We rose early Monday morning, wanting to fill our time in PR with as much as possible. First things first, we walked to a Puerto Rican restaurant for breakfast. The food was good and priced the same as you’d expect to find in the States. From there, we threw on our swimsuits and walked 25 feet out the front of the Water Club right onto the beach. The hotel provided umbrellas, chairs and nice big towels. The water was as nice as I’ve experienced. Growing up, I grew used to the beaches of North Carolina, but I never remember water so warm or comforting. The thought ran through my head, “Maybe we could just swim all day.”

But we had people to do and things to see, so after about an hour and a half in the sun, we we’re off to El Yunque. This was the acclaimed rainforest area up in the hills of PR. It took us longer then expected (90 min instead of 45) to get there, because of the most shoddy construction/police combo in the world. It reminded John of the disorganization he once experienced in Mexico. When we finally got to the scene, we saw a lone back-hoe digging up half the street while a cop ate some type of taco/donut.

We got beyond the mess and followed the less-then-helpful directions up to El Yunque. After paying $3 a piece, we realized we should have kept driving. We saw many wondrous things on El Yunque: great waterfalls, high towers, and tons of people. I saw one old guy actually fall into one waterfall. He got out and yelled something in Spanish at his deaf wife. I only laughed after I realized he was alright.

We made the trek back towards San Juan and then onto Old San Juan. We found Old San Juan to be very quaint and European in style and structure; thin roads and painted buildings. El Morro, the massive, historic fort of defense, was great. We walked around the grass and decided not to pay for the tour. Hot and steamy, we both headed into the downtown area, where we found safe haven from the heat in Ralph Lauren and Marshalls. John kept saying, “Take as long as you want in here,” as we walked into each ice box. We did not find the “great deals,” Americans come to expect from their travels overseas. But prices were not outrageous either.

We had dinner at a nice restaurant called The Parrot Club. It was a very friendly and interesting atmosphere. The food was delicious and appearance was definitely important to the staff. John has a gift in finding the coolest places to dine. After dinner, we went back to our hotel and tried out the pool. It was very spacious, but over run with naked nuns. So we decided to wander around the hotel and see all there was to do. We walked into the casino and watched people gambling away their fortunes. I was particularly interested in a table playing Texas Hold’em. I’ve played the game for fun, and was interested in these “high rollers” There were $25,000 chips on the table. I was pissed when they wouldn’t let me in the game for $5. Rich people really do suck. So I took my $5 to the slot machines with the old farts and lost it so fast, I could here God saying, “Gambling is not one of your gifts.” John consoled me with a nice Carmel Frappacino, because I was depressed. I was convinced I was destined to hit the big one in PR. Oh well…

We headed back to our room and went to sleep one last time (for this trip anyway). In the morning, we’d need to race to the airport before rush hour traffic and head home through Philly and Boston.