Puerto Rico 2022 - Day 2: Beach

I think everyone slept in late, this morning. I certainly did, at least.

We ate breakfast outside on the upper patio, on the ocean side. This photo is of the upper patio on the inland side, though. 

We found a great spot with some shade, within sight of the condo, and set up for the day just before 11 AM. The forecast was for scattered storms in the afternoon, so we planned to just stay at the beach until the rain started.

The rain never came, though, so we just spent the whole day at the beach, right outside the condo. The day could be summarized as: swimming, walking, snorkeling, reading, eating, drinking. Not in that order.

Everywhere on the island, there have been small lizards, flitting around in the leaves/bushes. This little guy was maybe 6" in length.

By 4 PM or so, we were all somewhat fried, and returned to the condo to shower and have a snack.

Just before 6, we headed up the road to the Faro Punto lighthouse park to have a drink and watch the sunset.

To the east, the storm clouds were rolling in, but it was clear and perfect weather at the northwest point of the island.

Just around the corner, to the east, we got a glimpse of The Dome. Despite the appeal of seeing a decommissioned nuclear power plant, we did not make the walk over there.

Instead, we got cocktails and snacks, and watched the sunset.

The park was somewhat crowded, and apparently there was a bike race this weekend, which caused an absurd amount of traffic.

After sunset, it got very dark out at the point... in fact, it appeared that the power had gone out, as the cafe/bar where we got drinks was operating by phone-flashlight, and none of the strings of lights were on.

Before it got too dark, we bailed on the lighthouse park and headed back to town for dinner.

Along the way, we stopped at the Ricomini bakery and bought one of almost everything in the bakery case (before dinner, because they wouldn't be open after). If you are ever in Rincón, I'd definitely recommend stopping here. And definitely go to the bakery while hungry.

Just down the road from the bakery, we arrived at our dinner venue for the evening: OneTwo.Rincon.

It was excellent, and also cheap. Karyn, Chistie, and I made a quick sortie across the street to get some cans of Medalla beer, since our dinner venue was BYO.

When we got back to the condo, we split some of the pastries for dessert, out on the rear/upper patio.

Tomorrow, we plan to head down the west coast to the Cabo Rojo salt flats and national wildlife refuge.

Puerto Rico 2022 - Day 1: We head west

Due to going to bed after 3 AM, we slept in until 10 AM or so.

There was no food available at the Village Inn (the restaurant appeared to be in the process of post-hurricane reconstruction, still), so we checked out around 11 and went in search of something to eat.

Just down the road, we found a panedería and inhaled some pastries and coffee.

Check-in time at the Airbnb wasn't until 3 PM, so we decided to take our time making it across the island. 

The Village Inn isn't that far from the start of the Pork Highway, as it turns out, and we needed something for lunch, so...

... we drove down highway 184 until we found a lechonera (literally "suckling pig") that wasn't too crowded.

Between the five of us, we ordered some of almost everything on the menu, to share. It was around 2 PM by the time we finished lunch and got back on the road.

The end of the Pork Highway is kind of in the middle of nowhere, in the hills of a rainforest, so the ride from there back to a real highway was a bit rough. Once we reached a real road again, it was about 2 hours across the southern coast of the island.

Along the way, the climate changed from tropical, to dry, back to tropical, a few times. 

Some of us caught a nap or two along the way, to make up for the previous late night.

By the time we made it around the bottom of the island and up the west coast, it was after 4 PM.

Getting into the condo was a bit of an adventure, but it was expected; we had to go a mile or so down the road to fetch a remote from a lockbox. The remote opens the gate to the parking lot, and then we had a code to open the door to the condo. There was supposed to be a key to the pedestrian gate into the parking lot, too, but it wasn't there. 🤷‍♂️ 

The condo we rented is on the 3rd and 4th floors, overlooking Córcega Beach. It has four bedrooms, three bathrooms, and four separate outdoor/patio areas.

Once we were settled in, we went for a walk on the beach... maybe 1/2 mile in each direction or so.

Christie took some very well-composed, artistic photos.

We returned to the condo just before sunset, and enjoyed the view from the balcony off the living room.

After the sunset, we drove into town to visit the grocery store, and then stopped at a food truck park for dinner, around 8 PM.

We all need to catch up on sleep from last night, so we're going to sleep in tomorrow, and then plan to spend the day at the beach.

Puerto Rico 2022 - Day 0: The Arrival

Welcome to Spring Break 2022 (Moravian's spring break, anyway). We're on a 5-day trip to the northwest corner of Puerto Rico, just outside Rincón.

We collectively decided on Puerto Rico, back in late December, for several reasons:

• COVID cases were spiking everywhere, and our future ability to get into foreign countries was uncertain
• Being a US territory...
• it isn't international, so would probably still allow entry
• didn't require COVID tests for entry; a vaccine card was sufficient (this actually changed and then changed back again, in the interim)
• doesn't require COVID tests to return home
• It's quite affordable, bordering on cheap
• It's only a 3-hour flight

Sabrina and I were in PR (for a conference) almost exactly two years ago; it was the last trip we took before the pandemic. (We were here just after the large earthquake in January 2020. <insert link to that trip, if I ever post those entries>). We didn't see much outside of San Juan on that trip, however.

Anyway:

Friday after work, we all carpooled to the Philadelphia airport and hopped on an 8 PM flight to San Juan.

Due to a mechanical issue (they had to replace a lightbulb in the tail), we didn't end up taking off until after 9 PM.

With Puerto Rico being +1 hour time change, we were originally going to land just after midnight, which would have given us just enough time to deplane, leave the airport, get the rental car, and get to the boutique hotel before 2 AM (after which the desk is no longer staffed).

Due to the hour-long delay, there was no way we would make it there by 2. As we descended into San Juan, we discussed plans for two people to take an Uber to the hotel while three people went to get the rental car. Thankfully, we got a text right as we landed from the hotel desk.

Here we are around 1:30 AM, outside the airport, calling the rental company for a shuttle ride to their lot.

Puerto Rico is definitely on Island Time (not in a rush); it was almost 2:30 AM by the time we got the Kia squared away.

Around 2:45 AM, we made it to the Village Inn hotel. If we hadn't had that 1-hour delay, we would've just made it before 2.

We crept in quietly, to not disturb any other guests.

Because we were only going to be here for for about 8 hours, we opted for the "family room".

In the morning, we'll mosey across the island to the west coast, stopping somewhere for provisions.