Sunday, 7/27/14

We arrived at San Juan’s Luis Muñoz Marín Airport a little after 4 AM, electing to take a late flight in order to save a day’s worth of lodging costs. After bumming around for a few hours, we made our way to our hotel, La Terraza de San Juan, which at first blush appeared to be a hole in the wall in the heart of Old San Juan.

Fortunately, the interior was quite impressive – the lobby was spacious and well air conditioned, a welcome respite from the early morning heat and humidity. While we waited for our room to be cleaned, we enjoyed some free breakfast and took a short walk in the surrounding area. When we finally got to our room, we were not disappointed at all. It was extremely spacious and I must admit that having our own terrace overlooking Calle Sol (despite a semi-busted door) was a nice perk.

After taking a few much needed hours to nap, we explored the narrow streets of Old San Juan before having dinner and calling it an early night.

Monday, 7/28/14

Our primary objective being relaxation rather than exploration, we decided to spend most of the day beach hopping. Originally, we had planned to check out Escambrón Beach (the locals’ beach) and Condado Beach (located in a more tourist/resort area). However, we got lost and actually stumbled upon a third and much smaller beach along the way, which we dubbed the “locals’ local beach.”

Although the sand wasn’t the cleanest, the water felt amazing. En route to the other beaches, we ate a quick lunch at El Hamburger, which had simple and quick American food with a bit of Puerto Rican flair.Upon arriving at a very crowded Escambrón, we decided to continue the trek to Condado, which turned out to be a much higher quality beach with whiter sand and clearer waters. We even joined some of the local daredevils in jumping off the bridge on Ashford Avenue into the water.

Later, we took a tour of the The Condado Plaza Hilton and made good use of the gym, sauna, jacuzzi, and swimming pool.

As evening approached, we made our made back to Old San Juan, where we enjoyed delicious and reasonably priced local food at La Fonda del Jibarito (El Jibarito), before having a couple beers at La Taberna Lúpulo, which had an amazing collection of hundreds of local and imported brews. I even finished a Krušovice Cerne, which was 1 pint and 0.9 ounces…

Tuesday, 7/29/14

We got up early to check out the local shops along Calle San Francisco and Calle Fortaleza, which mostly featured locally crafted wooden trinkets, clothing, and soaps. We also took a short tour of the historic Castillo de San Cristóbal. A fort built by the Spanish in 1783 to protect San Juan from attacks, the site also affords one of the best views in all of Old San Juan.

When the light showers from later in the morning finally cleared up, we returned to the locals’ local beach, where we lounged around for a couple hours before returning to the hotel and doing the same on the rooftop terrace.

Dinner was at the popular Pirilo Pizza Rustica, where we had the Hawaiian and El Pecado pies, both of which were delicious.

We rounded out the night at La Factoria (renowned for its unique cocktails) and La Taberna Lúpulo.

Wednesday, 7/30/14

We decided to return and relax at Escambrón Beach. The sand was great and the weather was fantastic, but as early afternoon hit, it was almost too hot so we ended up leaving earlier than we expected.

At 6 PM, we left to go kayaking in the bioluminescent bay (Laguna Grande) in Fajardo. It was a long drive, followed by a couple miles of kayaking to and back from Laguna Grande, but the experience was definitely well worth it. I don’t have any pictures as most people left their things back at shore for fear of getting them wet during the kayaking. The magic begins when you actually get to the lagoon, where there is a type of plankton called Pyrodinium Bahamense in the water that only lights up when disturbed, emitting a greenish blue color. In our case, the night sky was almost perfectly clear, which made for fantastic stargazing as well. Regardless of your purpose to Puerto Rico, the bio bay is a must see.

Thursday, 7/31/14

We spent a day of chilling on the hotel terrace, where I read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance before having dinner at El Jibarito.

Friday, 8/1/14

As a last hurrah, we walked the 4 kilometers from our from hotel to Condado Beach, taking in the sights of Old San Juan one last time before hailing a taxi to the airport.

Overall, Puerto Rico was an amazing experience – great weather, not too expensive, and plenty to do whether you want to explore or simply relax.