Día 4
After a few days of outdoor adventure, we opted to dedicate Wednesday to urban adventures.
Before we left for PR, Todd realized that the Serie del Caribe (Caribbean Series) would be going on in San Juan while we were there. The Caribbean Series is a baseball tournament that's basically like the World Series of Caribbean baseball. Todd is a huge baseball fan so going to a game was a no-brainer. I was hoping to catch a Cuba game but on Wednesday afternoon Venezuela was playing the Dominican Republic and that sounded just as good. I was only in it for the hot dogs anyway.
We had to buy tickets when we got to the game. Simple. Well, it was simple once we got to the front of the line at least. The lines weren't particularly long but the transaction times were inexplicable. Ours, two bleacher tickets for right now, por favor, was fast enough so we headed to the gate. Turns out the general admission gate doesn't include the riff raff from the bleacher section so we were sent around the side of the stadium to a less glamorous entrance because you're not allowed into the interior of the stadium at all with bleacher seats but they had one carnival style food stand that offered hot dogs. Score.
We bought our dogs and made our way to the bleachers and joined a smattering of other fans to watch the game. The game was fun but the sun was extremely hot and we hadn't received the "bring your umbrella for shade" memo so we only stay for about an hour but that was long enough to see some good baseball action and get a feel for the Puerto Rican baseball experience.
After the game, we headed toward Old San Juan, a historic part of town that I had really been looking forward to exploring. One of my favorite things to do is wander through new places and Old San Juan is the perfect place to do just that.
We parked our car and immediately sought out Chocobar, a restaurant that features chocolate in almost every dish. If you know me, you know that I love chocolate and I couldn't pass up a snack there. I ordered a choco frío (cold chocolate) and churros con chocolate. A perfect snack.
The menu featured all sorts of other things that I'd like to have tried like a grilled cheese and chocolate sandwich, chocolicious mega waffles, and a dessert called the floating brownie. All sounded heavenly.
After Chocobar, we took to exploring the streets of Old San Juan. The buildings are all painted in various colorful shades and the effect is sort of magical. I wish I'd taken more pictures of the building but street parking was prevalent and cars obscured most of the views.
We wandered our way up towards El Morro, a 16th Century fort that served as a lookout point for the city for hundreds of years. The walk from town up to the fort was impressive with green space stretching out before it.
We explored the upper levels of the fort, reading about the history and various uses of the spaces over centuries.
After the fort, we headed back towards the dock, soaking up the feeling of the old city as we went.
After a long stroll we stopped for a drink. Margarita for Todd, virgin piña colada for me.
Mmm, refreshing.
Our final stop that evening was dinner at Verde Mesa, a local vegetarian restaurant. After several days of heavy foods - Puerto Rican cuisine seems to favor frying as its cooking method of choice - it was the perfect choice.
Our brussels sprouts were perfectly roasted with a delicious combination of yogurt and eggplant sauces and that tiny loaf of bread was one of the best I've ever had, a delicious crusty loaf with a wonderfully light and soft center. The salmon and chocolate cake were great as well.
Our day in San Juan was definitely one of the highlights of the trip and I'd highly recommend spending a day or two here if you have the chance, there was much more that we didn't have time to explore.
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