Puerto Rico, Part 1

Kerri and I originally intended to go to New Orleans to work on building a school for Habitat For Humanity. But by the time we both got our work vacation times sorted out, we discovered that by that week, the project would be finished. Ergo, we decided to have a "real" vacation.

I arrived in Old San Juan a full nine hours before she did, and for the first eight of them, I thought that I had forgotten my camera. I couldn't find it anywhere and was kicking my blogging self for it. But when Kerri called me from the airport saying she was going to be an hour late for our reunion dinner, I started digging around in my backpack for a granola bar and found my Elph. I was so excited I took a photo of myself in the bathroom. Hooray!


The best part of our hotel was the safety placards on every floor, describing to us what an alarm sounds like.


Though we were staying in a very touristy part of town, across the street from a bay where Carnival Cruise Lines docked, I managed to find the most amazing little cafè with some of the best coffee I've ever had. I knew it would be good when I walked in because there were no tourists inside, or at least no one was speaking English.


Lovely painted windows.


And delicious cheese pastries called quesitos. Behold, one of the finest ways to start one's day:


We walked around our first day just checking out the old Spanish Colonial architecture, narrow streets filled with amazing colors.






There were dozens of little nooks where, if you looked inside, you saw a hint of a courtyard just beyond your reach.












We wandered into a church, empty and silent except for a woman mopping and singing while she worked, her voice echoing through the aisles.




There was even a catacomb to explore, and be creeped out by.











From that street, we could see one of the fortresses that guarded the old city, neither of which we visited.






Kerri really wanted to get another tattoo, which I wasn't too keen about yet because I didn't have anything particular in mind... then we came upon this place and Kerri got that look in her eyes.


It didn't work. We moved on.


We ate a delicious lunch of garlic and lime chicken at Yeyos, which was just lovely inside.








Later we took a li'l ferry ride to the Bacardi distillery, which was extremely weird for me since I had just spent two months killing myself with work for a new Bacardi ad. I was branded out.


But not so much that I couldn't enjoy my two free mojitos.


We teetered along the edge of the ocean, and someone nearly fell in. Luckily I was there to take a photo instead of catch her.


The next day was our one true beach day, the only day that week that was warm enough and sunny enough to really enjoy the surf and sand.


And by sand, I mean super sand. Sand that blows with gusts of wind into your eyes and mouth and into your (our) bathing suits.


We still maxed and relaxed anyway.




We roamed around looking for a place to grab a bite, getting rather lost on the way.


We settled on an out-of-the way place that seemed kind of "eh" with a hand-written menu facing the street boasting crepes and sandwiches. But as we walked further into the cafè, we saw what really kept the place in business - its view.


Incidentally, it was the best burger I've had in years.


The next day we ventured into the rainforest, opting for a rental car instead of a hired guide and other tourists to worry about. However, navigating the roads and highways of San Juan was not as easy as we'd anticipated.


As Kerri was freaking out, she tried to ignore my laughter and yelled, "Just look out the window! Just look at the view!"


Good view. It did get better as we ventured into the El Yunque rainforest. All became lush, and the air grew fresh in our lungs.






One attraction of the forest was the Yokahu Tower, which was built so that a park ranger from long ago could keep an eye on the whole forest. And possibly hold a princess with very long hair hostage.








As we began to venture down the hiking trail toward Mina Falls, the rain became heavy so we decided to forgo style and get ourselves some ponchos. As soon as we got them on we laughed so hard at each other that we almost didn't make it onto the trail.


I never thought I could look dorkier than I did with shorts and tennis shoes with athletic socks... until I put on this poncho.


I kind of look like E.T., no? Anyway, we spent a few hours in the forest, listening to the coquì frogs and checking out big fauna.




Despite the cloudiness, we stopped at Luquillo Beach on the way home and were sand-blasted once again (as you can tell by the graininess of these photos).




Before long we were approached by three teenage boys from Fajardo who absolutely wouldn't leave us alone. They were kind of funny though, so we chatted in spanglish for a bit with them. The youngest one was a riot, striking what he thought were "manly" poses.












But the best shots we got were when he was just being himself.


He was so full of energy that even as we were walking away from them, he continued to practice his stand-up routine with us.


And checked himself out in our windows.


And even danced away from us. He reminded us of the beauty of real youth, when all you have to worry about is school and crushes on the opposite sex.


Starving, we stopped at the Luquillo kioskos for some fried food.




Rainforest in front of us, ocean behind us, we enjoyed some pastillos, alcapurrias and Medalla beer. Delicious!






I freaked when I spotted Mamacita's lamp.... it's identical to the lamp my own mama owned for years and gave to me when I moved into my apartment.


One must have a healthy supply of plantains to make some serious alcapurrias, and Mamacita's was well-stocked.


Kerri, being Kerri, asked one of the employees if she could take a closer look. They not only said yes, they gave her one as a souvenir.


This is a toll booth where, when we realized we only had dollar bills and no coins, we both freaked out and Kerri yelled at me to get out of the car and ask strangers for change.


That's it for Part 1. Stay tuned for the next installation of Kerri And Jenna's Puerto Rican Vacay!

love,
*jenna*