn bird. Old San Juan was pretty cool and surprisingly very clean and tidy. The fort was pretty neat and they had some fun bars. We did not stay up late enough for the real action which starts around midnight? Rincon was itself kind of shitty. I thought it would be a cool surfing town but it was really just a dumpy one horse town. On the north and south ends there were some pretty mellow and cool bars and restaurants on the beaches. So get a car and explore a bit. Surfers are really in shape and pretty good looking. I can't surf. The ocean is pretty cool and there are some great places to swim as well as some pretty gnarly breaks.
I like warm weather. JFK sucks. It really sucks. My wife is a good travel partner. What is the Puerto Rican equivalent of Montezuma's Revenge? I have that!
No comments:
Post a Comment