Honey, I'm home

A week in Puerto Rico has done me a world of good. I am 12 shades darker than usual, and this despite the SPF 45 sunblock applied liberally every 90 minutes. I'll have pictures up soon. In the meantime, you can check out the pictures I took last night at the Glenn Tilbrook show here in Chicago. That is, if you are so inclined.

So yeah, PR was a great trip. Here's a breakdown of the itinerary:

1. Monday was all beach, baby. We went to the Playa Isla Verde, Playa Concado was really nasty, but we went for a little walk. Then we went over to the Marriott Hotel and took advantage of the beach chairs and cabana boys. Monday night we went to old San Juan to for dinner, and came to the conclusion after having eaten a horrible dinner the night before in Concado, that Puerto Rican food was both not to our liking, and very expensive. Every dinner out cost us $50.
2. Tuesday was El Yunque - the rainforest. We hiked up a few trails and down to see an 80 foot waterfall, which we also swam in. At night, we went back to old San Juan and tried to eat some Puerto Rican food that wasn't fish. It was edible, but flavorless and oily Italian food. The view though was fantastic. I guess that's why they called it the Panorama Restaurant.
3. Wednesday was a very busy day. We got up painfully early and went caving at El Parque de las Cavernas in Camuy. I was expecting a little more physical of an activity: everyone goes in groups. You watch a movie, you go to a trolley, you get driven down to the cave, and a tour guide takes you around. It is beautiful anyhow. After that, we went horseback riding on the beach in the town of Isabella. It was a great two hour ride. We got to canter and go through the water. Unfortunately, I couldn't take my camera on this trip. And as for my inner thighs... four days later I'm still aching.
4. Thursday we drove to Loquillo and hoped to go snorkeling. Unfortunately, the waves were all too high for that. So we went to a beach that the Lonely Planet book recommended called "Seven Seas". Well, that beach was a godforsaken mess. So we went over to Fajardo and hung out there until the evening, when we went out and kayaked over to the bay to check out the biophosporescent creatures in the water. We were kind of disappointed, since we were expecting to see the fish glowing in the dark. It doesn't happen like that. You have to put your hands in the water and wiggle them around to get the little microcreatures excited enough to glow. When you've done this, the water turns gold. I really enjoyed kayaking by the light of the full moon. The price of renting the kayak was kind of expensive, but we were out for over two hours with a guide and six other boats. It was worth it.
5. Friday was the ay we left, so we made the best out of it. We got up super early and headed to the beach where we spent the whole day.

All in all, it was, as I said, a great trip. Lots of warm weather, lots of physical activity, but oh my god the PR food is nasty. We did manage to find a seafood place near the beach where we had a very good meal.

Also, I'd like to know what's up with the beds. It was hard to get a good night's sleep because our queen sized beds were five foot four in length. I happen to be five foot five inches tall.

I got to do a lot of habloing Español, and I guess I knew a bit more than I thought. I can't have deep, meaningful conversations, but I can ask directions and prices and read all the signs.

Because we kept so busy, it seems like I was away for much longer than five days. I hope I can keep the relaxed feeling tomorrow as I go through the mountains of paper that have no doubt amassed on my desk.