Puerto Rico

We are back from Puerto Rico.  What an amazing trip!  Before life sets too much, I want to take a couple of minutes to chronicle our trip. 

Thursday night was lots of fun.  We met up with the Allreds & Snows for Bon Jovi.  We drove in with the Allreds, but due to a terrible traffic jam, we arrived a little late to the concert.  The Snow's were texting us updates because they had avoided the traffic, and were on time.  We were able to see the last 3 sets of Daughtry before Bon Jovi came on.  It was a great concert.  We had pretty decent seats, and they got better when a couple in front of the Snow's called it an early night, and we were able to take their seats.  It was fun.  We sang, we danced, and we experienced temporary hearing loss.  All in all a great night.

On Friday we woke up at 5:30, after 3.5 hours of sleep to catch our flight.  We were adrenaline filled, so things worked out fine.  We arrived in Puerto Rico just before One in the afternoon, got our rental car, and headed out with only the aid of the rental agency map.  Talk about a foreign experience!

The signs are all in Spanish, the distances are in km, the gas in liters, the speed limits in miles per hour, and the cars in mph as well.  While these nuances were confusing, they paled in comparison to actually driving in PR.   By the time we arrived at our hotel in Ponce, we were wound up so tight from the poor direction, traffic, and extreme driving conditions that we encountered on our 2 hour drive.  It literally was a baptism by fire.  I cannot even attempt to describe the driving conditions in PR, but more dramatically in Ponce.  They have the same driving laws as we do in the states, and yet in Puerto Rico, anything seems to go.  All of the cars are smashed up.  It is as if they are participating in one giant crash up derby/ go cart race.  We were so grateful to the other travelers who encouraged us to get the extra insurance at the rental agency.

We arrived to the Hilton in Ponce, with much relief.  We were extremely pleased with the hotel.  It was an older hotel, and not as hip as our later hotel in San Juan, but it was really nice.  The interior was open to the outdoors, and the wind gently blew through.  There were lots of comfortable seating areas with great views, of the gardens and pool area.  Our room opened to a balcony that overlooked the grounds and beach.  The hotel was partnered with a golf resort, and so as guests were were allowed to use the facilities at the golf resort as well.

The best thing about the Ponce Hilton for us was the lack of crowds.  We were able to spend the day on the beach by ourselves.   The dozen or so other guests pretty much stuck to the pool area.  The only other time that we have had our own private beach was during a chilly rainstorm in  Washington State, so you can imagine how thrilled we were to have it in the warm, sunny Caribbean.  

On Saturday, we spent most of the day at the beach and in the pool.  Oh, heaven!  After we began to burn, we decided to try driving into Ponce again.  We spent the late afternoon exploring Ponce.   We were glad that we were able to see Ponce, but have to say that it was not our favorite place on the trip.  We loved the hotel, but the city itself was a little scary.  There was one tourist block in Old Ponce, that was kept pretty nice for the tourists, but the rest...  It seemed like half of the city had been abandoned.  There was graffiti everywhere, and poverty was very apparent.  It was like being in a third world county with mangy dogs roaming the streets.  There was a feeling of desperation in Ponce that was a little disconcerting.  At about 5 pm. all of the shops closed down, and bars and gates went up over all of the doors and windows.  We were glad to return to our gated hotel at night.

On Sunday we left Ponce, for San Juan.  It was cool driving through the center of the island, and seeing the varied scenery and demographics of the island.  We drove to El Yunque, the rainforest.  We spent the day hiking through the rainforest, swimming in waterfalls, and finally hiking to the peak of El Yunque.   It was extremely beautiful, a highlight of  our visit.

After a very difficult 2 1/2 hour hike to the top, we returned to San Juan for some R&R.  We stayed at El Conche, Renaissance Hotel by Marriott.  It was unbelievable luxury.  Wow!  

We had a delicious dinner at the hotel overlooking the pool area, listening to a concert and watching a fashion show.  We retired to our room at about 10, but the party continued until about midnight.  It was really fun.

The next day, Monday, we checked out of the hotel, and moved over a couple of miles to Old San Juan.  We spent the day exploring that cool old part of the city.  We stayed the night at The Gallery Inn in Old San Juan.  It was a really cool experience.   The owner, Jan Esponosa is a local artist.  The Inn is a beautiful gallery of her work, filled with terraces and gardens.  They have several parrots that  spend the day in the gardens and interact with the guests.  The inn itself is a historical Spanish home that was converted to the Inn.  It was really cool, and we were even able to watch and listen as the musicians practiced for a concert on the upper terrace.  The Inn was really cool, our room was not.  It felt like a tomb incased in 2 food concrete walls without any windows.  It was very small, dingy and smelled like mold.  We spent very little time in our room.  The other downer to the hotel was that there was a problem with the phones and internet.  Jeremy was trying to get things lined up for the next day when he had to return to work, and we were trying to contact the kids, and it was difficult.  I believe that the experience of the Inn outweighs the inconvenience, Jeremy does not.

On Tuesday morning it was back to work for Jeremy.  He struggled to work at the Inn, but was finally able to download some information, and worked high above the city from an upper terrace, overlooking the coast and city.  Pretty cool office.  At 11 we checked out, and headed back to the Marriott, were we were waited on hand and foot, and allowed to check in early.  Jeremy was extremely relieved.  His group arrived later that afternoon, and he worked the rest of the visit, and I hung out at the pool, and swam in the ocean.  I met up with them for dinner that night in Old San Juan, but pretty much did my own thing the rest of the time.  It was a great way to end a vacation.