The Hubby's Birthday

This was our first official trip as husband and wife, well not counting our honeymoon- That would count as your first trip as newlyweds.

When i was planning our honeymoon we thought about spending the night in Chicago, seeing that we were flying out from O'hare, on the day of we got back to-well, um reality. Juju thought it was a great idea, he actually wanted to stay at the W Chicago Lakeshore. I looked into booking us a night but that came to a screeching halt when we found out we would be spending upwards around 300 dollars to stay there a single night. So we quickly put that idea to bed and decided to have my sis and bro in law pick us up from the airport and drive us home.

Juju was pretty bummed about this. I was the voice of reason in that decision. 300 dollars for a single night?!? I was totally not interested in shelling out $300. With that said, i felt bad, believe it or not. I mean i had chosen our honeymoon location and juju pretty much went with it. And all he wanted was a single night in Chicago.

I bet you think i caved right?

Wrong!! I actually went online at wor- ehem, at home, and started searching for deals at the W for Jujus birthday- which wasn't until the end of June. Lo and behold i found a room upgrade for 2 nights with a lake view for around 360. I know what your thinking, not that good of a deal... but um yeah sorta it is. For one, its 2 nights instead of 1 and in all honesty, i would have paid that and much more for juju.

I tried keeping it a surprise for as long as i could, i literally booked this trip in April. I eventually had to tell him so he could request his days off from work. So here are a few pictures from our Chicago trip.

Our view from the hotel. To the right is Navy prier.

The weather forecast was sunny and warm and instead it rained, it wasnt cold, but i wasnt prepared for rain at all. Still downtown chicago was beautiful.

I like how little juju looks compared to the world around him.

Last Day

The last morning in puerto rico was supposed to be busy believe it or not. Since we spent a lot of time being lost during the week we didn't get around to renting jet skis , which juj really wanted to do. So we got up, packed up our suitcases and had our breakfast. Our flight home was scheduled for the early afternoon so we wanted to get a few more hours of sun before heading out.

We got ready and headed down to the beach. We walked over to the Jet Ski rental place to find out they ran island time. According to their sign they opened at 9. It was shortly after 10. The guy behind the counter told us it would be a few minutes before they would be ready to take the first people out into the water, and even then, they had to wait to fill all the seats before the first round of people could go out. I was pretty bummed, seeing that it was very unlikely that people would be jet skiing that early in the morning.

So we made the best of the situation and laid out in the sun for a few minutes before heading into the ocean. After a while we decided to go into the hotel's pool area and enjoy the hot tub.

Here is juj sitting behind/under/next/hugging the water fall.

So then he said ok, your turn... so hug it. As you can see, the water fall doesn't seem fierce, it doesn't look strong. So i went up to it, trying to get my arms around it with no avail. So then i did the old 'Yawn, Stretch and put my hand around the water fall' move.

Then Juju says, put your head in it. And so i did. Here i am getting pelted on the head with water.

It actually hurt, as you can see from my dissatisfied look. That's the last time i listen to him.

We dried up and went up to our hotel room to take one last look around, making sure we didn't forget anything. It was actually quite sad to be leaving. The whole time we were in Puerto Rico, i didn't once think about the fact that it would all be over in a week. Since we got married on a Friday and had our gift opening on Saturday and then left for out honeymoon on sunday, It felt like a whirlwind, like the party never ended.

Now that we were getting ready to go back home, i started feeling sad.I knew it would soon be time to go back to reality. Back to work, back to our everyday routine.

We caught a cab and made our way to the airport. The customs lines were ridiculously long. Once we were past customs and had actually made it to the waiting area to board the plane we heard an announcement saying that our flight was over booked and wanted a few volunteers to fly out tomorrow and they would get a travel voucher and their accommodations paid for, for the extra night. My ears instantly perked up! Juj, on the other hand was so fed up with the lines and the waiting that he just wanted to get on the plane. Although i insisted that we should do it, seeing that neither one of us had to work the next day Juju wanted to simply get home. The more and more i think about it, we should have taken the airlines offer. Next time for sure, if it ever happens again, im all over it.

My sister and brother in law picked us up from the airport. It was nice to be home but its was very cold, well it was about 50 something, but compared to 85+ degree weather on a tropical island-i was freezing! I immediately wanted to run back thru those doors on the return flight to puerto rico. Needless to say i got sick- what a way welcome home.

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.