luna de bebé: puerto rico (part three)

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.

Read part one here.

Read part two here.

luna de bebé: puerto rico (part two)

I know that it's rude to write multiple blog posts about our Puerto Rican babymoon when the weather back home is so terrible but really, I just want to share our photos and experience with you so please forgive me.

Día 3

Though we did haven't much of an itinerary for the trip, we had definite must-dos. One of Todd's was Cueva Ventana, which you can read about in part one of our babymoon account and one place that we both wanted to visit was El Yunque, Puerto Rico's famous rainforest. We set out after a leisurely morning and drove to El Yunque's visitor center, just over an hour from Dorado.

The park is vast and our goal was to visit some of the more popular spots and get in a good hike. Our first stop was La Coca Falls, which is literally on the side of the road. In fact, while we were taking it in, we observed one carful of people who opted out of stopping altogether and just took pictures as they drove past. Efficient.

After that we drove a few minutes further to La Torre Yokahú, an observation tower from which you can see for miles and miles. The view from the top was stunning and the photos we took don't do the view justice.

Both of these first two stops were extremely easy to access, a benefit for any pregnant woman, especially if you're nearing the end of your travel window.

After the tower, we opted for a trail hike to La Mina Falls. The thirty minute hike promised a swim below the waterfall and, while I opted out of that, Todd loved testing the waters.

The uphill hike away from La Mina left us ready to hit the beach. Fortunately, El Yunque is just minutes away from one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever been to, Balneario la Monserrate, in Luquillo. The beach stretched for miles and the water was the most beautiful shades of dark blue and turquoise, exactly what you think of when you think of a Caribbean beach.

The temperature on the beach was perfect and the water was invitingly warm. The sun and surf were exactly what we were hoping for and after a few hours we headed back to the hotel for the evening relaxed and slightly more bronzed.

Next time: Baseball and Old San Juan

Catch up on part one here.
Read ahead to part three.

luna de bebé: puerto rico (part one)

When Todd and I started planning a getaway before Christmas, we knew that we wanted to go somewhere warm in February or March. Little did we know that a trip to Puerto Rico the first week of February would actually be the most perfect time to get out of Michigan, as there have been multiple winter storm warnings, Elia's school has been closed for weather the last two days, and well, you know, because if you're reading this, chances are you're there.

I don't mean to rub it in because I know how you're probably feeling about us while we're enjoying the sunshine and lovely weather. Over the last few weeks I've just been pleased when it's been warm enough to open the door to get our mail without a coat on so, I get it but I don't feel bad about it. This is the first time that Todd and I have been away together for more than a night since our first anniversary, and certainly since Elia was born. And it was much needed. So, I feel a little bit badly that all of our friends and family couldn't also escape to the Caribbean but I don't feel that bad about it.

You might have noticed that I said that Todd and I are away together. We left Elia at home so spend time with both sets of grandparents and it was hard to say goodbye but she is doing great and kid-free time has been so wonderfully relaxing. Fellow parents, I highly recommend that you give yourselves the gift of a getaway at some point, it's refreshing and a great way to reconnect.

But enough of that, you're probably more interested in seeing some pictures anyway so, here they come!

Día 1

We were delayed out of Grand Rapids and made our connecting flight with just minutes to spare, we were so thankful to leave when we did after learning that a lot of other travelers didn't make it to their destinations on Sunday. Thankfully, the weather improve every step of the way.

As we were approaching San Juan, I noticed that the shadow of our plane was reflecting on the cloud and had a rainbow surrounding it. It was the oddest thing, and beautiful too.

Once we arrived in San Juan, we picked up our rental car and headed to Dorado, a suburb where our resort is located. We had a lovely dinner together at Descorche, which claimed to be the most romantic restaurant in Dorado. I'm not sure how romantic it was but our waiter was great and the food was all around deliciosa.

After that we enjoyed watching the Super Bowl in the hotel lobby with basically every other hotel guest before retiring for the evening and making jokes about the Katy Perry sharks.

Día 2

Because the point of this trip was relaxation, we took our time getting up and at 'em in the morning and spent some time getting to know the hotel grounds after breakfast. 

After that, we headed out to Cueva Ventana (Window Cave), which was high on Todd's list of must-sees for this trip. The cave offered amazing views of the Puerto Rican countryside and some unexpectedly interesting geology lessons, as well as some distant encounters with bats and scorpions. The experience made up for the possibility of running into vermin.

After exploring the cave we headed back to the resort to work on our tans. 

A little exploration, a little relaxation, what more could we ask for? This babymoon is off to a great start!

Next time: We're exploring El Yunque rainforest and the most beautiful beach.

Part Two

Part Three