day two in puerto rico: exploring cave beaches and rainforests

When you take a trip to Puerto Rico, you take a lot of pictures. And since posting everything from California ultimately overwhelmed me, I decided to break this trip up.

DAY TWO: Exploring nature

One of the things my coach told me about his hometown was "the cave beach." A little Google machine action helped me find La Cueva del Indio in Arecibo. Holy breath taking. 

Posing for pictures is tough sometimes.

The inside was turning purple and I was all heart eye emoji over it. Later I found out the water is normally higher and you can swim through/inside the cave. Looks like I'll have to take another trip. Damn.

Along the trail to the cave, we found this private "pool." Don't worry, you're not the first thing to think what you might be thinking right now. There were condom wrappers galore nearby. [Not mine! Fortunately... or unfortunately... you decide.]

After three hours there, we headed back towards the east coast to El Yunque, the only rainforest in the US forest system. [#Facts on love, EB!] My 80 year old knees were scared, but everything was so worth it. 

I saw someone standing under the waterfall posing for a picture and knew I had to brave the cold, too. What I didn't pay attention to was how they got over there. Walking on the rocks is not okay. DO NOT WALK ON ROCKS. Three nasty bruises, a swollen ankle and knee later, I settled for this picture, then watched "pros" crab walk into it with ease. Thanks for the tips ahead of time, a-holes.

If you ever hike these trails, you might be tempted to do the Big Tree Trail to the La Mina Falls because it's easier. You could do that, but make sure you also walk the La Mina Trail, too. It was SO much prettier to look at. More falls, more places to stop, and if my old-feeling body can handle it, so can yours.

The home for the next two days was in Fajardo, another short drive to the shore. I found another Airbnb just a couple days before checking in for $70/night. 24th floor of a condo RIGHT on the water, with a pool, a balcony, and quite a view from the breakfast table.

Really tough to wake up to this while all my friends were waking up and scraping snow off their windshields.

While beaches are another short drive, we were super close to some of the excursions, the bioluminescent bay AND the ferry to the other smaller islands that everyone highly recommends [Vieques and Culebra]. What I didn't know until it was too late is that the ferry takes a couple hours to get to the other islands, so it's definitely a day trip.

I have no idea what that island is. I'm just showing you the view from the balcony again because it was ridiculous.

As much as I grew up/love being the beach girl who just relaxes by the ocean and gets tan on vacation, it's really incredible when you put on some hiking shoes and really explore some landmarks. Turns out, having incredible pictures to last forever is cooler than having a darker tan for a couple weeks. [GASP. My former self can't even believe what's happening in this post right now.]

love,

elizabethany

PS Day 3-4 soon, day 1 here. 

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a winter getaway to puerto rico: day one in san juan

Every year I've said I'm going to go back to Mardi Gras. Every year I try, and every year it's impossible to get people to commit. So when it was two weeks away, I knew I'd be sad if I wasn't there or anywhere, and there were three feet of snow outside- I booked a trip to Puerto Rico. 

There was a list of the cheap places to go in the winter, so I looked up flights and Airbnb's for all of them and picked the cheapest option. A $300 flight, two Airbnb's that cost $60-70/night, and a $50 car rental later, I was ready to go.

As much as I'd love to get some stamps on my passport, Puerto Rico seemed easy to plan within the ten days I had until I left, and I was able to get in early Saturday morning and leave Tuesday night... ain't nobody wanna waste time off. 

DAY ONE: San Juan

When you land somewhere warm, the first thing you wanna do is get to the beach. A friend who was from there recommended Condado Beach, so BAM. 

This side of the Atlantic is a lot prettier than the one I'm used to.... 

What might be considered trashy in some places was pretty awesome in Puerto Rico. I was into the graffiti lining the sandy beach. 

Is it a sign of old age if you'd rather get to exploring than enjoy beverages on the beach?! Because I headed right to Old San Juan after just two sandy bar drinks. WHO AM I?! WHO HAVE I BECOME?! 

#worthit

Who knew I'd like seeing such a historic place?! A fort! A cemetary!

This is no Manassas Battlefield, that's for damn sure. 

It was gorgeous. And the sunset changed colors so many times and looked magical. 

I got some recommendations for dinner in Old San Juan at Greengos Cantina and made best friends with the murals. 

The streets are, well, OLD. [And lined with stray cats, but we'll get into that later.] There was also an open church service going on and I have no idea if that's normal or not, but a church has never seemed so welcoming to me.

I wish we could have stayed longer, but home for the night was in Arecibo, about 45 minutes away. For the Super Bowl the next night, they were showing the game on a big screen at the fort. That woulda been hella neat. 

HOME for the night! A tiny house in Arecibo! 

It was the cutest thing in the owner's side yard/on a farm. It wasn't on the beach or anything, but I got to say I stayed in a tiny house! The bed was in the loft area, it had that hammock chair, a great shower, and wifi to upload pics- I was set. 

When booking this house, I had no idea that it was in my coach's hometown. I could tell how excited he was for me through texts as his usual sass turned into tour guide speak. Arecibo is [apparently] one of the three biggest cities in PR but let me tell you- don't expect any kind of poppin' night life. There was a local bar with delicious sangria I found on Yelp, with a solid eight people inside. It was cool to see the local scene, but the tiny house bed seemed even cooler after an hour.

This was only 8 hours of my trip... and I have so much more to share! If I'm gonna take the extra time to take pictures of everything, I'll need people to share them with. Thanks for being my person. 

love,

elizabethany

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