Day 1 - Welcome to Culebra!


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Published: May 12th 2007
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Old San JuanOld San JuanOld San Juan

Old San Juan
Before I begin talking about the trip, I figured I should start with how we decided to go to Culebra. To make a long story short, my Mom and I were supposed to go visit my Grandparents in Florida for Mothers Day, but my Mom and my Grandma got in a fight, and so we decided to go to Culebra instead. Now that thats out of the way....

I was skeptical at first, but I found out that 5:45AM actually does exist. I had never seen it before this day. Not a fan.

After a 4 hour flight we arrived in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Since we had another 4 hours to kill before our short flight to Culebra, we decided to take a cab to Old San Juan, which is the historical area. My Mom and the cab driver proceeded to talk in Spanish for the entire cab ride. No, I had no idea my Mom spoke Spanish, or as she likes to say, Franish, since she took both Spanish and French in school and they sort of blended together. Probably the most surprising part of the trip.

The town itself has a classic feel very
RestaurantRestaurantRestaurant

Restaurant in Old San Juan. Delicious.
different from the rest of San Juan. We had the cab driver take us to an authentic Puerto Rican restaurant. Unfortunately I don't remember the name of the place, but the food was very good. Our waiter was actually press photographer from Queens, so we chatted for a while. Then we went exploring. My first run in with a local was a pleasant experience. A man noticed us admiring the architecture and gave us a quick impromptu history of the town. My second run in with a local was not as pleasant. A man obviously high on something very powerful proceeded to ask me very personal questions before asking if I was a ______. I won't tell you what the blank was so you will have to use your imagination.

Next we visited Fort San Cristobal which was very cool. For $3 USD we were allowed to go inside. The view from the top was very beautiful. We didn't want to miss our flight so we headed to the airport. We had reservations with Air Flamenco, which is a tiny airline with tiny airplanes that runs out of a tiny airport. I can't say it any better than that.
Fort 1Fort 1Fort 1

Fort from a distance
Although my view was obscured by the propeller (yes the plane was that small), the 30 minute flight was very nice.

We finally arrived in Culebra and crossed the street to pick up our Jeep from Jerry's Jeeps, which is very misleading since he gave us a Geo, not a Jeep. I later learned that if we wanted a Jeep we should have gone to Carlos instead of Jerry but that he would have charged us twice as much, so we didn't really mind. Jerry wasn't there, but his assistant gave us the keys and a note from Jerry which instructed us to wait 4 seconds for the transmission to kick in after putting the car in reverse before pressing on the gas....

We stopped off for groceries at the mini mart around the corner, which was more stocked than I expected, and headed to our hotel. Luckily the hotel was only 10-15 minutes from the Airport. Finding it wasn't a problem, but I did get my first taste of Culebra's roads. There is basically one semi nice road that circles the island, and then there are rest of the roads that branch from the main one and
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Mom at Fort
are all bumpy dirt roads, which our Geo did not seem to like. I am surprised and relieved that our Geo never stalled. After driving 3 miles per hour for 8 minutes and 2 blocks, we arrived at the beautiful Playa Flamenco (Flamenco Beach). We met our host, Johnny, who was awesome and took great care of us. We took our first look at the beach, unpacked and went to sleep.

I won't say too much about the beach. You can check out the pics and see for yourself. But, I will say that it is the nicest beach that I have ever seen and imagine ever seeing in my life. If there is a nicer beach out there I don't know what it would look like.


Additional photos below
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PlanePlane
Plane

What??? We're flying in THAT???!
BaggageBaggage
Baggage

Baggage claim...Culebra style :)
GeoGeo
Geo

This is a Geo, not a Jeep. Do not be fooled.
Colapsing BuildingColapsing Building
Colapsing Building

I can see the real estate posting now...Spacious, furnished two bedroom with skylight.
SunSun
Sun

Looks like it belongs in a Club Med commercial
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Fort 2

Fort slightly closer.
Me in front of FortMe in front of Fort
Me in front of Fort

My Mom does not know how to use my camera...
PigeonPigeon
Pigeon

Puerto Rican pigeons look exactly like NYC pigeons except without the layer of dirt
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Fort 3

Entryway to Fort
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Fort 5

View from top of Fort
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Fighter planes

Very reassuring...
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Sunset 1

My first Sunset at Playa Flamenco
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Mom 1

Mom enjoying the scenery
Pretty SkyPretty Sky
Pretty Sky

Pretty Sky...
Mom 2Mom 2
Mom 2

Happy Mom


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