Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Puerto Rico--Old San Juan

When we finally found the Beach House, our "boutique hotel" in San Juan, a wedding was underway, and we were pleasantly surprised by the accommodations. After moving to a room that was further away from the festivities, we left to explore Old San Juan before it was too late.




The sky in this Old San Juan park was peppered with kites.



We arrived at San Felipe del Morro about half hour before it closed for the day, but that was just enough time to walk around.



















We got a kick out of this group of nuns on the hill.


After touring the fort, we walked around the city.








Artisans were selling their wares.


Those are dogs in the strollers.










When our feet had had enough and our stomachs were ready to be refilled, we returned to the hotel. After three meals of Puerto Rican food, we were ready for pizza. Fortunately, there was a pizza place a block or two from our hotel, so we didn't have to worry about parking. After dinner, we sat by the beach for a bit, savoring our last few hours in Puerto Rico.


Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Puerto Rico--En route to San Juan

Sunday, we headed out after breakfast. Our first stop was at El Conquistador, a Waldorf-Astoria hotel in Fajardo. While our budget didn't exactly permit us to stay, we enjoyed checking it out.



















Next, we winded our way to El Yunque, the rain forest. Steve had driven through it when he was in Puerto Rico the last time, but he never found the waterfalls. This time, we entered from the main entrance, so they were much easier to find. This one was along the road.






We had to hike out to this one.






My wonderful husband stopped at a souvenir shop along the road.




We stopped at a pretty beach in Luquillo.





We drove on a bit further until we came to a strip of kiosks serving food and selling souvenirs. After yet another delicious lunch of rice, beans, our respective plantain choices, and fried chunks of chicken, we shopped a bit before heading into San Juan.