Last Night

Our last night in Puerto Rico was quite interesting. I had packed a special dress because we had decided to go out to at least one fancy dinner. Our concierge made reservations for us at "Las Palmas" inside the ESJ (El San Juan hotel). So we decided to enjoy another day full lounging on the beach. So we made our way down to the pool area and we headed onto to the beach to build camp. We found some chairs and proceeded to bake for 5-7 minutes or until golden brown. For some reason or another we called home this particular day. Juju was talking to his mom and they had a conversation about how she still had plenty of family that lived in puerto rico. My MIL then called her brother who was the last person to be in most recent contact with "tio Angi" from Puerto Rico. After a few hours of phone tag & voice messages we finally got to speak to tio Angi. Now this is was our last day there, we had already returned our rental and we planned on having dinner then possibly hang out in the casino. Tio Angi said he felt bad knowing we were there and not meeting us, so he asked if he wanted to meet him later that evening.

Tio Angi ended up picking us up around 7 ish in front of our hotel. He and his daughter were very nice, they asked questions about how we met, how the wedding was and how everyone was doing back home. He took us to see other Old San Juan "after dark". I definitely felt a lot more comfortable being there at night with them. He gave us a lot of history on the different buildings and we walked around a bit. You could feel the vibe of the night life in Old San Juan. We stopped to get a bite to eat at a restaurant called 'Raices'. When i was initially researching places to go eat in Puerto Rico, I came across this place and definitely wanted to try it.

The restaurant Raices (meaning Roots- how ironic we went to eat a place called roots with tio Angi.... get it family tree, roots... i know, i know, im a dork ) any way i digress, as i was saying the restaurant was quite charming. All the wait staff wore typical Jibaro clothing and the food was served in small pots and pans. The food was really good, i unfortunately had to leave my left overs since we were heading back home the next day.

They dropped us off back at our hotel where Juju's friend Beto ( who also lives in milwaukee, just happened to be in puerto rico the same time we were there, what a coincidence huh?) and his girlfriend joined us for a few drinks.

We decided to go to a local bar to get some drinks. The bar we were going to go to was just a few hotels over, so we walked down and out the door. Then juju said it was closer if we just 'cut' thru the beach. So we walked along the beach, and it was quite breath taking. The moon lit the water and made it glimmer in the darkness of the night. All you could hear was the waves crashing and the coquis singing. it was actually very romantic, minus the fact we were walking with another couple.

Day 5? El Morro

So I'm a lot behind on posting... but i figured better late then never, right?


One of the places i wanted to go to while in Puerto Rico was El Morro. The full name is actually Castillo de San Felipe del Morro. But its widely known as El Morro. Just a little history lesson on it-The construction of this six-level fortress was begun in 1540 and completed in 1589. Its main purpose was to serve as a fort front to invaders. Rising 140 feet above the sea, its 18-foot-thick wall proved a formidable defense.

Here we are at beginning of the path to walk down and into the castle. It was a beautiful day, but it was tremendously hot and muggy.

As you can see, its sits on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean. You can hear the waves crash against the rocks as you get closer to the edges of el Morro.The views were spectacular. The height advantage let you see clear cross the ocean.I totally forgot what this small island was called, but back in the day, it served as a quarantine for all of the people who had leprecy. There was a few telescopes you could look through where it showed the actual hospital building were these people were sent away to. Now its used as a recreational site, with picnic tables and all!The Castle was massive and pretty confusing to walk around in. El Morro was built this way. It has tons of tunnels, stair ways, secret paths and there is even some paths that lead no where. It was amazing to see that most parts of the castle were still in tact.

Here my lovely husband decided that he might get a better view from higher up. So he decided to climb up one of the walls. I know it doesn't look very high in the picture but it was pretty darn high, just look at how tiny he looks up there. All i could think to myself was, oh he is so gonna fall and break something. So there he went climbing the fort walls wearing chanclas. I think he actually took them off to get back down.


Giant Q-tip


Here we are in the entrance way of the castles corner look out post.



Down below right on the water front, there is a lovely cementery. Its the San Juan Cemetery. It is located right behind 'La Perla'. Its actually quite sad, everywhere you research information about el morro or old san juan, it talks about the perla and the cemetery adjacent to it, and it specifically states it is not "recommended" to visit- It is not safe for tourists, even though the bright colors look inviting. I stop to think about the people who are actually buried there. I wonder if there is unvisited grave site due to the danger one faces going into the outskirts of town. Many times i've read online something to the effect of- "outside the city walls", "beyond the islands' limit" and "outside the morro wall". It makes it sound so scary and dangerous. Im sure people from la perla have family and friends buried there, but i wonder if there is other people buried there, like before the perla took over that part of the island. You can see the Morro's wall in the picture below. Look to the right....you see that White mausoleum looking like thing? behind it... the brown wall- That's the Morro's most outer wall.

You can actually see the perla right behind the cemetery- top to the left.


And here we are leaving, about to go eat our savvy lunch... oh you'll see.

We knew we had a long day planned ahead of us, so we decided to make us some sandwiches and bring em with. We figured we were going out to dinner later that night so might as well save some money on lunch... And yes, that is WHITE bread. We figured what they hey! We're on our honeymoon... lets go CRAZY!!

La Lama

This is just a side story from one of the days when we got lost.

I think it was the day we went to Plaza las Americas. Like i had previously said- the gps on our Iphones weren't the most reliable thing. It took a while for satellite feed so our location on the gps was always delayed. The streets were confusing as it was, and with the drivers being so aggressive, Juju had to focus on the road while i watched the gps and tried to locate us on a map we were given at the hotel. Finally, i found our location both on the map and the gps. Turn right at the next light i told juj.

So he obliged and made the turn and on we went. The street was actually pretty clear, wasn't congested at all. The oncoming traffic was light, but oddly enough they had 2 lanes for traffic, whereas we only had one, I thought it was weird but nonetheless we continued. About 1.5 miles into the drive down this street i notice a cop pull up behind us, in the distance. At this point i realize that our gps says we are going away from the hotel rather then getting closer. So i tell juj to make a left into a parking lot so we can go the other way, so he does and as we are parked, looking at the map, the cop flashes his light and pulls up right behind us.

Oh my god, what did we do? i think to myself. I quickly go thru the sequence of events since we started traveling down this particular road. Then it comes to me. Juju sorta semi took a red light- in the puerto rican driving spirit. Im starting to panic, this is it. We are in trouble with the law. This is exactly how it happen on Locked up abroad. My mind is racing- what do we say, do we apologize and plea for a 'warning'? Do i tell him we are tourists? What if hes a crooked cop, Can we buy him off?

He approaches the car, Juju rolls down the window.

"Where are you heading" the cop asks

"Back to our hotel"

"Do you know where you were traveling in?"

"no" we both replied

"You were in the lama lane"

Blank stares...

"La lama, la lama" He urges.

Blank stares... And then i think, is there lamas in Puerto Rico?

"Are you Puerto Rican?"

"he is, I'm not" i say, clearing my name quickly. ( way to throw the new hubby under the bus huh?)

"you don't know what the lama is?" he asks

No-

"La wawa, el autobus, el camion"

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.... We were in the bus lane. Not only that, but it happened to be a one way bus lane, and we were traveling towards the potential oncoming traffic.
We then explained we were tourist and lost our way trying to get back to the hotel. He said okay, he'd let us go with a warning, but to pay more attention to the traffic lane signs. He directed us to back to the hotel.

On our way back, i couldn't help but laugh... Of course it would happen to us, why wouldn't it? The thing that really got me, is that we were traveling the wrong way on this street for quite some time... and no one cared to tell us. Luckily nothing happened, we just walked away from it with another interesting story to add to our collection.

Day 4 Rockin' out Old San Juan

Here we are arriving in the quaint um- city, i think, of Old San Juan. It wasn't difficult to get there. It was hard to find parking though. As soon as we got out of the car, i wanted to snap away, but at the same time, since i knew that "La Perla" was in Old San Juan, i didnt want to seem too touristee, you know. So we walked along the small narrow streets, admiring the beautifully adorned house and buildings. There was old fashioned cobble stone streets and the city had a unique feel to it that was very charming.

The houses/ buildings were so colorful and bright, they actually reminded me of houses in Mexico. Even the width and the steepness of the street were very similar to many streets in Mexico. We explored the different buildings, from the outside only, we went into a few store that sold souvenirs. It was actually quiet busy because there was two cruises docked on the island. This made me a little nervous but at the same time since there was people everywhere i doubt anything would happen and go unnoticed.

We picked up a few magnets, mugs, bracelets, shot glasses, you know the usual. There was a few streets that were lined with luxury stores. On Calle Fortaleza there was Burberry, Coach, Ralph Lauren, and Guess to name a few.

There was plenty of places to eat authentic creole food. There was an abundance of restaurants and bars/grills. Most of the restaurants are located in SoFo. SoFo, is the trendy Old San Juan dining and nightlife area south of Calle Fortaleza which specializes in creative restaurants with traditional and nontraditional dishes using Latin, Caribbean and Asian flavors. I read about a restaurant called "Raises", which means roots. I definitely wanted to stop and have dinner there, but Juju and i were dressed very casual. We decided to have a burger at the Hard Rock Cafe. I've never been to the HRC, neither has juju. We were both starving at this point. We both order juicy burgers, juju had his Cuba Libre's and i had a fruity concoction in a tall hurricane glass.

His:

Hers:Here i am enjoying my huge mouth watering cheddar bacon cheeseburger.... mmmmmm.

Towards the end of our time at the HRC it began getting crowded. You could tell it was definitely a hang out spot by the bar area. Before we left i stopped in the HRC gift shop and purchased a hurricane glass like the one i had my drink from. I wanted to get a HRC t-shirt but juju argued that I'd never really wear it. (he's right- just don't tell him i said so though) We got back into our car, which we ended up parking in a structure because we couldn't find parking, and headed 'home'. It was a lot easier making our way back home since the streets were beginning to look somewhat familiar.
Im sure i have more pictures of this day- i'll have to look for them so i can post them.

Day 4

We decided to go to Old San Juan and Casa Bacardi on the same day since we spent most of the prior day being lost. We routed our trip out a little bit better this time.

We ate breakfest and headed to Casa Bacardi first, because it was logistically easier this way. It was drizzling as we drove there, but it cleared up once we arrived. Even when it was gloomy and rainy, it looked beautiful. Since it was so hot, the cool droplets of water felt good.

We werent quiet sure where the tour began, or where we got the tour information, so we entered the parking lot aimlessly and watched what other people were doing. We followed. We approched the entrace, got our tickets for 2 free drinks each and began the tour.

Here are some pictures below:

Here we are on the actual tour train thingy. Self shot-

  Kind strangers shot-

There are all hand painted tiles put together to make a mural. It depicts the history of Puerto Rico, from wars to farming, to Cristobal Colon

I wish i could go into more detail of what each mural's story was, but i was so busy trying to get a picture i wasnt paying to much attention.

The tour went through many different rooms, there was even a few where we couldnt take pictures. Below is a picture of the first Bacardi label. There was tons of original bottles of Bacardi and its' changes throughout the years, there was income tax statements, loan documents you name it. It was quite interesting.

Towards the end of the tour we got to smell (not taste) a Bacardi in the many distillation/fermentation stages it goes thru. My favorite is the original, Juju likes the gold. Below the bartender is showing us how to make a classic mojito, along with a Cuba Libre and a Daiquiri.


At the exit of the Bacardi tour there was a luminated wall filled with Bacardi bottles. Here is Juju and I.

After the tour was over we each got two drinks (they were tiny, just enough to wet your whistle) , were i found a new favorite flavor of Bacardi- Coco. I had Bacardi Coco and pineapple juice, and one with sprite. Yum! Juju had 2 Cuba Libres. After we finished our drinks we got back on the road and headed to Old San Juan.

Day 3- Lost

On day 2 we were able to get a rental. We had trouble getting a rental at the airport since it was memorial day weekend. Nestor, the head concierge, was very helpful and was able to get us a rental, a map and a few suggestions. When i was first planning our honeymoon i wanted it to be chuck full of activities. But as the planning progressed, i decided that i wanted it to be more relaxed than anything. The only reason why we wanted to rent a car was because we definitely wanted to go to Old San Juan and Casa Bacardi and we didn't want to take a taxi everywhere. Plus Juj is quite paranoid, thanks a lot 'Locked up Abroad' And to make things worse, Juju's cousin Cali, warned us not to go into a neighborhood called "La Perla". She told us it was the a dangerous gang and drug infested neighborhood.

So this spun us into researching "bad areas/neighborhoods" in Puerto Rico. We asked Nestor about this and he calmed my fears by explaining where the neighborhood was located and how there is only one way in and one way out and the entranced is guarded by an armed police officer. I was very relieved, Cali made it sound like we could make a wrong left turn and end up in the Perla, when in actuality you almost had to go out of your way to get there.

So with our map in hand we set off- Our destination: Puerto Rican Museum of Contemporary Art. Now driving in Puerto Rico, as is in Mexico, is somewhat challenging. People don't typically use signal lights, give you the right away, or obey all traffic signs. Juju was able to adjust well, before we knew it we were merging (cutting people off) with out a signal, taking yellowturningred light, tail gating and driving like a maniac. The streets are a lot more complex then they are here, the freeways, even worse. There is no adjacent northbound/southbound entrances, so if you miss your exit- your pretty much screwed. The streets are narrow and most of them are one ways. Our iphone's gps was slow to get us satellite locations so that made it even easier to get lost.

(We are lost here)

After a few wrong turns, actually a lot of wrong turns, we ended up in Plaza las Americas, the largest mall on the island. According to our iphone's gps we had arrived at our destination. huh? So we ended going into the mall. It was huge, and it had a lot of the store we had back home and then some. We did a little window shopping, and then i saw a BCBG store. My eyes lit up- a couple hundred dollars later i had me a dress and a pair of sunglasses. We went into a Ferragamo store, were they had some of the hottest shoes I've ever seen. And their price tags? even hotter. Juj tried some on and so did I, but i started feeling buyers remorse even before purchasing them.

We finally decided to have an late lunch at "Fuego de mi Tierra". The third or fourth level of the mall had actual sit down restaurants. We went to an Argentinian grill that turned out to be kinda fancy, at least fancier than what we were dressed for. We ordered Sangrias and browsed the menu. We decided to order 2 large samplers and share them.

These pictures aren't the greatest but this is one dish. They were churrasco and chorizo stuffed tostones. The tostones were made into the form of a cup almost like a cupcake. They they had grilled chorizo and fried churrasco, which is skirt steak.

Here is the sample platter that had empanada de pollo (not to be confused with empanadillas), tostones, sliced grilled chorizo, beef empanadillas, and yuca fries. The pictures dont do it justice, specially since their portions were big.On our way home we stopped to pick up some Medalla- La Cerveza de Puerto Rico! It was good. Juju said it tasted like Malta, but i dont really like malta's all that much, but i thought it was good anyway. They are definitely strong.Here is our mini fridge all stocked up. We had some Coronas along with the Medalla's. Can you believe a 6pk of Miller Lite was like 15 dollars?!? That bag next to the real lime Juice was our left overs from Fuego de mi Tierra.That pretty much concluded our day, we looked out from our balcony at the moon lit ocean. You could hear the waves crashing and the coqui chirping away. There is nothing like those sounds back home... only ambulances wailing and systems rattlin' in car trunks.

Day 2- Da Beeech

We spent the second day at the beach, well pretty much most of the day. I had never really been to the 'beach beach' little less such a beautiful one. We walked down to the beach. I'm not sure really what its name was, I'm guessing isla Verde beach? any how. The sand was very light colored, fine and hot. The sun was beaming and there was a awesome breeze. We found a few lounge chairs and set up 'camp'. We bought a couple of magazines at the airport on our way here so we brought them along for some light reading. We slathered on sunscreen and laid out to bake.

We hadn't been laying out for too long when you could start to see tan lines. Turn. A few more minutes and i was literally roasting. We decided to head into the water. I'm not sure if it was the best idea to lay out in the hot sun and then jump into the ocean, as it is, you know when you first get in the water (whether it be a lake, pool or in this case the ocean) its always colder then you thought it would be. So i did what my Momma told me and put saliva on my earlobes and started making my way to the water.

I tried acting like it wasn't as cold as it really was, since i knew if i showed weakness juju would definitely splash. I dove in, initially the water felt extremely cold- i mean cold.Once i was fully submerged my body adjusted and the water was perfect. The waves weren't very strong- but i was still fearful of going in too deep. I actually had a very scary dream before the wedding. I dreamed that either Juju or I had drowned in the ocean on our honeymoon. I'm not sure which one of us it was because the dream was a bit blurry. This dream either came to me due to stress or due to the many 20/20 investigations where the husband kills the wife on their honeymoon in Aruba. Just saying.

We enjoyed the salty ocean for some time before getting back out on the sun. And boy was the water salty. I know its salt water and we all know how you cannot drink salt water, but man, Juju and i were hoping on each others backs (we are only about 20 pounds in the water) and when juju tried hopping on my back, i wasn't ready and i went under. It was an accident- i think. I came up and i was literally gagging because of all the salt in the back of my throat. It burned, it was awful. I was in my nose, my eyes, my ears. Yuk!

We went back to the room and relaxed for a bit before deciding what to do for dinner. Since the resort wasn't all inclusive we got to try new places everyday. Initially i was concerned with the fact that we had to pay for all meals/drinks. I found a great deal on the trip so spending a couple of hundred dollars on meals and drinks would actually break even with a few of the all inclusive resorts we had looked at. We had the convenience of a mini fridge so we decided to stock it with a few items.

We drove to a local grocery store and bought sandwich making material, breakfast pastries,PB&J, juice, water, fruit, beer, chips, oatmeal and a few other things. These came in handy for our long trips, since we could pack a lunch. And we pretty much ate light breakfasts everyday in our room, coffee, oatmeal, OJ, PB&J sandwiches, coffee cake etc.
I know- We're Savvy.

Day 1- part deux

We walked out of the hotel and took a right. That's all i remember, i was so hungry that it caused me to have a mild case of Alzheimer's. We walked down Avenida Isla Verde, there was some construction going on both sides of the street and to top it off it was rather busy. Its the main street before the hotels that lay on the beach, basically lake drive here in Milwaukee.

There was familiar places like pizza hut and burger king, but we wanted to expand our horizons. We passed up a few small places and landed at Los Pinos. The was a casual semi open bar and grill. It was relatively empty, just a few people at the bar and about two other tables were full. It was hot in (out really) there. They had the fans going, but it produced no air whatsoever. The waitress came and took our order.

That was a whole ordeal in itself. Let me try and explain. I, am Mexican, full blood 100% Mexican. Juju, is 50/50. Mexirican. 99% of the people in Puerto Rico are full blooded home grown 100% Puerto Rican. The Spanish language can be very different among cultures, let alone urban vs rural communities. Spanish is spoken at warp speeds in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rican (as Mexican do as well- Nik' anyone?) people sometimes, mispronounce and/or drop letters when speaking. i.e Torn=Roto; Roto=Joto (PR Spanish) and Joto= Gay (MX Spanish) see?

I tried ordering empanadas, which she explained really meant something breaded. I was looking for those folded meat stuffed deep fried yummy things. Empanadillas....Oh. Well then i guess i'll get that... she asked how many. I said how big are they? she holds her index finger and thumb out, about 3-4 inches away from each other. 3 i said. We also got some tostones and juj ordered a Cuban. Since it was hot, we decided to stay hydrated and refreshed with some drinks. Juj got a Corona and i got a Bacardi & coke.

Our food came out and to my surprise each one of my empanadillas was a good 6 inches big each. hm... measurement barriers?

The food was delicious. The empanadillas were warm and flaky, the tostones were sweet and crispy and Juju loved his Cuban. Juju's corona was cold and my Bacardi and coke was strong. I couldn't finish my empanadillas since i was wrongfully deceived by our waitress. We got a box for my empanadilla ( which later was to be eaten- heated up by our hairdryer since we were sans microwave) and our bill, which seemed low. I looked over it to find that my Bacardi and coke was only 2.81 (including tax) 2.81! can you believe that? So from there on out i made a promise to only drink Rum while in Puerto Rico, i mean they do say... When in Rome. Right?

Day 1

The night of our wedding we stayed in a honeymoon suite at the Hilton. It was huge, too huge actually. I mean who really needs a dining room? It was nicely appointed with a huge bedroom, dining room, living room, hot tub, a wet bar, 3 closets and 1.5 baths. We discovered the half bath on our way out, i was making sure nothing was left behind and i opened the door to what i thought was the closet to discover a half bath. So when we got to our room at the Intercontinental it seemed small, but really... it was just two of us. But, it made up its lacking in size- we were able to wake up to this every morning

Here are a few pictures of our room. The color palette was very soothing and the bed so comfortable with fluffy crisp linen. All the wood was a rich dark brown. It was so simple but so perfect.

Here is our view standing directly in front of the arm chair

and another

to the left....

and the right....

Our comfy bed-

The private pool area was just as stunning. Palm trees everywhere, birds, baby geckos, coqui's, beautiful colorful tropical flowers at every turn. Hell even the entrance to the hotel was pretty. I told juju it reminded me of that one time the Tanners went to Hawaii (i think) and were taken on stage by the Beach Boys. lol
After we simmered down from all the excitement we unpacked our clothes and set up the bathroom for use. We were both starving and ready to go out exploring around the hotel. And so we did.