Feb 19-22. Disembarkation was unremarkable. It was easy getting a taxi into Old San Juan, since almost everyone else was headed to the airport. The hotel (“El Colonial”) was superb. An open bar!! I was able to stash my bags there and begin a walkabout. But first I had to contact AT&T about my phone costs. I learned, much to my surprise, that AT&T had a “cellular” tower on the ship, so even though I didn’t want cellular service, I was getting it. “You should have set your phone to ‘Airplane Mode'”. The confusion cost me $100.
It didn’t take long to realize that Puerto Rico has a thing for statues. They were everywhere, memorializing everything and everyone. (There’s a row of statues displaying every president who has visited PR. The guide said there is some debate about a Trump statue, with satirists proposing that it show him throwing a roll of paper towels. Cute.)
As with the rest of the Caribbean, noise is popular. While looking for a lunchtime restaurant, the first criteria wasn’t food. It was noise. Using Google Maps as a guide, I found a 4.8 rated place with a fantastic view of the ocean. Later I learned that it was in a location with an unsafe reputation. I was congratulated for finding the place. Excellent food. A subsequent walk through the neighborhood did seem less than safe, but it was also decorated with very nice graffiti.
By the time I returned to the hotel my room was ready. The place has a beautiful rooftop balcony. After getting some advice, I walked to a nearby restaurant and had a fantastic meat paella and a shrimp taco. BTW, everything is nearby. It’s a small town.
The next day I did a serious tour of the city, visiting both forts and lots of places in between. Excellent experience. Being President’s Day, the town was very crowded. The approach to one fort has a very large lawn, and the non-stop wind provided an opportunity for lots of kite flying. Very pretty. Traffic in the small streets was insane. My walking easily outpaced the cars. There were several cruise ships in port adding to the crowds, though the town was in no way dominated by foreigners. I had a fine pizza for lunch. Found a bar that specialized in fancy cocktails and had two. For dinner I returned to the same restaurant as the night before, mostly because of the shrimp taco.
On Tuesday I enjoyed a Local’s Tour of Puerto Rico. It was okay. Had snacks at rural restaurant, drove along the shoreline, stopped at one of their many caves, and had a short visit in their rainforest. It was a cloudy day so the forest wasn’t as impressive as I’d hoped. But the guide was very talkative and informative. A good day. Had delicious lasagna at what had been a very crowded restaurant for the past two nights.
My flight in Wednesday was at 2:45 AM. The Uber driver seemed to consider a 12:30 pickup no big deal, so clearly it’s not an unusual flight time. Flew back on Spirit Airline. Never again. Seats like plywood.
