Puerto Rico

This year for vacation we decided to go to Puerto Rico with my sister's family. Each time we've gone we go longer and it's never long enough so this time we decided to go for two weeks and try to hit as much of the island as we could. 

San Juan

We started off in San Juan a day before my sister got in. We did what we always do when we first get there, we stayed at the Caribe Hilton. Our first day we didn't do a whole lot but drink mojitos and hang out at the hotel. The next morning, we went looking for mofongo. I was disappointed in the mofongo last time so we were there so this time we went with Café Manolín. It ended up being a good choice, the three meats mofongo was the best mofongo I have ever had. We liked Café Manolín so much we went there two more during vacation. 

After our brunch we walked around old San Juan. My sister called and told us she was in San Juan by the Marshalls. We had just been at the Marshalls so we walked outside and there was my sister driving by. There was no parking so we had to follow them back to the parking garage. We only did a short trip through the city before they wanted to hang out at the hotel pool the rest of the day.

The next day we drove to Cieba to take the ferry to Culebra. 

 

Best mofongo ever at Café Manolín

After brunch I'm 3 mojitos deep and the kids want to play.

Retardville

This is allegedly one of the most dangerous parts of Old San Juan 🤣

I think there's a drug deal that goes down at 2AM. It's perfectly normal during the day.

Found my twin

Culebra

Our next adventure was in Culebra. We found an air bnb on Flamenco beach, which is rated one of the best beaches in the world, although I find the list to be a joke. We were going to take a shuttle to the airbnb but the reviews weren't correct, they were trying to rip us off since we're a big group, so we just got the Jeeps. The day we had to return the Jeeps was a joke. We went to the gas station that was supposed to be open and there was a guy there drinking Coronas already plastered. They opened an hour later than they were supposed to. He sat there next to our Jeeps while we were at the pump waiting for it to open half an hour before he told us we had to move the Jeeps and form a line. We got pissed off and left and paid the fee for bringing it back without gas.

Overall, I liked Culebra with a few exceptions. The grocery store has very little and the eating out options aren't very good. Long waits and poor service. The first night we were stuck going to Dingy Docks. We waited almost an hour on the street to be seated and then were placed by the water. People kept coming up on both sides of our table with their leftovers throwing them for the tarpon, which would then splash us. It was really annoying. After eating we just wanted to get the hell out of there but the waiter was too busy trying to get laid, showing the hostess his phone. I had to walk over to pay the bill, 1 star service.

Zoni beach was very choppy the next day. The drive back was nice though. We took the Jeeps off roading on our way back to the airbnb. Our last day there we went to Tamarindo Beach but we went way too late, only an hour before sunset. The snorkeling was really good though so I wished I had been there earlier. 

At our airbnb

Flamenco Beach from our apartment

One of the two tanks we found at Flemenco Beach

Zoni Beach

Off-roading after Zoni Beach.

Back at Flemenco Beach

Tamarindo Beach

Once we got back on the mainland we went looking for food. I found this place in Cieba called La Sombra. We fed our family of 5 for $40 and the food was amazing.

The owner gave me some free mangos.

El Yunque

We had some time to kill  before checking into our airbnb so we went to the El Yunque visitor's center.

Our airbnb. It needs some work but it was a really cool house. The upstairs and downstairs could be separate attached homes with a partially outdoor stairwell separating them.

In the back was a destroyed guest home. The kids had fun exploring it. For some reason they found it creepy.

Dean in the stairwell 

We had a goal to find a coquí. One night we found two of them in the bananas out back. The best part of my video is when the cockroach goes running up my leg.

Hiking Mt. Britton. This was a fairly easy hike, I think somewhere around 4 miles round trip. I was disappointed that they were still in a drought, so we didn't get fogged in while we were up there.

Mt. Britton tower.

Found this torch ginger right off the trail.

Our next stop was Diego Falls. Last time we went Dean was only 5 so we didn't go to the upper falls. This time we went to the upper falls. It's not a hard hike it's just slippery and we didn't want any overseas ER trips so we took it really slow.

Yokahú Tower

At the Angelito Trail

The next day we did some ziplining through El Yunque. It's the longest zipline I've done. My sister likes to find ziplining everywhere she goes. I think the kids enjoyed it. I'm kinda meh. It's alright but not enough of an adrenaline rush for me. The view was nice, especially when crossing the river.

Another cool torch ginger.

Our last day in El Yunque we went to Luquillo beach. Afterwards we went back to Angelito Trail. The kids wanted to swim the river and I wanted to do a sunset hike through the rainforest listening to all the coquís.

Sardineras II

On our way to Rincón we stopped at Sardineras II. It's a nice beach but it was better on our last trip when we were the only ones there and the tide was a lot higher. There were probably about 30-40 people there this time having a party.

Rincón

It's hard to pick a favorite place on the island because we like everything so much but Rincón always takes the cake. This was the best airbnb we have stayed at. We had the entire second floor and the roof was shared for everyone staying there, but it ended up just being us up there.

On the roof of the airbnb.

Our second day in Rincón we rented paddle boards. 

Sunset at the lighthouse. We got photobombed.

Survival Beach

This was about a 40 minute drive from Rincón. Everyone was reading the coach potato reviews that talk about how "strenuous" the hike is. People really need to get out. We were hiking it in crocs and sandals. On a 1-10 I give it a 2. There were a couple roots that were slippery if you step on them. That's it. My 8 year old thought it was easy. 

I enjoyed this hike. The swimming wasn't so great at the beach though due to a strong rip current.

This is back by the parking lot at Surfer's Beach.

Crash Boat

Crash boat is a beautiful beach but overrated. It probably would be better if we went off season. My complaint is that it was very crowded and then even when we got away from the crowds people show up with their boom boxes blasted while they're out swimming. I don't understand why some people can't just relax without music blasting 24/7 and be considerate of those around them. It really ruined the experience.

San Juan

We went back to San Juan for a couple days before flying back. My sister left a day before us. We mostly just hung out at the hotel again and then hit up the Ron Barillito distillery on the way back to the airport. 

My sister leaned up on a pole the first day there that was painted and ruined her clothes. So we reminded everyone that the pole is painted and don't touch it. So what does Zach do? 

Ron Barillito Distillery

This was my first distillery tour. We got to see the old house, the barrel rooms, packaging plant, etc. 

At the bar they mix up some drinks. I asked the guy what  he recommends and he said the first time he had this drink he cried. They burned the cinnamon, covered to let it get smokey, then mixed in some rum with citris and topped it off with a beer foam. It was pretty damn good.

And that was it. I was surprised that it wasn't as hot as I was expecting. In the winter coming from Florida it's always so hot in San Juan. This was our first time there in the summer and with the breeze San Juan felt cooler than in Winter. It was actually a relief from the Florida heat.