Friday, December 18:

Mom, Dad, Aaron, Ethan, and I packed up the car and drove overnight to catch our flight in Atlanta.

Saturday, December 19:

Breakfast in Atlanta, then on to the airport to wait for our flight.  The E was pretty tired and I was able to get him to nap in the airport terminal.

We flew out of Atlanta to San Juan, Puerto Rico. We picked up our rental car, met up with Aunt Carol and Uncle Jim, and headed to the resort (The Wyndham Rio Mar in Rio Grande, PR) to unpack. Dinner at Antojito’s just down the road from the resort.

Sunday, December 20:

Breakfast at Antojito’s. Puerto Rican coffee is awesome.

We spent a couple hours in the car driving through the central mountains on the way to Ponce.

We picked the wrong day to go to Ponce. Everything was closed on Sunday.

But the weather was beautiful, so we enjoyed a stroll around the town square.

Then we head over to see the Caribbean sea. We searched for an unlisted beach named Playa La Jungla, but we were unable to find it. We stopped at another beach and we were disappointed that it was mostly mangroves. Had we known how awesome the snorkeling was in those mangroves, we would have stayed. But instead, we just took a few pictures and went to find a beach better suited for swimming.

We drove to a beach with a crowded parking lot, expecting that it must be a pretty beach. While it was crowded and lots of people were in the water, it was pretty gross with lots of red seaweed washing ashore. The ocean bottom was slimy and gross and the water was very cloudy. After driving all that way we decided to swim a bit anyway.

After a long day of sightseeing and swimming in the Caribbean, we got back in the car and drove back towards the north side of the island. We observed a beautiful tropical sunset over the central mountains.

We stopped in Guavate to enjoy the Lechon Asado and watch the Puerto Ricans enjoy their Sunday evening.

Monday, December 21:

This was probably the best day of the vacation. We took the ferry to the island of Culebra to see Playa Flamenco. Ethan had so much fun in the “big pool”.

Just off the beach there were a couple of reefs perfect for snorkeling. We were able to see lots of fish and interesting coral.

After swimming and snorkeling at the beach in Culebra, we took the ferry back to Fajardo to kayak through a bioluminescent bay.

Tuesday, December 22:

We intended for this to be a day of recovery and relaxation on the beach after the first couple crazy days of vacation, but we ended up going to San Juan instead. Everything in San Juan would be closed later in the week, so we had to see it all today instead. Ethan slept in a bit before we got started. While Ethan slept, Aaron head over to an awesome little bakery and picked up a sample of local pastries such as quesitos, mallorca, and guava danish.

Once again we had beautiful weather.

We walked around Old San Juan and stopped in an old church that reminded me of the churches that I saw in England.

We also toured El Morro. The fort and the view were spectacular.

We ate dinner in Old San Juan, then we head back to the resort to rest for the next day of adventure.

Wednesday, December 23:

Another long day in the car! Our plan was to drive to the Arecibo area to see the Camuy Caverns and the Arecibo Observatory. Unfortunately, the caverns were packed and they don’t give you a good rundown on how the ticketing and tours work. We arrived at 12:30, waited around for an hour and a half, ate lunch, then learned that the tours had been stalled for another hour and a half so that all the staff could take their afternoon siesta. Aaron and I decided we didn’t want to wait any longer because we would miss seeing the observatory. We set out down some crazy, narrow mountain roads through the karst country to arrive at the Observatory. Only 10 kilometers from where we left Mom and Dad at the caverns – it was a 35 minute drive! We toured the Arecibo Observatory, which is the largest radio telescope in the world.

We then drove back to the caverns to pick up mom and dad. It only took me about 20 minutes to drive back because I felt a lot more comfortable with the crazy mountain roads. We then head to Lares to find the world famous Lares Heladaria (ice cream shoppe). This ice cream parlor claims to have over 1000 flavor recipes and at any time they have about 40 flavors to choose from. Flavors range from the normal vanilla and chocolate to local flavors such as sweet rice and guava to really odd things such as white beans, garlic, or chicken. We didn’t try anything too crazy, so everything we tasted was delicious. We then got back in the car for another LONG drive back across the island.

Thursday, December 24:

Christmas Eve, and finally a day of relaxation! We hung out at the resort all day playing in the ocean, swimming in the pool, and drinking delicious rum drinks.

Friday, December 25:

Merry Christmas! Aaron and I started the day with a trip to the bakery and then a morning hike in El Yunque National Forest. The view from the mountains was pretty awesome!

We hiked through the rain forest to see La Mina falls.

We spent the rest of the day hanging out at the resort body surfing in the ocean, swimming in the pool, and drinking more fabulous rum drinks from the Tiki bar at the resort.

Saturday, December 26:

Time to head home. We spent the morning packing up the car, then we had another breakfast/brunch at the bakery, and another drive through the rain forest. We dropped off the rental car, head over to the airport, and drank a few more rum drinks before we boarded the plan. Bye bye San Juan! We landed in Atlanta and then drove to Steak N Shake for some greasy American food!

I have plenty more pictures to share and I’m sure I’ll be adding more to this post as I have time.