A bit ago, I took a wonderful trip sans baby nor hubby with some girl friends to Old San Juan! I actually hadn’t been to Old San Juan since our honeymoon trip over a decade ago, so it was about time! I have a tendency to avoid large cities and San Juan in general sort of freaks this country girl out with all the traffic, crowds, toll roads, parking fees, tall buildings and easy-to-miss exits. But thankfully my friend Missy took the lead and coordinated the whole thing! We got a nice Airbnb right in the heart of OSJ and drove together in her large comfy van. We only stayed one night but it was nice to get a feel for the place again.
Under the umbrellas in Old San Juan
Old San Juan has such a cool vibe to it, that it is hard to explain. Old and modern, hip and vintage at the same time. I was a little sad that our Airbnb had completely renovated and removed the classic black and white tile floors from the apartment because that and some of the hidden little courtyards make that area so famous. There were still some remnants of the political “Ricky Renuncia” campaign, but otherwise it was in beautiful shape. I finally saw the umbrella display at La Fortaleza and enjoyed walking the old blue cobblestone roads again. Here are some pictures of our time there. Thanks to friends Ricia and Paz also for some of these great shots!
Pigeon on a statue, broken shoe from so much walking, winky girls at Chocobar Cortes
Piraguas, cool arquitecture, and the house of the original Pina Colada
Columbus Oblisque, Catholic Church, Cat Chairs at the garitas
Fun with friends, cobblestones, cool scenes and full moon over el Morro!
Art display and out on the town with the ladies!
View from the Airbnb apt and coffee in the morning
Good food and friends at Chocobar Cortes (chocolate infused mofongo tacos!?)
Street scenes
More Viejo San Juan
La Fortaleza Umbrellas
The old and the new side by side. History is built in layers
It was a wonderful trip and we’re hoping to make it happen more regularly!
This past week we took a mini vacation to the small island of Culebra. If there was ever a place that has the quintessential tropical Caribbean island look, this is it!
Incredible Culebra!
The long stretches of powdered sugar white beaches and the warm turquoise waters of Flamenco beach were straight out of a travel magazine. We only stayed one night at the first place we saw, Kokomo, right off the ferry dock, but we got a good feel for the place.
I think we could have gotten a better deal because it was about the size of a closet and we had to crawl over the bed to get anywhere, and the floors needed a good mopping but it had hot water to shower and a clean bed so it wasn’t too horrible for $65. We asked around at a couple of places just to see what the going nightly rate was. One guy quoted me at Mamacitas Guesthouse $119 plus tax and I just said thanks and turned around. Then he said, “Well, how about $80?” So there is definitely room to negotiate if you go there!
The ferry terminal has moved from Fajardo to Ceiba after Hurricane Maria
It was still off-season on a Tuesday in early November. There was hardly anyone on the roads as we drove around in our golf cart (that we rented for about $50) going about 10 mph hiding Aeden in a beach bag. It was so fun. It’s like being in a tropical island adventure video game where you drive in a go-cart especially up some crazy hills and little side dirt roads haha.
Golf cart and off roads
Probably the hardest part about the trip was just how far it was from Rincon. Rincon is the furthest west you can go on the island of Puerto Rico and Ceiba is nearly the farthest east! So we gave ourselves 4 hours to get there going the southern route and giving time to stop for breakfast at El Meson, but we were still late and had to take the 11am ferry instead of the 9am. The boat ride was fun if a little choppy and we caught air a couple of times that made me just a little queasy. It took about an hour ride there. It was much quicker coming back the next day not fighting the current and we learned to go inside into the air conditioned area.
From the Ceiba Ferry to white sand beaches in about 1 hour!
The island is super tiny. Only about 1500 people live there and there are no other towns than the island itself. The disparity between rich and poor is very obvious. The poor and tourists take the ferry and the rich (and splurging tourists) fly in or boat in with sailboats and other vessels. The poor live in run down shacks and the rich have huge mansions on the hills.
Boats in the harbor
Family fun!
Cool drawbridge and moon!
My overall impression was that it was an incredible place to visit, but I would definitely get island fever living there because there is really not much to do other than spend time at the beaches and drink and that would get old quick. At least on the “main island” of Puerto Rico we can drive for 4 plus hours and get lost!
At the bridge to Flamenco Beach
One of the tanks by the sea
The most shocking thing to me was learning about the history of the bombing and military drills that were practiced on Culebra and Vieques. I can only imagine what it would have been like to live on an island that is so pristine only to hear, feel and see live munitions going off. And occasionally people (as well as flora and fauna) were hurt! Rates of cancer have been found to be higher on these islands as a result of dropping bombs on them as well. Thankfully these practices ended in the early 2000s but there are still some remnants such as these leftover tanks rusting in the sun and sea salt.
Another tank on Playa Flamenco that has been consumed by the sea
Great place for a photo shoot!
The Dinghy Dock is a popular restaurant in Culebra
We dressed up for dinner out. And with Hector the Protector in the background
Melones Beach is much different than Flamenco and is mostly full of washed up coral
Overall, it was a wonderful, short trip. I would have liked to have maybe seen a couple of other beaches, but I think we got a good feel for the place in our brief time there. There’s not a whole lot on an island that’s only about 7 miles wide! We climbed a hill, visited the police dock, went out to dinner at the night Dinghy Dock restaurant that had just opened for the season and walked around the ferry/downtown area where they are doing construction on a new pier/dock.
Aeden playing on the beach
Worth a visit for sure! When we arrived back on the main island we caught up with our friends Fran and Steve and then hung out at a pizzeria at the Luquillo Kiosks and then we were on our (long) way back home to Rincon. A fun outing and Aeden did so good in the car!
Halloween with a baby has already made it a much different holiday than without kids. Though I did miss the wild late night parties of Rincon this year, we had a lot of fun just keeping it low-key. I have always loved dressing up, especially in costumes, so I couldn’t wait to think of a new “disfraz” (costume).
A monkey in the jungle with his bananas!
When we found this cute little monkey costume, I set out to think about what would go well with a monkey? A big banana? Other jungle creatures? Then I had it. One of my favorite artists. Frida Kahlo. Frida inspired me in school because I learned the often sad ties between heartache, pain and artistic expression. When I traveled throughout Mexico, her image was iconic. When Salma Hayek played Frida in a Hollywood movie, she gained even more fame and is now fairly well known. Some of her best-known artworks are self portraits, especially with her pets. Most notably, monkeys. And that was where this costume was born.
Frida and her monkey
From there Britton became either Diego Rivera, Frida’s husband, or maybe a jungle tamer or Indiana Jones or Curious George’s dad or Steve Irwin. Funny that a hat or wig can totally make a costume!
Family costume!
This Frida and her monkey
We went out to our good friend Missy’s house for some spooky good food and even I (often not really into cooking) got into the spirit making Halloween themed pasta salad and a childhood favorite of dirt pudding!
Fun times with friends!
Halloween pasta salad and graveyard dirt
Fun trick-or-treating
What a ghoulish group!
Then we went out trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. Aeden was getting a little fussy so we headed home, but before we got there, we stopped and did a lap or two around Art Walk since Halloween fell on a Thursday this year. It was fun to see so many friends out and about dressed up. Halloween just isn’t a big holiday in Puerto Rico, but we celebrated it very well. Overall, it was a lovely and mellow Halloween this year!
With Aeden’s adoptive abuela, Maribel and a random Mariachi-dressed guy at Artwalk
Here’s a little how-to video on my Frida costume (and remember to subscribe to our Youtube channel and ring the bell to see the newest videos before anyone else!):
Thanks to an anonymous reader of this blog who encouraged us to look for the waterfall of Hacienda El Jibarito we went on the hunt again. This waterfall is named Las Golondrinas (the Swallows) and it far exceeded our expectations. I thought it was perhaps a small stream fall without a pond, but it was amazing! The trail to the fall in a bosque ecologico was relatively well-kept by the Hacienda and there were signs and trashcans along the way. It was a bit of a hike (maybe 10 minutes with a baby in tow), but we didn’t have to cross any water to get there. And when we arrived it took my breath away!
Ahhh-mazing
The water was cool and refreshing and the waterfall had a drop of about 80 feet or more into a deep 20-30 foot pond. There was a shallow area for kids to play and enough rocks to scramble. What’s more, we were the ONLY people there. Unlike Gozalandia which is incredibly beautiful with two falls on the property, the secret has not gotten out about Las Golondrinas and I hope it stays that way (except all of you reading this haha).
Aeden enjoyed playing at the water’s edge
There are 2 other “charcas” or ponds on this property, and we walked to one of them, but there was no real waterfall. I still want to see the third, but I have a feeling it just won’t compare to the cathedral feeling that Las Golondrinas had. A truly spiritual connection to the natural world. What’s more is that I had a sense of connection to millions of years ago because there was a huge deposit of ocean fossils all around. We couldn’t walk 5 feet without finding stones with ancient imprints.
The hike there wasn’t too bad, even carrying a baby
The waterfall was so perfect I had to share the secret with some friends. A couple of weeks after we went the first time, we took a caravan up and spent a wonderful afternoon just lounging about in the cool shade of the blue lagoon.
Thanks to Daisy for this picture!
Fun with friends!
Can’t beat freshwater falls with friends!
Taking a dip!
Thanks to Jessika for this picture!
Sometimes I still am surprised myself that this is my life. Straight out of some tropical adventure movie, the scenes and settings often still seem unreal to my midwestern brain. But here I am, in my new transplanted home, the land my long-awaited son was conceived and born from, La Isla del Encanto. And how many enchantments it truly holds!
