Trip Report - 10 days in Puerto Rico, 2/4 to 2/14/2005!
Feb 16th, 2005, 12:06 PM
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Trip Report - 10 days in Puerto Rico, 2/4 to 2/14/2005!
This is a long and detailed trip report to thank all the Fodorites that patiently helped me plan the trip and to assist future travelers in lovely PR.
Fun Fact: If you're one of those people that loves their 12 ounce coffee in the morning,
I suggest you bring a travel cup. Or, you'll find yourself like my boyfriend, having
coffee from the Snapple bottle you just drank, because all the Puerto Rico coffee cups
are about 1/2 the size of a juicy-juice box. He'd have to by about 5 cups at a time, when
there was no 7/11 around.
Day 1 - Borinquen Beach Inn, Isla Verde
We flew in late, picked up the rental car at Dollar (booked on-line for $20/day) and just
needed a place to crash for the night. Stayed at Borinquen Beach Inn, which was adequate, being only 5 minutes from the airport and a short walk from the posh casino hotel in Isla Verde. The room was a bit overpriced at $100, but this little motel is right on the beach with coffee/muffins included in the morning.
Day 2 - Arecibo and the Central Mountains
We drove west in the morning on Hwy 26 to get to Arecibo and headed for the Indian Cave about 4 miles east of town. It's right on the water and when the waves hit the entrance to the cave, it roars. The rocky coastline looks volcanic so we carefully explored around the cave and looked into the sinkholes. There was dry white paint leading to the big cave opening where you could see some petroglyphs (possibly pre-Columbian). We parked at the Esso station as instructed in the Lonely Planet guidebook, but when we walked to the cave, there was parking there for $1, but nobody was around to collect. It looked like private property and they just waved at us.
We drove to the Arecibo observatory, but only spent about 30 minutes there. It was lovely scenery to get there but once you saw the dish and read some of the material about why it was there, we were ready to go. We got lost trying to cut across the mountains to head for the Lago Dos Bocas (lakes), but got to see a 2-foot Iguana on the road. The neat
thing about Lago Dos Bocas, is that you can take a short boat ride to one of 4 restaurants on the lake, and if you have a pole, you can fish of the docks, or anywhere you ask the boat captain do drop you along the lakes. We had lunch at a nice place called ??? (shrimp or beef mafongo for $11-13).
We had planned to go to the Taino Ceremonial Park near Utuado, but ran out of time. We
got to the Hacienda Gripinas for the night just after sunset. This was a great place to stay, a restored old coffee plantation that now has a lovely hotel in the mountains that includes a wonderful dinner and hot breakfast ($130 for two: www.haciendagripinas.com). They have horseback riding tours through the mountains.
Day 3 - Ruta Panoramica
This was our day to travel the Ruta Panoramica through the central mountains to the
rainforest. The drive from Juyuya to Aibonito is breathtaking. There's the Taino
petroglyphs at the Piedra Escrita off of road 144 and a lovely waterfall along road 149,
Salto de Dona Juana. If you get a chance to hike the Canyon San Cristobal by Aibonito,
arrange it in advance with a guide, but we only saw it from a distance and it's very
steep and beautiful. We'll try to do a hike there next time. We stopped at a roadside
stand for some fresh roasted pig ($6) for dinner outside the Carite Forrest before
continuing to the south side of the El Yunque rainforest.
Day 4-5 - South side of El Yunque, at Casa Cabuy
First, we stayed at Casa Cabuy ($100/nite: www.casacubuy.com) that sits in the mountaintops on the south side of the rainforest. They had the best breakfast we enjoyed in PR, served promptly at 9am with fresh fruit and something hot (in our case, it was a cheese omelet). There's a waterfall with natural swimming pools a 5 minute hike from the guesthouse, and a great hike for 2-4 hours into the rainforest to another waterfall where you can precariously scamper over rocks to the top where there's a secluded pool. This part of the rainforest doesn't get as much rain as the north side, so the canopy is not as thick, but it's certainly the place to escape the crowds that go to the more easily accessible, and more paved, north side. We also snorkeled off a wreck by Cayo Santiago, or Monkey Island, which was nice. We went with a small boat captain, Frank Lopez, from the town of Playa de Naguabo (2-3 hours, $25/pp). We took the Ferry to Culebra after parking the rental car in Fajardo (24hr secure parking $5/day).
Day 6-7 - Culebra, fishing and Flamenco Beach
We stayed at the Culebra Beach Villas ($125+: www.culebrabeachrental.com/) right on
Flamenco Beach (be sure and walk over to check out the old tank on the opposite end of
the beach). Since we were there for only 2 days, it would have been smarter and less
expensive to stay in town especially since we didn't get a car, but if you are a beach
person, then this is the place to be. The beach is lovely, with great snorkeling off of
Playa Tamarindo only a 30-minute scenic hike away (the path towards Playa Rosario from the campground area). The Culebra Beach Villas have an awesome beach side little tiki bar serving great frozen drinks ($6). We were in room #3 and it was fine (bring soap,
shampoo, and coffee, though, and lots of bug spray for the mosquitoes that come out at
dusk). The first night we ate at the Dinghy Dock restaurant, with 3 foot tarpon swimming
in the lagoon next to our table. The fish specials were some of the best we'd ever had -
Tuna and Kingfish $15-20 with a salad bar. The second night we ate the grouper and yellow tail we caught fishing that day. I had called Chris Goldmark, the premier "fish hawk" of the island, but he was not available and recommended Gayleen. Now Gayleen has a super fast fishing boat in immaculate condition and is a very nice guy. My boyfriend, the serious fisherman, felt he could have learned more about fishing the area if he had a guide who spoke better English, but Gayleen took us out for a wonderful day on the water, from 8am to 3:30pm, and cleaned the fish we caught ($160 total for the day, let me know if you want contact info).On the final day, we rented a 2-person kayak from a super sweet couple who run Water Toys in Dewey, a 5 minute walk from the ferry dock. They will also deliver the kayak anywhere on the island, so I strongly recommend their services (2-person kayak $40/day: http://www.islaculebra.com/puerto-ri...water-toys.htm). They are also located right next to El Batey, where you can get a burger to go on the way to the ferry (wish we thought of that!).
Day 8 - Vieques and the Bio-Bay, El Yunque rainforest north side
We took the 4:30pm ferry from Culebra directly to Vieques for our one night at the Bio
Bay. As it turned out, we loved the "bigger" island so much that we intend to go back for
4-5 days, maybe next year. We stayed at Bananas ($60/nt fan room:
www.bananasguesthouse.com), right across the beach in the town of Esperanza. Although there was a strong smell in the room (maybe from garbage in the back), I think it was a good value as the room was comparable to all the other far more expensive guesthouses we'd stayed in so far, except it had a fan instead of A/C. At least it had a price that reflected the place and the smell did not bother us too much. The place has a very Key West festive atmosphere and a great bar/restaurant with a view of the beach and the most glorious sunset we had in PR. I had the red snapper sandwich ($8), which was excellent, and they have freshly made chips that are awesome. We opted to snorkel in the Bio-Bay with the bioluminescent organisms with Aqua Frenzy by way of kayaks ($25/pp call Tim to reserve: (787) 741-0913). Tim seemed very reliable to me, as he called the hotel prior to our late arrival to make sure we would be ready and to let us know the time. They even picked us up right at the hotel and our group was small, personable and unhurried. Yeah Aqua Frenzy! By the way, it was like swimming in stars and one of the more memorable experiences in my life. The fish in the lagoon were like shooting stars as they sped past our kayak. Breakfast, complete with a LARGE coffee, can be had at the Tiki Hut about 3 doors down west from Bananas (hot breakfast $5-8, I recommended the lox bagel for $5). Oh, you can fish off of the docks in front to Bananas, where I got to see my first squid in the wild, and he was pretty big at about 10 inches! We almost missed the ferry back to Fajardo because we didn't want to leave. We hitchhiked and a wonderful lady, a nurse, picked us up and drove herself right into ferry traffic to save our day!
We spent the afternoon on the north side of the rainforest. Although lovely, the trails
were all paved and there were people at every waterfall. We recommend highly the big tree trail, with some informative plaques as to the 300 year oldies around. By the way, on the way into the rainforest, there's a tourist food stand (on the west side of the road)
where they were grilling pinchos (chicken/pork skewers, $1.75 each). The smell had hit me through the car window and we stopped for one. They tasted far better than the $80 dinner we ended up having in San Juan that night so have your meal on the mountain
.
Day 9 - San Juan
After checking out Ponce de Leon's grave/monument in the Church of Puerto Rico, we headed for the El Moro fort. We spent about 2 hours wondering there, where most tour groups give you 20 minutes. That should say just how much we liked it (don't miss the old tower where some 1898 shell fragment still protrudes from the wall when the US Navy shot at the fortress). Then, we headed to San Cristobal fort, which is even bigger, although a little younger, where the guide took us into the locked up cisterns where the rain water was kept in case of a siege since the 16th century! All you have to do is ask the guides in the forts and they will take you any where and are very informative ($5 for both forts).We had lunch at the Cafe de Puerto Rico right on the plaza by San Cristobal (great chicken mafongo for $11). In the evening we walked along the Paseo Princessa by the water in the south west corner of Old San Juan outside the wall. There are some beautiful and enormous trees. By the way, that night we dined at one of the oldest restaurants in the city, La Mallorquina (since 1868 or something) and I do not recommend it - nothing special and overpriced.
Day 10 - Angeles Caving adventure
This was one of the more amazing experiences we had in PR. At $150 per person, I was
dubious that this was some typical tourist tour but it truly was an adventure, from 6am
when that funny green bus came to pick us up at the meeting area south of San Juan, to
4pm when they brought us back, somewhat scratched and sore but extremely happy,
exhilarated and amazed with the trip and ourselves. Check out the web site, and let me
tell you that it is every bit as good as it sounds, if not more so. Out tour guides,
Anibal and Rossano were exceptional, as if they've lead this tour for years (and it turns
out that's true) and it felt like this was their own business which is why they cared so
much about our experience and out safety (that turned out true too since it's Rosanno's
business, as I found out on the site after we got back). So, they take us to the Angeles
Cave, by the Camuy cave park and we rappel into the mouth of the cave. Then, you turn on your headlamp and it's like you're in the Journey to the Center of the Earth story. In
the cave, we climb, jump, swim, body raft, slide, hike and have lunch by candle light
among the stalactites and stalagmites. It's really beyond words, so I'll stop (www.aventuraspr.com).
We had dinner at the infamous and stylish Parrot Club ($19-32 beautiful entrees, pretty
tasty). I liked it but don't feel a huge need to go again as there's some other
restaurants by the same owner to check out. Definitely worth one visit. Also, there's a
great coffee/lunch place on San Francisco street called la Bombanera - serving coffee
from one of those old fashioned makers, yum! Sit at the bar, as there’s a great big friendly guy there who’ll give you grilled bread pastries whether you order them or not. And lastly, I almost forgot to mention our hotel in Old San Juan - Hotel Milano ($100/nt: www.hotelmilanopr.com). The location was right in the middle of the old city, 5-10 minute walk to both forts, and 3 minutes to the Parrot Club restaurant. We had what had to be one of the smallest rooms in the place, but it was as clean as can be, with full cable and a good continental breakfast on the roof top with views of the water. This is a little Marriott in the city w/o the price tag or the extra charges. Just be prepared to share some space. Let me know if you have questions or need more info.
Fun Fact: If you're one of those people that loves their 12 ounce coffee in the morning,
I suggest you bring a travel cup. Or, you'll find yourself like my boyfriend, having
coffee from the Snapple bottle you just drank, because all the Puerto Rico coffee cups
are about 1/2 the size of a juicy-juice box. He'd have to by about 5 cups at a time, when
there was no 7/11 around.
Day 1 - Borinquen Beach Inn, Isla Verde
We flew in late, picked up the rental car at Dollar (booked on-line for $20/day) and just
needed a place to crash for the night. Stayed at Borinquen Beach Inn, which was adequate, being only 5 minutes from the airport and a short walk from the posh casino hotel in Isla Verde. The room was a bit overpriced at $100, but this little motel is right on the beach with coffee/muffins included in the morning.
Day 2 - Arecibo and the Central Mountains
We drove west in the morning on Hwy 26 to get to Arecibo and headed for the Indian Cave about 4 miles east of town. It's right on the water and when the waves hit the entrance to the cave, it roars. The rocky coastline looks volcanic so we carefully explored around the cave and looked into the sinkholes. There was dry white paint leading to the big cave opening where you could see some petroglyphs (possibly pre-Columbian). We parked at the Esso station as instructed in the Lonely Planet guidebook, but when we walked to the cave, there was parking there for $1, but nobody was around to collect. It looked like private property and they just waved at us.
We drove to the Arecibo observatory, but only spent about 30 minutes there. It was lovely scenery to get there but once you saw the dish and read some of the material about why it was there, we were ready to go. We got lost trying to cut across the mountains to head for the Lago Dos Bocas (lakes), but got to see a 2-foot Iguana on the road. The neat
thing about Lago Dos Bocas, is that you can take a short boat ride to one of 4 restaurants on the lake, and if you have a pole, you can fish of the docks, or anywhere you ask the boat captain do drop you along the lakes. We had lunch at a nice place called ??? (shrimp or beef mafongo for $11-13).
We had planned to go to the Taino Ceremonial Park near Utuado, but ran out of time. We
got to the Hacienda Gripinas for the night just after sunset. This was a great place to stay, a restored old coffee plantation that now has a lovely hotel in the mountains that includes a wonderful dinner and hot breakfast ($130 for two: www.haciendagripinas.com). They have horseback riding tours through the mountains.
Day 3 - Ruta Panoramica
This was our day to travel the Ruta Panoramica through the central mountains to the
rainforest. The drive from Juyuya to Aibonito is breathtaking. There's the Taino
petroglyphs at the Piedra Escrita off of road 144 and a lovely waterfall along road 149,
Salto de Dona Juana. If you get a chance to hike the Canyon San Cristobal by Aibonito,
arrange it in advance with a guide, but we only saw it from a distance and it's very
steep and beautiful. We'll try to do a hike there next time. We stopped at a roadside
stand for some fresh roasted pig ($6) for dinner outside the Carite Forrest before
continuing to the south side of the El Yunque rainforest.
Day 4-5 - South side of El Yunque, at Casa Cabuy
First, we stayed at Casa Cabuy ($100/nite: www.casacubuy.com) that sits in the mountaintops on the south side of the rainforest. They had the best breakfast we enjoyed in PR, served promptly at 9am with fresh fruit and something hot (in our case, it was a cheese omelet). There's a waterfall with natural swimming pools a 5 minute hike from the guesthouse, and a great hike for 2-4 hours into the rainforest to another waterfall where you can precariously scamper over rocks to the top where there's a secluded pool. This part of the rainforest doesn't get as much rain as the north side, so the canopy is not as thick, but it's certainly the place to escape the crowds that go to the more easily accessible, and more paved, north side. We also snorkeled off a wreck by Cayo Santiago, or Monkey Island, which was nice. We went with a small boat captain, Frank Lopez, from the town of Playa de Naguabo (2-3 hours, $25/pp). We took the Ferry to Culebra after parking the rental car in Fajardo (24hr secure parking $5/day).
Day 6-7 - Culebra, fishing and Flamenco Beach
We stayed at the Culebra Beach Villas ($125+: www.culebrabeachrental.com/) right on
Flamenco Beach (be sure and walk over to check out the old tank on the opposite end of
the beach). Since we were there for only 2 days, it would have been smarter and less
expensive to stay in town especially since we didn't get a car, but if you are a beach
person, then this is the place to be. The beach is lovely, with great snorkeling off of
Playa Tamarindo only a 30-minute scenic hike away (the path towards Playa Rosario from the campground area). The Culebra Beach Villas have an awesome beach side little tiki bar serving great frozen drinks ($6). We were in room #3 and it was fine (bring soap,
shampoo, and coffee, though, and lots of bug spray for the mosquitoes that come out at
dusk). The first night we ate at the Dinghy Dock restaurant, with 3 foot tarpon swimming
in the lagoon next to our table. The fish specials were some of the best we'd ever had -
Tuna and Kingfish $15-20 with a salad bar. The second night we ate the grouper and yellow tail we caught fishing that day. I had called Chris Goldmark, the premier "fish hawk" of the island, but he was not available and recommended Gayleen. Now Gayleen has a super fast fishing boat in immaculate condition and is a very nice guy. My boyfriend, the serious fisherman, felt he could have learned more about fishing the area if he had a guide who spoke better English, but Gayleen took us out for a wonderful day on the water, from 8am to 3:30pm, and cleaned the fish we caught ($160 total for the day, let me know if you want contact info).On the final day, we rented a 2-person kayak from a super sweet couple who run Water Toys in Dewey, a 5 minute walk from the ferry dock. They will also deliver the kayak anywhere on the island, so I strongly recommend their services (2-person kayak $40/day: http://www.islaculebra.com/puerto-ri...water-toys.htm). They are also located right next to El Batey, where you can get a burger to go on the way to the ferry (wish we thought of that!).
Day 8 - Vieques and the Bio-Bay, El Yunque rainforest north side
We took the 4:30pm ferry from Culebra directly to Vieques for our one night at the Bio
Bay. As it turned out, we loved the "bigger" island so much that we intend to go back for
4-5 days, maybe next year. We stayed at Bananas ($60/nt fan room:
www.bananasguesthouse.com), right across the beach in the town of Esperanza. Although there was a strong smell in the room (maybe from garbage in the back), I think it was a good value as the room was comparable to all the other far more expensive guesthouses we'd stayed in so far, except it had a fan instead of A/C. At least it had a price that reflected the place and the smell did not bother us too much. The place has a very Key West festive atmosphere and a great bar/restaurant with a view of the beach and the most glorious sunset we had in PR. I had the red snapper sandwich ($8), which was excellent, and they have freshly made chips that are awesome. We opted to snorkel in the Bio-Bay with the bioluminescent organisms with Aqua Frenzy by way of kayaks ($25/pp call Tim to reserve: (787) 741-0913). Tim seemed very reliable to me, as he called the hotel prior to our late arrival to make sure we would be ready and to let us know the time. They even picked us up right at the hotel and our group was small, personable and unhurried. Yeah Aqua Frenzy! By the way, it was like swimming in stars and one of the more memorable experiences in my life. The fish in the lagoon were like shooting stars as they sped past our kayak. Breakfast, complete with a LARGE coffee, can be had at the Tiki Hut about 3 doors down west from Bananas (hot breakfast $5-8, I recommended the lox bagel for $5). Oh, you can fish off of the docks in front to Bananas, where I got to see my first squid in the wild, and he was pretty big at about 10 inches! We almost missed the ferry back to Fajardo because we didn't want to leave. We hitchhiked and a wonderful lady, a nurse, picked us up and drove herself right into ferry traffic to save our day!
We spent the afternoon on the north side of the rainforest. Although lovely, the trails
were all paved and there were people at every waterfall. We recommend highly the big tree trail, with some informative plaques as to the 300 year oldies around. By the way, on the way into the rainforest, there's a tourist food stand (on the west side of the road)
where they were grilling pinchos (chicken/pork skewers, $1.75 each). The smell had hit me through the car window and we stopped for one. They tasted far better than the $80 dinner we ended up having in San Juan that night so have your meal on the mountain
.Day 9 - San Juan
After checking out Ponce de Leon's grave/monument in the Church of Puerto Rico, we headed for the El Moro fort. We spent about 2 hours wondering there, where most tour groups give you 20 minutes. That should say just how much we liked it (don't miss the old tower where some 1898 shell fragment still protrudes from the wall when the US Navy shot at the fortress). Then, we headed to San Cristobal fort, which is even bigger, although a little younger, where the guide took us into the locked up cisterns where the rain water was kept in case of a siege since the 16th century! All you have to do is ask the guides in the forts and they will take you any where and are very informative ($5 for both forts).We had lunch at the Cafe de Puerto Rico right on the plaza by San Cristobal (great chicken mafongo for $11). In the evening we walked along the Paseo Princessa by the water in the south west corner of Old San Juan outside the wall. There are some beautiful and enormous trees. By the way, that night we dined at one of the oldest restaurants in the city, La Mallorquina (since 1868 or something) and I do not recommend it - nothing special and overpriced.
Day 10 - Angeles Caving adventure
This was one of the more amazing experiences we had in PR. At $150 per person, I was
dubious that this was some typical tourist tour but it truly was an adventure, from 6am
when that funny green bus came to pick us up at the meeting area south of San Juan, to
4pm when they brought us back, somewhat scratched and sore but extremely happy,
exhilarated and amazed with the trip and ourselves. Check out the web site, and let me
tell you that it is every bit as good as it sounds, if not more so. Out tour guides,
Anibal and Rossano were exceptional, as if they've lead this tour for years (and it turns
out that's true) and it felt like this was their own business which is why they cared so
much about our experience and out safety (that turned out true too since it's Rosanno's
business, as I found out on the site after we got back). So, they take us to the Angeles
Cave, by the Camuy cave park and we rappel into the mouth of the cave. Then, you turn on your headlamp and it's like you're in the Journey to the Center of the Earth story. In
the cave, we climb, jump, swim, body raft, slide, hike and have lunch by candle light
among the stalactites and stalagmites. It's really beyond words, so I'll stop (www.aventuraspr.com).
We had dinner at the infamous and stylish Parrot Club ($19-32 beautiful entrees, pretty
tasty). I liked it but don't feel a huge need to go again as there's some other
restaurants by the same owner to check out. Definitely worth one visit. Also, there's a
great coffee/lunch place on San Francisco street called la Bombanera - serving coffee
from one of those old fashioned makers, yum! Sit at the bar, as there’s a great big friendly guy there who’ll give you grilled bread pastries whether you order them or not. And lastly, I almost forgot to mention our hotel in Old San Juan - Hotel Milano ($100/nt: www.hotelmilanopr.com). The location was right in the middle of the old city, 5-10 minute walk to both forts, and 3 minutes to the Parrot Club restaurant. We had what had to be one of the smallest rooms in the place, but it was as clean as can be, with full cable and a good continental breakfast on the roof top with views of the water. This is a little Marriott in the city w/o the price tag or the extra charges. Just be prepared to share some space. Let me know if you have questions or need more info.
