Howard Johnson Carolina San Juan

... sky, hot day. Better than the winter back home.

Around 3:00pm, we decided to call it quit and headed back to the ship's pier by taxi. In the evening, we enjoyed a theatrical piece at the Princess Theater before joining our British friends at table 131 for our second seating diner at 8:30pm.

The ship left San Juan's port at 11:00pm, starting for us, new memories and new adventures.

Thankful for memories.

Mo

... us, and so on right up to the northern coast. Adrian did a star job driving these roads. We had hoped to stop at a roadside cafe and taste some roast suckling pig. The guide books spoke of this tasty treat and the signs along the road were advertising 'lechon'. But what we were told each time we stopped is 'Friday/ Saturday only'. Once again, life seems to exist for the Puerto Ricans only on the weekend. Something we both noticed throughout PR (except Old San Juan) is the unattractive ...

... The last day in San Juan I hired a taxi driver to take me to the more rural parts of the island. I said "vamanos a las vacas" (lets go to the cows) Unfortunately the drive was Dominican and did not know very much english so he couldn't tell me what I wanted to know. I find myslef getting frustrated because I didn't do enough research about the people and the way of life to feel I am actually getting ...

... hours of babysitting never worked out, so DH had the concierge cancel our dinner reservation at Ajilli Mojilli. We all took a taxi to Fort San Cristobal (a World Heritage Site). It was $6.00 (the kids are free) for the 4 of us; tickets are good for 24 hours. If you want to go to both forts (San Cristobal and El Morro) the same day it is $5.00 pp for adults. The fort is quite big, bigger than you would think. It was hotter than ...

... that don't close till the wee hours of the morning. The next day the surf was up and we finally got to check out the beach. We were gonna go to the rain forrest but we were so exhausted that a nap seemed more intriguing. All the more reason to go back to the great PR to see the rain forrest. That night our faithful taxi picked us up to face the insane streets of PR. Meanwhile these taxis were church ...

... about 5:15, slightly amused and slightly worried that our cab driver was throwing back a couple Medallas as he drove. That's the local beer of PR. We were hungry as we waited for the ferry to arrive, but there was no place to get a quick bite to eat. Instead we waited, more and more nervous as the ferry still hadn't shown up. We had booked earlier in the morning the last ferry out, which was scheduled for 6pm. The start of our bad luck ...

... a "drive-by" tour of the campus before ending what was to be, as she said, "one of the best birthday surprises she has ever had." Afterward, we continued on until we ended back at Kristin's dorm. Both Anita and I were glad to be there for her to experience and celebrate this time in her life. We dropped off the rental car before returning to our hotel room. It still amazes me that the rental place was right across the street from our hotel, which saved us time. Go figure.

... to the ship. They dropped us at the ship and gave us 10 min to drop our stuff in our room and then gave us a free ride into Old San Juan. Amanda and I went to Starbucks so she could try to get online, but there were too many people in there so we gave up, and found a bunch of our friends next door at the Brickhouse, of course. We left them and headed into Old San Juan to do a little more shopping, to get a few things we wanted, along with stamps to send postcards with. Then we ...

Hola todos!! I just left Puerto Rico yesterday, and I had a blast. We got there early in the on Monday ;and while were embarked, there was such a beautiful view of the island. Titi Sally picked me up on Monday and we drove all around Old San Juan and then went to the mall. She said we just missed one of the biggest celebrations in Old San Juan it ended on Sunday... I was kinda mad about that ...

... probably glad he understood where we were going and didn't want us to confuse him.

I had always heard of the beautiful oceans, but the blues and greens were very similar to what i left back home even though the sand here was much whiter.
Boarded the cruise ship and left the beautiful port, passing Fort San Cristobal on our way out - a Fort that I promised I'd visit on my return a few days later.