In late May, Paul and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary on the island of Puerto Rico. We always take a vacation over our anniversary and try to see someplace new. We ultimately chose to explore Puerto Rico after hearing friends sing its praises. And we had free airfare courtesy of Southwest. Free airfare always wins!
Heading to Puerto Rico for our anniversary vacation
The more I travel, the more I appreciate staying in places other than your typical hotel. For this trip, I opted for renting an apartment in the surf town of Luquillo, about 30 minutes east of San Juan. For the same price as a hotel, we had a full living space, with separate bedroom, kitchen, balcony, and washer/dryer machines at our disposal. We were also able to take advantage of the complex’s pool, tennis court, and private beach access.
The view from our apartment balcony in Luquillo, PR
And oh, what a beach it was! There was a morning when I went out the beach on my own. I set up my chair and towel, and went to grab my book. But when I glanced around, I realized that I was alone…totally alone on my own Caribbean beach for about a mile in each direction.
My private Puerto Rican beach
Eventually the families started filling in around me, but for about an hour I had the beach completely to myself. The water was always warm and clear. Paul and I enjoyed a few mornings relaxing in the sun and sand. There were coconut palms up and down the shoreline, and birds would chase the crabs along the waters edge. I really enjoyed using my GoPro camera in the water and was able to get some cool photos.
If you ever visit Puerto Rico, I high recommend taking a day trip to El Yunque. This is the only rainforest in the US Forest Service and it’s a great way to see something different besides beaches and the city of San Juan. If you’re smart, you’ll arrive when the park first opens to avoid the crowd of tourist and school group buses that roll in around 10 am. You can also skip the welcome center – definitely not worth the parking fee. We started the morning with the classic La Mina Falls hike. This took us down through the rainforest to the base of La Mina Falls.
Hiking La Mina Falls trail in El Yunque Rainforest
Here, you are allowed to swim in the deep, cold pools that the waterfall has created. Paul opted out of the waterfall swimming, but I took advantage of the situation. I probably looked ridiculous in my bathing suit and hiking sandals as I slipped my way over rocks and boulders into the main pool. But the rush I felt from under the waterfall was worth it. It was like being at a loud rock concert where you can feel the bass vibrating in your chest; it took your breath away, quite literally. Again, the GoPro camera shined in this situation.
After La Mina Falls, we hiked back to the main road and decided on the Mt. Britton Lookout Tower trail as our next hike. This was a steep one! We hiked our way about 3 miles uphill to the tower. The tower was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930s. Once we made it to the top, we climbed up the tower and were rewarded with a panoramic view of the surrounding forest and the Caribbean ocean. The hike was definitely worth the view, and we only saw a handful of other hardy hikers taking on the tough trail challenge.
On our anniversary, we took a day trip into Old San Juan, the historical district of the island. The morning started off with a food tour. We shared the tour with only one other couple, who were also celebrating their anniversary on the same day as us. They even looked like an older, dorkier version of us. It was a bit Twilight Zone-ish. Our wonderful tour guide took us to Don Ruiz for local Puerto Rican coffee and a ham and cheese sandwich dusted with powered sugar. Then we walked over to a bakery for another sweet treat.
Delicious coffee and pastry on our food tour in Old San Juan.
On the way to our final food destination, we stopped at several points of historical importance including the beautiful Cathedral of San Juan Bautista and Hotel el Convento, a former convent, turned brothel, now boutique hotel. Our food tour ended at La Cueva del Mar; a small restaurant specializing in traditional Puerto Rican dishes and seafood. Here, we enjoyed a refreshing citrus and rum cocktail, a fish taco, and an empanadilla of conch and crab. Empanadillas are essentially Puerto Rican Hot Pockets: meat stuffed inside a fried pastry shell. Our food tour guide also provided us with invaluable advice for where to celebrate our anniversary. We had planned to stay in Old San Juan for a few more hours and have dinner there, but she convinced us to head a bit east and check out her favorite bar and restaurant. I’m so glad we took her advice, because we ended up in this adorable neighborhood enjoying the best cocktails I’ve ever had, and the best dinner of vacation.
Since it was still early, we grabbed drinks at Santaella. This is a very classy, upscale cocktail bar and we were the only ones there. After a couple drinks, we walked over to Restaurante Jose’ Enrique a few short blocks away. Jose’ Enrique is the only Puerto Rican chef to every be nominated for a James Beard award, and the food reflected that prestige. There was nothing fancy about the meal at all; I had a mahi-mahi filet with mashed taro and Paul ordered a skirt steak with rice and beans and fried plantains. The food was cooked simply and perfectly – and it was really affordable too! We were really happy to enjoy an anniversary dinner that was not only delicious, but locally sources and made by a Puerto Rican chef.
Paul enjoying a beer at Jose Enrique
Appetizers were delicious!
Simple and local menu and Jose Enrique
Cheers to our 3rd anniversary!
The town of Luquillo, which was our home base, is famous for the kioskos, which is a strip of small restaurants and food stands along PR Route 3. These food stands run the gamut from dilapidated fry-holes to nice sit-down restaurants. It is definitely an interesting experience as a mainland gringo. Puerto Rican music is blasting from the cars driving by, crowds of people are walking up and down the narrow sidewalk, almost everyone is drinking alcohol (drinking age is 18!). I felt out of place and a bit overwhelmed, but never unwelcome. After walking up and down the strip a couple of times, we finally settled on eating at a place more on the fry-hole scale. I really wanted to try what the locals were eating, which meant fried pockets of meat and seafood.
I have no idea which kiosko we ended up in. The waitress didn’t speak English, and we don’t speak Spanish. So we simply pointed at things that looked good on the menu and hoped for the best. And of course, we enjoyed a couple of the ubiquitous local beers – Medalla lights. While the food was cooking, the chef came out and talked to us a bit (in English!) about the food. We ended up with fried mahi strips, a conch open-face pastry (can’t remember what is was called), and conch empanadillas. Turns out, it was all fantastic and conch meat should really be offered in more places. But I think what we enjoyed the best was the local, handmade hot sauces called pique. The combination of guava and hot peppers, or avocado and hot peppers, or just hot peppers, mixes perfectly with all of the food we had to eat.
Our kiosko dinner
Paul: I have no idea what I ordered, but this is amazing food!
We also found a surf bar and restaurant in downtown Luquillo called Boardriders that basically became our go-to spot during the week we in the Puerto Rico. It really didn’t get any better than enjoying shrimp tacos, a few beers, and reggae music while watching the surfers.
Believe it or not, we managed to fit more into our vacation than just beach bumming, hiking, and eating! Check back for Part 2 of our Puerto Rican vacation, in a post coming soon.
Adventuring With Hillary 