Puerto Rico Must-Do Experiences and Adventures

We’ve lived in Puerto Rico for only two months, and already a number of friends, and friends of friends, have reached out to us looking for recommendations or advice for visiting the island. I realize no one has time to go through our whole travel blog in search of ideas on what to do or see on La Isla del Encanto.

So if you’re coming to Puerto Rico and staying around the capital San Juan, here are a few of our favorite things to do, see and experience!

Urban Beaches

If you’re staying in San Juan, you will enjoy Isla Verde Beach, with its wide swath of sand and crashing waves. Ocean Park Beach is quirky and fun, but difficult to access unless you’re staying close by. We also recommend Balneario Carolina, or Carolina Public Beach, just east of Isla Verde, which features bathrooms, showers, shade trees, and beach bars. Admission is free, and parking is just $4. The sand is soft, the waves are gentle, and you can while away an afternoon in a beach chair with a mojito in hand while watching jets take off from and land at San Juan International Airport, right behind you.

Stroll west down the sand and enjoy lunch or dinner at Ocean Lab Brewing Company, which serves up really good pub food and a variety of craft brews on a large open balcony facing the ocean and the beach club below. (Make sure you enter from the street side; the beachside door is for members only.) Don’t miss the gift shop!

Balneario de Carolina: https://www.discoverpuertorico.com/profile/balneario-de-carolina/7704

Ocean Lab Brewing: https://oceanlabbrewery.com/

Urban Snorkeling

You can snorkel for sea turtles at Escambron Beach on Puerto de Tierra in San Juan. It’s not the best snorkeling on the island by any stretch, but it’s convenient if you’re staying in San Juan. And the chances of seeing a sea turtle are high!

Scuba Dogs Dive Shop (for renting snorkel gear): https://scubadogs.net/

For some truly spectacular snorkeling, go on a snorkeling day trip on a catamaran to Icacos Island, embarking from Fajardo. We did the Catamaran Spread Eagle II, and it was a blast. https://g.co/kgs/ZwRNd2

Viejo (Old) San Juan

Old San Juan is worth a day trip just to experience 500 years of history mingled with today’s rhythm of life. Enjoy strolling around the old city while you soak up the beautifully preserved Spanish Colonial architecture, shop for local crafts, and eat and drink Puerto Rican fare. Take in the historic sights, especially the iconic fort San Felipe El Morro, the governor’s residence La Fortaleza, and the Museum of the Americas. Definitely spend at least a day!

View from El Morro

Here are some links to get you started in OSJ.

Arts and Culture

The Puerto Rico Art Museum in Santurce is excellent, if you want to spend a day away from the beach and out of the sun. https://www.mapr.org/es

Centro de Bellas Artes has world-class cultural offerings. https://www.cba.pr.gov/

If you’re a Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton, In the Heights, Tick Tick Boom) fan, take a trip to his family’s hometown of Vega Alta, less than an hour’s drive from San Juan, and spend a couple of hours in the Galería de Lin-Manuel Miranda. Lin used to fly down from New York to spend summers visiting his abuelos (grandparents) here when he was a kid. In fact, his grandfather was a local celebrity decades before Lin started winning awards! https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/galeria-lin-manuel-miranda?tab=visit

This mural in Vega Alta honors Lin and his grandfather

Rum and Spirits

If you fancy rum or just a good time on vacation, we recommend taking the Mixology Class at the Bacardí Rum Factory.  Take the ferry to Cataño from Old San Juan (Park at Doña Fela) for a spectacular experience. https://www.bacardi.com/casa-bacardi/tickets/

Mixology class

Another rum option is to take the tasting tour at Ron Barrilito, the original Puerto Rican rum. https://rondelbarrilito.com/

These are splurges, about $80 each. Both are worth it!

If you decide not to spend the time or money on a rum tour, we recommend at least having a piña colada at El Caribe Hilton, which claims to be the birthplace of the piña colada, or Barachina in Old San Juan (https://g.co/kgs/nP36j6), which makes the same claim. https://www.forbes.com/sites/chelseadavis/2019/07/10/this-is-where-the-pia-colada-was-born/

Hiking the Rain Forest El Yunque

If you want to hike in El Yunque, the rain forest, you need to buy your tickets in advance on the first day of the month, from the US National Park Service website. They get snapped up fast. However, the site doesn’t work well, so be prepared for Plan B. If you fail, which is likely, you can always book a guided tour. 

National Park Service website: https://www.recreation.gov/ticket/facility/300017

A zipline tour of El Yunque is also awesome. https://www.junglequipr.com

Luquillo and the Kioskos

Afterward, relax at Balneario (Public Beach) Luquillo (closed Monday and Tuesday). Again, free entry, $4 parking, bathrooms, gentle surf, and golden sand. (Note that this is NOT the beach behind the Kioskos. That one is also called Luquillo, NOT Balneario Luquillo, and is interesting, but with a gritty locals vibe. Be prepared to encounter lots of trash) https://www.puertoricodaytrips.com/balneario-monserrate-luquillo/

Then have a meal at the famous Luquillo kioskos. https://www.puertoricodaytrips.com/luquillo-kiosks/

And So Much More…

Drink a passion fruit mojito! Try red snapper (chillo) with criollo sauce!

This is a passion fruit mojito

If you’ll have a car and are willing to explore a little, visit the Pork Highway, a coffee plantation, or Gozalandia Falls. If you have more time, come to our lovely southwest corner of the island, Cabo Rojo, which has clear, calm beaches facing the gentle turquoise waters of the Mona Passage. It’s 2 and 1/2 hours from San Juan.

Our Favorite Tour Guides

If you want someone with energy, knowledge, and enthusiasm to create a tour for you and show you the island, consider Rosario and Chan’s Adventures. Julio and Chan are fantastic! Tell them Bob and Lisa sent you! https://m.facebook.com/100082685624263/

More Great Sources of Info

  • Discoverpuertorico.com
  • Puertoricodaytrips.com
  • Messysuitcase.com
  • Youtube.com/messysuitcase 

This should get you started. Enjoy this wonderful island!

Back on a Bike!

First bike ride of the year in Ludlow, just 10 miles into town and back. God, the roads are in bad condition! But it was a sunny 70 degrees. Lovely start to the season!

Trouble in Paradise: A Series

Part 1: Transportation

Traveling in retirement is not all sweetness and light, despite what Messy Suitcase’s social media might suggest. We post photos from beautiful beaches and interesting places, but usually don’t share the logistics of how we got there. Or how we ran from the beach to the car because of a sudden unexpected downpour. Or about the fact that I am currently nursing a broken rib from tripping on a root and falling during a hike. There are plenty of obstacles and inconveniences to our traveling retirement that we grapple with daily, just like there were when we still worked.

We decided it was time to share a few, to give our lifestyle some balance, in this new series, Trouble in Paradise. In Part 1, we focus on transportation.

Flying

Leaving DC. The views are amazing, even if the flights are a pain.

Air transportation is an unavoidable hassle if you’re going to live a traveling life. As soon as we arrive in a place, we have to start planning how and when we are going to get to the next one. We fly almost exclusively on Southwest Airlines right now, because we have thousands of airline miles and a Companion Pass good through the end of 2022. This helps keep our retirement life affordable. But it’s not always convenient, especially in the time of COVID.

For example, in January we booked a flight back to the United States from Puerto Rico for May 3, 2022. Last week, Southwest changed it so egregiously that the second leg was the day before the first, a physical impossibility. It took hours to fix this, including long telephone wait times, until they finally fixed the glitchy website so we could change the flight online. Then, two days later, they changed the flight again! We were originally going to arrive in DC at 8 PM. At this point, it’s 10:15 PM. I can’t wait to see what happens next (she said sarcastically).

Traveling during COVID times means securing the right kind of COVID-19 tests (as specified by the airline or the government of the place you’re entering), getting them administered correctly, with results returned in the specified time frame, filling out all airline COVID forms, making sure we have the safest masks to protect us, and choosing seats near the back of the plane (the safest part).

Packing

Fitting everything you need for three or four months of life into your luggage is difficult as well, especially if your lifestyle includes snorkeling and other athletic pursuits. Alas, my bike doesn’t fit in my suitcase, but I pack bike shorts and a helmet for when I am able to rent a bike. My tennis shoes fit, and just one tennis outfit, but I have to rent a racket at the club where I play. And speaking of shoes, while I am no Carrie Bradshaw, I cannot travel for months on end without all of my favorite Aetrex sandals! As well as running shoes. And hiking shoes. And Keens for the beach. It adds up.

Kaylee helping pack

And then there’s the TRX home workout equipment, and a yoga mat, for staying strong and flexible, even while on the road. There’s snorkel gear. There’s the cat’s stuff, toys and litter box, bowls, and food. There’s jewelry. And my computer and tablet. And chargers. Sweaters and pants for cool evenings. bathing suits and goggles. Vitamins and medication. Toiletries. A hair drier.

I think you get the picture. We pack as light as possible, but it’s still a lot of stuff.

Getting Around

When we were living in Mexico, we drove our covered Toyota Tacoma down from the United States, after retrofitting the back latches of the cap to secure our possessions. We would then park where we were living, and rely as much as possible on public transit or Uber.

Public transit can really simplify life, but first, it complicates it, because you have to learn how it works in every city. How much does a ride cost? Bus or subway? Do you get a ticket? Pay cash? Exact change? A Metrocard? An app on your phone? Where are the stops or stations? What are the hours? What about transfers? Safety? How do you get from Point A to Point B? There’s a trip planning app called Moovit that really helps with this. Google Maps also helps chart a public transit route.

Uber is another great resource – better than cabs, in our opinion, because it’s more secure, and you know before the car arrives what it will cost to take you to your destination, and many drivers are happy to share their recommendations for restaurants, neighborhoods to visit and local experiences.

But we often need to rent a car. It’s a huge expense, and finding one that doesn’t break the bank when you are staying for months at a time is really hard. Last year, we found a deal on Enterprise after searching for weeks. Then, when we arrived in Puerto Rico, they told us we would have to bring the car back to San Juan International Airport every month to renew it. Since we were traveling to the east end of the island, that was a huge inconvenience. So on the renewal day, we spent an afternoon searching for an Enterprise local to our lodging, had that worker call San Juan, and got the car extended – we hoped.

A couple of weeks later, we found a $150 ticket on the car for expired registration. They had given us a car for three months without making sure the registration would last the duration! Bob got pulled over again the following week for the same issue, but was able to talk his way out of a ticket. We spent the last few weeks dodging police traffic stops so that we wouldn’t get another ticket. We got Enterprise to cover the cost of the ticket, in the end, though I thought they might blame us because we had not brought the car to San Juan in person after a month as instructed.

Damage and Destruction

We took that first car, a Ford Focus I believe, on a rutted dirt road to a deserted beach and managed to loosen the front left quarter panel, then spent the next two months pushing it back in place daily. The car was a very low rider, and every bump in the road scraped that damned quarter panel. (We noticed that most cars had the same problem; roads in Puerto Rico can be very bad.) In the end, there was an insurance claim on the car, which was covered by a combination of our USAA Auto Insurance and the coverage provided by American Express. Still, a hassle!

We are currently renting from Avis at a low(ish) rate I secured through Priceline. The first car they gave us had a nonworking cigarette lighter, which we needed to power our GPS. (We had discovered there are dead spots in the mountains and will no longer travel without the GPS. See Packing for why this is an inconvenient solution.) We took the car back immediately and got upgraded to the only other car on the lot, a Hyundai Tucson SUV, which is actually way better for Puerto Rican driving.

But … five weeks into our stay this time, Bob looked at the front wheel and saw this:

Check out that gouge, one of several. And the cracks!

Holy shit! We were driving on a grossly defective tire that looked like it could explode catastrophically at any time!  We called Avis Roadside Assistance in Puerto Rico. Busy signal. FOR TWO DAYS. We called the local Avis, at Aguadilla Airport, 20 minutes away. Non-stop ringing, or busy signal. FOR TWO DAYS. We called Avis in the United States. They connected us to US Roadside Assistance, who told us to call PR Roadside Assistance. I sent an email to Avis. They apologized for any inconvenience – four days later – told us to call PR Roadside Assistance. I lost all my hair pulling it out in frustration.

In the end, we just drove to the damned airport, where of course, the solitary Avis employee was not coming in for another hour. We went out to lunch, returned, and a miracle happened. The man at the desk made a phone call, gave us instructions to a gomera (tire place), and the tire was changed before we had time to finish piña coladas at a bar down the road.

Speaking of Tickets

We found a ticket on our car again last week when we returned to it after a day at the beach. I knew the registration wasn’t expired – it was the first thing I had checked. Puerto Rican traffic tickets are almost impossible to decipher, but I finally figured out that we had parked facing the wrong direction, and had to pay $50. It would be knocked down to $35 if we paid within 2 weeks.

Who can read this?

But how to pay? There was no website, no address to mail. Off to Mr. Google! I found guidance here – and learned that you have to pay in person – isn’t this 2022, people? – at a place called CESCO (the Motor Vehicles Department). There’s a CESCO Office near the Avis place in Aguadilla, so we went there after getting our new tire. The CESCO person sent us to another office, Hacienda (Finance department), at the other end of the same strip mall, where we joined a socially-distanced outdoor line of people holding boletos (tickets).

While Bob waited, I bought breakfast pastries at the bakery next store, and on the way back noticed a barcode on the Hacienda door that would have allowed us to schedule our appointment in advance and not wait in line. It would have been nice to know about that! But we were there already, in line, and hoped we were close enough to the front to get in before the office closed for the day at 3:30 PM (although the website said it closed at 5.) We were fortunate to be the last people allowed in! And both the door monitor and the woman behind the desk (one of only two people working inside) were extremely helpful friendly and spoke English. The woman did warn us to make sure we provided the car rental agency with evidence this ticket was paid so they wouldn’t try to charge us for it again.

Meanwhile, Back in the States

Since we flew to PR from Washington National Airport, our Toyota Tacoma is parked in an underground garage in Crystal City, VA, for what I considered a very reasonable monthly rate of $130. I did a lot of research to find this low rate at this convenient location. Imagine my surprise when I received an email from SpotHero last month, two weeks after I parked the car there, telling me the rate was going up to $200 – a 50% increase – beginning the very next month! Obviously, there is no way to move this car out of the garage until we return. We just have to suck it up. And though I wrote a scathing email to SpotHero, I received no response and have no recourse but to pay until we take the car out on May 4.

Up next …

Trouble in Paradise, Part 2: Traveling with a Pet

Dueling Piña Coladas in San Juan

Caribar, the beautiful bar inside the Caribe Hilton in San Juan, boasts that bartender Ramon ‘Monchito’ Perez invented the piña colada there in 1954.

Piña colada at Caribar

No, wait, that’s Barrachina a Spanish restaurant in Old San Juan, where traditional Spanish bartender Don Ramon Portas Mingot created the original recipe in 1963.

Piña coladas in Barrachina

Neither side is backing down. Which bar is the birthplace of Puerto Rico’s iconic drink? That may never be settled. So in our opinion, the real question is, which bar makes the best piña colada?

And can either version approach the deliciousness of Lisa’s piña colada recipe? Bob gives them the taste test! Enjoy the video:

https://youtu.be/iDE0koLO-j4

Caribar‘s address is Calle Los Rosales, San Juan, on the lowest level of the Caribe Hilton Hotel.
Barrachina is located at 104 C. de la Fortaleza, Old San Juan.

Why Do I Love Kayaking?

Why do I love kayaking? It’s hard to explain, but today’s excursion on the Caribbean Sea really has me thinking about it. Let me try to explain.

Boqueron Bay, February, 2022

Kayaking in Vermont

I have spent the past two summers on Lake Rescue in Vermont, where I spent hours paddling around that 200-acre body of water in the Green Mountains. Nowhere do I feel more at home than tucked into my little orange boat, floating in the middle of Lake Rescue.

But that watery home was always changing, a metaphor for life, I guess. Sometimes I would slip out of bed at 6 AM and waft my boat into the early morning fog, beckoned by the haunting calls of the loons. Sometimes I would escape my family (this was the pandemic, after all) for some quiet time to myself after dinner, and watch the bald eagle father interact with his child as the sun set over the lake.

Misty morning Vermont, August, 2021

Sometimes I would kayak fiercely down to the Red Bridge at the far end of the lake, only to see a storm coming in that would soak me as I fought the winds to get home.

On weekend afternoons in summer, I would soak up the energy of my neighbors as some people water skied, another set up a lemonade stand on the family dock, kids dove off platforms out on the water, and a giant inflatable pink pelican bobbed up and down.

Come fall, the people would leave, and Lake Rescue would become a place of peace and solitude. Most of the local birds would leave, but then visiting ones would arrive, stopping for a few days here and there on their way south, sometimes providing a thrilling show.

Kayaking in the Caribbean Sea

Kayaking in Puerto Rico is a completely different animal. We’re currently living in the southwest corner of the island, and the Caribbean Sea is an impossibly glorious shade of turquoise, or deep blue, or aquamarine, depending on the angle of the sun and the invisible organisms living in the water. The sea itself is a living being, breathing in and out onto the shore. Its waves can welcome your boat and gently accompany you on your ride, or they can toss you around, throw up obstacles, and remind you that you are a tiny speck on a huge ocean.

The calm before the storm

Kayak out a ways from shore and the world looks different. The palm trees wave from a distance. The sky becomes huge. Sometimes it grows angry, and besets you with torrents of water. It slaps you and resists you and makes you feel small and powerless.

Sometimes it teases you with beautiful weather, only to reveal its true nature when you’re far from shore and see the black clouds moving in, the ones that were hidden from view when your feet were on land. The waves grow restless. The thunder rumbles. The surging water decides which way you will go. White seabirds glow as they soar above you, reflecting the sun to your right, a stark contrast to the black clouds to the left.

Here comes the rain again

The views are spectacular. Sailboats pose in front of black skies like supermodels strutting down a runway. You want to take pictures, but the sea takes your boat where it wants while you are focusing and shooting. You wrest control back from the sea as best you can — you, an insignificant mortal, vs. the sea, the turquoise lifeblood of the planet.

A rogue wave hits you. You are covered with water. It’s all over you; it’s around you; it’s under you. You are soaked. The sea is still restless. The strong wind pushes your hat off. You are glad you don’t have shoes; your bare feet are connected to the plastic boat. You keep paddling. You are soaked but still upright. You feel invigorated. You lean back in your seat, put your feet up, stop paddling, just experience the moment. Out in the middle of the sea. Water all around you. Sun above; storm approaching. You are part of the ocean. You are inside the water. You are physically connected to the planet.

One paddle, two blades. Dip left, dip right, left, right, one fluid movement. Get a rhythm and fly across the water. Or not.

This is why I love kayaking.

Leaving Puerto Rico Today

Beto’s enjoying a last hour of beach time before we fly to the snowy northeast today.

Lisa is capping her last run in San Juan in 2021 with coffee and a pastry (from 787 Coffee, of course) by the ocean.

Enjoy some last images of the weird, wonderful beach at Punta Las Marías, our home for the past month.

This evening we board a plane bound for Manchester, NH, where our car is parked. Then, tomorrow we plan to get up super early, drive across the state of Vermont before an approaching snowstorm, scoop up Gavin and his cat Ellie at Champlain College in Burlington, and drive down to Sarasota, NY for the night. On Sunday, we rise early and drive another seven hours to our next home: Washington, DC!

We are not looking forward to going from 84 degrees to 29 in a few hours’ time.

Vacation in England, Part 1: Bath

In September, we giddily embarked upon our first international trip since COVID brought us back from Mexico City, the latest destination in our traveling retirement, quite abruptly in March 2020. We took advantage of our oldest child, Aryk, restarting their education to carve out two weeks in England!

Aryk had deferred graduate school for a year due to the pandemic, but with two vaccines in their arm and a trove of masks in their suitcase, they were eager to begin pursuing their master’s degree in Creative Writing/Poetry at Bath Spa University in Bath, England.

So the three of us flew to the UK in mid-September. Lisa and Aryk headed to Bath, Lisa driving white-knuckled on the left side of the road to Aryk’s uni lodging, while Bob settled into a condo in London to explore for a few days on his own.

Beautiful Bath

Bath is a stunning World Heritage City about two hours west of London. It has a lovely old center of town and a lively culture. While we were there, the city was hosting a major Children’s Literature Festival. We movedAryk into Student Castle, and did the shopping and exploring they needed, with little time left for sightseeing.

Aryk’s studio flat, still being unpacked, obviously. But the bed is made!

Bath is named after its Roman-built baths, and is renowned as a well-being destination. It’s located in the valley of the River Avon, a scenic, winding river with a path that I enjoyed during an early morning run.

The River Avon

Bath also hosts a scenic stretch of the 87-mile-long Kennet and Avon Canal, which runs from London to the Bristol Channel on the coast. I ran or walked on its dirt towpath several mornings. One day, Aryk and I happened upon it after shopping at Tesco Express just before sunset. The light on the buildings made from golden Bath stone was truly captivating.

Just as interesting to me was the narrowboats tethered along the canal, in which people lived. (Note the bikes lashed on top.)

These are working canals, albeit an incredibly slow mode of transportation, and I was fortunate to witness a narrowboat navigating an 18-foot-deep lock called the Bath Deep Lock, the second-deepest lock in the country. Watch my video on the Messy Suitcase YouTube channel! (And please subscribe while you’re there.)

This narrowboat, captained by two women you can see up at the loch, had a canoe lashed to the top!

I definitely plan to return to Bath for a tourism visit someday!

On to the Next Phase

We’re finishing up our Vermont maple liqueur in a symbolic transition as we prepare to depart next week for the next stop on the Messy Suitcase tour, the birthplace of piña coladas: Puerto Rico! 

Our September vacation in England (taking our oldest child, Aryk, who is pursuing their master’s at Bath Spa University, to school) was great preparation for re-entry to our traveling lifestyle, post-COVID version. We are double-vaxxed, indoor-masked, and ready to launch our lives again as traveling retirees.

Before we set off, we’re spending a long weekend in Colchester, VT, north of Burlington, with our son, Gavin, who was also with us when we launched the traveling life in 2018.

On Tuesday, Gavin returns to Champlain College after this break, and Bob and I head to Manchester, NH, to park our car at a park/sleep/fly lot and board a plane the next morning for Puerto Rico!

A Few Changes

This time we will be renting a car instead of driving our own. We’ll have just one cat, Kaylee, instead of the three we started with — Equinox passed away in Mexico City last year, and Ellie lives with Gavin at Champlain College. We are heading to Puerto Rico, a US territory, instead of back to Mexico for COVID safety and COVID convenience — less testing hassle.

Kaylee helps pack

But life is too short to spend any more time waiting for the pandemic to end. It’s time to live again. We have to learn to navigate COVID while staying safe and enjoying life. We plan to spend a month in Luquillo in an oceanfront condo, and a month in San Juan.

Wish us luck, and subscribe to our blog!

Hasta la vista!

Lisa

Eagles Are on the Nest

I had a fascinating encounter with the bald eagle family of Lake Rescue this morning. They live there year-round, and have been residents for years, entrancing the human residents of this lovely lake in southern Vermont.

When I came around the bend in my kayak at 6:45 AM, the mother eagle was waiting for me in a tall tree nearby. Can you spot her?

Mother eagle, perched on a branch on the north end of Discovery Island. The nest is in a cove just beyond the south end of the small island.

I checked the nest: empty.

Then the baby popped up.

Mom immediately flew over to him.

She landed on a nearby branch and the two interacted for a long time.

It’s so awesome to start the day with this!

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