Adventures en La Isla del Encanto

San Juan

 We walked into this giant metal tube on the morning of Sunday, February 6th. It was in the low 20s, and Chicago had already received over two more inches of snow, on top of everything they received a few days before in the blizzard. At 9:30 in the morning, O'Hare was already running about 1/2 hour behind schedule. Like a tubular martini though, we were shaken slightly (not stirred) and deposited 4 1/2 hours later in a tropical paradise. BEST. MAGIC. EVER! It was 82 when we arrived, and a bus took us directly to Alamo Rentals, where we picked up our royal blue Carolla so we could explore as much of the island as possible for the next 4 days.

The food in Puerto Rico is excellent, but honestly...a lot of fried food, so probably more fattening than I should consume on any sort of regular basis. Fruit is plentiful, but vegetables surprisingly are not. Salads are not common and are expensive, because it's too hard to grow leafy vegetables on the island. Our favorite meal was our last night in San Juan at Atlantica. Fresh seafood-so delicious! I also got to try Puerto Rican tamales, which are not as picante as Mexican ones, but very similar. Made of pork, and a masa type flour & rolled in a plantain leaf. Mmmm! Speaking of plantains, I had tostones for the first time. My family is Cuban, so I'm familiar with plantains--but the sweet kind, because that's about all you can get here in Central Illinois. The green ones though-I'm in love with those! They are typically double fried--so you peel the plantain, and cut it into diagonal pieces. You fry it quickly, remove it from the oil & smash it. Then you fry it again & add salt & garlic. Soooooo yummy! I also had chicken empanadillas in the Yunque National Forest. I was eager to try the Puerto Rican version, and it was just as I imagined it would be--wonderful!

We spent a little bit of beach time in San Juan before we took off for the southern coast on our first full day. The Autopista is their version of Interstate highway, and other than being a toll road (very cheap though--our most expensive fare was $1), it was well-marked. In fact, you know how we have mile markers here in the States? On the Autopista, it was marked every tenth of a kilometer! Oh to have the rest of the roads in Puerto Rico be so well marked. Sadly, that was not the case, and we got lost several times!! Not only were the highways off of the Autopista poorly marked-to the point of no signage whatsoever for MILES and MILES, there were also hairpin turns on one-lane roads with opposing lanes of traffic fighting for space!

If you heard a semi honking, it was a matter of life or death to make sure you were NOT on a curve, and that you were pulled over to the side of the road as much as humanly possible. Another interesting tidbit, is that dogs, horses and roosters have free roaming rights...so, in addition to avoiding the semis and other cars coming toward you head-on, you also needed to navigate the animals!! The older dogs were placid and seemed to understand traffic patterns. The puppies--not so much. A couple narrowly escaped the wheels of our bright blue rental car!

We spent our second night in Ponce, which is on the southern coast. Although it was beautiful too, it was more of a cargo port, so there were not a lot of options for hotels. In fact, only one hotel that overlooked the coast...

The next day, we traveled west, and into the mountains. Our destination was Utuado, where my friend Sarah & her husband Paul live. They moved to PR about 2 1/2 years ago--leaving the corporate world behind to become full-time farmers and writers. Utuado is a town of about 35,000. The downtown area is quaint with little gift shops, taverns that are little more than an opening between storefronts and even some familiar signs of home---like the Burger King where we met Sarah. All throughout our drive, I saw DonQ signs EVERYWHERE. While waiting to hear back from Sarah, I tasted my first DonQ. I don't think I prefer it over Bacardi, but it was smooth and sweet. Once Sarah met us, we followed her to the supermarket and then to the mom & pop grocer nearer their home, for fresh eggs. The views from the mountains were AMAZING!

The visit with our friends was much too short, but we did enjoy some wine, food and good conversation together. Sarah & I made tostones and she prepared paella while Paul gave Rod a tour of the farm. They grow coffee, plantains, bananas, oranges, & strawberries right now. Paul is researching the possibility of growing some exotic fruits too. They have a total of 18 acres, 8 of which are fertile for growing fruit.

The view from their deck is AMAZING. It was wonderful to see Sarah again too, and to meet Paul. She and I have been internet friends for 12 years & we met once while on a business trip to Los Angeles--where they were living about 10 years ago. After we said our good-byes, we headed to Arecibo & tried to get in to see the Observatory. Unfortunately they were closed by the time we got there...and we were hopelessly lost trying to find our way back to the Autopista. The one thing I can say about Puerto Ricans, is that they are super friendly and willing to help out lost turistos!

Arecibo was the only place I had to ask someone to repeat what they said more slowly in Spanish. On that front, my Spanish was more easily understood & I understood their Spanish better than Mexican--or even Cuban Spanish! Rodney's Spanish is pretty limited, so he was disappointed that people were not bilingual throughout the island, like they were in San Juan. We went to PR to see if it was a place we could imagine living and working in...I think Rodney is no longer considering it as an option.

Once we found the Autopista again, we drove back to San Juan, where we spent the rest of our vacation.

We spent an entire day in Old San Juan, visiting Fort San Felipe del Morro where I became enchanted with "The Chest of the Three Keys" and all the history of the fort.

We ate lunch in Old San Juan and visited the shops, where I took photos for my friends as souvenirs--as opposed to bringing back trinkets. We packed very light, so we didn't have to contend with checked-in luggage, and because we had no idea how big an "economy" rental car would actually be on the island! My favorite store there--and the one I took the most pictures of, was The Poet's Passage where they hold weekly open mics and sell local artwork.

Our last day in San Juan was the business part of our adventure. We spent the morning in the business district of San Juan, and spoke to several legal firms, trying to figure out if San Juan was a market for our consulting business, Litigation Simulation Services. It is not a litigious society there by any means, which is a good thing in general. The only cases we could help with would be corporate ones involving breach of contract or environmental issues. So, I think discovering this weighs in on Rodney's decision to not pursue Puerto Rico any further as a possible place to relocate.

I could see me living there. Especially given the mild temperatures, the hospitality of the islanders, the food and most of all-the amazing beauty of the coasts and shorelines, and the mountains. There isn't an ugly inch of land on the entire island!

We picked a very good time to be away from the Midwest, as after the nearly two feet of snow dumped on us, it got bitterly cold. I was regularly getting email from my friends and co-workers while we were away, telling me how much I sucked because I didn't have to endure the sub-zero temperatures here! We came home to the lovely snow scene above, of our buried hedgerow. The good news is that the air is hinting of spring now, and some of the snow started to melt off yesterday. With highs reaching nearly 60 this week, we may actually see our grass again before May!

Viva Puerto Rico. Me encanta mucho.