We flew in at 3 am which was of course, too early to get our rental car so we attempted to sleep in the airport. This was much better than I thought it was going to be though- VERY clean.
We rented our car & were off to Utuado- this is a very little traveled area in the mountains. Do not go without have a hotel or something to sleep here. We stayed with a friend, had delicious Puerto Rican food for dinner, went to church & my goodness you could pick so much fruit off of the trees! There were coconuts, plantains, star fruit, avocados, and some kind of green small orange. YUM! Truly paradise. Only weird thing here- no AC! ANYWHERE. They don't use it and it's hotter than Hades with 100% humidity. And it doesn't really cool off at night either so I'd invest in a fan if your hotel doesn't have AC. The one hot night was worth it though for the true Puerto Rican experience that a lot of tourists don't get to see. Moncho- our host- was nice enough to show us around town & some good views of the mountains. On our little adventure we met a coffee farmer who was living above a lake & roasting his own beans! He was so nice! I wanted to take a photo from his balcony & not only did he invite us back but he showed us what he was doing with the beans & chatted with us for a bit. Luckily our friend Jeff who came along spoke Spanish. :)
I was very jealous of this man's view.
We also met a FAT FAT FAT pig, lots of stray MANGY dogs, some loose roosters & on the way home saw a man riding a horse while drinking beer through a pack of wild dogs. Wow. Only in Puerto Rico.
The next morning I woke up before everyone because I wanted to go take some photos. I'm glad I did- the morning mist was rolling over the mountains & the lighting was PERFECT. No one in the town was awake yet except for a stray HORSE!
Moncho had woken up even before I had & walked into town to pick us all up a traditional fried & DELICOUS Puerto Rican meal complete with orange juilius tasting orange juice. YUM YUM YUM. Sadly after that we had to say goodbye & continue on our adventure.
Next stop El Yunque National Rainforest for some hiking. If you want to do anything close to the rainforest plan on leaving before 4pm or you will gain rained on-- ok no that's not an adequate word... you will swim in vast amounts of water as it falls from the sky while you hike down the mountain. There are very little animals in the rainforest but if you're quiet you'll hear the coqui which is a frog known for it's "coke-EE coke-EE" sound. I never saw one because they're tiny & very scared of people. But their call rang throughout the forest as we hiked. Tres- cool :)
We checked in to our hotel in Humacao Four Points by Sheraton at Palmas Del Mar-- The GPS will not take you here correctly. You will end up in the mountains 15 miles away. And it doesn't matter what GPS you're using either. I'd call & get old fashioned written out instructions. AAAAmazing! The hotel ended up being close to 50 bucks a night because travelocity.com gave us a free 100.00 gift card & we also got 2 nights free! The rooms were just okay but the hotel itself makes you feel like you're in an old Hollywood movie. Dinner at the hotel however did not. It was overpriced & far from delicious. The staff were friendly & helpful. One thing I didn't like was that we had to pay for parking each night. So be prepared to spend 12.00 for parking... only the hotel overlooked that & didn't charge us! Even when we told them our car was parked there. WOOT!
The next morning we woke up SOOOO early to catch the 9 am ferry to Vieques. All of the locals went to Culebra but very few people went to Vieques- which is exactly what we were looking for ZERO people. However, you cannot get your rental car over so plan on renting there. If you plan ahead you will spend 40-50 bucks. However we were being spontaneous so we spent 75 for a large isuzu rodeo. I'm not putting the name of the rental car company because they were so overpriced & they charge you an extra cleaning fee.
If you plan on going to any of the off the beaten path beaches (AND I WOULD) you'll need to rent an SUV. In the morning we went to Sun Beach which was pretty cool- but there were a few people hanging around. We saw a HUGE starfish but that is about it. We also went to black beach (black sand- AWESOME no one is there!) walked around & found a couple of coconuts we broke open.
Then we went in our Bio Bay Kayaking tour. AMAZING YOU MUST DO THIS! The bad thing is you HAVE to stay the night... we were cheap & slept in the car on the beach. BIG MISTAKE. The moon is bright, the bugs are awake & hungry & it never cools off. You melt. Even with the windows open allowing a feeding frenzy to ensue. Rent a hotel room. Okay back to the fun part...
We met our guide at this little green mini mart & followed him to Mosquito Bay- again, bug spray IS TOTALLY NECESSARY!!! We had a tour of the area on our Kayaks. Tons of crabs are crawling all over the mangrove trees... they're not spiders. He talked about the local habitat & then we kayaked over to a beach that you can only get to by Kayak. My hubby snorkled & I ate fresh coconut. Yum! Love that stuff. I also took photos of the sunset. I was getting pretty cold because you get wet when you kayak so I'd bring a dry sack with a long sleeved t-shirt...and bring your own snorkeling gear.
The best for last--- the water SPARKLES in the bio bay!!! It's like 1000 tiny fireflies swimming around in the water. We were loving swimming around... until I was stung by a jelly fish. Our guide was quick to get me out of the water & get some vinegar he had handy on my legs-- which felt like I was being bitten by a zillion tiny fireants. Totally sucked. And then I didn't even get red or anything so I just looked like a huge wuss. Oh ya, and it burned for 18 more hours.
The next morning we grabbed some breakfast snacks & headed to BLUE BEACH. The best place in the whole world (because Evan was there). There was only a small family sharing the WHOLE beach with us! And then they LEFT! The water was clear. The sea urchins were awesome. And the water was PERFECT.
We had lunch at the most perfect place EVER. The Patio. I would eat there many many many times, if I could. And it's cheap too! But very busy so plan accordingly.
We returned the car, took the ferry home & drove to our hotel to get some much needed sleep.
Luquillo Beach is another fun thing to do in Puerto Rico. Go! The BEST Snorkeling but the beach is DIRTY DIRTY DIRTY. There's also very cheapish (not $5.50 like on Vieques) Pina Coladas.
Food to try... Pinchos (bbq's meat on skewers) & Tostones were my FAVORITE. Delicioso!
And then all good things must come to an end. What a relaxing, fun & adventurous vacation!
