36 Hours + in San Juan, Puerto Rico

There’s something about the sequence of a weekend with a day tacked on, the preceding Friday or the following Monday, that just opens up a whole other world of possibility.  So sure, that might make for getting to those errands you’ve never quite gotten to, an extra morning to sleep in or the chance to do that local day trip.  All good things.

But for me and my best man-to-be these last three (actually, make it four) days?  San Juan, Puerto Rico.  A whole other order of good.
And how great was that—to decide to make it happen in the span of less than a week, combining my long standing interest in visiting San Juan and L’s employee pass connections at US Airways.

So I’ll try something new and sketch out the highlight sequences of the weekend trip ‘36 Hours’ style a la New York Times. With the bonus of pictures along the way.  Note:  Times are approximated and included just for effect.

Friday:

3:30 PM  Arrive at San Juan Luis Munoz Marin Airport.  Show unnecessary excitement as you walk towards the baggage claim area, seeing signage in Spanish, exported old arcade games standing sentry at various points in the arrival gate area and lovely, chatty brown-skinned Puerto Rican families happy to get home.

3:59 PM  Pause as you step out from the airport as the rich humidity hits you.  Get ready to use those practiced Spanish phrases to make nice conversation with the taxi driver.  A potential winner since talking weather always brings out the best of all of us:  Hace mucho calor hoy dia!

4:22 PM  Check in at the Coqui Del Mar in the Puntas Las Marias neighborhood outside of San Juan.  Give silent thanks to tripadvisor for its users’ collective insights as it exudes the charm of a simple courtyard style home in an actual neighborhood.  Take a few moments to put your things down, crank up the AC and come up with a game plan.

4:45 PM  Forget the plan and just take a meandering walk around the property in the late afternoon heat and end up beachside at Ocean Park.  Snap some initial hammy photos near palm trees and ocean and admire some of the other beachside residents.

6:30 PM  Accede to innkeeper Loyda’s suggestion to eat dinner at the nearby Inca Chicken on Loiza St.  Ignore the less-than-appealing exterior and be surprised at the hip loveliness of the locals eating at a surprisingly good place.  Try the island specialty mofongo (mashed plantains with a meat/seafood filler of choice) and end with a dessert of tres leches cake.  Finish with a strong cup of local coffee.

10:30 PM  Get some after dinner drinks at the recently opened Momo Tapas Bar a few blocks down the street.  Be friendly with the cute barkeep and relax, relax.

12:15 AM  Get a last minute car rental ready from a local company, Allied Rental, for a refreshingly reasonable rate, a shade under $30 per day including tax and unlimited miles.

Saturday:

6:00 AM  Get your butt out of bed.  You’re in Puerto Rico for the first time and this is your only full day.  Have some good morning fellowship with your trip mate and relish the coffee you just brewed with the supplied local beans (molido) in the fridge.  Take note of the fact that Puerto Rican coffee is excellent and to bring some back with you.

7:10 AM  Try to ignore aforementioned trip mate as he ‘visits the bathroom’ for the third time to pay homage to the mofongo from the night before.

9:40 AM  Chat up the local Jehovah’s Witnesses going from door-to-door in the neighborhood as you wait frustratingly long for the car rental van to pick you up.  Take a mental note to give contact phone numbers exclusively in English from now on.

10:30 AM  Drive out with your car for the day and hit up the local Taco Bell.  That’s right.  Taco Bell in Puerto Rico.  Trust your instincts about this one (or wait, maybe don’t).  It’s worth it.  Head out west on Highway 22 towards the town of Arecibo .  Notice that drivers are inexplicably polite, good drivers.  Doubly note that in comparison, Boston drivers suck.

1:15 PM  Visit the Arecibo Observatory, the world’s largest radio telescope and location of the movie you should be embarrassed about liking so much but you do anyway:  Contact with Jodie Foster.  [Click here for the Contact trailer.. you know you want to].  Resist the urge to go to the local Blockbuster and nix the rest of the trip to watch it again.  Get your mind back to the observatory as you take the steep but short hike to the visitors center under a blazing sun.  Get to overlook area and stand in awe.

2:40 PM  Enjoy the late afternoon rain showers, the wetness and humidity further steaming the roads, as you drive your way through the Puerto Rican countryside.  Take your time on the rolling and winding curves, appreciating the homes with the bucolic corrugated roofs, open courtyards and residents moving about their homes and land.  Stop by the random roadside local food place and order the fresh fried chicken, yucca and plantain side and the light salad.  Allow your trip mate to order rabbit on the side.  Meet and talk with friendly locals.

3:00 PM  Visit the famous Camuy caves, site of the world’s third largest underground cave system, with only seven miles of passages explored…so far. Buy ticket for the last tour group of the day and chat with an extended family visiting from the Los Angeles area.  Note how great it is for families to travel like this, spanning generations.  Walk, with audio tour equipment, into the opening depth of the first cave.  Stand in awe again.  Use your camera and the exposure balancing function on your camera phone to try and capture the play of light as you walk through the approved pathways.  Hipstamatic is recommended.

5:20 PM  Stop off for some fresh pineapple at a roadside stand.  Drive back on Highway 22 east tired, happy and full of sweet fruit.  Get third wind for a visit to Old San Juan.

6:40 PM  Arrive at the Old San Juan area of the capital city, founded by the Spanish in 1521 and the second oldest European-settled city in the Americas (after Santo Domingo of the Dominican Republic).  (Thanks wikipedia).  Park your car in the municipal lot across from the noted Raices restaurant for a surprisingly cheap $3 for the entire evening.  Note the charm of the cobble stone streets, the bustle of the restaurants and squares and the fancier-panted tourists.

Walk up through multiple charming side-streets and appreciate the colors and architecture of the houses and storefronts.  Be really charmed and take lots of pictures even at the slight annoyance of your fellow traveler.

Arrive at the edge of El Morro, the Spanish 16^th century defensive, deep-port protecting citadel and UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Never defeated by naval attack, repelling among others, Sir Francis Drake of England in 1595, the fortress took over 200 years to build.  Start walking along the outer city wall overlooking narrow streets below and the Cementerio de San Juan, itself overlooking the surrounding sea.  Arrive at the wide lawn leading up to the grandeur and bulk of the fortification itself, and love the scene of families and children running across it, releasing low flying kites and laughter into the mid-evening, rose colored sky.  Stand in awe yet again.  Run your hands along the rough coral-textured stone, walk in the shadows of massive walls and walk along their edges.  Feel like you are in community with the others, in arriving dusk, doing the same.

8:30 PM Decide to get wet running through one of the fountains in the Plaza del Quinto Centenario, named in commemoration of the arrival of Christopher Columbus on the shores of the New World.  Change into the dry shirt you’ve been carrying with you for just such an occasion.  Settle on eating dinner at the Barrachina restaurant, possibly the site of the original pina colada.  Eat in the open and largely empty courtyard eating area, watch glimpses of the flamenco show next door and feel for a long-standing restaurant that has lost its original grandeur and cache.  Be charmed all the more.  Order the pina coladas and charrasco (savory grilled skirt steak) with the sides of rice, beans and plantains.  Have more bonding conversations with your trip partner.  Get your fill of both as the evening and the city are yours.

9:45 PM Keep on going.  Slowly wander down through the streets of Old San Juan and stumble on live music in the courtyard of the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture.  Read about the beloved man that the gathered guests are honoring that evening, Don Ricardo Alegria.  Continue exploring, bone-tired now, down towards the area of the Paseo de la Princesa, along the southside city wall of San Juan.  Take in local artesanos rolling cigars, smoking them into lovingly chewed stubs and selling single-estate coffee beans.  Opt for buying the latter (travels better).  Walk amongst the young locals hanging about in hormonal and energetic packs as well as couples strolling about the paseo, all making use of the night—snacking, eating tropical fruit flavored ices known as piraguas and giving you moderately helpful directions.

10:45 PM  Barely make your way home, inching your way through the traffic east towards Isla Verde, being long-suffering on biblical proportions of the trip partner trying to figure out how to use Maps on the Iphone.  Shower and collapse into the air conditioning of your Luna room at the Coqui Del Mar.  Reflect, as you close the mosquito netting around your bed, that you have had an amazing day—and that you have been in places that have given you true pause—awe in the presence of places, both natural and historic, of such scale.

Sunday:

6:15 AM  Wake up early again despite feeling tired—you’re in Puerto Rico and it’s your last day!  (so you think…)  Brew up another pot of fresh coffee and get ready for some beach time.

7:05 AM  Walk five minutes to the beach outside your door, sand already warmed by the strong morning sun and nearly empty save for a group of locals doing some kind of exercise routine in the middle distance.  Lay out your towels, drink coffee in the mug you brought with you from the Coqui del Mar and get in that ocean.  Revel.  Dry off in the sun, shame yourself trying to climb a coconut tree and go in again.

10:05 AM  Check out of the Coqui after showering and packing your things.  Make your way to the local church meeting to meet up with some brothers and sisters.  Get there really late and almost not at all, save for the brother of a mutual friend who can drive out to meet you.  Enjoy the second part of the meeting, introduce yourself and speak a bit in Spanish.  Be encouraged and strengthened.

11:58 AM  Leave the meeting later than you plan and get in those last minute things.  Hit up the local grocery store to buy that coffee.  Gas up the rental car.  Get a lunch to go from the recommended Bebo’s which serves, you got it, mofongo among other local specialities.  Decide that it’s worth and it and get some to go.

2:10 PM  Resign yourself to getting stuck in traffic on Isla Verde Avenue near the Condado beach area.  Turn in your rental car a few hours late, absorb the reasonable price of an extra day’s rate, and catch the shuttle to the nearby airport.

2:45 PM  Miss flight.

Monday:

2:45 PM  Twenty four hours later, get on the flight towards Philadelphia and then home.  Make use of the time in between and don’t be stressed at plane situations you can’t control.  Stay that extra night and evening at the modern luxe Doubletree in the Condado beach area, have Spanish tapas and excellent sangria at Miro Seafood Bar and Grill, and make the friendly gesture of buying and sharing an afterdinner digestif with the two sisters at the table next to you.  Remind yourself how lucky you are.

And repeat that last sentiment again and again.  Viva Puerto Rico!

[Note:  Ok, so you want the real NYT version?  Sigh... here you go.]