June 13th -- San Juan & Utuado, Puerto Rico

We woke up bright and early to get to Utuado by 8:30am. Utuado is about 90 minutes away from San Juan by car. But driving on the early morning highway and encouraged by other speeding drivers, I maintained a speed at about 75mph in a 65mph zone. And, yep, I got pulled over and got a speeding ticket. All in all, it was quick and we were soon on our way again, but I was very unhappy to have gotten a speeding ticket. I was definitely hyper-aware of cops after that, who turned out to be pretty ubiquitous all over the PR.

But on to happier topics.

Like the reason we were going to Utuado: the Rio Camuy Caves, the third-largest cave system in the world!

And cats! There were wild that wandered around the waiting area for the caves and while small, they were very friendly. They didn't look diseased, either. 

This one was a sweetie (well, the kid too). By the way, Ayaka had learned that her English teacher was going to be in Puerto Rico with his family at the same time as us, so we met them there. The girl above is their daughter.

And here's their son on the left in the hardhats we were all required to wear.

We rode a diesel-burning trolley down the forest to the mouth of the cave. The cave has at least 16 entrances (read: areas where the ground collapsed into the cave, opening a hole ), and we entered the caves by winding down the side of one large, forested opening. On the right is a picture looking up from the trolley route.

The mouth of the cave -- it has teeth (stalactites)!

Here's a large haystack formation; it was at least 15 feet tall. The guide told us that stalagmites and stalactites form from the deposition of minerals by water over hundreds of years. As you can see, this cave has a lot of deposition and is considered to be very active. It even has a river flowing through it, though I wasn't sure where it was...

A view from the inside of the cave.

Left, the guide just stepped out of the cave into one of the openings. It's not raining, that's just water dripping down from the surface. He's standing right in front of a recent mudslide area, and looks a little bit like God. 

Here's an other-wordly cave spider called a guabá. Not a guava (guayaba in Spanish), not a guayabera. 

At the bottom of the cave food chain? Crickets. We also saw bats, but I wasn't able to take any pictures of them.

We actually waited quite a while to get in the caves. The electricity went out to some of the lights in the cave so they halted tours for about an hour. We were pooped, so we headed to our hotel: the Casa Grande Mountain Retreat.

 

It also had friendly wild cats.

It was the most expensive hotel we stayed in the whole trip, but also it was the nicest. We had two twin beds, beautiful lush surroundings, a hammock, and a pool!

It was lovely to swim in the pool after so many hot days walking around. The deck of the hotel restaurant overlooks the pool, and a elegant-looking older couple were there drinking wine. Needless to say, the children screaming and splashing around in the pool probably did not add to the atmosphere.

The fauna around the hotel was very healthy-looking and diverse. This plant had such huge leaves I felt like I could use them for umbrellas.

Here's a plant called "Lobster Claw." Fitting, and beautiful!

After washing up after the pool we drove to a local restaurant. There was only one family eating there at the time, and they were blasting Mexican music from the jukebox and playing pool. We had Medallas and ordered a chicken dish, a dish with fish caught in the local lake (delish!), and churrasco with chimichurri sauce. Each came with tostones. The fish was my favorite, and that cemented my resolve that eating local is the best!

There was a cat waiting at our door when we returned to our room. He tried to get inside but we cruelly rejected him, though I petted him for a while to appease him. Five minutes later, we hear a HYRAK HYRAK sound coming from right outside out door and we freeze. We thought for a second that it was some jungle beast come to get us. Ayaka got scared, and I was for a second until I realized what it sounded like: a cat coughing up a hairball. I think he was trying to scare his way into our room. It didn't work.

http://www.mediafire.com/?mnmn3diyg3o

The jungle was so alive with noise at night that I recorded it so I wouldn't forget. You can really imagine the jungle well if you listen. At about 00:10 I start talking to the cat (that tried to scare us) and you can hear it purring very loudly. It was very appreciative.Then we talk about how he wants to come in but we tell him dame (no! in Japanese). Towards the end I start to meow at him. I have never heard my own meow recorded before this, and now I feel sorry for anyone who had to hear that (cats included).


Sorry for linking the file, not embedding it, but I have no idea how to host and embed a .WAV file (for free). If anyone knows, please tell me how!

The next day: June 14th, 2010. Jajuya and Ponce!

June 12th, 2010 -- San Juan, Puerto Rico

 

Our second day in Puerto Rico we resolved to go to the biggest, most famous fort in Puerto Rico -- El Morro.

 

Though the fort was close to our hotel, we decided to ride the trolley because of the heat. We ended up walking further than we needed to get to the trolley stop, but as a bonus we found a trail to a beach and the capitol building.

I can't imagine how the politicians and officials can concentrate with such beauty outside.

The fort was begun in 1539 but it was modified and expanded many times over the centuries. In 1987 it became a UN World Heritage Site. Here's the approach to El Morro:

The walk up to the fort reminded me of some movie set in medieval times where royalty carrying parasols strolled the expansive ground outside the castle.

Was it Ever After? Maybe.

Ironically, the field in front of the fort is now a favorite for flying kites.

The lines and textures of the fort are excellent for picture-taking, but we didn't really have time for me to wax artistic.

Despite being a UN World Heritage Site, the fort was still grafittied by visitors, but I think it has it's own beauty in a way.

The fort's current residents? Only lizards, I think. Though some have said there are ghosts there.

After the fort we explored Old San Juan more and found a small square where tables of old men were playing dominoes. Judging from their expressions, these four were playing an intense game. Dominoes seems to be popular in Latin countries, kind of like chess in New York?

 

 Here are some pictures of views I found striking in Old San Juan. The aged Spanish-influenced architecture and bright colors are a photographer's dream.

A little bit of old and new.

 In Old San Juan, the street system is as follows: streets run East-West and smaller alleys run North-South. The signs for streets (calles) and alleys (callejones) are tiles mounted on buildings, not the metal stand-alone signs standard in many modern cities.

Actually, Ayaka and I learned the word  callejon after I asked a local who didn't speak English for directions to Cafe Nuyorican. He kept telling us to go left at the callejon, and having no idea what that was, I imagined it was the fountain in the main square. It pays to be observant and read the signs (as my high school history teacher said) where you travel, because each callejon was clearly labeled "callejon

such-and-such." Ah well, the struggle to communicate was one of the most interesting things for me about being in Puerto Rico.

I found this sign very romantic, being the "Street of the Moon" and even being decorated with an image of a moon. One could imagine meeting one's lover at the corner of Calle De La Luna late one evening...

But we had no such late evening that night because we were driving to Utuado in central Puerto Rico early the next morning.

June 11th, 2010 -- San Juan, Puerto Rico

I left my camera at home the first day in Puerto Rico so I borrowed pictures from our first day (6/11/2010) from Ayaka. Thanks Ayaka!

I should mention one awesome thing about taking the plane to and from Puerto Rico: when the plane lands everyone on the plane cheers like we just won a championship game. It's good to be reminded to be grateful for things we often overlook, like not dying in a plane crash.

We visited Castilla San Cristobal, the second largest fort in San Juan.It was our first day in Puerto Rico, so the heat was oppressive. Not to mention that we woke up late because of our 1am arrival that same morning.Combined with the stark architecture of the fort and the bleak colonial history, I feel like the heat really allowed us to empathize with the soldiers stationed there for hundreds of years. The soldiers had to wear very stuffy uniforms, complete with socks, ruffles, vests, jackets, and hats. We were wearing shorts and tank tops and still felt like melting. Here's an upstanding soldier, whose facial expression I mocked.

But on the upside, these soldiers had spectacular views. Apparently people believe that throwing coins onto the external window sills of the fort would grant their wishes. The vastness of the Caribbean certainly seems to suggest omnipotence.

After staring at the sea for so long we decided to go get in it. There are two resort neighborhoods in San Juan near Old San Juan called Condado and Isla Verde. We, who were staying in a guest house (very very cheap motel-type lodging) wanted to taste a bit of the good life and also see some nice beaches. We rode the bus from Old San Juan Terminal, soaking in the public transportation experience too. I am my father's daughter. I loved riding the bus and hearing people's interactions as well as seeing people doing everyday things, not just people doing tourist-related business.

We arrived to the resort areas after about 40 minutes, so while the bus wasn't fast, I enjoyed it.

Obligatory beach photo:

The water was very warm and the beach was clean. After messing around awhile taking "Vogue photo shoot" pictures, we stopped into a sports bar that was open to the beach. There were a bunch of locals there as well as tourists. One guy struck up a conversation with us and recommended we go to Luquillo and told us that he had lived in New York but now lived in Puerto Rico. We met a lot of people who had done that. There is definitely a strong connection between New York and Puerto Rico. 

Ayaka had the local beer, Medalla, and I had a mango mojito. It was delicious. This experience convinced me of the therapeutic powers of drinking in the afternoon in a sports bar on the beach. I prescribe it to anyone with anxiety problems.

After brushing the sand off our legs, we wandered into various luxury hotels' lobbies. They were snazzy and it was fun to scope out the clientele.

We both agreed that we wanted this chair for our homes. I am holding the coffee I bought for my dad from a local coffee shop. It was grown in Jajuya, a region famous for coffee that we visited later in this trip.

We returned home and rested a bit but soon set out determined to eat local food: mofongo. Mofongo is a dish  where one stuffs a cake-looking thing made out of seasoned plantains with a meat filling. Wanting some greens (a rare commodity in PR) we ordered a "King Crab salad." We should have known that at $8.95 it was not to be real crab.

So it was fake crab, that's alright. The pork mofongo was delicious. I recommend that anyone who has a chance to eat it do so. We were served very soft baguette-sized bread with seasoned butter too. Soft white bread seems to be the default bread in Puerto Rico.

Here's Ayaka dressed up for salsa and looking cute. We luckily arrived on a Friday, so the nightlife was buzzing, well it got buzzing around 11pm or 12am. The streets were full of tourists from Latin countries, maybe the culture of siesta and late meals meant that nightlife was also late? It took some adjusting too.

That night, we went to Cafe Nuyorican for the first time. The salsa band (Salsa La Femme) didn't start until 11:30pm so we killed time by wandering the streets and drinking at random bars. We ended up dancing from 11:30pm to 2:30am. It was awesome to be able to dance so much, and , exhausted, we fell asleep promptly in our little room back at the Fortaleza Guest House.

June 10th, 2010 -- New York City

We woke up at a reasonable time to try and cram as much as we could into our day. We started out with a walk through Central Park. There were so many bicyclists that it reminded me of Seattle. It really is huge too. We ended up walking along Madison and Park avenues just because the amount of park is overwhelming. The guy who took this picture seemed to be Spanish. I assume so because when I thanked him for taking the picture he said "nothing," which is a literal translation of the shortening of the Spanish "you're welcome": "de nada." The language nerd in me noticed that. :)

Here's a cute little bakery we found, though we did not buy anything. It fits perfectly with my image of NYC.

As did the bevy of street carts and business-type people buying food there.

Here's us in the Museum of Modern Art, including ourselves in a piece of reflective art. The museum had quite a bit of cool art and I was jealous of the students who got to go there on field trip. Ahh to grow up in NYC. However, the fact that I found the gift shop more engaging than the museum either speaks to the quality of the curation of the gift shop or my being a plebeian.

Wandering around NYC takes energy, and we had to replenish that energy with some Italian espresso from Zibetto, a standing-only coffee bar near Times Square. It was very European and I enjoyed feeling so sophisticated. Well, until my cappuccino ran out, that is.

As a foreshadowing of the Condado area in San Juan, we strolled into a fancy hotel and tried not to look like we didn't belong there. The hotel even had a tea room, which I promptly took surreptitious pictures of. Yes, this is how the other half lives.

After that, we wandered into Times Square, which was positively frightening for me. It's a big area blocked off from cars, full of tourists and touristy businesses, surrounded by very tall buildings. It's over-stimulation central. I was glad to be out of there. After that, we wandered around Park and Madison avenues again, window-shopping at the designer stores. We found an awesome accessory shop with just about everything. It was like a Claire's but for customers our age.

Around 5pm we hurried back to our hostel to retrieve our luggage and head off to the airport to catch our flight to San Juan. Here's a view of train tracks at Jamaica station.

Next up in travel blog: Our First Day in San Juan! Architecture! History! Food! Withering Heat! And Much, Much More!

June 9th, 2010 - Seattle, New York City

We left Seattle early on June 9th and got to NYC around 5pm.We both bought these hats at Folklife and swore to make them useful in Puerto Rico. Since we didn't want to crush them, we ended up wearing them whenever we were moving our baggage around.

Here's an awkward in-flight photo! You're right there with us!

For those not acquainted with NYC's subways, they are old and grody and kind of creepy. This photo doesn't do them justice. However, it was pretty cool to be able to navigate Manhattan by ourselves on the subways. I even got a metrocard.

We rested our hats at Pink Hostel, which was very comfortable and welcoming. I recommend it to all female travelers going to NYC. Since we were hungry, despite the delicious plantain chips served on Jet Blue (a preview of cuisine to come???), we went out to a little Mexican joint in the neighborhood called Las Delicias Mexicanas (The Mexican Delights).

It lived up to its name. I had a yummy chorizo burrito. A quick hop on the 6...

and we arrived at the community center, El Taller Boriqua, one place we knew had salsa dancing that night. Conveniently, it is also Puerto Rican; the name means "The Puerto Rican Workshop," with "Boricua" being the native name for the island.

Frankie Vazquez and Los Soneros del Barrio were playing ("sonero" means the improvising lead singer in a salsa band).

They were very good. The dance hall was filled in middle-to-upper aged dancers and it appeared to be somebody's birthday. The owner's son bought us drinks, and one of the musicians schooled us in how to dance the cha cha cha. We felt welcomed, if not a bit out of place.

After a while, we left and headed to another salsa joint, but it was closed so we ended up wandering around the NYU area. Despite being a Wednesday, the bars were very busy. We went down some stairs into Cafe Wha?, which had this creepy head mounted on the ceiling:

But we forged ahead anyway. Beneath, there was a band playing covers of various types of music, including Alicia Key's "New York." I have to say, it felt so touristy but it was quite amazing to be in New York for the first time listening to a deft singer belt that song out. Here's a terrible picture of her singing to help you visualize it a bit:

After a while there, we went home to sleep so we could fit in a bunch in the next day.

Tune in later for the continuation of this thrilling travel series. 

Chapter Two: New York City During the Daytime!