Get-together Day 2: Old San Juan, beaches & mufungo
This morning we tried to get an early start to cram as much in as possible. We started with another envigorating breakfast for sugared cereal and industrial coffee and grabbed a taxi into the Old City to check out the other amazing old fort overlooking the sea. I hate to admit it, but they are already blurring together in my mind-- I just don't know enough history to really appreciate the individual significances. But, I did grab a bunch of helpful documents and flyers that should help when I try beefing up the wikitravel guides... Mostly I just tried to keep up with Amit June as she ran as fast as her tiny chubby legs can carry her up and down steep stone ramps that I was sure would be the end of her front teeth...
After killing about an hour and a half at the fort, we headed back into the thick of things, down little streets with even littler sidewalks (I swear I'm this close to chucking our stroller into the sea. I may as well be trying to steer a... uh... thing without wheels or steering. It just wont turn!) We ended up back on a street we'd seen the day before with one hip little restaurant after another, most offering some form of fusion cuisin-- Indian-Latin (Tantra), Asian-Caribe (Dragonfly) and so on... We picked The Parrot Club, a place I'd heard good things about. It looked pricey, but even the cheap places seem to be super pricey here (I don't often see main courses going for more than 30 bucks).We were greeted by a super-friendly waitress who asked us where we were from and chatted a bit, making sure to let us know that she thought the food was great and she had a degree in culinary arts, so she should know!
Brunch at the Parrot CaféWe ordered some "brunch cocktails" and a fruit smoothy and food for AJ while we studdied the menu. The seafood seemed to be what we were mostly interested in and there were some tastey sounding options-- including three different types of ceviche: fish, conche, and octopus! We ended up ordering the fish civiche as a starter; I got the calamari cesear, Evan the tuna, Jani the salmon, and Andrew the ... er, I can't remember... dang. Anyway, it was all good and my only complaint was that it was a lot of rich food for lunch!
We rolled out of there only to find that the dark clouds we'd seen in the distance had caught up with us and it was sprinkling. It was a nice warm tropical rain and the taxi stand was only half a block a way so we hardly minded. AJ, Jani and I headed back to the hotel while Evan and Andrew went to another hotel to pick up the rental car and check out the Bacardi Rum Factory, in a Western suburb of San Juan.
We all met up again around 5 to head out along the beaches east of the city to try some local food that we'd heard a lot of good things about. It turned out to be much more of an expedition than we'd counted on: tonights both a Sunday and the day before a holiday and it looked like half of the Territory was trying to get up or down this tiny two lane road to the same strech of food stalls, restaurants, and bars we were out for. We made the mistake of trying to find a specific place that had been recommended and ended up driving 30 mins past the bulk of the fun, only to decide to head back just as the traffic came to a standstill. It was like having to wait in line twice for a ride.
Good thing once we found a place, got parked, found a table and a menu with some English, and finally got some food & beers in front of us it turned out to be pretty excellent. Fresh crab and shrimp mufungo is almost worth sitting in traffic for an hour.
Poor AJ was such a trooper, but she was out like a light as soon as we got back in the car. There was still a lot of traffic on the way out, but we managed to get back to Candado before 10....
There's still so much to San Juan that we didn't have time for, but I think we can feel good about having made the most of our time here...
lherrero
Dang...I missed it.
Sorry i´m copying the same comment from evan´s blog, but I´m trying to get the message out.
Hey guys, just discovered this site while researching South America travel.
I am from San Juan, though I´m currently living in Santiago, Chile.
I don´t know if I´m too late for this, but if your in the south of the island by no circunstances miss the beautiful beaches of Cabo Rojo. Cabo Rojo is a town in the southwester tip of the island popular among natives, but not overflown by tourists. There are many great, white sand, turquoise shallow waters to enjoy. Boquerón, the biggest beach, is a public beach with family oriented facilities and plenty of parking. There are very cheap cabañas with plenty of vacancy during the week that can accommodate up to 8 people (you must bring your own bedsheets though). Other beaches include Buyé, where you can walk over 200 feet with the water up to only your ankles. The best activity there is just to chill in the shallow water with a couple of Medallas. Combate is a large popular spot for boats, and has a lot of great seafood stands, don´t miss the empanadillas de chapín! The best seafood restaurants are found in Joyuda, not a great beach, but a really great hangout.
But the undisputed champion of the Cabo Rojo beaches is Playa Sucia, which literally means dirty beach (yeah have fun with the pronunciation). Why it is called like that, i have no idea, maybe to scare the tourists. In my opinion is the most beautiful beach in the island (Culebra is better, but that´s another island). It´s located inside a Fish and Wildlife Reserve, so there are no developments nearby, only a small inn a couple of kilometers before the beach. You have to ride a couple of miles of dirt road to get there, but it is truly worthwhile. Imagine a 2 mile stretch of white sand and tourquise water, guaranteed to be almost deserted during weekdays. There is an abandoned lighthouse overlooking the beach, and the path to get there passes through some salt pools and a wooden observatory for great photo ops. Don´t miss it. To get there just follow the signs to Combate, and ask around. You could also ask for direction to Punta Salinas, the small inn close to the beach. Once you see the huge salt mounds and enter into the unpaved road you know you are on the right track.
Once you leave Cabo Rojo, you´ll never want to bathe in a San Juan beach again. I promise.
There is a Tourism Co. information center in the main road leading to Cabo Rojo, I think is Route 100 but I am not sure, you can ask for info there as well.
Anyway, enjoy. There is a lot to seen and do in Puerto Rico. The people are friendly and great.
Later I´ll post some more stuff to do in San Juan and around the island.
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