Puerto Rico Pt. 2

We decided to venture off of the main island and visit Culebra, a nearby Spanish Virgin Island. We set out far too early in the morning, to catch the ferry.


As you can see, it didn't look to be the best day for beaching.


Unfortunately, we got to the ferry a few minutes late and they were no longer selling tickets to Culebra. We settled for Vieques instead. The island was sparsely populated and not nearly as touristy as San Juan. In fact, it wasn't touristy at all.



We went to an isolated beach. It may have only been isolated because it was a rainy day. There was just one little food stand, where we promptly got some un-Virgin beverages. I am just now realizing that it was only about 10:30am.


This little boy kept spying on me through the bushes. Adorable! I love hide and seek with toddlers.


See? Isolated.


Though it was cloudy and cool out, I was rather happy to have nothing beside me but my giant sun hat, a book I would never get around to reading, and a strawberry juice with rum.


Oh, and one of my dearest friends.


We collected shells and looked out at the ocean and talked about boys and watched the sky turn ever grayer.




Before long, we got pretty hungry and headed back to the food shack to order some eats. I have no idea what this was called, but it was the best thing I ate all week. Little bowls made of fried plantains, filled with a ceviche-like medley of shrimp, onions, cilantro, and lime juice. There's something else in there, a starchy potato-ish thing, but I can't remember the name. Anyway, behold: deliciousness.


We walked around the beach some more, and Kerri wanted to dip her feet in to see exactly how cold the water was... but her flip flops were ripped from her feet by the waves, and since she was holding ice cream, she couldn't very well reach in and grab them. She resorted to stomping on her shoes, then laughing, then yelling at me for help, then yelling at me for laughing at her and taking a photo instead.




We continued to chill. From the looks of this photo, you can't even tell that it was raining and windy.


While we waited for our taxi to pick us up to take us back to the ferry, we walked around the other side of the shore, where there were lots of little cool, colorful places.












By the way, this is the house Kerri is planning to live in when she moves to Puerto Rico.







The ferry arrived and Kerri asked me for a picture. I framed up and she said, "No, I mean WITH YOU."


"Oooohhhhh okay."


So. We had planned to take a kayak tour of the bioluminescent bays that evening. Bioluminescent fish are a special species whose defense mechanism causes them to light up and glow in the water... which is pretty cool when you're kayaking around in them at night. However, our concierge at the hotel, Jorge, gave us some wacky (vague) directions ("Go on the 3. After the McDonald's, pass three lights and then turn left.") and we ended up getting ridiculously lost, which was actually the most fun part of our trip.

By the time we found the bay, it was about 8 o'clock. We were both very, very hungry (which is NOT a good look on either of us) but decided to do the tour and get dinner right afterward. As we waited for the tour guide to get some insurance waivers, we had the genius idea to ask him how long the tour is. "Two hours," he replied happily. We were not so happy. We looked at each other, our combined blood sugar dropping, and decided to just go to dinner. It's a missed opportunity for a great experience, but we were really. really. hungry.

So we drove back up to a cool restaurant we'd seen while we were lost, which sat atop a bluff overlooking the ocean. After our beach day, we were looking a bit slovenly so we spent a good five minutes primping to look presentable. Then we realized that the people eating on the balcony of the restaurant had a prime view of us gussying.


But damn was it gorgeous.


It was exactly what we wanted. Tapas in both the Spanish style and the Puerto Rican style, with a view of the moon and the blackness of the ocean at night.


Weird ladies' room.


GOOD tapas.




Our final day in Puerto Rico started off with a deliciously greasy breakfast.




Then we just kinda walked around more, getting our fill of the architecture of Old San Juan.


This place looked like it would have an amazing brunch.














We wandered into an art gallery and admired its collection.










Even the art galleries have lovely courtyards.


We both left the gallery feeling freshly inspired.





It rained again that day, so to get shelter for a little bit, we stopped at this little cafè.


It was empty but for the coquì frogs all around us, chirping as we enjoyed a Bacardi lemonade.


I was sad it was our last day there, but by that time I was relaxed enough to stretch and sigh every two seconds.




The rain fell around us and our cafè canopy.


Hey, you've gotta clear the water from the canopy some way, right?




We set off, intent on getting some souvenirs for loved ones. I dug the cigars for Shannon, Mike and Tom.






Then we walked down the most beautiful street in San Juan.


(it was by a convent, naturally.)






The next day we both left for home. Although I had a good time in Puerto Rico, I have never been so happy to smell the polluted airport taxi waiting area of New York as I was that evening. I don't know what it is, but every time I come home from traveling outside of New York, as the taxi crosses the bridge from Queens to Manhattan, I get a peek at the skyline, and the Empire State Building, and the Chrysler Building, and I feel the same thing I felt the day I moved here: a sense of being home, being somewhere I belong.




Guess I'm just a city girl at heart.

love,
*jenna*

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*

A Tribute To The Ladies'

I WILL blog about Puerto Rico, I swear. In the meantime....






love,
*jenna*

Clicking My Red Mary Janes

There's no place like New York, There's no place like New York....


love,
*jenna*

Mamma Mia!

Happy Mother's Day to the absolute best mom I know.










love,
*chiquitita*

Two Lips

One thing about New York that strikes my heart every single year is its tulips (perhaps my most blogged-about flower). Since I moved here, I have come to associate tulips with lungfuls of warm air, accidental smiles and blisters from first-worn sandals. Each spring, just as world seems to be growing new again, New York celebrates with these, my favorite flower. Everywhere I look, they've just popped up like rows of pretty girls in summer dresses in some lost musical from the '50s.

Greeting me from the fronts of shops...


Waving at me on the walk to work past Central Park...


Nodding in the wind, absolutely glowing in the sunlight during a Sunday stroll...




There's even a differently colored set on each block down Broadway.


(I'm partial to the red.)


Don't even GET me started on the cherry blossoms; that's a whole other post.


So thank you, New York City, if for nothing but your tulips.

love,
*jenna*