We got up relatively early and Luke and I went for an 8km run down to the town we had seen last night and back again. We ran along a path that took us along the beach towards the Isabela beach resort. After our run we made some breakfast with the left over taco mixture from last night. 

Old San Juan

After breakfast We packed up the car and drove back to San Juan. We drove through the city and with the help of some police to guide us we found our way to Old San Juan. When we arrived Old San Juan was absolutely pumping as this was the first day of a major 4 day festival that marks then official end to Christmas here in Puerto Rico. We managed to navigate the road blocks and found a public car park. Having safely stowed the car out of harms way we went in search of food. Luke managed to track down a 4.5 star Puerto Rican restaurant. We waited in what appeared to be a large line but actually moved really quickly. The food was not great and lacked salad and vegetables but it kept us going. 

After lunch we went to take a look at the forts. They were impressive structures with some spectacular views. Luke spotted a door in the wall of one building with the name of Plaza Mayor. This building was packed with a range of vendors and a stage with bands playing incredible music. We watched the bands, did some dancing and had a look around the vendors. We continued with our exploration of Old San Juan and found that there were equally cool things happening all over the city. 

Once we were all partied out we collected the car and made our way to our accomodation. The drive was really smooth, we were staying in a beach side suburb called Luquillo. We were staying in a tower of units that were just across from the beach. We collected some groceries on the way through. The guard was awesome and chatted with us in Spanish while she filled in the paperwork for the car. The accomodation was on the 15th floor, it had amazing views of the beach and you could hear the waves crashing on the shore below. The accomodation was old but comfortable. We checked the kitchen equipment and then cooked up a chicken curry for dinner. After dinner we headed to bed in preparation for tomorrow’s adventures. 

Puerto Rico Day 24

Searching for Surf Boards

By morning the views from the apartment were even more spectacular. The building was just behind the beach with views down into a sheltered bay with clear blue water. Christine went out for a swim and found the water to be warm and refreshing. The waves were a little choppy when we first got up but they cleaned up as the tide came in. We ate a quick breakfast of cereal and fruit before heading across to the next beach along to see if we could hire some boards. When we arrived there was one bloke surfing on a longer board. The waves were a little choppier than in our bay but they were certainly surfable. We walked up and down the beach to see if we could find a hire place, but alas it was all to no avail. There was nobody around hiring boards, we tried calling the number on an advertising board that was chained to a post but the call couldn’t be connected. We chatted to a couple of locals who simply pointed us to the sign. Another bloke who was working in a bar that wasn’t yet open told us a bunch of stories about how a bloke had been carried 2 miles out to sea on his surfboard in a rip, and then had to paddle back into a beach that was a mile from where he started. He also said that a marine had gone in for a swim last week and hadn’t been seen since. All fantastic stories that defied the laws of how rips work, I don’t think he realised that he was talking to a bunch of Aussies. They would have been more believable had we not seen a bloke go for a surf, catch a few waves and then go home. I did suggest that if that happened I could have some breakfast in the Dominican Republic before paddling back for lunch. Christine sent the people on the sign an email, but in the end we had to admit defeat and head back to the unit for some breakfast.

We wandered back to the unit to have some more breakfast. We ate some of the left over curry with rice and fried eggs. Christine went out for a swim while Luke and I made breakfast. 

El Yunque national park

After breakfast Christine and I went out to have a look at an observation tower that was built on an a nearby mountain in El Yunque national park. We drove for around 40 minutes into the mountain and then walked for another couple of km to the top of the mountain. The view was spectacular, alas we were not able to use the drone as the wind was up and there was a fair amount of cloud around. We did however use the long DGI pole with the DGI camera on the end of it. This gave us some really good footage from the top of the observation tower. We chatted with a couple of people and we all took turns to take photographs for each other at the entrance to the tower. We wandered back down the mountain and were able to fly the drone out from the car park. So we could capture the view of the mountain and the tower. On the drive back down the mountain we stopped at a small gift shop to collect a couple of bits. We bought 3 lanyards and a couple of key rings for the kids to attach to their bags.

We arrived back at the accomodation just as Luke was getting back from the gym. He had spent the couple of hours doing a full body workout. By this time Christine had heard from the surf board people that we had written to using the sign from this morning. They were going to meet us at the beach at 3:30pm. We cooked up the steak with chilli, garlic, salt and pepper, rice and vegetables. 

After our late lunch we made our way to the beach for our surf session. The boards cost $20US each and the conditions had deteriorated even further during the day. We couldn’t travel all this way and not go for a surf, so we paid the money and headed out in the surf. I managed to catch a few quick, short rides and got axed a couple times in the dumpy waves where the rip was sucking out under the new waves. I persevered for around thirty minutes before heading in to ride some fairly large white wash that Christine had been catching. Luke did some stretching on the beach while I was out getting pummelled by the surf. 

After our surf we wandered back to the accomodation and took the drone out for a fly. We filmed a drone shot from the beach that included the whole accomodation. I then filmed Luke running along the beach so we could get our action shots. We are slowly getting better with operating the drone. 

Afterwards we headed to the shops to collect some supplies for dinner. We cooked up spaghetti with a meat sauce and it was absolutely delicious. We made a bit extra to have for breakfast in the morning. We also used the last of the flour, some milk, baking powder, salt, coca powder and an egg to make a batch of pikelets to fuel us through the flight back to the US. I added a bit of honey and some water for taste and consistency.