To celebrate Audrey finishing finals and me starting a new job, we decided to take a well deserved vacation.
Since this trip was planned fairly last minute, I went on Skyscannerto find the best destination for the best price. If you want to read my blog post on how to find the best deals using Skyscanner, CLICK HERE).
After weighing a variety of options, and desperately wanting to go somewhere with tropical beaches, we opted to go to San Juan in Puerto Rico.
On the day of our flight, Boston's Logan Airport was experiencing some serious delays due to rain and fog.
Fortunately I called JetBlue immediately and was able to get our flight changed to the non-stop flight to San Juan later that night. Since our missed connection would be due to weather it was at no extra cost to us.
We landed in San Juan at 2:30 in the morning and got to our AirBNB not too much longer after that and immediately fell asleep hoping to get a fresh start when we woke up.
After sleeping in until 11, we were determined to spend our first full day in San Juan on a beach. Fortunately for us, our AirBNB was less than a 20 minute walk from several beaches.
We walked down the Peninsula de Condado, a beautiful part of the city that overlooks the ocean. The large resort-style hotels are a testament to the lingering colonialism that enticed many people from the mainland to visit the "Isle of Enchantment."
Nestled in this area is the beautiful Condado Beach. I'll be perfectly honest with you, I hate going to the beach. In my experience the sand is usually filled with shells or other coarse materials that make it uncomfortable to walk on barefoot, the water is usually too cold, and the sand is so hot it burns your feet when you walk on it.
Condado is different. Condado is perfect. The sand at Condado beach is fine and surprisingly cool to the touch despite the sun bearing down on it all day and the water is the perfect temperature - cool enough to provide relief from the heat but not so cold that you want to get out after 15 minutes.
After getting some (too much) sun and spending some time in the ocean, Audrey and I were really hungry. We asked some locals where we could get some good Puerto Rican food nearby. It was highly recommended that we visit Cafe del Angel, which was conveniently located across the street from where we were.
One of Puerto Rico's most famous local delicacies is mofongo: a dish comprised of unripened plantains that are fried, mashed, formed into a ball or mound, and paired with a variety of different toppings from local fish to pulled pork, chicken, and more. Mofongo is very similar to an Ecuadorian dish known as bolones de verde, one of my favorite foods growing up as a kid.
We each got our own; Audrey got a shrimp mofongo while I got pulled pork. They were both fantastic, however I warn you, mofongo is an very dense dish and will leave you feeling extremely full. Be prepared to wait to digest for a bit first before standing up.
Since the primary purpose of this trip was for us to relax, we didn't want to have our first day be too busy, so after dinner we returned to our AirBNB where we each promptly went to bed before 10 PM.
One friendly piece of advice:
Stick to local places on the island! Not only are they cheaper than large chain eateries, they also give you a chance to experience authentic Puerto Rican cuisine, and you're supporting the local economy.
As many of you know, last year Puerto Rico was ravaged by hurricane Maria, and although it is still a territory of the United States, the island has seen very little help from the federal government who decided to focus on rebuilding Texas and Florida after hurricanes Harvey and Irma respectively.
Since Americans don't need a passport to visit Puerto Rico, the island is a huge tourist attraction for people looking to get away to somewhere tropical. Naturally, big international hotel and restaurant chains have tried to come in to capitalize on tourist money. On our walk from our AirBNB to the beach we passed a Hilton, Renaissance, and Vanderbilt hotel resorts, and we passed an Olive Garden, Denny's, Starbucks, and a Ben & Jerry's just to name a few.
Practicing ethical tourism is important. One should make a point to spend their money somewhere that will keep the money in the area rather than some large conglomerate that will just end up sending the majority of it elsewhere. This applies to hotels, restaurants, car rentals, and more.
