La Isla de Puerto Rico

Our trip to Puerto Rico was amazing. There is such great old history there and yet it was a very modern city. In town, I felt they were a little ahead of even our city - Houston. Most of the restaurants had WiFi, I am guessing for the tourists that arrive from the cruise ships. There were recycle bins everywhere (not found in Houston).

Our trip started with a trip to Hector's cousin (Chevila). She lives in a suburb outside of Ponce. Her house was on top of a mountain, which you could see gorgeous scenery from anywhere on the mountain. Her and her husband have a large piece of property and they have beautiful floral and fruit trees everywhere on the property. It was awesome just exploring through the vegetation on her property.

Day two was a day at the beach, relaxing, playing a game of volleyball, and wading through the rough waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

Day three was spent touring El Morro of San Juan. The history of this citadel was so interesting. It's amazing that a structure from the 1500's still exist, especially the beating it gets from the ocean currents. It was a hot day there but you wold go into the "garitas" (guard shacks) and the ocean current waves would cool us down. Our next visit was in Old San Juan. We did a mini tour of the city. Lots and lots of walking up and down cobblestone roads. The vibrant colors of the buildings are beautiful. We visited the Cathedral of San Juan, Marc Anthony married his first wife there. We also got to visit the musuem of a family relative. She was the first female mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico her name Felisa Rincon de Gautier. She was married to Hector's grandfather's cousin. Her home in the city is now a musuem and there are so many documents and certificates given to her by many presidents and dignitaries from across the world. We also enjoyed Parque de los Palomas (Pigeon Park). Samantha, Felicia (our cousin), and I went to got some bird seed from a local vendor and feed them right out of our hands. They attack you when they see it, but it's not like the movie The Birds. Oh yea...and I got christened with bird poop.

Day four we went to the Rum Barcardi Factory. This tour was fun. Lots of facts I did not know about Barcardi Rum and Facundo Bacardí family. Like did you know that their signature emblem was a bat? I didn't! From there we went onto the Arecibo Observitory. They filmed the movie "Contact" and a James Bond movie there. It was neat to see but the film presentation was rather boring. I nearly fell asleep.

Day five was a trip to El Yunque. That was a full day trip. At least an hour from where we were staying. We did not get a chance to hike any of the trails. but maybe next time. Hector's mom was a scared we would get lost. We were told that a couple got lost in there a couple of weeks back and they had a hard time finding them. I could clearly see why too. The forest is super thick. At least we got to climb one of the water falls. Never saw a coqui, the native tree frog, other than the gift shops. Those are some loud little things at night.

Finally on day six we saved it to return to Old San Juan to shop and catch up on some of the other things we did not get a chance to see. I did most of my picture taking that day of the architecture in town. If you have been to New Orleans much of the architecture of the buildings looks the same only the city is cleaner - San Juan that is.

I really enjoyed our time away and learned a lot while I was there. It was like a history field trip!