Visitors, Ants and a Secret Cave

I still have keyboard problems and as my old computer is so slow and keeps losing the internet connection, I do prefer using the new computer despite the issues. I figured out that I can write in Word (as it is only when I use Internet Explorer that the keyboard is not working properly – definitely a virus!!) and then cut and paste in WordPress… Anyhow, I am sorry that I haven’t been very active on other blogs, I have been reading but writing comments in Word, cutting and pasting just takes too long. I have sent another email to my brother (the computer expert) and hopefully he will be able to help me out with solving this problem ASAP.

It really is the time of visitors, my Swedish friend B’s mother arrived on Thursday evening and on Friday the three of us had a lovely lunch in the OSJ. Then O’s brother arrived on Friday evening and we had lots of joint plans during the weekend. However, B and her mother M are a little quicker in the mornings than us, so we ended up doing the same things but just after them!

I never get tired of taking photos in the Old San Juan

On Saturday we visited the “jardín botánico y cultural” in Caguas, a town south of San Juan. A “feria de artesanía y trovadores” (a handicraft & troubadour fair) was taking place and the place was packed with visitors, Puerto Rican troubadours and handmade objects. We met up with B and her mother and said hello before they left. The botanical and cultural gardens were interesting, and we walked around looking at the flowers, parrots and different palm trees. I read afterwards in the brochure we got that the gardens are located on an old sugar cane plantation, la Hacienda San José that has been converted into an outdoor museum.

A waterlilly and a dragonfly

Unfortunately the excursion ended with me stepping in a hormiguero (ants nest) – tiny, tiny black ants but oh boy, could they bite!! It really hurt and burnt, and my right foot is covered in still-itching bites (that I got a very big mosquito bite on the same leg from the OSJ-lunch on Friday doesn’t help – my lower right part of the body is definitely not very attractive at the moment…)

Relaxing on the roots of a big tree in the Caguas Botanical Gardens

Sunday morning we were slow to get ready and as the day before, our Swedish friends had already visited the location for the Sunday excursion way before we even left home! It took us a little longer to get ready since we were preparing a pic-nic to bring with us… Plus the fact that the brothers needed a lie-in 

Muddy trail to the cave

Our destination was a cave that both O and I happened to hear about last week from different sources. It sounded really interesting, especially as we still haven’t made it to “las Cuevas de Camuy” (the Camuy caves) one of the most famous sights in Puerto Rico. They were closed for almost a year after a fatal accident happened, and since the re-opening we have only tried once to go but were too late and the tickets were sold-out for the day.

Entrance to the first cave

This other cave is a bit of a secret and I won’t tell you exactly where it is located –the locals don’t want it to become too known, which I can understand… Let’s just say that it is on the road between Arecibo and Utuado, overlooking the Río Grande de Arecibo. It was only a 10-minute walk to get there, but we got lost a few times and since the trails were very muddy we had to be careful not to fall. We actually missed the first cave that you can walk through to cross the mountain instead of walking around it like we did.

Exit from the first cave – you can see one of our fellow cave explorers holding up a flash-light

Once we arrived to the hole, which is the entrance to the Cueva Ventana, we were hesitating a little – it did look very dark, even though we had brought two flash-lights and there were a few concrete steps leading down… All of a sudden I saw a flickering light in the first cave and two guys appeared. We joined them for the second cave; it felt reassuring to not be completely alone and not knowing where we were going.

The entrance is quite big, even if it is almost like a hole in the ground next to the mountain, and you definitely need a flash-light (B and her mother had used a tiny pocket light, I am amazed that they managed). As we only had two lights, I was without one and tried to follow the other ones – which mean that I can’t really describe the interior of the cave much since I was focusing on where I was putting my feet on the uneven floor.

We crossed one big “room” with a high ceiling and we could see the murcielagos (bats) hanging high above us. Then the cave grew narrow and we had to bend over to not hit our heads. In front of us we could see some light and there it was…

La VENTANA (the window) that has given the cave its name! With a wonderful view over the Río Grande de Arecibo, the green Karst mountain tops and small houses perched on the mountain sides. It was definitely worth the 5-minute walk in the pitch dark.

Afterwards we had a simple lunch in the Bosque de Cambalache, in the community of Garrochales (Barceloneta). It is a forest we should try to visit again, since we only used the pic-nic area by the entrance this time. The forests are generally well-organised in Puerto Rico; usually with a little forest ranger cabin where you can get information about trails etc, simple toilets, and covered pic-nic areas with tables, benches and barbeques.

Exiting the cave

On today’s programme: Old San Juan with J-I and B’s mother, I am brother / mother-sitting

Same plant, different places but what’s the name?

You might remember this plant, that we saw in the dry forest, Guánica, a few months ago… It has tree-like flowers that sprout high up in the air and once they finish blooming, the whole plant dries up and dies.

Well, today I was looking through our photos from Spain this summer, and what do I see – the same plant in a photo from O’s village (bottom right-hand corner)! I showed it to O and asked if he hadn’t recognised it… Nope!

But the question is – what is the plant called? I never know how to search for plant and flower names on the internet – I have tried describing it in a google search but I never have any luck. Same goes for bird names…

A wet visit to the dry forest: Guánica

Our French friend S thought that both El Yunque and Guánica, two of Puerto Rico’s forests, were cases of “false marketing” – El Yunque is a tropical rainforest but it didn’t rain when she was there, and in Guánica, the subtropical dry forest, it actually rained! Well, despite it not raining all the time in El Yunque, it is always very humid, and the very little rain we experienced in Guánica was refreshing in the dry and  hot atmosphere. The difference in climate between the two forests is remarkable!

Driving south across the mountains in the centre of the island, the climate and vegetation changes rapidly and arriving to the south coast the green and lush landscape from the north has given way to a dry and flat scenery. O and I have visited the south coast several times, but never the dry forest of Guánica, which has been on my “must-see-in-Puerto-Rico-before-we-leave-list” for a long time.

El Camino Ballena

Thus, when French S was here, we decided that it was time to visit Guánica. It was probably a good time to do our excursion in September, as it is at the end of the “wet months”.  It rains about 35 inches a year here (889 millimetres) in comparison to 200 inches (5,080 mm) in El Yunque, only a 2-hour drive away. Since there is very little shade and cover from the sun, I can’t imagine walking in this forest during the hottest months of the year (December-April).

A cactus

A cactus close-up

A cactus looking worse for wear

A metric sign in the forest – actually not so strange as distance is measured metrically in Puerto Rico, while speed in imperial (miles). The sign is pointing to a famous century old Guayacán tree…

I prefer this old wooden sign, even though I understand that the above metall sign is more durable… but it just looks too much like a road sign

The century old Guayacán tree, which has beautiful yellow flowers when in bloom (blooms before the leaves come out)

A cute cactus

Cute cactus from above – however, I wouldn’t want to accidentally sit down on one of these…

A lizard, or “una lagartija” in Spanish – I am hoping that I will remember the Spanish word now that I have written it down

This plant had funny looking “flowers” (see next photo)… We weren’t actually sure if they belonged to the same plant until the forest ranger confirmed it – too bad that I can’t remember the name!

The flowers of the above plant, the plant dies after it has bloomed

The small information center where a friendly forest ranger answered our questions about the forest and told us that he knew a Swedish student who lives nearby! (however, as Puerto Ricans very often confuse Suecia with Suiza (Switzerland), I am not entirely sure that it actually is a Swede!?)

Quenepa or mamoncillo tree

Quenepa or mamoncillo fruit – very popular in Puerto Rico. I am not too fond of the fruit which has a slimy flesh around a big stone.

After a hot and sweaty hike, it tasted great with a pic-nic – hummus, meatballs, sallad, bread and pita chips (the hydrocortisone cream was for the mosquito bites and not for eating )

Don’t forget the mosquito repellent when venturing out in the dry forest! It didn’t seem very effective but I don’t want to know how it would have been without the Off….

After the dry forest hike, we ventured off shore to the so-called Gilligan’s Island but that’s for another post…

A Swedish-Mexican weekend in Puerto Rico

Today it is the first of June and I am hoping to go back to Sweden in 25 days… However, my ticket is not bought yet - I have a reservation but it hasn’t been issued for various administrative reasons. Fingers crossed that my ticket can be issued tomorrow (today is Pentecost Monday in Belgium (and most European countries, except Sweden) and I need a Belgian confirmation)!

Our Swedish visitors went back to Alabama last Monday and it is high time for me to write about our weekend together! Desiree and I are blog friends and even though we had never met IRL (In Real Life) we had decided that she and her husband C should come and visit us in Puerto Rico over the Memorial Day weekend. O’s Mexican friends J and D happened to decide to visit us at the same time but it turned out to be a great combination of Swedes and Mexicans!

Here are some photos from the Swedish-Mexican visit:

Friday:

When we had picked up Desiree and C at the airport – a little late of course, due to the Puerto Rican trafic and Spanish time optimism, we headed straight to Panadería La España for a traditional Spanish (!!) lunch.

What do you get if you combine two couples with four cameras and a beautiful Old town? Well, a very slooow walk and LOTS OF PHOTOS!

The view over El Morro from Campo del Morro – El Morro is an old fortress built by the Spaniards to protect San Juan (originally called Puerto Rico!) from the British, the Dutch and pirates. It took 200 years to complete, construction started in 1539 and it is supposedly the oldest Spanish fortress in the New World.

We visited El Morro with Desiree and C – it was actually O’s first visit and only my second time inside the fortress. The view is spectacular over the Atlantic, and the San Juan coastline. My favourite panorama is this one though – over the palm-lined Isla de Cabras (Goat island).

This is one of Puerto Rico’s symbols – a garita or watch tower that regularly intercepts the San Juan city wall and El Morro. It can be found on the cars’ license plates and on many postcards and photos from Puerto Rico. The Bacardi factory can be seen in the distance.

Our walk in the Old San Juan ended in the hotel El Convento where we refreshed ourselves with Piña Coladas in the shade. The Mexicans joined us after having visited El Morro just after us. Unfortunately we couldn’t have dinner in our favourite restaurant Café La Princesa due to a private function, so we drove back home to Condado and had a very late but tasty dinner in Ummo, an Argentinian restaurant. (where to my surprise I all of a sudden saw Swedish football player Zlatan Ibrahimovic on the tv-screens – they were showing Italian football!!)

Saturday:

 

We had promised to show our favourite beach, Playa Sucia (the Dirty Beach) in Cabo Rojo to the visitors. Unfortunately we always get lost on the way there, but Desiree and C were very tolerant and claimed to enjoy the extra sightseeing in San Germán and on winding Puerto Rican countryside roads. Due to the delay we didn’t have much time to enjoy the beach but we ate our pic-nic and the guests took a walk to the lighthouse.

 
Desiree and C before heading out in the kayaks

The reason why we were pressed for time was our evening activity: kayaking in the so-called Bio-bay (bio as in bioluminiscent) or Bahía Bioluminiscente in the Laguna Grande outside Fajardo. It is a once-in-a-lifetime experience and we were really pleased to finally be able to do it together with the Mexicans and the Swedes. In order to experience the bioluminiscence, it is important to check the lunar calendar - a full moon = no chance of seeing anything. The timing was perfect this weekend and one of O’s colleagues had organised the kayaks and we were a group of 8-9 kayaks to head out in the lagoon.

 

The Puerto Ricans laughed at Desiree and I wearing caps but we were both very happy that we wore them as protection from both mosquitoes and all the tree branches hanging over the canal.

I am not too fond of deep water and I hadn’t paddled a kayak since I was 10, so I was quite nervous both before and during the excursion in the pitch dark! On our way out in the lagoon we met several groups of tourists returning from the bio-experience and it was a complete revolú (mess) as nobody seemed to know how to steer and I almost got my face smashed in by a tree trunk at the side of the canal! I promise you – we hardly saw anything since lanterns and flash lights are not really allowed! Our kayaks had a faint green light at the front and a red light at the back, so we could just about make out which way people were paddling… Once out in the lagoon we were the only group paddling around and touching the water to see the dynoflagellates shine! Desiree and C decided to get into the water to swim in a sea of sparkles – it was amazing to see!

At the end, despite my initial panic and the mosquitoes eating my ears and wrists, I was very happy to have done the bio-bay and the return to la marina was magical – paddling in complete darkness and with only the sounds of the mangrove around us. Check out this link for a short film from the Laguna Grande and a short description of what the bioluminiscent dynoflagellates really are and why they glow in the dark.

Sunday:

The Mexicans were leaving on Sunday but first we had a huge brunch at home together with a Puerto Rican / Spanish couple. Desiree and C had made yummy American pancakes and we stuffed outselves full of fresh fruit, ham and salami, cheeses, bread and quiches.

It was sad to see D and J leave to return to Tijuana but we are hoping to organise a Mexican trip with them soon!

 
Tourists always stop to take photos at La Coca falls

The day which had started so sunny had turned rainy but it didn’t really matter as we were going to the rainforest in the afternoon. It was actually my first time to experience El Yunque in the rain!

The rainforest is full of pink and white Impatiens (Flitiga Lisa) and other plants and flowers that we are used to see as potted plants at home.

 
O and C taking photos of the rainforest view from the Yokahú tower.

O and I decided to skip the rainforest walk since the rain was pouring down so we waited in the car while Desiree and C ventured into the lush and humid vegetation. O had a little nap while I tried to take photos of the rain from inside the car…

 
A winding road in El Yunque
 
In the evening we finally managed to have dinner in Café La Princesa with the coquís singing for us while we enjoyed our dishes of churrasco and mofongo. The next day our Swedish visitors left but we hope to see them soon again – hopefully in Alabama! And once again it has been proven that virtual friendships can survive meeting IRL and become real friendships!

Check out Desiree’s blog for more photos and details (in Swedish) of their visit to Puerto Rico!

La Vaca Brava – waiting 4½ hours for a huuuge plate of meat

Just after Christmas we were invited by one of O’s friends, J and his family to join them for an excursion to the mountains – to the famous restaurant Vaca Brava close to Barranquitas. We had heard so many good things about this place, and had been meaning to go for a long time so we were really excited – as well as looking forward to a social gathering.

A new bridge, el puente Atirantado, on the road from Bayamón to Naranjito

The weather had not improved since Christmas, it was still very grey and rainy but we were optimistic that maybe the sun would be shining in the mountains… We arrived around 2 o’clock to La Vaca Brava (the Brave Cow) after a break at McDonald’s in Naranjito where O and I were clever enough to eat a cheeseburger each, because we were in for a loooong wait for lunch!

The very steep entrance to the Vaca Brava

We were told that there was at least a 2-hour wait for a table for 13 people, which was expected – the restaurant doesn’t accept reservations and is wildly popular on the weekends. Efforts have been made though to entertain people while waiting; the location is almost like a small theme-park with life-size dolls showing country-life such as the roasting of a lechón, and there are stands selling drinks, pinchos (brochette / kebab – served on a skewer) and all kinds of products, and a play area for children – unfortunately it was still raining, and people were huddling together under the roofs. Spirits were high though, and we were treated to an improvised parranda with people singing and playing typical Puerto Rican Christmas songs, while we munched on some pinchos and had a few drinks.

La Vaca Brava park

Everybody seemed to have come in big groups, and every time a family or group of friends got their table big cheers were heard, and people called out how long they had been waiting! We heard that some people had waited for 4-5 hours before being seated, but then again groups of 30-40 persons were being accommodated – no wonder the long wait! And everybody ran into a friend or two – O met a few colleagues while we waited.

When we finally got our table ~4 hours later our group had grown to 17 and it was a great mix of different family constellations and generations. Fortunately the service was very quick, once we had sorted out our orders, and soon the huuuuge plates of meat arrived! Even though we had seen the big portions being served while we waited, we had still miscalculated the sizes and ordered one plate per couple instead of 1 plate / 2 couples which would have been enough!! They say that hunger is the best seasoning and in hind-sight the food wasn’t that good, but we were starving… The food is simple; no fresh veggies, just meat with fries or rice and some extra toppings such as bacon, cheese or mushrooms. Too bad that the mushrooms were canned – I absolutely detest canned mushrooms which don’t taste the slightest like fresh ones! It is also cheap if considering that you can easily share the big portions among 4 adults (our dish cost $29,99).

A huge pile of meat and fries

Conclusion: it was a nice excursion and a great opportunity to socialise (and speak Spanish for me) but we all said that “been there, done that” was enough – we don’t have to go back.

Something to do on a Tuesday evening in San Juan for only $3

On Tuesday I went with Swedish B and her mother to the fort of San Cristobal in the Old San Juan for the Le Lo Lai show – touristy, yes but very enjoyable! The show is on every Tuesday evening at 18.00 and the performance itself is free but you pay $3 to enter San Cristobal – and you can of course walk around the fort before the music and dancing starts. San Cristobal is a National Historic site and part of the UNESCO World Heritage. 

The atmosphere is great; the sun is setting and the fort becomes darker and darker while you listen to live music and see the dancers in their colourful costumes. Even if it might seem touristy, I have noticed that there are many Puerto Ricans in the audience – visiting from the mainland or locals who are bringing visitors. The photos are from when I saw the show in October with our Irish visitors.

Dancers with hats

Salsa dancers

I like how the walls of the fort behind the dancers look in sepia

A perfect way to end the Puerto Rican cultural evening – at our favourite restaurant Bebo’s in Santurce with my usual dish – mofongo relleno de pollo

Article about Vieques…

… in a Swedish newspaper, Aftonbladet – read more here, or about our February visit to the small Puerto Rican island. It is rare to read about Puerto Rico in Swedish newspapers so I was quite surprised to see the article. And it really made me want to go back – we’ll see if I can convince O to go to Culebra or Vieques for a weekend before we leave.

Horses roam more or less freely on the island but are not really wild – they all have an owner!

The Secret Beach…

El Yunque – the Puerto Rican rainforest

This weekend O and I discussed what we will miss from our life in Puerto Rico, and O said that he feels that he is not enjoying the life here as much as he’d like. Don’t get him wrong (I did at first before he explained), he really likes Puerto Rico but feels that he is too stressed with work to enjoy Caribbean life to the fullest! However, after a morning walk on the beach yesterday he felt more relaxed and happy about life! And I reminded him that his team-building exercise on Friday was probably a once in a lifetime experience!

The view from El Yunque down to the ocean

You see, he took his whole team (~10 persons) to El Yunque on Friday! Nothing very organised – “just a walk in the rainforest”… But bear in mind that most Puerto Ricans are not used to walking, and the majority of the colleagues had never actually walked in El Yunque, only driven around and gone to the view tower (next to the road). However, people came to work well prepared; dressed in combat pants and sturdy shoes*, while O wore jeans and sneakers as he knows that the trails in the rainforest are paved!!

The Big Tree trail

The Yokahu Tower where you can get a great view over the rainforest and the coast

O’s idea for the excursion was to let the Puerto Ricans discover their own island, and to be proud in what they have, instead of comparing all the time to the US. I thought that it was a really nice initiative and isn’t it usually the case that you need an outsider to come and show you what you have just around the corner? According to O it was a great success and everybody really seemed to enjoy the afternoon hike! And for himself, when will he ever again be able to take his office team to a improvised walk in the rainforest? Not once we are back in Europe, that’s for sure! Just one of the many perks of living in the Caribbean…

El Yunque is safe… it is after all not the Amazonas!

La Mina waterfalls

I have visited El Yunque twice, the first time was in November last year with my second cousin E – it was a guided tour organised for hotel guests in San Juan, and since we didn’t have a car it was a good option. I thoroughly enjoyed the tour, with the very knowledgeable guide Hector who spoke non-stop during the whole day about everything ranging from history, geography, culture, nature, language etc – all with a local perspective of course. Almost all of the visitors that we have had over the last year have gone on the same tour and enjoyed it.

A rainforest flower…

Last month, O and I took our Belgian visitors to El Yunque and we spent a great afternoon walking the Big Tree Trail to the La Mina waterfalls and back. The rainforest is very well organised, with paved trails and informative signs along the trails with information about the eco-system, flora and fauna. We didn’t have time to go to the visitor’s centre but it is also very interesting if you want to learn more about the rainforest. There are no big animals in El Yunque, and even though you will hear the coquí (the tiny frog which is the national symbol of Puerto Rico) it is very difficult to actually see them**. However, we saw signs warning for mongooses (you would think it is mongeese in plural just like moose should be meese but nope!), which is the principal rabies carrier on the island – and no, they are not birds but cat-like carnivores! We didn’t see any mongooses though and I haven’t even noticed any mosquitoes, so no need to put on insect repellent like E and I did the first time! Below are some examples of wildlife that we did see:

A lizard

Another lizard

A colourful caterpillar

It was almost impossible to take a photo of this spider, since the web kept swaying in the wind… This is the best photo out of probably 30 attempts!

The snail was easier to capture in a photo

*) which in itself is impressive since most Puerto Rican women usually wear very high heels!
**) The coquí can be heard all over the island, even in built-up areas such as Condado in San Juan. We have had friends thinking that the sound is a recording / a noise to repell mosquitoes – but no, it really is the frog! It almost sounds like it says “coquí, coquí”, hence the name! I will really miss this sound, I hear it every night when falling asleep (on the 9th floor!)…

A mountain excursion – no butterflies but lots of rocks and steep roads

Our Irish friends MT and B arrived on Saturday evening and we didn’t give them much time to get used to the time difference, climate or language – Sunday morning started with a “Decorate for the holiday season“-course in Pottery Barn for MT and I, while the boys were bringing home our new dining table that we bought with 60% price reduction on Saturday! MT loves interior design (she used to have a blog called MTeriors) so the one-hour free course was perfect, especially as she has always wanted to visit a Pottery Barn shop.

Our new table while still in the shop – we didn’t buy the matching chairs as we are hoping to find cheaper ones in Ikea when we move back to Europe!

The course was of course in Spanish, and I tried to act as an interpreter but MT also enjoyed picking out the English words prounced with a Puerto Rican accent (“super-in”, low-key, black tie, and something about Reader’s digest were some of them). She was very impressed by how stylish the Puerto Rican participants (mostly women of course) were, but afterwards while strolling around Plaza Las Americas we also spotted some dubi-dubi women

However, our plan had not been to expose our guests to only the shopping mall on their first day and we headed towards the mountains in the late morning. Maybe not the most clever destination considering the heavy downfalls and floodings earlier in the week but I had read about a butterfly sanctuary close to Guyama that I wanted to show the butterfly loving MT (see what a perfect hostess I am, tailoring the activities to the guests’ interests!). Unfortunately we didn’t manage to get hold of the Reserva Natural Mariposario Las Limas before we arrived, and it turned out that the place was closed. Maybe because of the before-mentioned floodings, as we could see that there was quite a lot of damages to the surroundings.

I don’t know if this is the way they usually dry laundry or if is due to the floods?

We continued our drive in the mountains and as is our habit when travelling around the island we got lost! It doesn’t matter if we are driving in the metropolitan area of San Juan trying to find a Wal-Mart, Costco or a friend’s house, or in the countryside – lost is the reoccurring situation that we find ourselves in*! You could say that it is part of the experience, and that’s what we told our visitors who were more than happy to take in the spectacular views of the green mountains, vistas of the Caribbean sea and locals sipping beers outside the colmados* on the way.

House balancing on the edge of a collapsed road

Nevertheless, this time finding our way was even more complicated since some roads had been washed away in the recent floodings. We were deviated twice from the road but very helpful people pointed out alternative routes to us – which took us down the steepest roads ever (the others didn’t think that my comparison to the streets of San Francisco was a good one!) and past big boulders lying in the middle of our way. One of the deviations was due to the road being repaired while the second one was in desperate need of fixing – the road had completely collapsed and the two houses balancing on the edge of the hole looked like they could fall down the mountain side at any minute. We asked the people living in one of the houses how long they had been living next to the giant gap in the road / mountain and their answer shocked us – for a week! In Europe such a hazardous situation would have led the residents to be evacuated immediately. Despite the fact that it was a Sunday, how come we only saw ONE road being repaired?? Unfortunately the priority seems to be on buying plasma-TV’s without the 7% VAT than to really help the victims of the floodings! Maybe a little harsh, but I believe that the politicians should focus more on rebuilding and clearing the roads for people living in the mountains than subsidising people’s Christmas shopping!

A family fishing

Eventually we managed to get down the mountains in one piece and had a pic-nic by the Caribbean Sea among families fishing and relaxing in the sunshine, and with Vieques on the horizon. The Irish visitors were impressed that all the family members seemed to be involved in the fishing – but they also noticed that up in the mountains it is mostly men in the streets and outside the colmados.

The Caribbean Sea with Vieques on the horizon

*) Colmado refers to a small local grocery shop / bar

Living the Caribbean life with sun, sand & sea…

Do you remember the film EDtv with Matthew McConaughey? It is not the greatest film of all times but there is this joke about what you would get if FedEx and UPS merged – Fed Up

Well, on Saturday we had a great time thanks to these two shipment companies - and all the activities were for free! It felt a little strange to be invited to this kind of company event as I have never worked in the corporate business but apparently it is quite common in this part of the world (world as in both the geographic & private sector)?!

View over Fajardo and El Yunque (the rainforest – hence the clouds) in the background

We were probably around 50 guests who gathered at the marina of El Conquistador (Wyndham Hotel Resort) in Fajardo on Saturday morning – O and I were just a tad stressed as we left home late and once we arrived to Fajardo were deviated because of tree cutting… arrrggghhh! Fortunately Puerto Ricans are like the Spanish, i.e not too strict on time-keeping! The theme for the excursion was Pirates (of course, we are after all in the Caribbean!) and we got some props for dressing up (pirate bandana, plastic earrings and a plastic sword) – for the group picture! I actually kept the bandana on during the whole day to keep my head cool (don’t know if I looked that cool though, ha ha).

The catamaran took off around 10.30 – we were heading to the island of Icacos, one of three archipelago islands called La Cordillera off the coast of Fajardo. I had been a little worried that the boat ride would be as rough as some of our crossings to Culebra but it was quite ok. As probably is very common with these ”free-alcohol-events”, regardless of where you are in the world (Sweden, Belgium, Puerto Rico…), people started drinking immediately! The beer and piña coladas were flowing but I took it easy, considering that it was 1) before midday; 2) we were on a boat and 3) the day was going to be spent under the hot sun!

Icacos is not very far from the main island and our catamaran moored just a few metres from the beach, next to several other boats full of sunbathers. We put on lots of sunscreen and jumped into the water – it was actually not that warm! Well, everything is relative – it was warmer than the Baltic… but it was obvious that we were out at sea. Nevertheless, I think we spent more than 2 hours in the water chatting to one of O’s colleagues, his girlfriend and two other women. It was really nice to just float around in the water, drink (mostly water) and try to follow the conversation in Spanish! One of the women has a tea import company, which is very interesting since I have found that it is quite impossible to find [black] tea in this country* and she did admit that the Puerto Rican tea market is small, people prefer coffee or cold drinks.  

At one point I discovered that O’s palms were completely wrinkly from being in the water so he needed a de-wrinkle session and we relaxed on the boat deck in the sun. Looking out on the sea, I said to O that this is how I imagined Caribbean life – and I am sure that it is how people at home think that we live everyday**… A simple buffet lunch was served on the boat - we recognised the Costco shrimp and dip platter, as it is ever present at parties here!

The marina at El Conquistador Resort

On our way back to the shore a raffle was held and while we didn’t win any of the UPS merchandise prizes (we were not disappointed!) it was definitely a great excursion and we thoroughly enjoyed our day out at sea. However, the day was not over – we had a few drinks in the marina, while looking at the tourists who had been to the private (or semi-private??) island of Palomino getting off the resort catamarans and then we took the special cable-car up to the actual hotel complex which is huge with beautiful views over the Sonda de Vieques (the islands of Culebra and Vieques, as well as La Cordillera islands can be seen from the hill top where the hotel is located).

View from the cable car going up to the actual resort

The resort was hosting some sort of transport / shipment convention, which is why we had been invited on the catamaran excursion, and later on we had free dinner & drinks thanks to FedEx. But first we needed to freshen up and fortunately O’s colleague had a friend who was staying at the hotel so we could borrow his hotel room. Fresh and with clean clothes we headed for dinner – another buffet meal and even if O complained that it is always rice (no beans for once), churrasco, Pasta Alfredo, and Caesar’s Salad… it was very yummy, especially the churrasco! The atmosphere was great, people were dancing merengue and salsa to typical Puerto Rican music… Needless to say, we stayed off the dance floor but it was fun to watch the local experts sway their hips!

 

View over Sonda de Vieques from El Conquistador Resort in Fajardo

It was not very late when we headed home to San Juan but it had been a long day, with lots of new acquaintances, practising of Spanish (for me) and for once we could say that we had been living the Caribbean life… 

*) I refuse to drink Lipton Yellow Label which is the only tea sold in the supermarkets.

**) Nina in Costa Rica had a funny post (in Swedish) of how un-exotic life is most of the time…