Puerto Rico
Dec 23, 2009 - Jan 2, 2010
- Brad, Carrie, and Adam flew into San Juan a couple days before Nick and Cindy. During that time, they stayed drunk at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.
- Nick and Cindy arrived on the 24th of December and took a cab to the hotel, where they immediately went to the pool and hung out with everyone else, and had a few cocktails. That evening, while Brad and Adam were passed out, Nick, Carrie and Cindy went to the hotel casino for a couple drinks and games. Nick won about $300 on a slot machine and after a few more drinks, everyone called it a night and went back up to the room. Oddly, the rooms at the W-A property trended more toward Motel 8 than luxury (but no expense was spared in the lobby to give that appearance).
The room accommodated 4 people, but we had stolen a cot from the housekeeping closet (they wouldn't give us one, saying it was a fire hazard). The next morning, we wheeled it out to the hallway, not having had to escape any fires during the night. - We took a cab to an airport rental car company, where we picked up the SUV (after a 30 minute wait) to drive to Rincon, a small city on the west coast of the island. The drive was pretty easy - just a couple highways. On the way there, we stopped for lunch at a diner in Camuy. From there, Rincon was just about another hour or so.
Once we arrived in Rincon, we had some issues actually finding the house that we had rented for the week. After talking to the house owners, we finally made our way to the house - situated across from Steps Beach, but up a winding, very steep hill. That day we just checked out the house, the town and the beaches near the house. 
The Econo Supermercado was where we got most of our supplies/foodstuffs. - We ended up most days at Tres Palmas Beach, although we did have a good time watching most of our stuff nearly get wiped away by a massive wave at the Dome, near the lighthouse.
- Over the next couple days, we tried out some bars and restaurants in the town. One, just off the beach, had good food, but the only problem there was the occasional power outage, which everyone took in stride. Tamboo, a bar on the beach (which we found thanks to Adams's trusty iPhone GPS) was full of drinking, dancing 15 year olds.
- Adam's favorite local dish was mofongo, which he ate at every meal. It's a mashed plantain dish, flavored and seasoned differently, depending on who makes it. At one place called The Spot, there were several pinball machines and a great outdoor seating area. One of the waitresses had a child there with her one night while we were hanging out. It was about 10-11 PM, and we were drinking, so the kid took advantage of us and schooled everyone on the pinball machines. Should have been in bed. I believe she was told this each time she won. There was also a place called Rock Bottom, and Casa Verde, where we all had drinks for Nick's birthday.
- We had read in a couple guide books about bioluminescent microorganisms in some of the waters on the south coast of the island. We decided to go to a town called La Parguera, in the Puerto Quijano and check it out on kayaks. We had called ahead and gotten directions, and once we made it to the boat captain's dock, he set us up with a couple kayaks. First he took Nick and Adam to the bay on his boat to show us how to navigate the waters and where to find Bahia Parguera. Once we were ready to take off on the kayaks, the nice captain made the observation that Cindy may not make it, because she was "too fancy." She was wearing thunder heels, hair was did, and makeup on. She did a great job though, rowing occasionally on the kayak she shared with Adam and Carrie.
Once we were in the bay (which took about an hour or so to get to), we hung out on the kayaks for a while, staring into the water, watching the tiny bacteria light up and go black again. The trip back was uneventful, and once we got into the car on the way back, we concentrated hard on making sure that we found a place to eat. We grabbed dinner at an Italian place in Rincon and then went back to the house. - The next day we headed out for a drive through the interior of the island. It was really cool once we got onto the scenic road out of the cities (which was a bit hard to find and stay on). We climbed through mountains, into cloud forests, into the jungle.
Our focus (besides the scenery) was finding coffee plantation(s) to tour. Sadly, we found none that were open to the public, and in fact, the locals at some of the tiny little towns in the jungle had no idea what we were talking about when asking them about coffee plantation tours. At one point, we stopped in a town high in the mountains for lunch, where we ate plates of delicious fried chicken and french fries. - On New Year's Eve, we booked a sunset catamaran cruise. Besides the inclusion of all the free booze and snacks one could want, there were snorkel funnels full of beer (which only Adam and Nick took part in) and lots of music.
The cruise was a couple hours, and we got to the point (Centro) where the Caribbean meets the Atlantic Ocean. 
It was a pretty sight - traveling behind the massive waves as they broke, speeding toward the shore. Once well-lubricated (which could have had to do with the drink in hand, the wind, and a hat - causing the drink to be on the face and shirt), there was a new man for Cindy. The captain, Brian, found himself madly in lust with her and after Brad informed him that we would be at the Spot for the remainder of the evening, he and his first mate ("which is Spanish for bartender") just happened to be there as well. 
Cindy got to see his shark SUV...
- New Year's Day, we planned to go to Rio Camuy Caves Park, where tourists could check out the caverns in the jungle. On the drive there, we stopped and got pastries at a local street side shop, then continued on the way - once there, we found that the park was closed due to the holiday. We decided to continue north to the Arecibo Observatory, which is the largest radio telescope in the world. It's owned by the NSF and operated by Cornell University.
From the NAIC website: The National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center enables research in the areas of astronomy, planetary studies, and space and atmospheric sciences by providing unique capabilities and state-of-the-art instrumentation for data collection and analysis, together with logistical support to users. From there we went back to Rincon, where we stopped along the way to eat at a Taco Maker.
- The next day was the end of the vacation, so we packed up and headed back to San Juan, where we had flights...Brad had a flight first, so he was dropped off then Carrie, Nick, Adam, and Cindy toured a bit of Old San Juan before going back to the airport.
