Puerto Rico--Ponce

Regrettably, this summer's Belize trip was canceled due to work conflicts. Fortunately for us, however, the job allowed us to spend Labor Day weekend in Puerto Rico. After Steve's shoot in Puerto Rico last spring, we began to plan a trip for the summer, but we could never seem to coordinate the timing with our air miles points. Needless to say, we were quite pleased when everything for this trip came together.

Steve traveled down on Wednesday, and I joined him late Thursday. Our hotel, the Hilton in Ponce, was about an hour and a half from San Juan, which made for a very late night when paired with a delayed flight and then the delayed arrival of my suitcase. Poor Steve had only three hours of sleep before waking up for his last day of work, but I was able to sleep in--and it was wonderful.

When I finally peeled myself out of bed, I headed down to the beach. Not surprisingly, I found it difficult to read my book because I couldn't tear my eyes off the view. It felt so good to be back in the Caribbean.

I lounged around for a bit until I decided to start looking for some lunch, which I knew would be an adventure, considering I'd never driven outside the continental United States--not to mention the fact that I have an appallingly bad sense of direction (unless I'm maneuvering my way around a mall). With no iPhone, GPS, or map to guide me, I forged ahead into the wilds of downtown Ponce. My aim had been to find a nice little hole-in-the-wall that served Puerto Rican food, but unfortunately, that was easier said than done. While I came across numerous restaurants, they were all fast food chains, so after driving around for over an hour, I opted for good ol' KFC since I figured that would be the simplest menu, given my penchant for making special requests of my food and my practically non-existant knowledge of Spanish. Man, was it good.  Miraculously, I made it back to the hotel in one piece and promptly returned to relax by the ocean until Steve returned "home" from work. 

The following shot was taken from our hotel room.

The playground made me think of my niece and nephews.

Earlier, I'd consulted TripAdvisor for some dinner suggestions because I was bound and determined to eat some authentic Puerto Rican food. Cafe Cafe seemed to fit the bill, and it occurred to me later that I must have passed it during my afternoon outing. Amber and Jackson, the film's director and her husband, joined us, and we headed out for what promised to be a fantastic dinner. Of course, you know Burns's thoughts on the best laid plans....We arrived to find the restaurant dark and most definitely closed. Who knew they'd close before dinner on a Friday night?

While we tried to nail down a Puerto Rican restaurant that was still open, we enjoyed the blue moon.

Eventually, we figured we would give Al Sur a try. Unbeknownst to us, it was located in the Ponce Art Museum, which meant it was slightly more upscale than we were expecting. Nevertheless, we were evidently running out of time, and our options were apparently limited. The customer service was fantastic. Almost every time we took a sip of our drinks, a server swooped in to refill our glasses. The menu, while clearly gourmet, was accommodating to our picky palates. Steve opted for pork chops; I jumped on the stewed (read: creole) chicken; Amber chose chicken in a pumpkin puree; and Jackson decided on the filet tips. Wow. Everything was melt in our mouths amazing. It was a great way to end the day.