Adventure is an ATTITUDE that we must apply to the day-to-day obstacles of life – facing new challenges, seizing new opportunities, testing our resources against the unknown and, in the process, discovering our own unique potential."- John Amatt
The Mission: To do a road trip and try out car camping with the Tesla 3. The Participants: The Mister, Me, the Little Man, My Brother and our Little Dog too. The Mode of Transportation: Long-range Tesla 3 sedan, with an average 290 mile range. The When: Six days over Labor Day weekend 2020.
Tesla Travel Day 5: Hot Springs, SD then to Sioux Falls, SD Sunday, September 6, 2020
502.05 miles or 8 hour 40 minutes
We started this morning by cooking over our campfire. One of the lessons learned was from our travels was that we over-packed when we brought our compact propane grill. RV sites seem to universally have firepits with cooking grills so we could have saved a lot of space in our little Tesla by leaving that grill at home.
Little Dog supervising breakfast.
After breakfast, we broke camp and made the decision to break up our journey home into two legs. Initially we were thinking that we would stay another night in Custer and then try to get all the way home in one long drive on Monday. But having done the drive to SD, we knew that would be a tough time. So we said goodbye to Buffalo Ridge Camp Resort for the last time. It is such a neat location with a wide range of options for how to stay from campsite all the way to glamp sites. Below, please find the neat teepees that are available if you should want to stay in one.
We took the 50 minute drive down to Hot Springs. The first stop on our Hot Springs adventure was a local waterhole called Cascade Falls. It was super refreshing on a hot day to jump in the cool spring water.
We then went to visit the Mammoth Site and Museum. The Mammoth Site of Hot Springs, SD is an active paleontological dig site, which boasts the largest concentration of mammoth remains in the world! The majority of fossils found at the Mammoth Site are from the North American Columbian mammoth. Evidence of three different woolly mammoths species have also been discovered here, making this “east meets west mammoth gathering” the first time both species have been found together. Fossils of other Ice Age animals have also been discovered: camel, llama, giant short-faced bear, wolf, coyote and prairie dog to name a few. Imprint fossils of bird feathers, complete fish skeletons, and thousands of mollusk shells have also been recovered from this now-dry 26,000 year old sinkhole.
Also, this is yet another 🐾 dog friendly location! Little Dog really dug that!
After exploring the Mammoth site, we headed to the Custer Supercharger where we spent 31 minutes charging, gaining 56% going from 31% to 87%.
Drove to the Murdo Supercharger where we spent 34 minutes charging, gaining 72% going from 4% to 76%.
Next stop was the Oacoma Supercharger where we spent 47 minutes charging, gaining 58% going from 40% to 98%.
At this point, we decided that we were done with Tesla camping and checked into a local 🐾 dog friendly hotel. We all enjoyed the luxury of sleeping in beds. Night night!
Tesla Travel Day 6: Sioux Falls, SD to Madison, WI Monday, September 7, 2020
452.32 miles or 6 hour 46 minutes
Today was the final push back home.
We stopped at the following superchargers on the way home:
Sioux Falls Superchargerwhere we spent 36 minutes charging, gaining 65% going from 20% to 85%.
Sherburn Superchargerwhere we spent 38 minutes charging, gaining 65% going from 24% to 89%.
Onalaska Superchargerwhere we spent 1 hour and 2 minutes charging, gaining 66% going from 17% to 83%. This is a good reminder that you should always check that your Tesla is charging. We first connected to a non-functional charger. Luckily the Mister figured it out pretty quickly so we didn’t waste too much time sitting there not charging.
That was the end of our 6 day South Dakota adventures. A great time was had by all and we got the chance to take our Tesla on a longer trip (and had no problems with our ability to do everything we wanted to do without running out of charge) as well as tried out Tesla camping. One of my favorite parts was how 🐾 dog friendly this region was. Little Dog really enjoyed spending quality time out and about with his family exploring the best that South Dakota has to offer!
The Mission: To do a road trip and try out car camping with the Tesla 3. The Participants: The Mister, Me, the Little Man, My Brother and our Little Dog too. The Mode of Transportation: Long-range Tesla 3 sedan, with an average 290 mile range. The When: Six days over Labor Day weekend 2020.
Tesla Travel Day 4: Mount Rushmore Sightseeing Tour Saturday, September 5, 2020
74.47 miles or 1 hour 25 minutes
The Mister had done a lot of driving during this trip. We decided to give him a much deserved break by booking this outstanding tour through Fort Hayes. This full day tour started with a cowboy breakfast at Fort Hayes, takes you on a scenic tour of all of the local attractions like Mount Rushmore National Monument, Custer State Park, the Needles Highway, and Crazy Horse Memorial. And ends with a Chuckwagon Supper and Live Branson-style Music Show. At the time of our tour, it was $109 per adult and $57 per child ages 5-12. And worth every penny. The food was delicious, the ability to just ride the tour bus without having to worry about getting from point a to b was fantastic and the live show was just a hoot. The added bonus was that they were fine with our Little Dog joining us. Although I would ask before bringing your dog along because I don’t believe that this is an established policy.
Fort Hayes is a cute little Old West reenactment town that incorporates some portions of the set from the movie Dances with Wolves. If it wasn’t for COVID, I’m sure it would be a little more active, but from what I could tell, most of the folks were there for the various tours that start out at the site.
Our first stop was Mount Rushmore. It was pretty straightforward. The monument looked exactly the same as I expected. There was some information in the museum about the construction process that was interesting. If you walk down to the workshop, you can see the wooden model and hear some live lectures about the construction. But other than that, nothing too crazy. I would definitely go if you are in the area, but it is a “check the box” kind of visit. I was surprised though at the crowds here. Even with COVID, the crowds were pretty big. I would hate to see this place during peak season.
Our next stop was the State Game Lodge for lunch. It served as the Summer White House for President Calvin Coolidge in 1927 and was visited by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Lunch was not part of the package so you get the chance to order what you want. I enjoyed the great buffet lunch. There were also some yummy wild game options that I would recommend trying out. The buffalo ravioli and buffalo stew are definitely worth a try.
The entire drive was filled with scenic views. I was so glad that we were on a bus so that we could relax and fully enjoy the views. The roads were pretty narrow and there was even one part of the road that narrowed into a tunnel that the bus could barely fit through. It was so nerve-wrecking that after the bus got through, observers outside the tunnel burst into cheers. Our day took us on the Iron Mountain Road, through the Custer State Park, on Needles Highway, and past Sylvan lake.
The last stop of our bus tour was the Crazy Horse.
This was the one place where I wish I had made a different choice as to what to do with my time. We opted to wait for a bus ride which purportedly took us to a more advantageous place to view the monument. Unfortunately, it took forever. So instead of viewing all of the museums and exhibits available at the site, we were waiting under the beating sun and then boarded a beat up old school bus to get this picture.
Yup. that was the amazing view that I wasted my entire stay on. Now that you know, you don’t have to waste your time. You are welcome. 😉
Even more frustrating, is that if we had wanted to, we could have walked to and from this location in less time than it took for us to wait for the bus. Although I’m not sure why I would want to. Also, in case anyone at Crazy Horse is listening, you could have been twice as efficient but dropping people off at the site and then going immediately back to pick up the next round of people rather than waiting until everyone gets back. When you drop off the next group, you can pick up the group that had been viewing the site while the bus was away. Kind of like a hop on, hop off tour.
What I actually thought we would be doing is going up to the top to get a close-up view of the face. But apparently that’s only for the big donors.
The end of our night was the Chuckwagon dinner and the Branson-Style Show. The food was surprisingly good for a buffet style. And the show was lots of fun. Great performers and great entertainers. It even impress non-country fans like My Brother.
We’ve got both kinds of music – country and western
After the show, we headed to the Custer Superchargerwhere we spent 24 minutes charging, gaining 50% going from 30% to 80%.
Then back to Buffalo Ridge Camp Resort for another night of Tesla camping.
The Mission: To do a road trip and try out car camping with the Tesla 3. The Participants: The Mister, Me, the Little Man, My Brother and our Little Dog too. The Mode of Transportation: Long-range Tesla 3 sedan, with an average 290 mile range. The When: Six days over Labor Day weekend 2020.
Tesla Travel Day 3: Gold Mining and Deadwood Friday, September 4, 2020
173.88 miles or 4 hour 30 minutes
Our first stop of the morning was to the town of Custer to find a hearty breakfast to start out our day. Custer is a super cute little town with lots of restaurants, bars and stores.
We found a fantastic little coffee shop – Calamity Janes. Although you should be ready to wait a bit, it was good enough that we came back again during our trip which is rare as I usually like to try new places unless a place really impresses.
Whenever I go traveling, I always want to find an experience that is unique to the area. For this trip, I found a gold mining experience with Rattlesnake Randy. I would highly recommend this experience. We met Rattlesnake Randy at Fort Hayes and then drove out to his gold claim out in the Black Hills. As you can see the path is pretty rugged so make sure you have a vehicle that can make the journey.
At the gold claim, he taught us the steps of gold panning. From digging up the dirt, to running the dirt through the sluice that uses the river flow to separate the dirt from the gold, to the final step of hand panning the very last bit of sediment so that all you have left is the gold.
Rattlesnake Randy was so passionate and knowledgeable about gold panning and so great with our Little Man. I think this was definitely a highlight of the trip and we would 100% recommend gold panning with Rattlesnake Randy as an essential experience for your South Dakota trip.
Our first charging stop of the day was in Rapid City where we spent 38 minutes charging, gaining 38% going from 34% to 72%.
We then drove about an hour to Deadwood, which is a historic town that has the feel of an old timey gold mining town complete with reenactors who put on a street show on regular intervals during the day. Make sure to check out the calendar to see when and where to catch these free shows.
Deadwood has lots of fun restaurants, bars and stores as well as a number of museums, casinos, tours and other experiences. With COVID, there were less experiences available. But there was plenty of entertainment to be had by just walk down the main stretch and taking everything in.
Deadwood is very 🐾 dog friendly, with many of the locations welcoming our favorite four legged friends!
After an afternoon wandering Deadwood, we headed back to the Custer superchargerwhere we spent 23 minutes charging, gaining 47% going from 34% to 81%.
The Mission: To do a road trip and try out car camping with the Tesla 3. The Participants: The Mister, Me, the Little Man, my Brother and our Little Dog too. The Mode of Transportation: Long-range Tesla 3 sedan, with an average of 290 mile range. The When: Six days over Labor Day weekend 2020.
Tesla Travel Day 2: Sioux Falls, SD to Custer, SD Thursday, September 3, 2020
418.3 miles or 6 hour 46 minutes
Our first charging stop was in Mitchell where we spent 15 minutes charging, gaining 26% going from 49% to 75%. This supercharger was not super close to the locations that we wanted to check out in the area, but it wasn’t a big deal to make a quick stop to top off before heading to the local attractions.
Mitchell is home to the world famous, perhaps because it is the only, Corn Palace. It is redecorated each year with naturally colored corns, grains and native grasses to celebrate South Dakota’s agricultural heritage. The location is also 🐾 dog friendly! So our Little Dog got to venture in with us. There is not that much to see, but if you are in Mitchell anyways, might as well take a look especially since it is free to visit.
Across the way from the Corn Palace was a castle-like building. It was the Valtiroty Shiloh’s Tabernacle, which is essentially a bible themed attraction. The entire building was filled with dioramas. I found it even more fascinating than the Corn Palace and there was quite a bit to see. The admission was donation based. We got a chance to talk with the owner and he was very kind and not at all pushy with regards to his desire to share his beliefs. You could tell that he had a great passion, but it wasn’t in a way that made you uncomfortable. So this, too, would rank as worth visiting if you have some extra time.
Our next charging stop was in Oacoma where we spent 34 minutes charging, gaining 58% going from 32% to 90%. Oacoma supercharger is located near Al’s Oasis, a themed rest stop with food and shopping options.
Our third stop was purely a charging stop in Murdo where we spent 14 minutes charging, gaining 30% going from 47% to 77%.
The next stop on our road trip was to the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site which documents the last remaining Minuteman II intercontinental ballistic missile system in the US. Once upon a time, this system included 150 missiles, 15 launch control centers and covered over 13,500 square miles of southwest South Dakota. Now we have the main visitors center, the launch control center (Delta-01) and the missile silo (Delta-09). We just visited the visitors center which had a nice little display explaining the story of the Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic Missile System and its role in the larger context of the Cold War.
At the time we visited, I believe that the Delta-01 control center tours were suspended because of COVID. But as of 2021, it appears that there are modified tours, which may not be as interesting because you are unable to visit the underground control center. You are able to visit the Delta-09 as all of the viewing is above ground and you can observe the underground launch tube with the unarmed missile through the glass encased cover.
The Minuteman Missile Visitors Center is conveniently located at the turnoff for the Badlands Loop State Scenic Byway. This stretch of road is absolutely gorgeous and you cannot take a road trip through this area without including this as part of it.
There are 16 designated scenic stops identified along the way and each shows a unique view.
I would recommend stopping at the first scenic stop from Cactus Flat because it is absolutely fantastic. From there you can pick and choose which scenic stops to visit. The only stop that I would probably skip is the Fossil Exhibit Trailhead. I was extra excited about this stop, but it was basically a path in a very boring part of the Badlands with a couple of exceptionally uninteresting fossil replicas displayed on mounts along the path. If anyone at the NPS is listening, I had hoping that it would be more of a open area where you can stumble upon fossils scattered throughout the vista so that it would feel more like you were discovering these fossils.
As you can see, the vistas are magnificant and varied. Definitely worth the hour detour.
The park is 🐾 dog friendly, but pets are prohibited from hiking trails, public buildings (i.e. visitor centers), and most backcountry areas. Luckily, that’s where the Tesla’s Dog Mode came into play.
The Badlands bypass conveniently reconnects to the highway at Wall. Which is great because Wall Drug is a fun kitschy place that I would highly recommend. Like many of the roadside attractions in South Dakota, it developed based on a gimmick. For Wall Drug, they built their business during the Great Depression by offering weary travelers free ice water.
As you can see, there are photo opportunities galore.
Our fourth charging stop was in Wall where we spent 52 minutes charging, gaining 71% going from 27% to 98%. While charging, we explored the crazy building and grabbed dinner there.
The last stop we made for the night was at the Crazy Horse Memorial for their daily Legends in Light light show. This is a laser-light show that turns the mountainside into a 500-foot screen and showcase the rich heritage, living culture and contributions of Native Americans via colorful animations, sound effects and laser beams choreographed to music. The start time changes depending on the time of the year, so make sure to check the schedule if you want to go. You do have to pay to attend, but if you pull in after hours like we did, they do give you a voucher so that you can come visit again during the next day.
You watch the show from your car. We parked in the upper parking lot, which I think is the right choice, but we quickly realized that we parked in a location where a tree was blocking part of our view. So make sure that you park somewhere your view of the show will not be obstructed.
Had mixed feelings on the show. It had so much potential, but kinda a weird story line. Storytelling is a unique art and it would take it to the next level if they were able to tweak their messaging just a little bit.
Crazy Horse memorial site itself is pet friendly with some limitations that you can find in their FAQ section which is conveniently linked.
Work started on the Crazy Horse monument in 1948 and when completed, it will be the largest monument carving in the world standing 641 feet long and 563 feet tall. By comparison, the head of Crazy Horse alone is 27 feet taller than the 6 story heads of Mount Rushmore. The campus contains three museums: the Indian Museum of North America, the Native American Educational and Culture Center and the original sculptor Korczak’s home and studio.
If you do plan to visit, you should check to see if you will be there at the same time as the night blasts where the mountain is illuminated with spectacular ceremonial pyrotechnical displays. I can only imagine how cool that would be.
After the show was over, we headed to the Buffalo Ridge Camp Resort near Custer. It was a really great location for visiting the area. You can camp or glamp there and there is a lovely pool.
Unfortunately, we had booked a 30 amp site but our 30 amp adapter did not arrive in time and they did not have any 50 amp sites available. So we weren’t able to charge overnight as we planned. That just meant that we had to just use Superchargers more than what we probably would have otherwise. But even this little hiccup did not impede our ability to enjoy our trip or do the things that we wanted to. But I do think that it impacted how often we had to supercharge so your trip will probably be slightly more efficient if you are able to find someplace to charge overnight.
So that was the end of our second day of the roadtrip! More to come!
The Mission: To do a road trip and try out car camping with the Tesla 3. The Participants: The Mister, Me, the Little Man, My Brother and our Little Dog too. The Mode of Transportation: 2020 Long-range Tesla 3 sedan, with an average of 290 mile range. The When: Six days over Labor Day weekend 2020.
Since we got the Tesla, the Mister has been obsessed with accessorizing it. It seemed like every day, we were getting new additions to our car. As he was exploring the various add-ons, he realized that there were some car camping accessories which got him thinking road trip.
In many ways, a camping road trip in the Tesla sounded great. With COVID, it would give us a chance to travel without having to feel concerned about getting to close to other folks. With the glass roof, we would be sleeping under the stars. The Tesla even has a camp mode specific for using the car for camping.
To prepare for this yet to be planned road trip, the Mister bought a customized air mattress that fits perfectly into the Tesla 3. He bought a privacy screen that would block the view from the outside. He bought a screen blocker to cover light from the Tesla control pad. He even bought a trunk cover that fit on the bottom of the trunk lid that was supposed to provide soundproofing as well as protection from our feet in case we should hit the top of the trunk while sleeping in the car.
So we were all ready to go camping, but we hadn’t yet figured out where to go. Being located in Madison, Wisconsin, we wanted to find someplace that would be a good distance – not too far, but far enough that it would be a road trip. We also wanted to find a place with a lot of natural beauty. South Dakota stood out as the clear winner for us.
South Dakota is a place that probably would not have been high on our list if not for COVID. But we were so glad that we made this choice because it was a blast. An added bonus was that South Dakota is very 🐾 dog friendly. Which gave us a chance to try out another fun feature of the Tesla – their Dog Mode which allows you to leave your dog in a car that is set at a 🐾 dog friendly temperature.
So our Little Dog was in for the trip, me and the Mister were in, our Little Man was in and once my brother heard about our plan, he was in too. So with every seat in the Tesla taken, we were ready to head off.
Tesla Travel Day 1: Madison, WI to Sioux Falls, SD Wednesday, September 2, 2020
465.06 miles or 6 hour 30 minutes
A big part of the fun for us was the journey. So we really took our time getting there and stopped at all of the kitschy stops along the way. But the drive is a long one and rather than pushing late into the night, we decided that we would stop in Sioux Falls.
An app that is really helpful to find Tesla compatible charging stations is called PlugShare. It shows Superchargers as well as compatible charging stations. While the long range 2020 Tesla 3 specifications indicate 318 miles per charge, we have found that the performance is usually less, especially when going highway speeds. So it is important to know where you can get charged even if it is not at a supercharger.
For those who don’t know Teslas, there are two types of chargers – Superchargers and Destination Chargers.
Superchargers are a “pay as you charge” set up that fast charges your Tesla. Typically, you can get from 5% to 90% of charge within 40 minutes.
Destination Chargers are typically found at businesses that want to attract Tesla drivers. It could be grocery stores, restaurants, hotels, tourist attractions or any other place where a person might spend an hour or two at the location. Tesla drivers are allowed to charge for free and the business receive more traffic to their location. The downside to the Destination Charger is that the voltage is much lower and so the charge is slower. But it is definitely an option to look out for when going on road trips with your Tesla.
Tesla Tip: Rather than charging to 100% at every charging stop along the way, it may be more efficient to charge just enough to get to the next charger. The goal is to get to the charger at your final destination where you can get charged to 100% overnight.
To get to Sioux Falls, we needed to make 2 supercharger stops:
Our first charging stop was in Onalaska where we spent 44 minutes charging, gaining 68% going from 28% to 96%. While the Tesla was charging, we ate at this lovely Mexican restaurant called Manny’s Cocina which was located right across the street from the charging station.
Our next stop was in Alberta Lea where we charged for 29 minutes gaining 51% going from 38% to 89% while we grabbed coffee at the Caribou Coffee.
We probably should have charged for a bit longer at Alberta Lea supercharger because we were basically at zero when we pulled into our home for the night. Our plan for this Tesla Roadtrip was to stay at RV parks in sites with electrical hookups.
Our first stop was the Sioux Falls Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park Camp. The campground was basically deserted and none of the usual activities were going on. But that was fine because we got in pretty late and wouldn’t have been able to take advantage of any of those things anyways.
Please note that most RV parks have 30 and 50 amp service. To charge the Tesla, you ideally want a 50 amp charger because charging is faster. But either way, you will need a converter for the 50 amp service which you get from Tesla directly, or a Tesla specific adapter for the 30 amp service that is a third-party product.
We charged the Tesla while we set up our campsite. Since the Tesla was not big enough for all 4 of us to sleep in, the Mister and I were going to claim the Tesla and the boys would be camping old school style in a tent.
The boys pitched their tent and we inflated our air mattress because we didn’t want to do that after dark. Once the air mattress was inflated, we stored it in the tent while we headed for dinner. Choosing dinner was a bit easier because we started by choosing a local destination charger and then found something within walking distance.
We ended up charging at the Hampton Inn destination charger where we charged for 1 hour and 24 minutes gaining 16% going from 6% to 22%.
After an unremarkable dinner, we headed to the Sioux Falls for which the city is named. It was worth the stop. The park surrounding the falls has very nice paved paths so you can walk up and down the falls and see them from different vantages.
We only spent about 20 minutes viewing the Falls and then headed back to Yogi Bear campgrounds. The boys got settled in their tent and we got our Tesla situated for our first night of Tesla Camping.
The way that the mattress fit into the Tesla was that we put down the back seats and then the mattress fit into that space from the front seats all the way into the trunk. The Mister is 6’1″, I am 5’3″ and our dog is about 10 pounds. So it was a lot to stuff into a Tesla sedan for the night. To the car’s credit, even the Mister was able to lay back fully in the car.
To be honest, I was not a big fan. The biggest problem was that there is a built in shelf behind the backseats that I felt really trapped by. I felt like I was in a coffin from the waist down and didn’t even feel comfortable turning to my side. If that shelf wasn’t there, then I think the experience would have been so much better, but I’ve seen mixed reviews as to whether that is a removable part or not.
The next nights we moved the front seats up as far as possible and were able to create more room that made it much more comfortable. But that first experience of feeling trapped continued to stick with me throughout the weekend.
Another thing is that we might not have quite figured out was camp mode. That setting pops up a very cute GIF of a fireplace. But the problem is that it seemed that the heater also started blasting hot air. So we couldn’t use camp mode and because of that I found that the car would turn off throughout the night which meant that the car got really stuffy.
Ultimately I rank road tripping with a Tesla very doable especially when it comes to a trip between Madison, WI to the sights in South Dakota. The charging system is well developed and we had no problems getting to the places we wanted to see. I rank camping in a Tesla 3 less favorably. I think it would be much better if we had a Tesla SUV because there would be a lot more vertical clearance, but at this point, I doubt that I would plan to Tesla camp again any time soon.
But, South Dakota itself is highly recommended as a great trip full of natural wonders and fun experiences as well as very dog friendly for those who want to bring a four legged friend.
The Mission: To do a long-term workcation in Puerto Rico. The Participants: The Mister, Me, the Little Man and our Little Dog too. The When: From January 2021 to March 2021
Old San Juan, one last stop before home Friday March 5, 2021 to Thursday, March 11, 2021
For me, Old San Juan was the best place that we stayed on the island. I love a walkable urban lifestyle with lots to see and do around me. Old San Juan fit the bill.
We stayed in an Airbnb on Forteleza and Cruz which was centrally located in Old San Juan. Though Old San Juan covers a 7 square block area so everything is within walking distance regardless of where you might be within the district.
🐾 Dog Tip: When finding accommodations in a bigger city make sure to have some green space nearby because your four legged friend deserves to a bathroom close by.
I loved exploring this part of the city because it was a feast for the eyes. Every step unveiled another picturesque building, statute, fountain, or other unbelievable gorgeous view. This area was also filled with great restaurants, bars and stores filled with so many bright and vibrant handicrafts.
Since everything is so close distance-wise, I’m just going to identify the things that we loved to do, see and eat while in San Juan. That way you can pick and choose what to do with your time in San Juan.
Walking Tour of Old San Juan
You could spend days doing nothing but walking the streets of Old San Juan and have a great experience. But these are the streets that you cannot miss.
The entirety of Forteleza street is filled with stores, restaurants and bars. But you must visit the very end of the road adjacent to the governor’s mansion where there is an art installation. For a long time, that location was famous for its floating multi-colored umbrellas. But it seems like they are now rotating the display. The umbrellas were replaced with a huge Puerto Rican flag spanning the length of the road but when we were there, there were pink kites that were placed by Susan G. Komen, an organization dedicated to fighting breast cancer.
Also on Forteleza, you can find Barrachina, which is allegedly the birthplace of piña colada. To be honest, I wasn’t that impressed with their piña colada or their food. But their location was pretty neat especially if you could sit in their outdoor courtyard located within the building. And they do have a free Flamenco Show on Fridays and Saturday nights with the purchase of dinner.
Also, located on Forteleza is the highly rated Cafe el Punto. I wasn’t blown away with this restaurant either, but the ambiance was nice with a guitar player serenading diners in the restaurant.
If you turn left on the street before the art installation, you can head down to the Capilla del Santo Cristo de la Salud. This building is especially neat because a segment of the building depicts what the building once looked like at its peak.
The legend is that the chapel was built in honor of the miraculous survival of a rider who fell of the cliff on his horse. Allegedly the Spanish Governor saw the event and cried out “Christ of Good Health, save him!” The horse died, but rider survived. And when the rider survived, the belief spread that this area was blessed and even today, devotees come to this chapel to pray for health. If you want to visit the actual chapel itself, keep in mind that it is only open on Tuesday.
Another draw for this area is the swarms of pigeons who are used to being fed by tourists. If you want to be one of those tourists, you can buy food to feed these ravenous beasts from a local vendor.
This scenic boulevard cannot be missed. Make it a point to stroll this area both during the day and at night. You will get a lovely view of the city wall as you walk down the broad tree lined path. On the weekends, vendors set up along the boulevard so you may want to plan your visit accordingly if that is of interest. Although closed because of COVID, there is a lovely kids park and garden adjacent to this path. This path culminates in a gorgeous fountain right along the shore.
From here if you continue to walk along the shorefront, you will eventually get to the Puerta de San Juan, one of the few remaining gates to the old city.
But before you get too far from the Paseo de Princesa, here are a few amazing restaurant recommendations in this area:
If you could eat at one restaurant in San Juan, this is the one. The food and drinks were exceptional, the ambience was spectacular and the staff was just so warm and welcoming.
A fun personal story about this restaurant – when I first visited Puerto Rico, I was a poor student. I remember walking past this beautiful restaurant set back in the greenery along Paseo de Princesa looking at the menu knowing I couldn’t afford to visit. I vowed I would return someday to have a dinner or drink there. This was the visit and it was worth the wait.
La Casita is another wonderful restaurant on the others side of the Paseo de Princesa. Adjacent to the water, you can get a fantastic seat on their patio overlooking the water. Their craft cocktails were fantastic and the food was delicious.
Trina Tapas & Flamenco is another restaurant that has Flamenco shows on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. We went to the restaurant early on Friday night to see if they could fit us in. The dining room was booked, but they were kind enough to put us in the bar at a table with a view of the show. It was great. The food was good and we got to catch enough of the show to enjoy that part of the night. The Little Man was pretty tired so we only caught the early part of the show before we called it a night.
Here are some shots of the Paseo de Princesa at night.
Forts of Old San Juan
There are two forts that protected Old San Juan – Castillo San Felipe del Morro and Castillo de San Cristobal. The distance between the two forts is a little over a mile. We tend to walk fairly quickly but most people should be able to visit both of these forts in a few hours, including the walk.
And actually the walk is a huge part of the experience. El Morro is surrounded by a huge park when families come to fly kites and enjoy the outdoors. When we were in the park, the Little Man couldn’t help himself. He just had to roll down the grassy hills. As you walk down towards the Castillo de San Cristobal from El Morro, you will get a beautiful view of the Santa María Magdalena de Pazzis Cemetery.
If you have an option, you may want to time your walk to coincide with the Saturday morning farmers market. This takes place by the entrance of El Morro near the Museo de Arte e Historia and you can browse the vendors offering locally-grown produce and foods stuff.
👪 Family Friendly. The entrance fee for both forts was $10 when we went. So make sure to hold on to your receipt until after you have visited the second fort. The National Park Service has great programming for kids and we were able to get a Junior Ranger packet with kid friendly information, activities and a badge. As a 6th grader, the Little Man was on the top end of the age range but he still enjoyed looking through the packet and brought the badge home with him.
Keep in Mind that U.S. 4th graders and their family members enjoy free access to federal parks and waters via the Every Kid Outdoors program.
🐾 Dog Friendly. Unfortunately, pets are not allowed in the fortifications themselves, but they are allowed on the grounds outside the forts.
👪 Family Friendly.4th Graders and their families enjoy free access to federal parks and waters via the Every Kid Outdoors program. Also, make sure to check out the National Park Service programming for Kids.
El Morro is the fort that overlooked the entrance to the San Juan Bay. It is massive six level fortress and one of the largest fortifications built by Spain in the Caribbean. El Morro and the smaller fort across the bay called Fortín San Juan de la Cruz, known as El Cañuelo would attack unwelcome ships from both sides of the bay effectively denying access to any invaders by sea.
The construction of El Morro started in 1539 and finished in 1790. And the Spanish were mostly successful in fending off foreign invaders and pirates during the entirety of that time. It wasn’t until 1898 that the Island changed hands from Spain to the United States as a result of the Spanish-American War. At that time, El Morro was used by the US military and actively served as a base during the First and Second World Wars. In 1961, the National Park Service acquired El Morro for use as a museum and both El Morro and the walled city of Old San Juan were declared UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983.
Castillo San Cristóbal protected the city from land attacks. For that reason, the set-up was a bit different. From the top of the fort, you can see a number of different walled courtyards. You could imagine a fierce battle with the defending soldiers holding the outer walls of Castillo San Cristóbal until a retreat is sounded. The defenders would retreat back to the next layer of fortifications and then hold that line. And just as the invaders thought they were victorious, they would see the next level of fortification and have to wage battle all over again. Standing on the walls of the fort, I could just imagine how disheartening it would be for an invading force to have to work their way past all of these defenses.
One of the interesting stories around this fort is the Garita del Diablo or the Devil’s Sentry Box. This outpost is the farthest from the others and protrudes into the ocean.
In the old days, the night watch soldiers would shout out at each other throughout the night to ensure that everyone was awake and alert. But because the Devil’s Sentry Box was so much further than the rest, it was difficult to remain in contact with that particular outpost. One dark and stormy evening, a soldier at that post failed to respond to any of the calls during the night. While the soldiers feared for his safety, none dared venture out there to check on him until light. When they arrived, there was no sign of the soldier. All that could be found were his rifle and uniform.
While some believed he was spirited away by the Devil, other locals offered a different explanation. The claim was that the soldier had simply run away with his lover and that she brought him civilian clothing so that they could make a inconspicuous escape. But either way, the soldier was never heard from again and legend has it that if you approach the sentry box at night, you might hear this missing soldier laughing and playing a guitar, perhaps mocking those who believed in the supernatural explanation that allowed him to escape his military duties for a life of love with his lady fair.
Catedral de San Juan Bautista is the oldest church in the US and the second oldest church in the western hemisphere. This church is the final resting place for two notable figures: explorer and conqueror Juan Ponce de León, as well as the martyr Saint Pius.
As you may recall from your history books, Ponce de León was popularly known to be the explorer who was searching for the Fountain of Youth. However, while it is a popular myth, there does not appear to be any modern day evidence in his journals or otherwise that supports this belief. Ponce de León was the explorer who lead the first official European expedition to Florida and served as the first governor of Puerto Rico. And apparently very busy on the home front as well as an estimated 30% of the modern population of Puerto Rico descended from Ponce de León and his wife.
According to the plaque posted in the cathedral, St. Pius was a soldier who was wrongly executed as one of the first martyrs of the Roman persecutions against Christians in the first century. His body is encased on the glass coffin below the stained glass window.
The story of how St. Pius ended up in Puerto Rico is quite the saga.
In 1848, Puerto Rico’s Bishop asked Pope Pius VII for the privilege of having a relic of an early martyr on the island and was granted his choice. The Bishop visited the catacombs and chose the remains of St. Pius. On the journey back to the island, the Bishop then left the remains in Barcelona to be restored and to build the ceramic form that would house his remain. After returning to Puerto Rico, the Bishop passed away without ever reclaiming the relic.
About twenty years later, the new Bishop made a trip to visit the pope and when passing through Barcelona, he was informed that the city was holding a relic belonging to the island. Finally, St. Pius was coming home to the island that would be his final resting place.
If there is one place that you go for drinks in Old San Juan, this is the place. From the outside it doesn’t look like much and its hidden away in a neighborhood without too much else around. But as soon as you step inside, beautiful wood paneling and chandeliers transport you to another time and place. With two Steinway pianos in the main room, you know that live music is a big draw for this venue. As you venture further in, you see the doorway to the central outdoor courtyard. The most unexpected surprise awaits you there as you see something that reminds of a roman bath with a two-waterfall swimming pool meandering around ancient walls and doorways. You walk up and around the stairs and yet another level of outdoor space awaits. While the ambience is definitely the draw, the craft cocktails were expertly crafted and the tapas were tasty. This is a unique experience that you should definitely make a point to have if you are in Old San Juan.
Hands down the best brunch place in Puerto Rico. Amazing enough that we visited three times in one week. Not bad for a family that rarely visits a place more than once when on vacation. The food was delicious, the service was amazing and they were so dog friendly! The wonderful staff went out of their way to make our Little Dog feel welcome and some even remembered him by name by the second visit. I cannot say enough wonderful things about this place! Make sure to visit! You will not regret it. The only tip would be that this place is very popular and there will be a waiting list. Put your name in and then make the most of your time by exploring Old San Juan. On our second time having brunch here, we actually walked down to the Paseo de Princesa to the Gates of Old San Juan and then circled back to the restaurant just in time for our table to be called.
If you are a chocolate fan, this is the place for you. Everything here incorporates chocolate.
The Mister and I tried their drinks. I had the Bloody Choco Mary and he had the Chocolate Old Fashioned.
Oh. My. gosh.
That was seriously the best Bloody Mary that I have had in the longest time. And that is high praise coming from a Wisconsinite where Bloody Marys are a way of life. Seriously. Get it. It is that good!
To end my post about my visit to Old San Juan, here are some more lovely pictures to showcase how beautiful and vibrant Old San Juan is as well as video documenting that you never quite know what you will see on the streets of Old San Juan.
This is a nice city beach. It was pretty crowded when we visited during the weekend, but we were still able to enjoy our visit. This beach is protected by a coral reef which allows creates a natural pool for swimming and snorkeling. However, even with that protection, I felt that the ocean was a bit too rough to allow for comfortable snorkeling. Once we had our fill of beach time, we walked east where we found the Batería del Escambron which is a small fortification that seemed little more than a wall. We then went further east along the shore to the Escambrón Marine Park. Again, I don’t think that Puerto Rico is the best place for snorkeling. There just is not that much diversity or vibrancy in the marine life. But this apparently is a place that has decent snorkeling for the island.
This market was founded more than 100 years ago as a two story market. The neighborhood developed around the market into a hotspot with lots of restaurants and bars that comes alive in the evenings. Unfortunately, we came here after the market closed so we didn’t get to see that in action. We went to eat at the Chicharrón which did have a very tender Churrasco, but I wasn’t too excited about the meal there. Unfortunately, perhaps because of COVID, they did not have a number of the menu items that we were interested in and the food was mediocre. It may have been more fun if we had stuck around to see the environment at night or if we had gotten a chance to see the market in operation. But I don’t know that it was worth the trip.
Just outside of Old San Juan is the Capital District. This majestic domed Capital Building is the anchor for this area which has a number of monuments and important buildings surrounding it. This too is a great walking neighborhood especially along the Avenida del Constitucion and Avenida Munoz Rivera. Some personal highlights included the San Juan Holocaust Memorial and the Paseo de los Presidentes that honor the various ways that US Presidents have impacted Puerto Rico and its people.
Bacardi Tour
👪 Family Friendly.
This is one of the things that I have yet to do. Interestingly enough, kids are typically welcome to join the general tour. But that tour was not running due to COVID and unfortunately the Mixology Class and Rum Tasting Tour was not kid friendly.
If you are planning on visiting, then you may want to consider the upgraded classes. I always enjoy an experience rather than just a tour.
Both experiences include the standard tour, but the Mixology class will teach you how to make a perfect Mojito and Shaken Piña Colada while learning about the history of these cocktails as well as some cool bar tricks and skills and the Rum Tasting Class will provide the opportunity to taste BACARDÍ’s premium rums, accompanied with a chocolate pairing.
The Mission: To do a long-term workcation in Puerto Rico. The Participants: The Mister, Me, the Little Man and our Little Dog too. The When: From January 2021 to March 2021
Rincon, our home in the East Sunday, February 21, 2021 to Sunday, February 28, 2021
Rincon is a laidback surfer town. According to the Mister, it was the first time that he really felt like he was on vacation mode. Beautiful beaches. Nice restaurant options. Lots to see and do on this side of the island.
But Rincon was where we ran into our first really big hiccup on the work part of our workcation. On that Wednesday in Rincon, we woke up to a house without electricity. Of course, it was on a day that the Mister desperately needed internet access. Looking outside the house, because it was bright out, it was impossible to tell if it was just our house or the neighborhood. Luckily our phones were still connected so we were able to do some research. I searched for a local internet cafe or hotspot and Andy searched for some information about the nature of the outage.
I was able to find a local coffee shop in downtown Rincon that looked to have internet access. So we headed there to get Andy set up. Just as we were ordering our drinks, the power went out in the cafe. The barista indicated that power typically came back pretty quickly, which to her meant that we could expect to get power back within the next 24 hours.
Eek.
That timing wasn’t going to work for us. Andy discovered a nice coverage map through the local utility that allowed us to get a better sense for the extent of the outage. Based on that map it looked like this was effecting the entire east side of the island. But driving around, we could see that the outages were intermittent as one side of the road might have been effected and the other was not.
So we decided that we would go to one of the bigger cities in the area to find a place that might be able to provide internet access. The question was whether to go north to Aguadilla or south to Mayaguez. Part of the equation was that our car was running on empty and gas stations pumps need electricity to work so we only had enough gas for one direction. To help make our decision, we did make a number of calls to various locations trying to confirm that the electricity was running and that they had internet access. Which brings us to another unique difficulties with Puerto Rico which is that businesses don’t seem to answer their phones. consistently. I even had trouble getting a hold of national chains like CVS or Walmart. While on the island, maybe 25% of my calls ever got answered. The same average applied in this scenario.
Finally, we identified that Chili’s in Aguadilla had power and internet. While we hated the idea of eating at a place that we could visit back home, we also figured going with national chain would be a safer bet with regard to dependability of Wifi. While we were correct that the Wifi was pretty good, a restaurant like Chili’s is not the best place to work especially if you need to be on calls because there is music in the background and they just aren’t set up to accommodate a business traveler. After that didn’t work out, we made the decision to book a room at the Courtyard Aguadilla. The Mister had plenty of rewards points to cover the stay and we figured it would be worthwhile to be able to have a comfortable and private room for him to work in.
Travel Hack: Power outages happen. Places that may have still have power/internet include internet cafes, co-working spaces, coffee shops, restaurants or hotels.
Now back to the cation part of our workcation… Again, we did what we could to maximize our travel day by identifying stops along the way. My initial plan was to drive along the coast and visit the Cabo Rojo National Wildlife reserve which was at the very southwest tip of the island. But we ended up doing that as a day trip from Ponce. So we decided to take the more direct PR-2 route to Ponce.
Along the way we made a few stops. The first was a last minute addition to our itinerary. The Guanica Dry Forest doesn’t get as much press as the other natural wonders of Puerto Rico. But we really enjoyed our fairly brief visit.
The Guanica State Forest is a subtropical dry forest which occurs in climates that are warm year round but have long dry seasons that last several months. When we got out of the car, I could immediately feel my mouth dry. The heat was dry one and the sun was strong. As mentioned, we didn’t plan for this hike so we didn’t have any water or hiking clothes. We slathered on the sunscreen and headed to the ranger’s station to get some advice.
Because we weren’t prepared for a hike, we weren’t interested a long or arduous hike. Although, let’s be honest, considering our level of outdoorsy-ness, we probably wouldn’t have been ready for much more of a hike than what we did regardless of how prepared we were. We had two store bought water bottles that we just happened to have in the car. It wasn’t enough and we basically drank most of it before we even started walking. The environment was so dry that even I was parched and I typically never need to drink water when hiking or doing any other type of physical activity. Luckily, the path we ended up taking was fairly shaded because it would have been tough to spend any prolonged time in the sun due to the dry and hot conditions especially without enough water.
The Ranger did not speak English, but we were able to communicate with a little help from my app. The Ranger asked what we were looking for in a hike and I requested a hike with a great view. He recommended that we take the hike to El Vigia which was about an hour’s walk from the Ranger’s station. If you look at the map, you can find the Ranger’s station and parking marked as a pentagon on the far left bottom corner of the trails that make up the red loop. That was our starting point. We took the Lluveras trail and got confused because the map shows that the Lluveras trail makes a hard left at some point before joining up with the Granados trail. When we got to the intersection of the two trails (Granados and Lluveras), we thought we just reached the first turn and ended up turning left rather than right. After walking almost the entire way back, we realized that we had made a wrong turn. At that point, I was pretty torn about whether we would go back. While the hike was very pretty and a very uniquely different ecosystem than we had seen in Puerto Rico to date, it was hot and I wasn’t sure if there would be much more to see going on the path. But I was glad that we went back because the view was pretty amazing from El Vigia.
To get to the view, you had to go left and walk down some elevation to the side of a cliff. As someone who is a bit scared of heights, I was a little leery of getting too close. I was also getting nervous about how close our Little Man was getting to the edge. But it was a breathtaking view. The only disappointment about this hike was that I would have enjoyed getting to see more of cactus that appeared to grow in this region.
After getting back from the hike, we continued to drive towards Rincon. Along the way, we stopped in Mayaguez to grab some lunch. We would highly recommend Plaza Platos y Copas for a delicious Sunday brunch. A waterfront restaurant with lovely ambience and live music on the Sunday we were there. The food was amazing, including what our Little Man declared to be one of the best meals EVER. Better yet, it was 🐾dog friendly!
A happy surprise was the black sand beach that adjacent to the restaurant. It wasn’t the prettiest beach we had seen, but it was definitely worth a walk if you are going to be eating at the restaurant anyways.
After brunch, we took a quick drive to Mayaguez Plaza Colon. It was a gorgeous square. One of the most notable aspects was that the each of the lanterns that lined the square appeared to be a unique sculpture representing different townspeople.
Beach Bumming Day Steps Beach (Reserva Marina Tres Palmas), Domes Beach and Crashboat Beach
🐾 Dog Friendly!
Rincon is all about beaches. So we spent a day beach hopping.
Our first stop was the Reserva Marina Tres Palmas, also known as Steps Beach for its distinctive steps to nowhere. As a marine reserve, there is apparently some very good snorkeling just off the beach. But seasons matter when it comes to the ocean and the winter in Rincon is surf season due to the massive waves in the region and not conducive to snorkeling which is better when the ocean is calmer. For snorkeling, summer is the right time to visit. So we just did a quick walk down the beach and headed to the next location.
Our next stop was Domes beach, which is one of the most famous surfing spots on the island. It gets its name from the inactive nuclear power plant just next door. Apparently, this dome was commissioned in the ’60s but never put into use and now opens by appointment as a technology museum.
This is definitely the beach to come for surfing whether you want to surf yourself or simply watch. We sat for a bit enjoying the surf show and then headed to our next beach.
The final beach of the day was Crashboat Beach. This was definitely the beach to go to if you are looking for a day at the beach. Crashboat Beach is the most developed out of the three beaches with food and drink vendors and lots of people watching. Again, there is supposed to be some nice snorkeling available around the piers, but be careful because the ocean here can be deceptively rough.
The next day, the Little Man and I took surf lessons with Robert, one of the coaches and judges for the Puerto Rican Surfing Federation. We met him at the Rincon Lighthouse, which is close to the Domes Beach where all of the experienced surfers were catching waves. From there, I was glad that Robert directed us to Maria Beach which still had a lot of surfers, but was a beach with much more manageable waves.
We spent about 30 minutes learning the basics and then about 2 hours in the water taking turns trying to get up on the board. Our little 11 year old didn’t get up on the board but he did get to ride the waves a few time on his board. I got up, maybe once or twice. But it was a really fun time and an opportunity to try something different.
Downtown Rincon
Robert told us that we should visit downtown Rincon on Thursday night for the Rincon Art Walk. That evening, the town square has live music and an outdoor market where you can buy art, artisans goods and edible delicacies.
After visiting the vendors, we got dinner at Taqueria Vatos Locos. Good drinks, great food and a fun vibrant decor. I especially liked their Carnitas al Plato – I’m not usually a mole fan, but their guava mole is amazing.
Another Beach Day
🐾 Dog Friendly
We spent another full day exploring the beaches. This time we visited the beaches in the northeast heading first to Guajataca in Guebradillas and then making our way back.
Along the way, we happened upon an abandoned airplane art installation. It is just along the side of the road in an empty lot. There is a box for donations so visitors are welcome. You can climb into the plane at your own risk and take a look from within. The Little Man was definitely impressed.
Also along the way we passed the Cara del Indios, which is a huge rock sculpture of the Cacique (chief) Mabodamaca carved into the cliffside close to the town of Isabela.
Our first beach of the day was Guajataca Tunnel in Isabela. Access to the beach is through a tunnel that once supported a railroad connecting the towns of Isabela and Quebradilla. The tunnel opens to a beautiful rocky canyon along the side of the ocean and then to a forested area and finally to the beach. The beach is rocky and the waves from the Atlantic are rough, so this is not a swimming beach. And if you walk further along the beach you will find the blue bow of a wrecked sailing boat poking out sand. This is a beautiful spot with lots of scenic photo opportunities including numerous bright and vibrant murals surrounding the tunnel.
Our next beach was Jobos Beach. To get there, we drove through Isabela which gave us the chance to see the beautiful Isabela Church.
Along the way we also found this Coco Frio vendor selling fresh cold coconuts on the side of the road.
Jobos Beach was the next stop. This beach was right off the road and had a number of restaurants and bars surrounding it. It wasn’t anything super unique or distinctive about this beach as compared to the other beaches that we visited other than the Well of Jacinto, which is the first picture showing the gapping hole in the limestone cliff dropping down to the ocean below.
According to the local legend, this natural feature is named after a farmer by the name of Jacinto. It is said that Jacinto had a favorite cow that he always had tied to him while walking the rest of his herd. One day the cow walked too close to the hole and fell, dragging Jacinto along, where they both died.
The legend says that whenever someone gets close and yells “Jacinto, dame la vaca!” (Jacinto, give me the cow), a big burst of water will shoot up from the hole, angry, as it to say “you are not taking my cow.”
The next stop was Shacks Beach. This beach is very secluded and there were only a few other beach dwellers when we arrived. This area was unique because it was tucked away amongst a more residential area. As you can see on the map, you actually park in the field on the right of the turn onto the residential street that leads you to the beach.
Off this beach, there were a few windsurfers enjoying the ocean breeze. And while the waters were rough, there was an area of the ocean just off the beach that appeared to be insulated from the full power of the waves where someone was snorkeling. If I were to go back, I would make sure that we brought our snorkeling gear because I understand that this beach has some really easily accessible and interesting snorkeling right in that area.
But after all of the beaches that we saw on the east side of the island, at the end of the day, we choose to return to Crashboat Beach. There is just something about that beach that is lively, fun and worth returning to.
After an afternoon of frolicking on the Crashboat Beach, we headed home and saw the sunset as we were driving back to Rincon just as we were passing these color homes on the hillside. It was a beautiful way to end our last day on the west side of the island.
The Journey back to the North side of the Island
Our next destination was back to Vega Baja. But these attractions would also be great stops if you are heading on to San Juan as well.
Our first stop was to our most favorite waterfalls on the island – Cascada Gozalandia. Looking at the pictures, I’m sure you can see why. It was just beautiful. And the owners have done a real nice job of developing this site by adding paths that lead from the parking lot to the two waterfalls in the area.
The path quickly leads you to a overlook with an amazing view of the main waterfall. The photos really do not do it justice, but it’s just so beautiful to look down at this gorgeous view. And looking down is right because you are quite high up.
From there, the path splits into three.
The center path takes you zig zagging down stairs in order to get to the base of the main waterfall.
The path to your right takes you to the second waterfall. It is a quick and easy paved walk along the water with lots of beautiful sights along the way. The waterfall is tucked into a crescent shaped ridge. And there is the rope swing that you can use to swing into the center of the pool.
The path to your left is another way to access the main waterfall. Because the center path is mostly stairs and provides the best views, I would recommend taking that path down. And then once you are ready to return, you can walk downstream and you can’t miss the path leading back up on your left.
One word of warning is that on the drive in, there is a huge incline that might be a bit difficult for your car to traverse. So you should build up some speed in order to make it up the hill.
The next location is a bit of a hidden attraction. There isn’t much information about it and it is tucked away in the mountains. It was nice enough to see, but there just wasn’t much to it. I was expecting that there would be more to see in the area surrounding it (i.e., they created this attraction to bring people into town to spend money on the local restaurants or bars). But it was basically the hillside with the carvings and then an open field on the other side of the road. Not sure if I would recommend coming out this way especially because the driving was very challenging due to the roads narrowing to one lane at certain points, but this would be a fine option if you are in the mood for a scenic drive through the hills.
The Mission: To do a long-term workcation in Puerto Rico. The Participants: The Mister, Me, the Little Man and our Little Dog too. The When: From January 2021 to March 2021
Ponce, our home in the South Monday, February 15, 2021 to Sunday, February 21, 2021
Ponce is called La Perla del Sur or the Pearl of the South and is one of the largest cities in Puerto Rico. It was pretty centrally located and seemed to offer a lot of local attractions. It seemed like the perfect home base in the south.
Monday was a travel day between Fajardo and Ponce. As always, my goal was to find things to do along the way to maximize the experience. Rather than drive along the coast to Ponce, we decided to cut through the center of the island which gave us a great view of the mountainous regions of the island. On this leg of our journey, we made two major stops. The first was at El Yunque, which is the only tropical rainforest in the United States, and the second was a natural spring located close to Guavate called Charco Azul.
El Yunque, the only tropical rainforest in the US national forest system, is only a 30 minute drive from Fajardo.
Because of COVID, only a limited number of visitors were being allowed in the park. In order to visit, you needed to make a reservation for one of the two time slots: the morning from 8 to 11 AM or the afternoon from 12 to 3. To make your reservation, you needed to sign up on the USDA website and pay the $2 fee.
El Yunque was another place that I visited when I came to Puerto Rico many years ago. I remember being pretty impressed with the visitor’s center and was a little disappointed that it wasn’t open. Apparently, several sections of the park were still out of commission due to Hurricane Maria and the recent earthquake.
El Yunque is a great park with tons to see. The park service has done a really nice job of identifying beautiful scenic overviews and lovely hikes throughout the park and they are clearly marked with lots of parking options available nearby.
One of the nicest parts about this park was that our Little Dog was welcome to visit as well. He’s a bit of a lap dog, so we emptied out the Little Man’s backpack and stuck him in there for the hike to Mt. Britton. The fact that he was being carried up the mountain might have been his favorite part of the trip, but as a whole he loved joining the family for all of our El Yunque adventures.
As you know, we do not claim to be an outdoorsy, athletic family. But we were able to see all of the accessible places in El Yunque that we wanted to in less than 3 hours: La Coca Falls, Yokahu Tower, Juan Diego Creek, Bano Grande, and Mt. Britton Tower.
La Coca Falls and Yokahu Tower were just quick stops along the side of the road. Juan Diego Creek and Bano Grande were short walks into the forest. The only part of the El Yunque adventure that was any type of challenge was the trek to Mt. Britton Tower. This 1.6 mile out and back trail was paved and well maintained so it wasn’t like you were blazing a path through virgin forest, but there was elevation and you could get winded depending on your level of fitness.
But we all thought that was well worth the hike. The tower’s observation deck offers a panoramic view of the forest, the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea and the eastern coastal plain. It was an incredible view. And it was a really nice way to stretch out our legs before a longer car drive.
The one thing that I found interesting was that there weren’t as many bugs as we expected during our visit to El Yunque or in Puerto Rico as a whole. Perhaps it was because of the season or we just lucked out in the places we stayed. But we brought a lot of bug protection with us on this trip and rarely used it, if at all.
Charco Azul
🐾 Dog Friendly!
From El Yunque, we drove on Puerto Rico Highway 184, which is also known as the Pork Highway. Along this highway, there are various famous roasted-pork restaurants (lechoneras) in the area of Guavate. Apparently, during the weekends, this highway becomes a huge party where locals and tourists come to enjoy music and eat good food, particularly the roasted pork on a spit that the area is so famous for.
Being a Monday and during COVID, we didn’t know quite what to expect along the highway. But figured that we might as well take the trip to see what all the fuss was about. And while in the area, we thought we would stop by Charco Azul, a nearby watering hole.
Charco Azul was worth the trip. It is a little off the path, but the drive is pretty and if you are not in a rush, why not? The reason this watering hole stood out was because the water was this beautiful deep blue green color in certain parts. The water was crisply cold and very refreshing to dip into.
From there, we circled back through Guavate. Unfortunately, the restaurants were really quiet and we didn’t see very many pork options. Definitely no pigs on spits and most of the restaurants that were open seemed to be buffet style where the offerings did not seem too appealing. If there was meat, it was a chunk or two swimming in a vat of greasy looking sauce. We stopped by two restaurants but didn’t see anything to our liking, so we decided to skip Guavate as a dinner spot and headed straight to Ponce.
Full disclosure, we haven’t gotten the full Pork Highway experience, but from my understanding, it is often bumper to bumper traffic heading into this area. Driving in Puerto Rico can be tough in and of itself. Even on a desolate Monday, we were having trouble finding parking and it was stressful trying to decide on a place to eat. So to be honest, I am glad that we didn’t come on the weekend as I am not sure how much we would have enjoyed that type of experience.
Sightseeing in Ponce
As you can see, Ponce is a beautiful city. We did get to see the famous sites. The Plaza Las Delicias, the public square of Ponce that has the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Parque de Bombas, an old fire station which has been converted into distinctive red and black building housing the museum honoring the firefighters of Ponce. The Cruceta del Vigía, a high tower shaped like a cross located on a hill overlooking the whole city that was built in the 19th century to monitor the seas for pirate attacks or arrival of commercial ships. The Castillo Serrallés which is the former home of the Serrallés family, the owners of the Don Q rum distillery. We even stopped by the Parque Ecologico Urbana, which is a lovely sculpture park in the city.
But I admit that I was disappointed. Although to be fair, I think a big part of my disappointment can be attributed to COVID.
One of the things that I was most excited about regarding our visit to Ponce was that the timing coincided with the Carnaval Ponceño or the Ponce Carnival. The Ponce Carnival is Puerto Rico’s version of New Orleans’ Mardi Gras, the Carnival of Venice, and Rio de Janeiro’s Carnival. And we just so happened to be visiting Ponce on last few days of the week-long celebration.
The celebration is a week before Ash Wednesday. And we would be getting there on the Monday before Ash Wednesday when there is traditionally a huge masquerade ball that the entire city participates in. And we were particularly looking forward to experiencing the Entierro de la Sardina, or Burial of the Sardine which is a mock funeral, complete with a dummy-laden coffin, that closes out the week of celebration in honor of the coming season of Lent. During the burial, a coffin and replica of a person are set on fire to symbolize the burning away of the sins of the flesh. Afterward, many of the bars and restaurants in Ponce stay open late for all-night dance parties, feasts, and other events.
I knew with COVID, it was a long shot that we would get the chance to experience this carnival. The famous San Sabastian Festival in San Juan had been cancelled this year because of COVID and I definitely understood that we would have to play it by ear. But once I confirmed that the celebration was on, I got excited again.
This experience basically described our entire experience with Ponce. We would hear about something that we would get excited about and then it wouldn’t turn out.
So even after asking our Airbnb host, we still had a very vague idea of what was going on and where it might be. So we got into our car and headed out to the area that we thought things would be happening in. Basically, the next hour was spent roaming around the city in the hopes that we might find this carnival. Later, I found out that the carnival had turned into a car based parade around the various neighborhoods, which I think was a great modification that allowed for a celebration in spite of COVID. But it would have been nice if that was more clear in the information available on the internet.
The next disappointment was La Guancha. This is a seaside boardwalk that is apparently lined with restaurants and kiosks selling food and refreshments. Again, not sure if I didn’t go to the right place or if it was just shut down because of COVID. But again, a lot of wandering around in the hopes that we would find it.
To be honest, there wasn’t an outstanding experience to come out of our visit to Ponce. There were no standout restaurants or sightseeing experiences.
The best experience in Ponce itself was our visit to Plaza Las Delicias on the last night of our trip. If you do go to Ponce, night is the best time to visit the plaza. It is just really pretty in the evening with the square illuminated.
We walked around the square and then ended up at the Fox Hotel which is a trendy, fun, hot spot. There was a really fun outdoor stand in the courtyard of the hotel called Azafran that made paella in huge pans.
Was it the best paella I’ve ever had? No, but it was good and the experience was great. The chef and staff of the restaurant were super fun and approachable and made the night memorable.
After dinner, we went to the King’s Cream for dessert. This ice cream shop is a Puerto Rican institution which has also been called Puerto Rico’s most famous ice cream stand and the Caribbean’s best ice cream. The line was around the block and they had an array of local flavors like pineapple, parcha (passion fruit), coconut, guanabana (sourop), tamarind, among others. We tried a lot of them and they reminded us of lemon ice or sherbet. It was nice and refreshing. But again, did not blow me away. Interesting story is that this store was opened by two Chinese immigrants. One of the most unexpected part of our visit was how many Chinese restaurants there were around the island. It seemed like there were as many Chinese restaurants as there were any other type of restaurant. On the island, there were an estimated 450 Chinese restaurants in 2020 which is a huge amount considering there were only about 1,757 Chinese Puerto Ricans per the 2018 US Census.
A Saturday Day Trip to Cabo Rojo Salt Flats and Lighthouse
GILIGAN’S ISLAND
On our tour, our guide recommended that we visit Gilligan’s Island when we were in Ponce. Online information seemed to suggest that island had been closed due to the earthquakes, but we figured we would head out to see what we could see because we had found that online information was not always the most up to date.
Based on our research, there appeared to be a few different ways to get to the island including via kayak. But we decided to head to San Jacinto Restaurant which previously ran a ferry to the island to get a better sense for the condition of the island.
At the restaurant, we got confirmation that the ferry was no longer running. But the restaurant was a very cute destination with lovely seating options on the beach and adorable decorations including the best sign explaining that the men’s bathroom were on the left and the women’s bathrooms were on the right. We ordered lunch food and drink which were decent enough. But the piña colada was one of the best we had on the island.
Since Gilligan’s Island was not accessible, we decided to head to the Cabo Rojo region. This area at the very southwest tip of the island has a number of beautiful sights all within a small area.
One of the best things about Puerto Rico is the amazing diversity of ecosystems and one of the most unique ecosystems was the Salinas de Cabo Rojo or the salt flats in Cabo Rojo. What initially drew us to this region were the pink lakes of Cabo Rojo. Apparently the heavy concentration of salt transforms the waters into a pinkish hue. For whatever reason, when we visited we did not see much of that effect. But even if you don’t get to see the pink lakes, the vistas here are so unique and breathtaking that I would absolutely make the trip here regardless.
I would recommend visiting the region the same way as we did. First, I would suggest hiking up to the Cabo Rojo lighthouse and then walking down the cliffside towards Playa Sucia. From there, you could stay and enjoy the beach for a bit and then walk back along the adjacent salt flats to your car while taking in the beautiful views. From there, I would drive back to the salt harvesting operations, which you couldn’t miss as they were the large man-made lagoons along your left-hand side as you were driving in.
Being a weekend, the Playa Sucia, which is the beach at the very end of the road that you are traveling to get to the Cabo Rojo lighthouse was very busy as was the adjacent parking lot. We parked our car just before the final parking lot. You’ll know you are in the right place if you are just down the hill from the lighthouse.
There is a pretty well beaten path up the hill to the lighthouse. As you are heading up, make sure to take a look back as you get to the top of the hill. You get a pretty amazing view of the salt flats. The lighthouse is pretty lovely and if you can, make sure to climb up the tower and take a look. As you walk down towards the beach, make sure that take in the views of the cliffs. This is just a really great little hike that provides so many different landscapes to enjoy.
While the area is famous for its pink lake, when we visited, the water looked more purple than pink, which is also an amazing and unique sight that I had never seen before.
Although this photo doesn’t do it justice, you can see the difference in color between the two bodies of water. To the right is Playa Sucia, which is a cove open to the ocean. It is a much brighter blue than the lagoon to the left, which is the landlocked lake which creates the salt flats.
This photos showcases the naturally occurring salt flats which developed as salt from the ocean accumulated in the lagoon. Over time, because the seawater got trapped in the lagoon and could not return back to the ocean on the right, the salt built up and increased the salinity of the area.
The following set of photos showcase the impact of the salt on the landscape. As you can see, the salt flats were fairly desolate. The water is too salty to sustain life and you can see the salt buildup along the shore. It was so thick that you could even taste the salt in the area. It was a dramatic landscape that is well worth the visit.
From there, head back to the salt harvesting operations. It was actually worthwhile to stop by. Honestly, I was a little reluctant at first because it doesn’t look like much from the road so I was glad that Mister pushed to stop by.
The way the operation works is that the salt water from the ocean is pumped into the various man-made lagoons. As the water evaporates in the sun, the salt is left behind and builds up as more and more salt water is pumped into the lagoons. Once the build up is sufficient, the lagoon is drained and the salt is harvested.
You could see the various levels of salt build up on the adjacent lagoons. And check out the video which showcases how much the salt sparkled in the sun.
For a more detailed description of the process, take a look at the following explanation by Caribbean Soaps, a company that uses the salts in its products.
Even with a relatively late start to our day, we were able to fit in all of these stops pretty comfortably and still have enough energy to head to the Plaza Las Delicias for a night stroll and dinner. The drive there and back was quite beautiful as well. We would highly recommend making a trip to Cabo Rojo a part of your itinerary if you are planning to visit Puerto Rico’s south or west side!
The Mission: To do a long-term workcation in Puerto Rico. The Participants: The Mister, Me, the Little Man and our Little Dog too. The When: From January 2021 to March 2021
Fajardo, our home in the East Friday, February 12, 2021 to Monday, February 15, 2021
After a laidback stay in the North, we headed to the East for a long weekend in Fajardo. Fajardo is more of your traditional vacation hub. It allows easy access to some of the beautiful islands of Puerto Rico and to El Yunque, the only rainforest in the United States. We decided that we would just spend a long weekend here and then move to the next location. Our reason was practical. First, it was harder to find a location that would work well for remote working. None of the places we were looking at had any truly dedicated work spaces. And second, the cost of housing was higher in this area so why would we pay to stay here unless we were truly going to be able to enjoy the area. So we decided to take the Friday and Monday off and really focus on having a vacation here rather than doing the workcation thing.
Travel Hack: when doing a workcation where you will be working during the workdays, you may not want to pay the upcharge to stay in the most touristy areas.
Whenever traveling, I always want to find attractions along the way so that we can maximize our experience. On the drive to Fajardo, I decided to take the scenic route through Piñones, which is a lovely ocean adjacent drive with lots of restaurants and bars. I figured the timing would be perfect to make a lunch stop at one of the many locations. Because we were in transit, we had our Little Dog and were a little worried about whether he would be welcome for lunch. But our fears were unfounded because he has always been welcomed with open arms.
We ended up stopping at Draft, which is a very trendy beach club style restaurant. Honestly, we didn’t expect that this would be the type of restaurant that would welcome dogs, so we really stopped as a bathroom break. But we were pleasantly surprised when they welcomed us in.
I could see this being a really cool hot spot for the young and sexy set. As you can see, the views from the restaurant were wonderful. There was also a beautiful patio area and I could see them serving down at the beach as well. Luckily it wasn’t too crowded at the time when we got there so they let us in because we might not fit in with the hip and happening crowd that would probably be drawn to this location. The food and drinks were good. And after our lunch, we headed down to the beach and got to enjoy some of that ambiance before continuing our drive to Fajardo.
There was a bit of a rush to get to Fajardo as we had scheduled a bioluminescence bay tour of Laguna Grande for that evening. By the time we called, the only tour available for the weekend was the 5 PM Friday tours. We rushed to the Airbnb, checked in, dropped off all of our belongings and then headed down to connect with our tour at Las Croabas Park, which is a cute little park to visit surrounded by food options and live music on the Friday we visited.
For those of you who don’t know, bioluminescence bays are unique places when microscopic, single-celled organisms called dinoflagellates grow in quantities large enough to produce a “glow-in-the-dark” effect. The defense mechanism of dinoflagellates is to illuminate. So, when you paddle or splash the water, these organisms light up in a neon blue-green color. There are only five ecosystems in the world where the concentration of these planktons is high enough to be considered bioluminescent bays, and Puerto Rico is home to three of them.
I was especially excited to share this experience with my boys because I got the chance to experience this phenomenon in Mosquito Bay on the island of Vieques in Puerto Rico. It was magical and one of my all time favorite travel experiences. As the night sky darkened, all of a sudden you started to see sparkles cascading against your kayak paddle. And at the time, I was allowed to get in the water and I felt like Tinkerbell with sparkles flowing from my every motion.
Unfortunately, with COVID, the ferry to Vieques was restricted to residents so we weren’t able to get there. Otherwise, I would have loved to visit Vieques again. I remember the town being great to visit and would have loved to revisit that biobay experience with my family. But the Laguna Grande tour seemed like a fine substitute.
Unfortunately, it was not. One of the benefits of going to Vieques Island is that not everyone makes the trip out to the island which limits the number of visitors with access to the bay. This particular bay was on the main island of Puerto Rico and there were a number of tour companies heading to the same place with hordes of tourists. So kayaking there felt like a Disney train ride where you were bumper to bumper next to other kayaks. Also, I believe that the tour company we went with could have handled it better. They had 6 tour guides and 40 guests. If it was me, I would have split the group so that each tour guide was responsible for a smaller subset. They just had one guy as the main leader and the other guides were there floating around. It felt really impersonal and like a cattle call.
Unfortunately, the kayak ride ended up being the best part of our trip. Despite the crowds, it was fun to paddle into that area and see the surroundings. Huge mangrove trees surrounded the channel and we were constantly seeing lizards and birds about.
Heading into the laguna, anticipation set in as I eagerly awaiting the dark of night so that we could enjoy the main attraction. With the new moon, this was the ideal time to be doing this tour. As night set in, I peered down at the water waiting for some signs of light. Nothing. Finally, the tour guide directed us to the tarps that were strapped to the back of the kayak and instructed us to cover our heads while we looked at the water. With the additional dark offered by the tarp, I could see a sparkle here or there.
It was so disappointing.
Especially, when it comes to my prior amazing experience at Mosquito Bay. But even my guys who had never seen a biobay were thoroughly unimpressed.
If you are going to do a biobay, I would recommend taking the trip to Vieques, if possible. Otherwise, temper your expectations for this trip. And if you can, book the earlier trip. The best part of this excursion was the kayaking in and out. It was beautiful to see the surrounding both before and after sunset.
For dinner, we went to Sal and Pimenta by the sea. We had the Surf and Turf and Oso Bucco. You can see the yummy Surf and Turf pictured here! The Oso Bucco was huge and we had plenty of leftovers to make breakfast the next day.
Early the next morning, we went on a tour of the island of Culebra. This too was done a little differently because of COVID. With COVID, there were additional restrictions around the ferry to the island. So rather than deal with unraveling that, I decided to just book with a tour company knowing that they would sort through the ferry issue so that our day would go smoothly.
But during a non-COVID time, I would recommend doing Culebra on your own. It shouldn’t be too challenging to get to where you want. The ferry takes you to the main town where you can catch a bus or rent a jeep for the day.
Both the biobay tour and this island tour were with the same company. By booking two tours with the company, I did get a 30% discount on the second tour.
The day started with a ferry ride from Ceiba to Culebra. The ferry is 🐾 dog friendly in case you wanted to bring your furry best friend along for the island adventure!
The island tour started with a snorkel at the Playa Tamarindo. To be honest, I was a bit disappointed by this as well. The colors were muted as compared to other places that I’ve visited. But we did see some fish, turtles and sea vegetation.
After snorkeling, we headed to Flamenco Beach which is consistently ranked one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. It was undoubtedly one of the nicest beaches we’ve been to. The sand was soft and beautifully white. The crystal clear water was beautiful shades of blue and the cove had it all, a nice secluded area with calm waters and larger waves towards the middle. As you can see from the video, the water receding from the beach shimmered such that it looked like the sand was made of sparkles.
One of the most interesting aspects of the beach was the rusted tanks that left on beach by the US military that have been turned into art installations.
After the beach, we headed back to the dock for our ferry ride back to the main island and spent the rest of the evening relaxing at our home away from home.
Fajardo
On Sunday, we had a lazy day. We slept in and then started our last day in Fajardo by grabbing lunch at a local restaurant called Don Candi which is a cute little seaside restaurant that has open air seating facing the ocean. We had a little bit of confusion at first because we weren’t sure how everything worked. It looked like they had a take away window and a seated restaurant option. But we soon figured out that this was the type of restaurant where you order at the window and then get seated after.
The food was good here but the main attraction was the hordes of big fish, which I think might have been tarpon, that swarmed the coast along the restaurant. Seafood was the name of the game here, especially the red snapper, which I regretted not getting because it was so popular that it seemed like the only thing coming out of the kitchen.
But as you were waiting, you could watch the chef at work preparing the fresh snapper and he was tossing fish refuse out to the sea. Restaurant guests were also throwing their seafood remains out to sea as well. So the tarpons knew that this was the place to hang out for chow.
The video captured a fun moment. One of the birds lost his fish head in the water and dove down to get it several times but missed each time. I managed to capture his last attempt to grab it out of the water just before one of the tarpon snatched it from him.
After lunch, we planned on trekking out to La Zanya or relaxing on Seven Seas Beach. But as we drove, we quickly saw how busy the beaches were. Sundays are a big beach day for Puerto Ricans so it may not be the best time to visit the beach if you are hoping for a relaxing outing. So the Seven Seas Beach was out for us. Unfortunately, La Zanya also was not an option for us because the entrance to Las Cabezas de San Juan Nature Reserve was closed on the Sunday that we were visiting. We could have probably cut through the beach, but we just weren’t up for a hike in the heat on that day.
So we decided to make a nice meal at home together and headed to the grocery. This is where we made a rookie mistake for a relocating workcationer. Typically, when we go grocery shopping, we stock up like Costco style. We buy in bulk so that we don’t have to worry about running out of necessities. We handled this trip to the grocery the same way even though we were going to be relocating the next day. This mistake made packing the car even more difficult.
Travel Hack: Make sure to keep your travel schedule in mind when shopping and only buy what you need if you are going to be traveling soon.
After cooking up some dinner and playing some games, we headed to bed gearing up for our journey to Ponce in the morning.
The Mission: To do a long-term workcation in Puerto Rico. The Participants: The Mister, Me, the Little Man and our Little Dog too. The When: From January 2021 to March 2021
Vega Baja, our home in the North Wednesday, January 27, 2021 to Friday, February 12, 2021 and again on Sunday, March 28, 2021 to Friday March 5, 2021
Our trip began on the north side of the island in the town of Vega Baja. Vega Baja has a reputation as a transitional area, but we could not have been happier with our stay. In fact, we loved it so much that we decided to come back again to stay another week.
Vega Baja has beautiful beaches, great restaurant options and is centrally located such that it was a great home base to visit the north. The beach adjacent areas have been developed well with some cute restaurant and bar options. And I found that having a bit of suburban sprawl towards the freeway with your typical Walmart, CVS, All Ways 99 (Puerto Rico’s version of a $.99 store) really convenient for a workcation.
We stayed in a lovely gated community called Chalet de la Plaza. One of our favorite parts about the property was the ocean access. Being able to take a 2 minute walk to a gorgeous, secluded beach made it easy to squeeze in little beach breaks in between conference calls.
We loved the setup of our Airbnb for working. As you can see, the kids room has a built in desk so the Little Man could take classes there. And me and the Mister had a number of option to work from as well.
Something lessons learned from our stay. We thought we would use the rooftop much more than we did. When we first stayed, there was no protection from the sun so it would be much too hot in the direct sun. The internet connection was not as strong on the rooftop. And the ocean breeze was very strong so it was hard to take calls in that area.
The Mister actually ended up using the balcony the entire time we were there. It was protected from the sun the entire day and he could even be out there during the rain due to the setup. So when looking for your locations, make sure to take into account the power of the sun!
Another thing to think about it the number of stairs for your Airbnbs. None of our locations had elevators and some of them had several flights of stairs. Having lived in single family style homes for most of my adult life, I completely underestimated the inconvenience of having to bring all of your belongings and supplies up flights of stairs or having to take a Little Dog up and down stairs multiple times a day for potty breaks. Just something to keep in mind as well. Although I will have to say that all of us benefited from the additional workout that climbing stair multiple times a day provided.
Some suggestions for things to buy that might come in handy:
Chair Cushions: The kitchen table chairs were a bit uncomfortable, but that problem was easily solved through a trip to All Ways 99 where we were able to find cheap seat cushions. These actually made a big difference in how comfortable some chairs were to sit in at the various Airbnbs.
Laundry Detergent: Because most of our Airbnbs were homes, they had laundry facilities. 100% overpacked on clothing because we ended up being able to wash our clothing regularly. The Mister and I probably re-wearing 50% of the outfits that I packed for us..
Spices: While the Airbnb’s advertise their fully stocked kitchens, they typically do not include many spices. We love to cook and eat savory foods. So the first things we did was stock up on our favorite spices which we proceeded to transport with us around the island.
TV Tray: I was able to find a fold up TV tray that I used as a makeshift desk. It was less than $30 at the local Walmart, easy to transport and it made it easier to create a makeshift desk anywhere there was seating.
So this was a true workcation. We worked and lived as we would at home, but spent our free time exploring the island. Because our Little Man did not have school on Wednesday, the Mister tried to block off that day so we could go exploring, but he was only successful on rare occasions.
Here were some of the highlights of our time in the North:
We visited this beach when we first arrived in the area. As we were driving by, we saw a parking spot and decided to make a quick stop before the sun went down.
This beach is protected by limestone ridge. And that evening, the waves were so high that they were crashing over the top. It was an amazing sight to see the power of the waves. It was my first time seeing something like that in person. Winter is Puerto Rico’s season for rough waters and because Puerto Rico Beaches are often protected by limestone barriers, this as a scene that we got to experience throughout the island.
This was one of my favorite beaches. Less than 20 minute drive from Vega Baja, this is a sheltered cove protected from the full power of the sea by the limestone cliffs that encircle it. The beach is almost a perfect half moon with a side pool of perfect calm surrounded by smooth stones.
During the winter, the waves occasionally flow over the top of the cliffs and trickle down like a waterfall. Bring your water shoes if you want to hike up to take a better view from the top of the cliffs. But be careful, the cliff can be treacherous especially if you happen to get into a spot where the waves overtakes the cliffs.
This beach was pretty quiet during the week when we visited. There were a few vendors who were selling food, drink and umbrellas. But we were able to find some nice shade under the trees.
Our first full day of adventuring was spent exploring the Arecibo area which is west from Vega Baja. We were able to reserve a tour that morning for the 1 PM outing. While it is about a 40 minute drive from Vega Baja to Cueva Ventana, we took the scenic route.
On the drive there, we were able to see the Birth of the New World (also known as La Estatua de Colón), which is a 360 foot (110 m) bronze sculpture. A monument to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s first voyage Birth of the New World, it was constructed in 1991. The statue prominently depicts Columbus at the helm, with the three sails depicting the Niña, Pinta and Santa María. Standing 50 feet taller than the Statute of Liberty, it is the tallest sculpture in the Americas.
There is a restaurant and a paid parking lot that might makes it easier to get a photo of this monument. But, as you can imagine, it is huge and we felt that we could appreciate it without making a stop. The Cueva del Indios site was along the same road to Cueva Ventana. Time was ticking to get to our 1 PM tour, so we passed it planning to make a stop on our way back.
Rather than taking the direct route to the Cueva Ventana, we decided to head towards to Arecibo Observatory. While it was not open because of COVID, we thought it might be a nice drive. Personally, I wouldn’t recommend the drive. It was not that scenic and there are better drives to do. Although, my opinion might be tainted because we got a bit turned around which created a bit of stress as we got closer to that 1 PM tour start time.
This is a cave tour departing on the hour every hour between 10 AM and 4 PM on Wednesdays through Sundays. At the time we went, it cost $19 per person for the 45 minute tour. You get the chance to see two different caves including Cueva Ventana, or “window cave. ” A special part of the tour is the ability to view the petroglyphs left by the native Tanio people.
The first cave was the Cave of Light because the entire cave is illuminated.
These are the three petroglyphs that have been found in this particular cave.
From there, we went to the Cueva Ventana, or the Window Cave which is named for the window at the end of the cave that reveals a spectacular view of the valley. This was a deeper cave system that required us to have torches to light our way.
One of the sad stories about this cave is that the once plentiful bat population was decimated after Hurricane Maria when most of the bats starved to death due to the devastation of hurricane and its aftermath.
This tour was worth checking out. You get to see a lot and learn a lot during the 45 minutes tour. And it was a nice refreshing way to spend a hot afternoon as the cave and the shady paths along the way protected you from the brunt of the sun.
We grabbed lunch at the restaurant next to the cave tours. Don’t be put off by the fact that it is next to the gas station, the food was pretty good. The boys grabbed the empanadas and I tried the pulpo ensalada (octopus salad) which was surprisingly good. Just needed a little salt.
The next stop wasn’t planned. But I overheard some of the other folks ask the tour guide what his local favorite watering hole was. He identified Charco Hondo, which is only a 7 minute drive from the caves. A cool dip in a crisp spring water sounded great this hot afternoon. So off we went.
Charco Hondo, which stands for Deep Puddle, is a lovely local watering hole that is hidden behind a little hill town. You have to drive down a pretty narrow street through town to be able to get to the location. Luckily there is a pretty extensive parking lot available. But be aware that even so it will likely be pretty crowded on the weekend. Parking is free, but you might get asked to pay by someone trying to make a few bucks. Whenever that happens, I always think about the circumstances. If you think that someone might cause an issue such as damage the car or just feeling generous that day, then might just be easier to pay. Otherwise, walking away saying you don’t have money is always a fine option as well.
Today was a two for one deal day. Two caves and now two waterfalls all within a few minutes of each other.
The first waterfall was just a few steps from the parking lot. The water cascades down the side of the cliff at a pretty good speed such that there was a really refreshing mist floating in the air. Because we weren’t expecting to do waterfalls today, we didn’t have our swimsuits with us or our water shoes. After today, we decided to leave a beach bag in the back of our car with our extra set of swimsuits, our water shoes and towels just in case.
Travel Hack: If traveling in a tropical place with a car, make sure to pack your car with a beach bag with your swimsuits, water shoes, towels, bug spray, sunscreen and anything else you think might be handy while out and about.
In order to get to the next waterfall, you have to walk upriver past the first waterfall. It would have been great to have our water shoes and swimsuit at this point.
The path at this point wasn’t too bad and you could walk across the river in shorts without getting wet. But as you got further along, the river got much deeper. Luckily, pn the left side of the river, there was path that you could take to climb up the hill to a scenic view of the main waterfall.
Here is the view of the waterfall from the path. Be careful because the path is not an officially maintained path. In fact, to get up the steep hill, someone has erected a rope to assist in the climb. As you get towards the waterfall, the path turns into a cement path that appears to be crumbling from lack of maintenance. So make sure to keep your wits about you. The climb was worth it especially since we didn’t get to the waterfall from below because we didn’t have the right gear to be wading up the river.
After checking out the waterfall, we headed back towards the Cuevo del Indios. On the way there, stopped by a roadside Piña Colada stand. I think it is called Piña Dolce. But you can’t miss the stand. This was one of my favorite Piña Coladas of the trip so definitely make it a point to stop by.
🐾 Dog Friendly! (although the rough terrain might not be the best for your dog)
Cueva del Indios is a prehistoric cave hidden within dramatic limestone cliffs on the Arecibo coast. The Taino Indians held tribal meetings in this area and made numerous carvings in the walls of these natural limestone caves. These caves are believed to contain the largest collection of Tanio petroglyphs on the coast of the island. As you climb up the cliffs to the top, you can understand what drew the ancient people here. I’ve climbed quite a few of these limbstone cliffs in Puerto Rico and have yet to same eerie feeling.
Back when, there was a ladder that allowed access to the caves, but that was removed for safety reasons. For that reason, there is no longer easy access to the petroglyphs. Make sure to wear suitable footwear and to watch where you step. The cliffs are jagged and uneven with large chasms suddenly opening straight down to the sea.
Getting to the caves can be quite an adventure for us. By the time we got to the site, it was closer to sunset. The parking lots that are available for pay are closed around 5 PM. But parking by that time is available on the side of the road. We parked across from the gas station on the beach side of the street.
From there, we walked down from the beach towards the cliffs. Keep your eyes out as you walk along the beach for the access to the park entrance. The Cueva del Indios is a site that is maintained by the DNR but the enterprising owner of the adjacent parking lot has essentially blocked easy access to the site. In Puerto Rico, all beaches are public so even when the parking lot is open, you should have no problem accessing the caves through the beach the way that we did. Because we missed the entrance, we ended up scrambling up the side of the cliff which was pretty challenging. Just the Mister and I were able to make it and then the Mister backtracked, found the beach entrance and got the Little Man to the site.
Once up on the cliff, the views were breathtaking. But like I said, I got an eerie feeling almost like vertigo while up there. Also, make sure to be careful walking as the ground is very uneven and the chasms in the cliffs would just open up out of nowhere with nothing stopping you from falling straight into the sea and jagged rocks below.
The cave itself was not clearly marked, but it is on the west cliffs and you will see what looks like some stone steps leading down. When we were there, there was some type of photoshoot going on so we didn’t get the chance to explore too much which I was somewhat happy about because otherwise I could see the Mister getting into trouble trying to climb down.
While you are there, make sure to take in the views on the other cliff as well. From the east cliffs, you can see a whole different view including the La Estatua de Colón. Again, while I would recommend late afternoon as a great time to visit as the sun setting is a sight to see, I would recommend getting back down to the beach well before sunset as it would be very difficult to navigate the cliffs at night.
Restaurant Recommendations
Felos Food Truck was our favorite restaurant stop in the area. Everything was delicious there. Make sure to try the Arañas which are little fried plantain nests filled with seafood salads. We tried the octopus, king crab, spicy crab and shrimp. Our favorites were the octopus and crab.
Fuego Playero was a bar style restaurant that had delicious and cheap tacos. This was the Little Man’s favorite meal of the trip. And it was also the cheapest of the trip. Some of our Vega Baja neighbors also raved about the pinchos, or kabobs, from here.
Adventures in Planning 