Puerto Rican Getaway

A couple weekends ago, I met up with Blaine in Puerto Rico. He was working there that week and we decided to make a little trip out of it. Since Blaine travels so much, he has racked up quite a bit of free hotel stays with Marriott. But since he barely has any time off, he has no time to use them other than on short weekend trips. He was super excited for this trip since he's been to Puerto Rico several times, but it has been all work and no play. 

I flew in late on Friday night so Saturday we took it slow and just went to Luquillo Beach and relaxed. Even though there are beaches in Miami, we get so busy on the weekends that we rarely go. Also, the hilly views from this beach were gorgeous. 

We had coconut and parcha (passion fruit) homemade ice cream. So good!

Then for lunch we headed to Old San Juan. We ate at a tiny hole in the wall that surprisingly served up some pretty dishes!

Tostones rellenos

Arroz mamposteao

We went back to the hotel and passed out of how tired we were. As much as I wanted to explore Puerto Rico some more, we were both too tired! For dinner, Blaine took me to his favorite spot in Conrado. It's an Argentinian place called Ummo. We ordered gnocchi with ricotta and short ribs - this is what Blaine always orders and now I understand why. It was out-of-this-world amazing.

The next day, we got up early to try to do as much as possible on our last day here. We went to the caves in Camuy - the 3rd largest cave system in the world. I wasn't too excited at first but this was so cool! 

Loved the sun rays everywhere!

Biggest stalagmite in the cave

See the profile of an indian on the right?

Drinking natural purified water

With el coqui - Puerto Rico's unique frog

After our hike in the caves, we went to the observatory in Arecibo that was only 20 minutes away. It's the world's largest radio telescope and it was HUGE. It wasn't my favorite thing that we did in Puerto Rico, but it was definitely impressive.

We went back to San Juan to visit Old San Juan - my favorite part of Puerto Rico, for lunch. I love all of the different colored buildings and the cobblestone streets. 

We stopped by El Jibarito for mofongo de yuca. I love traditional mofongo, but mofongo de yuca is so much better and I can't find it anywhere in Miami. It was so good. 

The inside of the restaurant reflected the buildings outside

This purple building made me happy

We saw quite a bit of classic cars too

We walked (almost ran) all the way to El Morro because we had an hour before it closed. We made it just in time and at the perfect time. Since it was close to closing for the day, there weren't many people there and we had a pretty magnificent view of the sunset from the fort. It was also breezy and the weather was perfect. Everybody was flying their kites that day. We had so much fun roaming around this massive structure. Blaine liked it a lot more than he expected. It's so impressive. We'd like to go back again and read a little bit more about its history instead of racing through it.

Blaine deducted that this was the cooking hall and later on we found out he was right!

An original canon

Gorgeous or what?

Blaine in a  prisoners cell

This picture doesn't do it justice

We walked back to Old San Juan and ran into the Catholic church where Blaine's great grandmother was baptized. We didn't know this until later in our trip and couldn't go inside to see the actual ledger with her name on it because it was closed. But it was still neat to see it from the outside. Its crazy to think that Blaine's ancestors are from here!

Puerto Rico was so much fun and a much needed trip. I realized that Blaine and I have rarely taken trips alone. It was so great to be together and not worry about anything and do whatever we wanted to do. It was also fun for Blaine to have fun in Puerto Rico instead of just work there. As you can see, he was very excited for me to be there with him. Love that man! 

Being that Blaine will be there very often, this won't be our last trip to the Isle of Enchantment. We love it!