We had a wonderful Christmas this year, and the next day my parents came for their 5 day stint as baby-sitters. Javi cooked steaks and I made bruschetta, spinach salad with strawberries, and sweet potatoes, for an early dinner around 4:30. We wanted to leave for the airport by 6 for our 7:30 PM red-eye flight.
Packed & ready, we headed out with our carry-on’s, plus “hand held” luggage (my camera + a grocery bag with snacks). With luck on our side, we scored an Awesome parking spot! Then no wait and no issues thru security. We had quite a wait since everything went so smoothly, so I started watching J’s current “binge” show {finally signed up for Netflix on Christmas Day–wow, we didn’t know what we had been missing!} Orange is the New Black. Finally got on the flight to Washington, Dulles for our connection!
To my delight, the cover article on United airlines “Hemisphere” magazine was about San Juan, so I had some reading material for the first flight. After a quick layover in DC, I realized I had completely jinxed us! The flight was freezing, and I hadn’t brought a jacket, as it was 72* when we left Greensboro, and Puerto Rico was going to be 70-80* the entire time. Javi shared his jacket with me, but I’d oscillate between hot and cold. He was coughing and sneezing, still getting over his cold. The lady next to me had her bright iPad on the entire flight. The pilot kept updating us on the status of the Redskins game (Who cares!? lol) No good sleep, needless to say. In a slight drizzly rain, we arrived at 2:30 AM completely wiped.
I had made the plane & hotel reservations back in Sept/Oct, but somehow the car rental eluded me, and I didn’t make the reservation until the week prior to our trip! I booked thru Expedia, but the “EZ rental” not so easy. They weren’t located at the airport, like Hertz, Avis, and the others. So, we had to find the shuttle, which thankfully wasn’t too hard. Then the driver took another family to their hotel first. We finally got our rental, a red Kia Rio. Right down the street was a happening place, Bebo’s BBQ, so we ordered pollo y arroz con arandulas–chicken and rice with beans. Yum! Our GPS didn’t work quite right, but we found our way to Old San Juan. Drove around a bit, took a little nap, then waited for sunrise at the old fort, El Morro (cover photo at top was taken at sunrise at El Morro).
After sunrise, we set out for Starbucks (which didn’t open til 8, ¡Maldito sea!) We headed southwest towards Ponce, where Javi was born and grew up.
One of the interesting sights along the drive was Las Tetas de Cayey, meaning “the boobs of Cayey”–can you see them?
It took maybe an hour and a half to drive the width of the island to Ponce:
We arrived at Javi’s aunt and uncle’s around 8, where 9 little faces barked eagerly, then jumped all over us. His aunt R had prepared a wonderful Panamanian breakfast for us, with steak & onions, eggs, and tostones. Delish! She had also picked out some Puerto Rican gifts for each of us, so sweet!
We played with their 9 little Yorkie dogs, then took a nap and showered before going to meet up with J’s family in his old neighborhood.
We walked J’s old neighborhood, sat and talked with his family, then ate lunch at El Meson, where Javi was disappointed they didn’t have his favorite old sandwich. I was starving, so it all tasted good to me!
We checked into our hotel, the Hilton Ponce Golf & Casino Resort. Though we didn’t plan on gambling or golfing, we wanted to stay at the beach. We had a view of the ocean, just 50 meters or so from our room.
After another short nap, we got our suits on and headed to the beach. There were hammocks available, so we lounged… got some strawberry margaritas… found some lounge chairs on the beach and chilled some more. There was a breeze and it was 75-80*… darn near perfect. I did a short sprint just to stretch my legs and get my toes in the sand.
We got ready for dinner around 6:30, and drove down the beach to La Guancha. It’s the local hangout spot, a boardwalk with open air kiosks, food, dancing and loud music, and lots of families enjoying themselves. We checked out some of the kiosks, then had a late dinner of empanadillas de carne, tostones rellenos con carrucho (conch), y Medalla beer–the local beer.
We met up with J’s aunt & uncle, watched dancing, shopped but bought nothing, and just enjoyed watching people and soaking up the local culture. What struck me was how many small kids were playing so late at night!
Since we only had 1 night in Ponce, we left La Guancha around 9 and headed to the town square in Ponce, a few miles away, so we could get some of the famous ice cream Javi has told me so much about.
WJavi had guanabana, and I had parcha (passion fruit). YUM!
We walked the town square, then headed up the hill to see the Cruceta del Vigía and the mansion of the rum company Don Q’s owner.
And after that…. we fell into bed exhausted, and slept for 11 hours straight!
[…] a fun yet jam-packed first day in Puerto Rico, we slept until 9:30, by accident… and exhaustion. It was crazy to think we hadn’t […]