Back to Borinquen..Pt. 3

I love this photo above and the contrast between the very old wall (approx 500 years old), the somewhat old (Banco Popular, approx 100 years old) and the new Brewery, approx 1 year old.

This photo of the fountain is amazing..if you zoom in, you can see almost every drop of water

The fountain is reaching for the sun!

Taking a much needed break from all the walking and photo shooting

Back to Borinquen..Pt. 2

Isla Verde Beach Resort... we got so lucky with booking our room. If you havent already, check out Hotwire.com... its a website where you enter all your preferences when booking a room, pay the price they ask and then only afterwards it reveals where your accommodation is! It is a gamble, but it worked out in our favor! We got this room for half the regular rate, and somehow when we checked in, we got bumped up to VIP status and had wine, cheese and crackers brought to our room, as well as casino and cocktail vouchers!

The last couple of pics were taken early Sunday morning, at sunrise.. I love the last photo where you can see the reflection of the sunrise in the windows of a nearby building.

Back to Borinquen..

These beautifully decorated buildings will always intrigue me. I love how much effort goes into each one.

Kite-flying is a Saturday afternoon favorite for the whole family!

I love this photo. It sums up exactly what it means to be a kid - carefree and enjoying the simple pleasures in life. 

We decided to get away for Geoff's birthday this year and took a mini-trip back to where we used to live - Puerto Rico. It was actually really nice to see the place through the eyes of a tourist, and armed with our new camera, it was a good opportunity to take some 'test pictures'. The vibrant colors and landmarks makes Old San Juan the perfect photo opportunity!

Whilst we were here we also visited the world-acclaimed Bodyworlds exhibit, which was absolutely breathtaking. For those who havent heard of it, check out:

http://www.bodyworlds.com/en.html

Ole!

We were invited by our neighbour to watch him perform at his flamenco show in Old San Juan - so we headed out to Cafe Nuyorican last night and squashed ourselves into the cute little old "cafe" (more like a bar).

There was one man with a spanish guitar, another singing and then our neighbour Ronaldo who was on the Flamenco Box Drum. It was really interesting actually - it looked like a speaker, but it was a big box that was on the floor and it made a metallic sound when he beat on it. He d between the drum and dancing - and then there were two girls that wore beautiful dresses - and one for each different dance!

Although the acoustics were really bad and earplugs would've been welcomed for the singing, I loved how much the Puerto Ricans took part and supported the group all the time - they clapped along to the music, always cheered and shouted "Ole!"

Fort El Morro

Since we arrived, Geoff has been dying to visit the old forts in Old San Juan. After a two hour bus trip (what should've taken only 10 mins) we arrived in Old San Juan and hiked our way to El Morro - one of the two old forts in Old San Juan. This fort dates back to the 1500's!! We first did the sea side path at the base of the wall, roughly 1.5 mile round trip...it's a dead end! Well there are stairs at the end leading from the rocks below up to the fort but they're off limits. Beautiful but hot, the sign is right when it says very tiring!! Perched high above with a great view is the well guarded governer's mansion (blue building) that looks like a massive old castle and is under 24 hour lockdown behind gates, fences and a large police presence.

It was breathtaking - and very interesting to learn about the history of the Spaniards and the horrific events that happened over the centuries leading up to today. The fort had 6 levels to it, each one we explored fully and as you can imagine now, we are absolutely exhausted! There is not a lot of shade around the fort and limited water fountains, we took it pretty slow and took in each view with a break.

We bought ourselves a double pass so we can explore the other fort (Christobel) on another day. The double pass is cheaper if you plan on seeing both - and you've got 7 days to use it, so we'll head back next week sometime and check that one out.

Apartment Hunting

As a few of you know, Geoff and I had plans to look for a place in a quiet country area away from the hustle and bustle of San Juan. Well I guess you can never plan too much because since we've been here, we've decided on another course of action.

Our shipping company (Total Car Shipping) have been screwing us around BIG time and what should already be here by now, still hasnt even been picked up yet! We've been on the phone with them several times a day, every day and they are just not willing to co-operate.

Geoff has also been applying for jobs here in San Juan and has already received a response! We thought with our costs accumulating and our bank accounts depleting, we'd take out a short term rental contract for something in San Juan and just focus on getting the truck from Seattle, getting jobs, learning the culture and language in an area where we can have a gradual and safe transition to all the differences.

So the hunt has begun... from apartments in Old San Juan to cute little places in some of the suburbs of the CBD area..of course we always allowed enough time in between places for some sightseeing!

Old San Juan

Our first day in our new home so we wanted to get out and explore!

We actually wanted to visit a tourist info office and pick up some maps so we could start getting our bearings, so we thought we'd venture to Old San Juan where there was one. We ended up getting sidetracked and could'nt stop exploring all the nooks and crannies of this beautiful part of the city. This was everything that i imagined - brightly painted buildings, cobblestone roads and old forts. We had lunch in a little alleyway - traditional Puerto Rican fare coupled with salsa music and friendly wait staff. Pina Colada icecream to follow!