I'm currently relaxing at my hostel in San Juan on the eve of my flight back to the mainland. Oh, how time flies!
My last week in Puerto Rico has been a bit more of the same = beach, coffee, work, chill. I have worked diligently on my tan, and it is now even! Then I looked at the weather in Seattle. 50s. My tan is going to be wasted underneath my giant coat!! Dreadful 馃槶!
But anyways, 10/10 would recommend Puerto Rico to someone who needs a different change of pace and some new scenery. Please enjoy my final slew of representative photographs:
My final AirBnB breakfast.
A somewhat dreadful attempt to show how tiny my plane was. P.S. Don't arrive too early to the tiny airport. I arrived 1.50 hours early and the airport doors were locked and no one was there. Lesson learned.
One of the things that has impressed me about Puerto Rico is their COVID-19 conscientiousness. And I thought Seattle was all over COVID. Here in PR, they are very careful to wear masks in public, and take your temperature/sanitize your hands at every establishment. And I mean it when I say every establishment, even the entrance to the public beach. Some places even have these groovy 2-1 machines: sanitize and temp check in one!
Caf茅
Another aspect of Puerto Rican life that I would be remiss in not mentioning is coffee. This last weekend, I took a day to drive up into the interior mountains where coffee is grown for a little site-seeing and coffee drinking. The views and the coffee did not disappoint.
I also picked up a "few" bags of coffee as gifts to take home...and also to drink myself. This the current level of my stash. I'm not sure my suitcase can accommodate more bags.
On the sad side, I have been pretty unsuccessful in making a decent cup of coffee at my AirBnB. Moka Pots are the most popular way to brew coffee here; that brewing method + dark coffee + fine grind = very bitter coffee. It appears that people like to drink it with a bit of milk and sugar, so this dark brew makes sense. Since I worked for years to wean myself off of milk and sugar in my coffee, returning to this level is a bit of a letdown. Hence, the 400 cappuccinos I've been drinking at coffee shops. It's the consolation for the less-than-stellar coffee I'm drinking at home.
Reggaet贸n
After even just a few days here, I have become more familiar with reggaet贸n and other popular Puerto Rican music. You really don't have a choice - it's everywhere. People bring large speakers to the beach and play their music right next to someone else's speaker with different music. As someone who enjoys music and thinks it tells you a lot about a place, I'm into for the most part. So, here's what I've learned in my 3-week stay:
First, Reggaet贸n is a style of music that developed in Puerto Rico. At first listen, ALL reggaet贸n music sounds the same. But if you give it some time, you'll actually be able to tell the difference between songs and you'll have some favorites. Here's a list of 25 popular reggaet贸n singers. If you follow popular music, you'll probably recognize at least a couple. After 3 weeks of music listening, I will share with you a couple samples.
First up - Calma by Pedro Cap贸. This is really just a soothing anthem about the beach. The chorus lyrics really say it all: "Let's go to the beach. It'll cure your soul. Close the computer screen, open a Medalla (local beer)."
Second up - Locura by Alec Mora. It's all over the radio. It's also a nice example of a trend in reggaet贸n to sing out the name of the artist/producer/company within the song itself. Do not understand this...
Third up - Ropa Cara by Camilo - Also all over the radio. Not my favorite song. But the lyrics are somewhat interesting. It's about the pressure to dress in name brands like Balenciaga, Gucci, and Prada.
Now you too can speak knowledgably about Reggaet贸n!
Bianca and I wrapped up our week of Puerto Rico travels (and our circumvention of the island) with a stop by Ponce, my house, and Rinc贸n. Here's a map of all the highlights in case you cared:
Ponce
Ponce provided us with a couple of very important things. First of all, it provided me with the first sparkly coffee of my life - I didn't know that's what I was getting until it arrived. It was a delightful shock.
Second, Ponce was just an usual place to walk around. The architecture is all over the place, and much of the streets were empty. It meant we could visit the major parks and squares with almost no one else to ruin our photos. It wasn't clear if the atmosphere was due to COVID, the late afternoon hour, or perhaps it is just the way the city is. Either way, it was nice to walk around the city unbothered by others.
The third thing Ponce gave us was this video. While walking around the empty city square, the air was filled with a loud siren. It turned out to be a two-car parade of folks proselytizing to the pedestrians. I'd never seen quite such an operation.
I know, pretty impactful.
Home & Rinc贸n
After Ponce, we headed to my house for some quality beach time and day trip to Rinc贸n. Rinc贸n is known for its sunsets and surfing waves. Since we weren't visiting in the right time of year for surfing, we just enjoyed the local views along with our 14th whipped cream cappuccino of the trip. Please enjoy more beautiful beach views and Bianca's mildly successful attempt to photobomb me.
Many lovely people wanted to join me for my PR adventure, but COVID makes traveling more tricky for most people. However, I did have one taker! Bianca decided she was equally tired of our apartment and decided to tag on a week of PR to her family visit in New York.
So far, our travels have taken us to two major tourist destinations: Old San Juan and Culebra.
Old San Juan
Old San Juan refers to the oldest, colonial section of the capital. It used to be completely enclosed, but part of the wall was torn down to create make space for urban growth. The blue, colonial streets were charming to walk around. Initially, Bianca and I weren't going to pay to enter the San Cristobal Castillo, but it turns out our America the Beautiful pass was valid there. Celebrations! It was very pleasant to walk around the site and learn some of the basic colonial history of the island.
We also got pedicures...at a Vietnamese restaurant/bar. That was a first.
Culebra
Culebra is a small island off the east coast of Puerto Rico. It's famous for having beautiful beaches. The only way to get there is a walk-on ferry, which means many folks opt for one of the primary transportation methods on the island: golf carts. Please enjoy some lovely beach photos as well as our swanky golf cart.
Since I’m working the bulk of the time I’m in
Puerto Rico, I’ve spent most of my time the last few days hanging close to
my new home. Here's the view of my condo from the ocean.
There is a small beach (Playa Azul/Playa Arenas) just
outside my AirBnB, so I’m aiming to go down for a walk and/or a swim each day.
I’ve also decided that as payment for the privilege of walking the beach, I
will pick up a bag of trash each day. Here’s my booty from my Day 1:
Here are the things I have learned about Puerto Rico so far:
We really like our plantains here. I've had mofongo, amarillos, and tostones so far, and I've no doubt there will be more ways to eat plantains.
They are 7 billion beaches to choose from. I've had the chance to visit 3 in addition to the one outside my door. They're all pretty.
We put whip cream and cinnamon on our cappuccinos. Fabuloso, if I do say so myself.
We dig the Puerto Rico flag. It is everyone, including painted on the side of many people's houses. Long live the Patria!
"Se come la 's'" - this is a throw-back phrase I learned in Spain to describe Spanish accents that don't pronounce the 's' sound in certain situations. This applies to many varieties of Caribbean Spanish, including Puerto Rico. For all you cool cats who like linguistics, you can find more here.
Here is some photographic proof:
Finally, can you guess what my final destination was of today's adventure? I'll give you a photographic hint.
If you guessed salt, you're correct. I visited the salt flats in the southwestern corner of the island. Hot, crunchy, strange stuff. I did taste the salt. It was delicious.
Since my work-from-home lifestyle can't possibly last forever, I decided I needed to aprovechar (take advantage of) the situation. So, I'm working and vacationing for the next month in Puerto Rico. Feel to follow along if you enjoy photos of food and nature and if you just want to live vicariously through my travels!
Seattle to San Juan to Mayaguez
Traveling to Puerto Rico was smooth sailing. I got all the COVID paperwork completed with no hitches, and easily arrived to my hostel. The next morning, I took advantage of my free morning to explore a bit of the resort area of San Juan. The resorts were fine, but what really impressed me were the birds walking mulling around the city park.
After the delightful morning walk, I made my way to the airport. The plan was to fly from San Juan to Mayaguez, which is near my AirBnB. See map below:
The drive would have been $80-200 and over 2 hours. The flight was $40 and 35 minutes. It seemed like a solid plan to me. And it was...until I got to the ticket counter. The first 5 minutes of the conversation were very confusing as I thought I had arrived 1.5 hours early for my flight and the attendant said the plane was already boarding. Turns out, my cell phone never updated from Central time to Eastern time...so I was running an hour behind. Devastating!
But, not to worry, I was able to rebook the flight for free and it gave me the "fantastic" opportunity to hang out in the airport for 5 hours. Once the 5 hours passed, I boarded the plane with two other passengers and the pilot. It was by far the tiniest and maybe oldest plane I've ever flown in. I figured that if I didn't die on the tiny plane, the rest of this trip would be fine. Sadly, we weren't allowed to have our phones on or I would have taken photos - the view was fabulous.
After touching down, I took a taxi straight to my AirBnB (I couldn't get my rental car because I arrived too late). My host was very friendly and gave me a nice tour of the condo. Even though the power was out, I was feeling the good vibes already.
Enjoying the Puerto Rican Life
The last couple days have been spent in enjoying my AirBnB and exploring the local area. Here are some photo highlights:
The view from my AirBnB balcony
The view from my desk as I work
The food (French toast breakfast and Fish Mofongo dinner)
