Jan 10, 2010

Puerto Rico

El Yunque and beyond...

By Lisa T. Bergren, 2008 (updated 1/9/10)

We love a sweet deal and this definitely qualifies! We scored an awesome hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico… and spent the weekend there before heading out to Nevis, West Indies, and then returning for another leg to Vieques. But Puerto Rico has a draw all of its own–here’s a recap of  our first pass at it…

We checked into the Intercontinental Hotel at 7pm after an all-day trip from Denver, and were pleased with their nice accommodations. The front desk clerk upgraded our room from the Priceline $150 street-side room (normal rates are $225+) to a near-top-floor-center room that had a lovely view over the gardens and pool to the ocean. We think it was possible because we were travelling off-season and arrived on a Thursday night.

The hotel room was great for a family—a luxurious king-size bed, and a double sofa sleeper. As a family of five, we put our girls on the sofa sleeper and put the youngest in bed with us. And our kids were bananas about the swim up bar and fun pool, complete with a waterfall.

FOOD: Across the street, there is a convenience market and Burger King—good cheap eats options. Also, there is a pizza grill right beside the beach on the hotel’s property that offers reasonably priced food. Other than that, the restaurants on the premises are very spendy—no coffee shops!

The next day, we wrestled the kids away from the pool to go and find a real waterfall in El Yunque, Puerto Rico’s amazing rain forest. For a family used to dry Colorado, this felt like a journey into an Indiana Jones movie and was well worth the trek.

We made a half-hour stop at the very well done visitor’s center (El Yunque is the only rain forest in the United States Forest Service system) and the only thing we didn’t like was that the informational movie was narrated AND subtitled in Spanish (probably an operator error that day). We drove on up the road to climb Yokahu Tower (well worth it for the view) and then drove up to mile marker 11.8/Palo Colorado and parked to hike to La Mina Falls. (A friend recommends La Coca Falls too; be warned that both are highly trafficked on weekends, especially.)

La Mina Falls

We walked down from the parking lot, which took us about 40 minutes, on slippery, sloped cement and stone steps (not recommended for children under 5). I ended up taking the younger children out to Mile Marker 10.2, thinking it had to be easier and my husband and older daughter climbed back up to get the car and meet us there. I’d say the lower path from 10.2 is the way to go when you’re traveling with older or younger generations, especially.

We were happy to reach the falls, and it was pretty crowded when we arrived, but many left while we were there (we’re sure it wasn’t because of us!) The water was cool (probably about 75 degrees) and we spent about an hour there.

Kiosks at Luquillo

Upon the hotel concierge’s suggestion we went on from there to Luquillo, where there is a string of kiosk restaurants on a beach, for “dunch” (lunch/dinner). From the outside, they look trashy, but inside, and on the beach-side, they are lovely and like many American restaurants with very laid-back service and apparently one cook in the back (be prepared to RELAX). The concierge recommended grilled lobster from Kiosk #1 or #2, but that was out of our price range (about $45/person!) Instead, we opted for ribs, shrimp and rice (Paella) done in an authentic Puerto Rican fashion (lots of cumin and fried plantains on the side), and spent about $25/person.

About a mile east from these kiosks is an awesome palm-lined public beach with excellent parking, but it takes some turns on the highway to get there. We got into the lovely Caribbean water, bellies full, and stared up at the fabulous jungle-covered hills of El Yunque, trying to absorb how far we were from home.

We returned to the hotel to shower, and later, to swim and grab a pizza since “dunch” hadn’t quite filled our bellies to last the night, and then watched a movie together.

We would’ve loved a couple more days to explore beautiful Puerto Rico—especially Old San Juan and the fort—but we were heading to another island paradise in the West Indies (Nevis) the next day!

Later we took a side trip to Vieques—amazing! Check it out!