Weekend in Puerto Rico: The 'Ron Tour' and El Yunque

We enjoyed the last two days of our Puerto Rico trip tremendously!




Day 1: Puerto Rico is famous for their rum, and so we decided to tour the factory on Saturday morning.  Well, our planned "ron" tour, didn't quite happen when we got off the ferry and realized we were supposed to follow a group of strange men into a parking garage to get into a white van and be driven to god-knows-where.  We both made the most of the moment and talked about what a nice ferry ride we had.  :)

After that we spent the whole afternoon strolling around Old San Juan.  We saw El Morro, watched a wedding, lied in a huge grassy field while about 100 people flew kites, and then ate cupcakes at an adorable little cupcake shop.  That night we went out and made some fun friends, who kept us company, and who somehow managed to get us drinks all night without us paying a thing!  What a wonderful day.

Watching the kites fly overhead 

El Morro

Una Cena Puertorriqueña

Day 2:  We spent the day en El Yunque, Puerto Rico's tropical rain forest (and the only one in North American).  Not to be crude, but Emily decided to take this visit to "El Yunque" and make an "El Duque" on the side of the road on the way into the rainforest.  Jaja.  After our emergency pull-off, we traveled into the rain forest and were wowed at the moments where, as simple as it may seem, it rained.  It is amazing to stand in the middle of the greenest green ever, and hear the rain come down around you.  We enjoyed the sites and then headed for the airport.  What an awesome trip.

Puerto Rico: The Weekend Version

When I saw flights from Tampa to Puerto Rico for $183, I thought to myself, "Yes!".  Within a half-an-hour I called my friend Emily and she was all about it.  We booked our tickets for a weekend getaway (which seems so reasonable after having traveled to Madrid for the weekend once).

She found us a great hostel in Viejo San Juan, at only about $30 per night for a private room and a view of Plaza Colon like none other.  We arrived to the rental car agency, both Spanish speakers, to pick ourselves out a car for the weekend.  I must say, because this was the first place I came when I arrived back in 2008 on my first trip to PR, this little Enterprise car rental will now forever hold feelings of nostalgia when I think of Puerto Rico.  :)

That night we made our way to the hostel, arriving at almost 9:30pm, and then decided to stroll and find some dinner.  Puerto Rico keeps a much more American eating schedule than most Latin American countries, and so we ate almost completely alone.  As we were finishing up dinner, two Dominican guys came up to our table to chat.  They told us that they were going to convert the restaurant into a bar/club after hours and that we should definitely come back.  While the thought of staying out and dancing the night away with some Dominicans holds some sort of "vacation appeal", it was in this moment that I realized I am starting to get old.  Together we decided to head back to the hostel and just enjoy the night in so that we could make the most of tomorrow.  What happened to me??  Seriously.

Either way, it was a nice dinner with true piña coladas, and it feels great to be back in Puerto Rico!