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Published: August 4th 2005
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Utuado
This is a nice shot of the mountain foliage We began our 2005 Puerto Rico vacation the minute we exited the airport with a trip to the Espana restaurant. Located on Route 26 right out of the airport in the direction of San Juan, it is just off the Carolina exit (just at the Burger King). You have to drive ahead a bit along the exit, then cross over the highway to the left at the first opportunity and then left again and straight ahead- stay on the access road (to the right) and you will see it just ahead. They have the most delicious Caldo Gallego soup, the kind of soup that you think about all year until you can come back, and great Cuban sandwitches. They also have a large variety of great desserts. Every single thing there is great, I think of it as the Katz's Deli of Puerto Rico.
We spent one night in Luquillo Beach at the very lovely condominium of a friend. Luquillo Beach is famous for its beautiful palm lined beachfront and its proximity to El Junque, the rainforest. El Junque is a protected national preserve, and has trails for hiking.
Next we went into the center of Puerto Rico, to the Casa
Utuado bridge
A concrete bridge constructed in a public works project in the '40s Grande Mountain Resort- 787-894-3939 in the town of Utuado. It was, without question, our favorite spot. Its located in the middle of tropical foliage covered mountains within earshot of a small river. The hotel presents itself as being eco-friendly. The rooms are simple but very attractive and have views of the mountains. The grounds are very attractive and feature labeled plants and trees in great variety. Yoga classes are offered, I and my two young children took part in a private yoga class given by Vita, an Indian woman who lives locally. She was gentle, very freindly and spiritual. It was a terrific experience for both me and the kids. We had our class in a yoga room that has large open doors looking over tropical flowering plants and into the mountains, it was lovely. They also have a small but attractive pool- no floaties or noodles for the kids, so bring along inflatables. Nice recliners and some shade for the grown ups at poolside.
Notable in Utuado were the number of public works projects from the 1940's, dams, bridges, etc. all in concrete that were clearly part of an earlier period of American influence-domination-control, or however you might best
Rincon
The lovely pool at the Casa Islena hotel where guests sat in perfect silence and read novels- heaven! put it. I am not well informed on the history of this period, but it made me curious to learn more. A good history of Puerto Rico is on my reading list- suggestions are welcome.
Next we went to Rincon, a surfing beach in the north-west of Puerto Rico. We stayed at Casa Islena787-823-1525, really attractive, quiet and friendly and not expensive. In fact, I was delighted to experience the extreme quiet of the other guests. At sunset I found myself sitting in complete silence in a recliner at the poolside reading a novel, two other guests were similarly reading in silence. It was heaven to have quiet, a book and the view of the sunset on the beach just in front of the hotel. I could have stayed many nights, but the kids had a hard time with the quiet and isolation of the spot, so we only stayed one night. A fellow guest strongly suggested a trip to Combate, farther south down the coast. The suggested the Parador Bahia Salinas, and its the place we will visit next trip, but the kiddies were desparate for big pools and more to do, so next we went to Ponce- not
Rincon
Isaac in front of the beach a place we will go again despite its rich history and interesting architecture. Its definitely worth going to the Parque de Bombas and the "Kings Ices" shop across the street- the tamarind, passion fruit, coconut and mango icies were something that had stuck in my memory from an earlier trip and called out to us to have again. If we were ever driving anywhere near Ponce, I believe we would have to go for icies. I wanted very much to stop at the art museum, it looked to be really very beautiful, but unfortunately the kiddies were opposed and we ended up spending all of the time in the lavish and over the top pool at the Ponce Hilton.
We tooled around route 3 to the south-east corner of the island. We saw what looked like a very interesting spot in Patillas, the Caribe Playa Beach resort- 787-839-6339, where we would like to stay next time. We really enjoyed the drive through a number of smaller towns with significant numbers of colonial wood structures-in real disrepair but very evocative of what early colonial towns must have looked like.
We ended our trip in San Juan. We stayed at the just-opened,
Rincon
Mom and Lea in front of the hotel newly renovated Normandie Hotel. Very hip, very sophisticated, georgeous spa- I had a great massage- reminds me a lot of the W hotels here in NYC. We had fun picking out all of the architectural features that were part of the hotels art deco history. You really do feel like you are in an ocean liner when you look down the lenght of the hotel. The almond shape, the wooden bannisters like those on a ship, the round windows, all evoke the cruise ship atmousphere. The rooms are spacious and comfortable, I particulary liked the attached sitting room. The place is so new, however, that we had to call to have the bathroom doorknob properly attached, to fix the faucet, etc. I have a keen interest in home repair, so it was all fine with me to look over the shoulder of the pleasant repair man, the kids found it facinating too, and I fully regretted that I had not brought along my allen wrench and swiss army knife as I might have been able to do some of the work myself. I attempted to find out the names of the georgeous slate-grey sage green on the walls of our
Parque de Las Palomas
Isaac in the pigeon park in old San Juan room, and the equally georgeous slate-grey pale blue on the ceiling, but despite the front desks cheerful promises of information, I never did find out what the colors were. I even emailed upon my return, but no luck.
Old San Juan is a must see. In previous trips we have stayed at, and loved, El Convento, a renovated monestary with huge thick walls and a beautiful inner garden, plunge pool, etc. Very lux, very attractive. I didn't get to El Fondo del Jibarito, but that restaurant has been highly recommended. We always hit the "pigeon park" so that the kids can feed the birds. Its right near the Convento, and down the block from the austere and beautiful cathedral- one of the oldest on the island- that is also a place we always visit.
So all in all, its just one of our very favorite trips. Easy as hell, completely low-key, cheap relative to other vacations and great for kids. Its a kid-loving place, there is essentially no where you can go where kids wouldn't be welcome and no one even blinks when they are loud, raucous, fussy or whatever.
A last spot that we really are hoping to get to is the town of Aibonito, where an annual landscaping and flower festival seems to be a major attraction. As we fantasize about retiring in PR, we are eager to learn about the native foliage and this seems like a good spot to get some tips.
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