Old fort, Rain Forest and glowing water, Oh My

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Geo: 18.4672, -66.1179

Since we had to fly through San Juan to and from the BVI we decided to spend a little time in Puerto Rico. We arrived from the airport, went right to the apartment and dropped our bags. I had read about a beach near the capital building in San Juan that was loaded with beach glass. We freshened up and got a cab to the beach. It was a beautiful beach on a beautiful afternoon. The shoes came off and we were soon staring at the sand walking down the beach. We spent about and hour and had a huge bag full of beach glass. Even a few small pieces of blue (rare) glass. From the beach we headed into Old San Juan. Oh the tourists. There was a huge cruise ship in port and the fudgies were everywhere. We found out that of all the Caribbean Islands, Puerto Rico is the most visited. We went to the tourist information center and got a map of San Juan. One of the places I had read about was La Taberna Lúpulo This is the best beer bar in all of San Juan. Probably in the Caribbean. The temperature is warm and the humidity is high and everything is up hill. We finally make our way to La Taberna Lupulo only to find out they don't open for another hour and a half. Disappointed but in serious need of hops we head down the street to a pub that is open. We had a few cold ones then head back to La Taberna Lupulo. Even though it is now after 6 they had just gotten a beer delivery and were still not ready to open. They asked us to come back in 30 min. We had a nice wait in the near by square then headed back after 30 min to find open doors and open stools at the bar. We walked in to find an amazing beer list. Lots of Bells and Founders. Beers from the east coast and west coast of the USA. I think I felt a small tear in my right eye. After being in the BVI where no beer has ever even heard of a hop, it was like arriving in heaven. I could not order a Bells Two Hearted fast enough. I did not want to leave. We meet a great couple from New Hampshire and the four of us discussed great beers. We knew that the only brewery in Puerto Rico, Old Harbor Brewery was just a few blocks away so we headed that way with plans on trying their beers and having some dinner. We arrived and sat down. Ordered a few beers and some dinner. I got the IPA. While tasting it I thought of a quote from Eddie Gadd, "Just because someone shoves a bunch of American hops in a beer, doesn't make it good". This was so very true of this beer. Very heavy on the bittering hops and very little aroma hops. Just not a good beer. If you are a beer lover and you find yourself in San Juan, don't bother going to Old Harbor Brewery. We hit a Walgreens for some morning provisions and headed back to the apartment.

Other than seeing Old San Juan there were three things we wanted to do while in Puerto Rico and we were about to hit them all in one day. After some breakfast and planning out our route we headed out for our first stop. The Pork Highway. "In this mountainous central-eastern part of the island, traditional spit-roasted pork shacks, called lechoneras, pop up every few feet. An open-air room looks out onto a tropical backyard of plantain trees and other large-leafed greenery. The front of the room has side dishes on display and a large overhead menu, while the rotating suckling hogs are off to the side, hacked to order by a man with a machete. After marinating in its adobo (spice rub) for two to three days, and roasting for four to five hours with strong accents of black pepper and oregano, the meat turns succulent and flavorful. For most diners, the star of the show is the skin, called cuerita. This has both the color and consistency of burnt caramel and a smoky, fatty, spicy taste that is so fabulous you'll want to hug the man who hacked it up for you (until you remember that he has a machete)." We visited Lechonera Los Pinos. It was amazing.

From there we headed to El Yunque National Forest. "El Yunque Rain Forest is the only tropical rain forest in the US National Parks system. Ample rainfall (over 200 inches a year in some areas) creates a jungle-like setting – with lush foliage, waterfalls and rivers." We knew that El Yunque would be something special but we were not prepared for the amazement we were about to experience. The lush green plant life and wild life that was so abundant in this park, we discussed that it almost looked fake. After checking out the welcome center we made our way into the park, continually heading up. Our first stop was the La Coca Falls. Over packed with tourists. We then stopped at the Yocahu Tower. The view from the top of the tower was amazing. The spot we wanted to see the most was the La Mina Falls. It was a 0.7 mile hike back to the falls. My ass. This felt like a 2 mile hike back to the falls. The walk to the falls was on a very small paved path. So small when people were heading in the opposite direction someone had to step off the path while the others passed by. It was hot humid and a long walk but very very worth it. The scenery as we headed down the path was non stop breath taking. When we finally got to the La Mina Falls it was very crowded with other people. Lots of people swimming splashing playing and having a great time. I could not get into the water at the base of the falls fast enough. It was so clean and refreshing. Just sitting under the fresh falling water was sublime. After thoroughly enjoying El Yunque we headed off to get some dinner.

Our next stop we was also very exciting. Bioluminescent Bay Laguna Grande. "A bio bay is a body of water that contains millions of micro-organisms, called “dinoflagellates”, that glow in the dark for a second when agitated. It is a rare, natural wonder that you can easily experience while visiting Puerto Rico. It is best seen on a dark night. There are two different ways to see the Bio Bay, by Kayak and by electric boat." Due to never knowing when my arthritis is going to flair up I elected to make a reservation on one of the two electric boat tours. Wow was this the right choice. There must have been 400 kayaks that we passed on the one mile trip through the mangroves to get to the Bio Bay. Taking the electric boat offered us the opportunity to get to the Bio Bay faster and spend more time in the bay than the people who took the kayaks. It was amazing. I could have spent all night there. We were given pieces of PVC pipe to drag in the water to make the water glow. It was like magic. Even when the fish around the boat were spooked they left a glowing blue trail in the water as they swam away. This is something that is very hard to describe. Taking photos was something that is very difficult to do without a camera that can have the shutter open for a very long time. Needless to say none of my photos came out. The photos I have here I got from Google Image search. This alone was worth a trip to Puerto Rico.

We spent time relaxing on the beach looking at the incredible Caribbean blue waters and enjoying the light breeze. After checking the cruise ship schedule we determined that on our last full day in Puerto Rico there were no scheduled cruise ships. This would be the perfect day to spend in Old San Juan. We got to pick up a few souvenirs and have lunch at Mallorca Cafiteria, our friend Vadim recommended it. Very interesting. Very old School. Servers in black and white. We had a ham and swiss sandwich that is served hot on a sweet bun and covered with powdered sugar. It was very yummy. We went to Castillo San Felipe del Morro for a look around this amazing old fort. Construction on this fort began in 1539 by the Spanish. It has withstood attacks from the English, Dutch and USA but never fallen from a navel attack. This is a very cool old fort and was well worth spending the time to look around it. My favorite part were the sentry boxes.

We wandered around a bit more then headed over to Rustic Pizza for some hops. They have a very impressive beer list. We had a couple then headed over to Punto De Vista Restaurant for San Juan's best rated Mofongo. "Mofongo is made of fried green plantains mashed with garlic and chicharrones (deep-fried pork skin), served with a buttery-garlic or a peppery-
capsicum-tomato Creole sauce. Typically the mash is stuffed with a protein, such as chicken, steak, shrimp, lobster or crab." Punto De Vista came not only very highly rated on Yelp but by some of the local bartenders we asked. They were not wrong. We arrived to a packed restaurant. After a short wait we were seated and given the beer list. To my amazement they had bottles of Founders Breakfast Stout for $5! We had an amazing meal and wished we were going to be in San Juan to eat there again.

We had a great time in Puerto Rico. Old San Juan was amazing but there is so much more to this US territory then just Old San Juan.

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Comments

[dianne rose]

You look so darn cute in this picture. :-)

[dianne rose]

Very beautiful.

[dianne rose]

Awww. Sweet Kimmie. This picture makes me smile.

[momma]

:-)