Day of the Iguana

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Carolyn and I are celebrating our 25th Anniversary with a week's visit to Puerto Rico. Left Boston this morning around 7:45AM and landed in San Juan at 12:15PM (they are 1 hour ahead). Temperature was a balmy 80F upon arrival. While the plane was making its way to the terminal we saw a 2-foot Iguana strolling along the edge of the runway - we're not in New England anymore! Drove out to Caguas and met Mara, whose chalet we are renting for the week. The ride to her place was spectacular. LIke a tropical roller coaster. Everything is green and lush. Caguas is south of San Juan and sits in the low mountains that stretch across the Island. The Chalet has a great view across a steep ravine to the hills on the other side. My first impression of this place is a tropical paradise with little or no zoning ordinances. Houses are everywhere and anyware and range from impressive villas to squaty shacks (concrete shacks). Its colorful and loud, the roads are narrow and people seem to drive a little carelessly - just like Boston, so there was no adjustments to make on the road. Drive aggressively! We took a ride into Cidra and had a great dinner of arroz con frijoles with some roasted pork and plantains at Don Jose's. Don Jose's seems to be one of the places to be in Cidra. Its an open-air cafeteria and bar and it was filled with a mix of folks enjoying an early friday evening - nice view too. There are lots of these places all along the road. Looks like someone knocked a wall down in their house and added some chairs, a bar, and a barbeque. I have to say its kind of nice to see a bit of clutter and chaos. While there are plenty of McDonalds and KFCs here, the family restaurant seems to survive. Would have been a bit of a dissapointment to see nothing but the typical strip malls and venues we have all over the place at home. We drove back to the chalet to the sound of the Coquis - these are the little frogs, native to Pueto Rico, that make a loud CO-KEY sound. Reminded us of spring peepers, but louder and more widespread. The whole area is filled with this pleasant noise. So for tomorrow... not sure yet.

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