This vacation was to Puerto Rico. A friend of Carl's from college was getting married there so we decided to make a vacation of it since neither of us had been before. One adorable anecdote is that Carl asked me to go to this wedding after we'd only been dating for 3 weeks. I was, of course, thrilled, but at the time July seemed so far away. Crazy how time flies.....
Suffice it to say that Puerto Rico wasn't really on my short list of places to travel too. I was still excited to go but I didn't have super high expectations that the food, culture or weather would astound me. And while yes, none of those things were super amazing, we had a great time. It was a relaxing trip to say the least and I managed to sleep in until after 10 one morning!
The first day was mostly spent traveling there. It's much further away then you'd think and nothing is easy to get to from Austin. That night we met some of his friends for drinks and dinner and even went dancing. Yes, Carl danced....and seemed to enjoy himself. It was a the first in a series of late nights.
Day 2 was July 4 and the rehearsal dinner. We had breakfast at the hotel, sitting on the beach and then hit the road to check out Old San Juan. We didn't make it far because it was a holiday and many of the roads were closed into town due to parades and fireworks. So we turned around and spent the afternoon at the beach and pool until the rehearsal dinner.
Day 3 was the wedding day but not until 7pm. We hit the road, again, for Old San Juan and had more success this time. We had breakfast, went to the Bacardi Factory, checked out the town, including a fort and cemetery ate more and came back to the hotel. The Bacardi Factory was an interesting experience though. The best part about it was that the tour was free and you got two free drinks as well. The worst is that it took forever and was kind of lame. But I'm glad we did it.
The wedding was that night and a lot of fun. Up until this point, we'd been less than impressed with the food we ate - a lot of meat and cheese and seafood but all overcooked and flavorless. This all changed at the reception. This might have been some of the best food I've ever had at a wedding - lamp chops and prosciutto wrapped sea bass - and a coffee bar and cookies for dessert options. And the reception was a blast - lots of dancing (yes, Carl danced again - in fact all of the men were dancing sans shirts for most of the night because it was so hot).
Day 4 was ultra lazy day. We slept in, ate a late breakfast, took a nap, sat by the pool, rested some more and went out to dinner just the two of us. Up until this point we'd been with friends most of the time. It was nice to go on a date and we had a delicious meal downtown. Easily some of the best food I've ever had. Good to know that Puerto Rico has it in them. It just isn't a guarantee. Despite sleeping in, we were asleep early in order to get up early the next morning.
Day 5 took us to Vieques Island - a small island off the coast of Puerto Rico. After several hours of being delayed due to rain, we took a small (8 passenger) plane to the island. Carl and me along with 5 other couples rented a house there for 2 days. The house was super nice, with lots of amenities and was in walking distance to a market and restaurants. We did rent cars, though, and on the first day we drove to the other side of the island and had lunch at this amazing hotel. This was by far the rainiest day we had but it was nice to sit and watch the storms roll in while we were safely protected in the hotel. The weather cleared up and we went to one of the many small beaches on the island. After refueling on pizza we went on a night time kayaking tour of Mosquito Bay, which is known for the bioluminescent species that live there. We swam in the water for awhile, watching the bioluminescence appear around us, moving with our own body movements. It was one of the coolest things I've ever done and I know my description doesn't give it justice.
The tour itself was interesting. The tour guide was about 18 and the whole experience was pretty hilarious - nothing like if you'd go on a tour in the States. No waivers were signed, we road in the back of pick up trucks, we swam without life vests. Again, nothing that would ever happen in the States but it was fun, made for some good laughs and certainly was pretty laid back.
Our last full day arrives. We all decided to spend the day at the house because it's so amazing. After a big breakfast, we spent all day in the pool - reading, playing dominoes (my latest obsession), eating and drinking (rum and coke of course). We did make it out for dinner and promptly all came back for more pool and dominoes games.
And then it was time to go. Another early start and a long travel day brought us home last night - to a happy dog, tremendous heat, a garden waiting for us and one more day off before going back to work.
I had a great time on another vacation with Carl and loved meeting and spending time with his friends. As always, there were some memorable things from the trip (and PR) that I'd like to share:
1. Puerto Rico appears to be stuck in 1982 - between the rat tail haircuts and clothing they are a bit behind in trends and fashion
2. The weather - well, despite it being only 86 degrees every day it felt hotter than Austin. The humidity was gross and it rained (or looked like it was going to rain) every day. Such is the life on a Caribbean island I suppose
3. Rum, rum, and more rum. Clearly with the Bacardi Factory on the island, they love their rum. But they also love their 'Gasolina' drinks - picture a capri sun container with red bull and other disgusting concoctions
Even though Puerto Rico wasn't my most favorite place to visit (I mean I do live only a few hours from Mexico) I'll miss the vacation life style. But don't worry, in two more months I'll have another one.
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