Sol, Playa y Arena

I hadn't been to Puerto Rico since last winter. I can say I pretty much miss Puerto Rico all year long, but when that is more apparent is during the cold season. But I live in Michigan: all seasons are cold for a jíbaro like me.

It's always exciting to come back to Puerto Rico. Whenever there's no hurricane, the weather is beautiful. There's amazing food everywhere you look, and music and food are combined to create the best parties.

So, what did I do in Puerto Rico? Lots of things! I arrived there on Sunday afternoon. After surprising my mom by arriving 7 hours ahead of what was scheduled, we went for dinner at a Caribbean restaurant in my hometown of Caguas. That night we didn't do much besides talking and catching up. On Monday I visited my girlfriend's parents, which fed me a large amount of food. That day I just mostly ate. I think I ate about five full meals.

Tuesday was a beach day! We went to Escambron beach in Old San Juan. We spent most of the morning swimming and sunbathing. Later we went through Old San Juan just looking around and having a good time.

Wednesday I visited my grandparents and went to a small restaurant called Mr. Sandwich. Oddly enough, most people haven't really tried their sandwiches for the simple reason that they make the best mofongo in town. There's no room left for a measly sandwich after that. I'll post the recipe for a (not-as-good) mofongo later this week, I hope. In the evening my aunt visited me and we planned for going out on Friday to dance.

Thursday was another beach day! This time we went to Luquillo Beach, depicted in the picture above. This is one of the most beautiful beaches around. The water is calm, the sand is clean, it has a lot of coastline, and you can see El Yunque Rainforest overlooking it. We spent the whole day there. From early in the morning, we had a morning snack, lunch, and part of dinner while there. When we left, we were tired as hell and I was looking as red as a tomato from all the sun. It was much worth it.

Friday I slept until late. I was too tired from Thursday. Still, we managed to go shopping, run some errands, and go dancing at night. We went to El Marriot at Condado, were they had two latin music bands. Salsa, merengue, y bachata all night long.

Saturday I picked up my girlfriend at the airport. She went there to recruit for the University of Michigan. It was pure coincidence that we were there at the same time. Honest. So, we went to their parent's house and ate, again, a lot of food. This was for dinner, after that, we went for dinner, again, at my mom's house, where we had a party with a bunch of friends to celebrate my mom's birthday (a few days early anyway).

Sunday we went to church and then to a lovely restaurant in Old San Juan called St. Germain Bistro & Café, located between Calle Cruz and Calle Sol. This restaurant is amazingly good for brunch and light lunches. I had a fresh carrot & orange juice, a deliciously fresh fruit salad with honey and granola, toasted bread with fruit jam, and really good vegan sandwich. For desert I had a really aromatic cup of coffee and a pecan pie. How's that for a light brunch! Soon after finishing that exquisiteness, I went rapidly to the airport, not without buying a few bottles of Don Q rum at the duty free store.

I left Puerto Rico with my belly full, enough rum in my bag to get a small country drunk, sunburned, and happy that I took this time off for paying a visit to the land where I was raised.