I loved waking up in the morning to the cool breeze that blew through the window of our room. I am still amazed at how cool is was in the mountains yet not too chilly to bathe once you get past the cricket that resided near the drain. We dressed and were off fairly early headed towards San Juan, the main objective for the morning was to trade in our rental car. The Suzuki we rented was too small and we were tearing up the brakes running up and down the mountains. Enterprise was very cooperative and we were in Old San Juan in no time.
As we drove in to the Old City we ran into heavy Rescue and Law Enforcement presence. I still don't know what was going on that day at the Capital - Google has failed me on this one. Traffic was backed up a little but as we passed the convention area it eased up until we reached the old city.
The streets of the old city are narrow and steep. Living in Florida for so long I expected an island of flat sandy beaches like the Bahamas but Old San Juan is anything but level. And finding parking on the narrow streets was impossible but with the help of the local policia we found a parking garage and a Starbucks. Life is good again for a short while. I have discovered that I am truly a flat foot. I can spend an afternoon walking through the mall, Walmart, Sam's, etc with no problem. I have spent entire days at Universal Studios keeping up with my teenage daughters. Granted my feet hurt afterwards but this was nothing compared to the extraordinary cramps I felt in me ankles and calves trying to walk up the steep hills and stairs of the city. It became worse as we toured the fort.
Castillo San Cristobal is beautiful but I rested the first hour of our tour. Fred hiked out onto the north east section of the fort while I enjoyed the company of the local iguanas. Other tourist kept me entertained chasing these poor creatures all over the front lawn of the fort. I am amazed no one was bit.
The view out onto the ocean and across San Juan was awesome. You can see the capital to the east and to the south the docks for the cruise ships. The court yard of the fort was old but well kept and quite fascinating. It was easy to find subjects to take decent pictures and I took a bunch.
Hunger finally lured us away from the fort and again we found the local policia and were given directions to an Italian restaurant that was suppose to be good. Thankfully we went with hubby's instincts and found and authentic Puerto Rican deli called Siglo XX. We were thinking S/20 aka crazy so we ate there. We later found out it actually translates to 20th century. The food was awesome. There where vegetables on my plate that I did not recognize but it was delicious.
Full and content after a few medalla lights, we decided to head towards Ponce and try to find the Don Q Rum facility that I had seen on a Three Sheets episode. We headed south on PR52 nothing like an adventure which is what it turned out to be. We had to cross the Cordillera Mountains and made good time into Ponce. The Mountains were pretty but hazy and it was tough taking pictures at 60 mph.
I love my Iphone but I have learned GPS is not all its cracked up to be. I located the Don Q family home on the internet but later learned that the distillery and home place were to different locations and that there were no tours of the distillery. We did not find either one after looking for almost an hour so we decided to head back to Rio Grande. I really should have paid more attention to the Three Sheets episode on Puerto Rico. I'll know better next time.
Part 3 to follow.
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