Unfortunately, this adventure was coming to an end and it was time to return to reality. Since we barely got any sleep the night before, we woke up pretty late and headed out to old San Juan for breakfast. Afterward we decided to try and make it out to the Bacardi factory for a quick tour. By the time we got there, I did not have enough time to go on a tour, but we still got our drink tickets and had a couple beverages on the house before Candido and Emma took me back to the airport. So long, PR!
By the time we got to old San Juan and found a parking spot, we were all starving so we stopped at pretty much the first restaurant we saw - Genesis Restaurante. I tried chicken mofongo - a traditional dish of mashed plantains covered with chicken. I did not think it was anything special, however the pina coladas at that place are something to die for!
Peter and I dropped off Phil at the airport and then joined the rest of the group at Castillo de San Cristobal for a tour of the fortress that used to protect the old San Juan enclosed in its walls. After the fortress, we hung out and explored the old San Juan with its colorful collonial architecture, grabed some pastries, and checked out the cruise ship docked at the port.
At one point we made it to the Plaza de Baldorioty de Castro where Divashree saw a bunch of pigeons and decided to be a little kid and run through the flock. Well, it did not work out exactly as she planned:
While I was still in Iowa, someone stumbled upon a nice deal on Spirit Airlines flight from Chicago to Puerto Rico so a bunch of people went ahead and booked their tickets. Since I was not sure if I would still be there, I waited it out and ended up booking my flight on American Airlines using my AAdvantage miles. Strangely enought, it was cheaper to book in first class than in coach (since the cheaper coach class seats were already sold out for Memorial day travel). I did not mind the bit of extra comfort on a four hour flight either.
On the way there, I had an hour and a half layover in Dallas, so I texted a buddy of mine who flies for American Eagle out of there to see if he was at the airport. As luck would have it, Trent was just pulling in to one of the gates so it was nice to meet up for a quick lunch and catch up. The flights themselves were not too bad. I was surprised that American does not do any service in first class on the ground, not even a glass of water - lame…
There were eleven of us total, so we ended up getting a van and a car in San Juan and drove out to Loiza, about 40 minutes east of San Juan. There we had two condos reserved at the Aquatica complex. It took us a while and when we finally got there, it looked nothing like the rest of the town, which was pretty run down. Anyways, our condo was on the third floor, with a spacious living room and kitchen, three bedrooms and a spiral staircase to the entertainment room and the exit to the roof where we found a grill and some sets of tables and chairs. Nice! The gated complex had a bunch of swimming pools, a hot tub, basketball, tennis, and sand volleyball courts, and, of course, beach access. There were also some surfing boards and kayaks in the storage, but we were never there during the day to check them out. All of that for about $22 per person per night. Not a bad deal at all
Unfortunately, this adventure was coming to an end and it was time to return to reality. Since we barely got any sleep the night before, we woke up pretty late and headed out to old San Juan for breakfast. Afterward we decided to try and make it out to the Bacardi factory for a quick tour. By the time we got there, I did not have enough time to go on a tour, but we still got our drink tickets and had a couple beverages on the house before Candido and Emma took me back to the airport. So long, PR!
