San Juan Viejo, El Yunque, Humacao, PR (July 10th, 2014)

We were up at 6:30. Andra and I took a quick walk as our daughter got ready. We were out of the hotel by 8:00 on our way to San Juan Viejo, or Old San Juan. Parking is nearly impossible to find in Old San Juan, but we found a parking garage right by the cemetery and Castillo San Felipe Del Morro. Since we were there early in the morning it looked deserted, but by the time we got back in the afternoon, it was completely full. We toured the first fort (Castillo San Felipe Del Morro) and did part one of a walking tour Andra had found on the web. Puerto Rico is rich in history, the forts showing how important it was to have defense against the Spaniards.

Near the parking garage.  Cemetery and Fort in the background.

View from the fort.

After lunch we took the car and headed to El Yunque National Rainforest. There was no cost to drive through the forest and do the various things. The only cost would have been to go to the visitors center ($4 each person). We didn't do it and were very glad we didn't. It was much more fun to just go explore; very pretty. Saw several waterfalls and took a hike along the river and drove along slowly stopping at most pull outs. It started to rain, so we left about 4:30.

Bamboo in the dense rainforest.

Cascade La Coca in El Yunque

Steve and Andra peeking out of the observatory in El Yunque.

Our daughter wanted to see the Caribbean side of the island, so we headed south from Fajardo, Puerto Rico. It took about an hour to make it to Humacao on the south east coast of the island. It was hard to find a public beach as most seemed to be private. Eventually, we happened upon a good spot. The water was very warm and much calmer than the Atlantic side. After playing in the water for a bit, we headed back to town. We stopped at a roadside place for dinner. The restaurant was an indoor/outdoor type restaurant, with most of the seating covered, but not all of it. Steve had Conch salad as he has always wanted to try it. We all like the mild but firm meat. Andra had grilled mahimahi, which unfortunately was swimming in butter, and our daughter had fried shrimp. Meals were ~$20 a plate and were served on paper plates! Again all the side dishes were pretty heavy with lots of butter and/or fried. 

The calm Caribbean waters on Humacao

We went back across the island using an inland highway that would take us directly to Condado, where we were staying. Slow driving as there was a wreck on the highway. As we sat in traffic, we put down the windows and heard lots of birds and other creatures in the jungle around us; it really sounded alive. We drove a total of 225 miles today.