First stop San Juan, Puerto Rico.

We’re on a plane to San Juan, Puerto Rico and we are a little emotionally hung-over from the parties our friends and family have thrown for us, and from the incredible stress of actually leaving everything behind.  Our tickets to San Juan are one way.  We are renting an apartment in Old San Juan for a few days and then getting on a ship for Spain where we will be taking a twelve week intensive course in the Spanish language.  This was the beginning of a whole new life.

Our goal is to live “in the world”, see places we haven’t seen, meet different people that speak different languages and have different cultures.  It is surprisingly difficult to wind up your affairs in order to live abroad extensively.  We hoped we had been successful and knew that only time would tell if we had missed anything important.

It’s a muggy, dark April night when we finally arrive in San Juan.  We have to travel heavy when we move since it is everything we own (four 50 pound duffle bags and two 20 pound backpacks).  The taxi driver takes us to pick up the keys to our apartment.  Our landlord Gaby has been wonderful and has made arrangements for us to collect the keys to the apartment at 11 p.m. on a Thursday night.  Then we’re off to the apartment.

The outer gate to the apartment is locked and barred but the keys work fine and we step into a lovely inner courtyard to the sound of a running fountain.  Our apartment is on the second story which is accessed by a steep, winding, stone staircase.  In some places the stone is broken and dangerous if one were to step wrong.  Mike’s job is to carry the heavy duffle bags up this staircase.

When we get everything in we are covered in sweat.  We have rented a small, one bedroom apartment right in the center of “old town”.  There isn’t much to it…a living area with a small couch and bookshelves, an attached kitchen with a small dining table, a small bedroom with built-in closet space and a functioning bathroom.  Much bigger than a standard hotel room and right in the location we wanted!  It is clean and has everything we need to live for a few days.  The front door has swollen from the humidity and doesn’t open or close easily and we soon find that the French doors to the balcony have the same problem.  Interestingly, the apartment had air conditioning but we never felt the need to use it.  We just opened the French doors in the bedroom and the salon and let the island breezes cool us off……perfect.  There was certainly a bit of street noise but we slept right through it that first night.

There are only a couple of large hotels in the old part of San Juan, and we did not want to stay in the areas where they were located.  We wanted to be where real people are living and the hotels we could find in the Old San Juan area were very expensive boutique hotels with a small number of rooms.  We had discovered HomeAway.com and it lists apartments for rent (generally a four night minimum but you can find lower minimums) by private individuals; fully furnished of course.  An apartment just seemed right for us…..the price was certainly an improvement.

Our first full day in San Juan was wonderful.  As is typical for us, we walked entirely around the old city and started exploring within.  San Juan has an walled fortress and separate castle and beautiful ocean views.

San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico,  is the oldest city in the American territories.

Like all “old towns” there is an incredible combination of old ruins and restored walls and buildings.  Beautifully maintained buildings stand next to crumbling, weed infested derelicts.  We wandered through the narrow streets, with their interesting bright blue cobblestones, grabbing a coffee at a stand in one of the plazas and enjoying the ambiance of a city we had never been in before.

Old San Juan is the historical center of the city.  It is a lovely warren of old homes, churches, government buildings and gardens with spectacular views every where you look. 

15 minutes outside of the old city you can find Condado Beach, tall hotels and apartment buildings on a beautiful Caribbean beach that reminds one of Miami Beach. 

There is a rain forest that is definitely worth seeing and a myriad of other interesting things on the relatively large island of Puerto Rico.  We chose to ignore the beach and the rain forest this trip, instead spending our four days in the old city.

By mid-afternoon we stopped at an outdoor bar, attached to a restaurant for a coconut rum.  This drink is made by removing a shot glass worth of milk from the coconut and replacing it with, of course, the rum of your choice. 

It has an interesting taste that is not for everyone and the locals swear this drink is good for the digestion (sometimes too good for the tourists if you know what I mean).  Our bartender Norman was wonderful and we returned in the evening, after a late afternoon nap, for further drinks and to sample some the restaurant’s island cuisine which was fantastic.

We met our friend Eddie near the port on the second day.  Eddie took us to the Don Q production facility to learn about rum production but most importantly, to sample some of the many different flavored types of rum.

  We passed a lovely day with Eddie wandering the old town and finished with dinner, drinks and cigars in an outdoor plaza.

  Eddie lives on the beach on the opposite side of the island and as we bade him farewell for the evening we agreed that our next trip to Puerto Rico would include a trip to his side of the island.

Our last two days on the island were punctuated by rain showers and featured wonderful seafood cuisine and cocktails made with rum.  We walked every street in the old city, occasionally stopping at an outdoor café for some food and/or a beverage.  We quickly discovered the difference between the tourist-oriented locations and the harder to find local facilities.  People everywhere were warm and welcoming, this island needs tourism and has a lot more to offer than some of the smaller Caribbean islands.

In hindsight, the old city can be explored sufficiently in two or three days but we used the extra time to make friends and decompress.  Wandering and enjoying this island paradise was just the way to embark on our new adventure.  Our final day dawned rainy and we caught a cab to the port to embark on our ship to Spain.

By the way…not a single Irish Pub to be found in Old Town San Juan or in the Condado Beach area, anyone looking for a business opportunity?