Puerto Rico – Day 1

Mom celebrated her 60th birthday on December 17th, and she’s been planning what to do for about a year and a half now.  Earlier options included going to Williamsburg, Virginia, San Francisco, and other locations.  However, she eventually came back around to one of her first ideas, Puerto Rico.  To celebrate, Chris and I joined her in PR, along with my brother Jim and my sister-in-law Leigh.

We all started our travels on Saturday, December 14th, Chris and I from Phoenix and Jim, Leigh, and Mom from Tampa.  Mom, Jim, and Leigh ate breakfast at Cigar City Brewery in the airport; Jim’s included beer, while Mom and Leigh’s included bloody mary’s and screwdrivers. 


Mmm...beer

Amy and Chris ate second breakfast in airport at Barrio Café (mmm…chorizo…) and picked up sandwiches to go at Le Grand Orange for lunch on the plane. 


There may be a theme developing here...

After an uneventful flight to east coast, Chris and I killed a few hours in the Orlando Airport watching the Army-Navy game and eating dinner food at Outback. 

Chris: “I’ll have a Bloomin’ Onion.” 
Waitress: “Just for you?”
Chris: “Yes.  And a beer.”


Crikey!  That guy just ate a whole Bloomin' Onion on his own!

Mom, Jim, and Leigh arrived in San Juan after a calm flight...


San Juan from the plane...

...then proceeded to pick up the rental car.  The car was in Jim’s name which was obviously a good move, as this exchange shows…

Clerk: “Did you know your license is expired?” 
Jim: “Shit.” 

For my readers who don’t live in the Sunshine State, Florida driver’s licenses expire on your birthday, and Jim’s birthday is on June 29th.  Do that math, if you wish.  The car went in Leigh’s name instead.


Lady P, our mobile home for the week.

Our casa for the trip was a home away stay place in a condo on Calle de La Luna, through a company called Vida Urbana.  This worked out absolutely great; the folks at Vida Urbana (particularly Irma, who we worked with throughout the reservation process and while we were in PR) were outstanding, the location was excellent (it was within 15 minutes - walking – of everything in Old San Juan and the street was nice and quiet), and we all had plenty of space (three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a full kitchen, living room, and balcony).


The front room


Kitchen and hallway leading to the bedrooms


Chris and my room


Jim and Leigh's room

Since Jim, Leigh, and Mom arrived first, they had the unenviable task of getting from the airport to the condo and navigating in a foreign place.  The group called Irma to let her know they were on their way and get some directions:

Irma (in her gorgeous PR accent): “Turn right on this street.” 
Jim: “But Irma, that’s the wrong way on a one way street.” 
Irma: “But it is the only way to go!”*

After parking the car in a reasonable location, Jim, Leigh, and Mom got settled then headed out to eat dinner at Verde Mesa, near the bay.  Allegedly, it was good.


Old San Juan street parking

A few hours later, Chris and I flew in, and Mom and Jim picked them up at the airport.  At the San Juan airport, you have to wait outside these huge glass windows to pick up your friends and family flying in, so you get to watch them come down to baggage claim, then stare as they make their way across the baggage claim area and out to meet you.  It looks like this:


Except more humid

After finally eating our brains gathering us and our luggage, we hopped into the car and then sat for 30 minutes in a traffic jam inside the airport parking garage.  Before we left, Chris and I watched a show on the Esquire Network called The Getaway featuring San Juan.  One of the comments in the show was, “if you’re not in traffic, you’re not in San Juan,” and we found it to be exceptionally true throughout our stay.  Adding to the normal traffic issues, apparently, Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum were in town, filming 22 Jump Street, which made things even worse in this area.

Eventually, we made it home to the condo and into bed, ready to explore the island the next morning.

Adios!

Amy

PS – Since we have roughly 8,000 pictures (and even more stories) from this great trip, I’ll be spacing out the entries over a few weeks.  Stay tuned for more!

* This became our de facto motto for the trip.  “Why are we going this way?” “But it is the only way to go!”  We may make family t-shirts...

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