Relaxation and Fun!

After a very, very busy day, we were all ready for some relaxation.  We headed to Escambron Beach.

 Nothing could have made us happier than lying in the sun, relaxing with some good books.  My other friends were in San Juan, too, and staying nearby, so we all met up for a few hours at the beach. The water was beautiful, very fun for snorkeling.  We saw many beautiful fish and sea urchins.  A few days later, my friends returned there again and saw a huge barracuda!

After a few hours in the sun, we were hot and hungry, and it looked like a storm was about to blow in.  We packed up and headed out.  Of course, we got caught in the rain.  Luckily, we were by a cool building in a park that offered us shelter until the worst passed.

Soaked and starving, we made the trek back to Miramar, and stopped at Pizza e Birra Miramar for lunch.  It was scrumptious!  We then went back to our apartment to dry off and rest a bit before meeting back up with my other friends that night for dinner.

I love my friends so much!

We ended up back at La Barrachina, and the food was delicious!  I am so happy that we were all able to get together, we had so much fun together!  After dinner, we spent a while walking all around Old San Juan again, having so much fun laughing all the while!  I was sad that we only had one day with all of us together, but I think we made the most of our time and thoroughly enjoyed one anothers company.  

This was our last night in San Juan.  The next day, we were off to rent a car and journey through the rainforest...

How much can we fit into one day?

The answer: A LOT!!!  Sunday was our day to explore the forts and Old San Juan.  The weather was very hot and humid, but we were glad that the rain stayed away as this was the day we did the most walking.

Castillo San Felipe del Morro

Lucky for us, it was the last day of National Parks Week, so we didn't have to pay an entry fee to visit any of the forts.  We began the day nice and early at the Castillo San Felipe del Morro.  We must have beat all of the cruise tours and such, because we happily didn't have to deal with many other people.

 

Photo by M. Coates

Photo by M. Coates 

We were famished by the time we were done climbing up and down all of the levels at El Morro.  We were going to go to a well-known touristy restaurant for breakfast, but there was an hour wait.  I'm happy we left!  We stumbled upon The Carthage Express and had a delicious (and inexpensive!) breakfast of mallorcas (which were on my list of things to try!) and some fresh fruit.

Mallorcas are sweet, soft buns.  We had ours as a sandwich with ham, egg and cheese, dusted with powdered sugar.
Nom nom nom...

With full, happy bellies, we took off to explore Old San Juan.  The buildings are all really neat colors, with gorgeous iron work around the windows and doors.

 We walked through the vast majority of Old San Juan.  On our way down Paseo de la Princesa, we walked through a street science fair.  It was pretty cool to see different projects and experiments set up on the street for everyone to see.  Once you reach the water, you come to the monumental Raices Fountain.

The walk continues through a beautiful tree-lined area.  Fun fact!  Pelicans land in trees!  I've never seen a pelican in a tree in my entire life!  I'm still amazed about how they didn't fall over!

Webbed feet...in a tree?!?!?!?!

Then, we came upon my favorite historical aspect of Old San Juan.  Not many people know this, but Puerto Rico had a HUGE problem with pterodactyls.  There would be constant pterodactyl attacks, they would grab people right off of the street!  In order to combat these creatures, massive spikes were erected throughout the city.

These are for when the pterodactyls come to roost

I shit you not, there were HUGE spikes all over the city.  What else could they be for besides pterodactyls?  They're too big for pigeons.  Speaking of pigeons, there was this one cool park that actually had built in homes for the pigeons in the walls.

Think of all that pigeon poop!

While wandering around, we walked past a restaurant that was on my must-do list!  La Barrachina- the birthplace of the pina colada!

I was surprised for 2 reasons: 1- there weren't as many people as I thought there would be here, and 2- the pina coladas were delicious!  Nice and strong, but not too strong, and not watered down.  Hooray pina coladas!!!  Our bartender was also awesome and funny, definitely a great time to cool off a little bit before heading back out into the sun.

Our last main stop for the day was at the Castillo de San Cristobal.  By this point, I was so hot and tired, but determined!  This fort was smaller, but just as beautiful as El Morro.  

After we were done, we couldn't walk any more.  It was time for a taxi back to our apartment to cool off and relax until dinner later that evening.  One of Melissa's former colleagues has connections to a restaurant called Pamela's Caribbean Cuisine right on Ocean Park.  Everything was amazing, from the service to the drinks to the food to the location.  What a great way to end a very, very busy day!  Drinks in our hands, food in our bellies, feet in the sand...