Day 5 was Good Friday – lots of stuff was closed, so we did a Fort Tour. Unbelievable the amount of human capital that went into making these things. It only took them 400 years to finish it.
The Forts kept PR in Spanish hands for that long, until the US shelled the pajeezus out of them in 1898.
On Thursday we went to Old San Juan for a food tour. It was one of the few times we had something other than fried xyz, you fill in the blank. Although for our main meal, we made Mofongo – mashed fried plantains mixed with butter and garlic.
Like much of the Caribbean, rum is the alcohol of choice. Puerto Rico had the best rums I had ever experienced.
We also had some sort of spice – this red sauce that was hot but didn’t linger in your mouth. Very unique – might have been Sofrito. Of course we ate it on some sort of fried thing.
Old San Juan is surrounded by a fort wall that is 16 feet thick and a couple hundred feet high. The buildings are colorful and sometimes reminiscent of New Orleans.
They have these bizarre cat-dragon statues throughout the city – apparently making fun of the cities stray cat problem.
Day two we went to visit Puerto Rico’s caves. It was an almost 2-hour car ride and by the time we got there we were hungry so we stopped by a local diner for lunch.
FYI – in the countryside of Puerto Rico there is only 1 food option: fried food or more fried food. Typically chicken, plantains, and a starch of some sort covered in butter and garlic.
The cave that we visited was at the top of a mountain and the view was breath-taking although a little bit scary. One wrong step and there was nothing to prevent you from going right out the end and plunging several thousand feet.
After waterfall numero uno we continued on to waterfall dos. It was a .8 mile long hike that the kids ran almost the entire way in and out. Needless to say we took naps every afternoon 🙂
It was also Puerto Rico’s spring break, so waterfall dos was actually a bit crowded with both tourists and locals.
Waterfall numero dos we could actually swim in – check out the pics:
Our first day in Puerto Rico we got up early to visit the El Yunque rain forest. The visitors center wasn’t that interesting other than a giant beetle that we found and played with.
We pulled off and hiked a short distance to see a waterfall up close – all the while listening to Susan excitedly say, “Put your hand here, step there, go slow, are you ok, step there, left foot here, right foot here, Parker, Skylar, Parker…”
Phone shots of our first day at Loquillo beach. There was a natural reef that broke the waves, and the water was like being at a lake – 2-6 inch waves 🙂
Our first stop was at Luquillo Beach. The official surf spot of the Caribbean islands! The beach was amazing! Perfect wave breaks for surfing every day! Consistent wave sizes.
The kids (and daddy) played for hours in the waves.
Walk 200-300 yards and you would go past reef that broke the waves and made for a perfect toddler ocean experience.
Daddy may have gotten a little trigger happy prior to departing. But we did have a lot of time to kill…
Parker enjoyed the Dinosaurs, and if it were up to him he would have played in the sand for a few hours uncovering bones. He wouldn’t let mommy get too close, and wanted to understand if the dino’s were real.
Skylar loved the drop in the log flume. Plus, getting wet was a bonus on a hot day!
Daddy enjoyed seeing how many different variations of: “Have a Dutch Wonderful day” he could make – which echoes from loud speakers throughout the park.
Santa came and brought tons of presents. No coal in the stockings – only candy! I sampled some Pez to confirm. Parker got a couple outfits that were a big hit – Darth Vader and a police outfit that he literally wore for 48 hours until we made him take it off.
Skylar got lots of cool science and drawing games, a Dora kit with cell phone, and they both got electric cars from Hadobogee.
We stretched it out and didn’t finish opening presents until after 2:00pm. Putting the cars together took a couple hours and we worked up quite a sweat considering it was 75 degrees and raining / humid on Christmas Day!
