::Travel Tuesday, Puerto Rico::

We recently spent almost 3 weeks in Puerto Rico. I thought I would share some photos and musings from the trip. It was amazing how different it was to travel with a toddler. Everything moved a little slower. There was a distinct lack of sitting in bars until the wee hours, but we did make some pretty killer sand castles.

We stayed in Rincon for the first 12 days. A little town on the north west side of the island. The town itself is nothing special but there is an area called Puntas that's a drive out of town on the coast. This little gem is beachfront bliss. Nestled in an ocean valley and filled with expat surfers, Puntas gets my vote for best place to chill in Puerto Rico.

Some of the said expat surfers leaving Rock Bottom Grill

We stayed beach front (not in Puntas). It was rad to walk out the door and go for a swim or play on the beach. Swimming & walking along the beach daily were wonderful perks.

Crashboat Beach, Aguadilla

After our stay in Rincon we headed back to San Juan to drop off our friends who were headed back to the mainland. We had actually made reservations for the remainder of our trip and were headed to Fajardo, a town described by Let's Go like this... 

"Most travelers simply zip through Fajardo on their way to Vieques and Culebra and never see the real city. But Fajardo and its surrounding area deserve a closer look." 

Our reservations were at a place described as...  

"Puerto Real Guest House, C. Cometa 476 (☎ 863-0018 or 617-8755). Homey is an understatement for this small guesthouse—the lobby is actually someone’s living room. Amazing amenities for the price: A/C, cable TV, and small fridge."

I'm getting ahead of myself though. I already said that we made reservations, for our hotels. We quickly realized that we had forgotten to make a rental car reservation for the rest of our trip. We got to the counter and the woman said "no cars". We called several rental companies and they all said the same. Shit. We ended up in a taxi to the wonderful Fajardo, it was definitely the low of the trip.

We spent one night in our Fajardo accommodations and we were out. The boy did amazing with such depressing conditions but at one point he woke up, said "all done" and pointed at the door. I agreed and was about to get up with him and then realized it was 3 am... We had to wait a bit longer.

Next, it was on to one of the highlights of our trip. Nestled in the rain forest sits Casa Cubuy. This place is amazing. We spent our time reading in our beautiful room and hiking to the river. The restaurant has a similar view and good food. My birthday was spent eating pizza and drinking wine looking out at a mist covered rain forest valley.

Our last 3 nights were spent in the city staying at Da House. This bohemian hotel was once a convent and then housed artist studio space. It now serves a a great place to stay in Old San Juan whether you are looking for a party or clean, family friendly accommodations. Old San Juan is beautiful. The boy is currently fascinated with keys, we would walk through the city and he would point at every key hole and exclaim, "key". It was a good thing we weren't in a hurry.

 Old San Juan was unbelievable. I have hundreds of photos of doors and pretty streets, graffiti and plazas.

After that it was a very long travel day to get home (15 hours with all the lay overs I think). Next time we're flying first class direct.

For more photos check out our Flickr