It seems apt that two adventurous souls should meet in such a transient, time pressured environment- a gateway to new pathways and a platform for millions to set off on an adventure of their own. Personally, I was ready for a complete change in my life having shackled myself to the lycra and shaved legs world *cough* for several sweaty years. I was tired of the small world tunnel vision two wheels was giving me and needed a tall glass of perspective punch. Weeks travelling, camping alone and seeing Haitian life certainly gave me that.
After a nerve-racking wait in San Juan airport, Aby arrived in Puerto Rico and we began our adventurous 'first date' (Aby, also nervous, admitted to hiding for over 15 minutes in the toilet, considering ways to get back on the plane to London). In the first few days in Puerto Rico we explored San Juan's nooks and crannies and spent absurd amounts of time and money breakfasting. Our favourite place by far was the Waffle-Era Tea Room in Old San Juan where they serve baked-to-order waffles and extremely good coffee. The place itself is quaint and we seated ourselves in a spot near an open door leading to a charming courtyard. The way they made coffee was a science with all sorts of tubes and pots involved and it was so sweet after nearly two months cold turkey.
An innocuous entrance to a lovely little place.
San Juan has some gorgeous leafy streets as well as an impressive fort. The fort, Castillo San Cristóbal, is supposedly the largest fortification built by the Spanish in the New World and there is plenty of information about its history as you walk round the site. We explored the hidden passages and cellars and ended the day by sunbathing on a hill overlooking the fort. There is plenty of colourful street art in the city which we both enjoyed. After our fill of 'big city' and a crazy encounter on the beach with a man who made necklaces, threw sand in our faces and congratulated us on the baby coming in "ten to twelve years", we headed east to Luquillo beach for some solitude.
During the long wait at the train station (reaching Luquillo via public transport was not as easy as we'd hoped), we were both fooling about, people watching as we love to, when we spotted a rather attractive pair (of legs) on the platform. We proceeded to guess what this young couple were up to before I suddenly realised as we made eye contact that I recognised them from a previous hostel I stayed in before Aby arrived. Slightly awkward! We got chatting and realised we were headed the same way, so we got on the train together and set off. They were a Japanese pair on their honeymoon which was, at that moment, six months long and still going strong - how amazing! Apparently the work life in Japan is so crazy that it's impossible to get any real time off, so they both quit their jobs to enjoy themselves for up to a year. We loved their adventurous spirits. They were great fun and we ended up getting a taxi with them to Luquillo, after a very embarrassing encounter with a cabbie. We couldn't believe there wasn't a cheaper public transport alternative to get where we wanted to go, so we openly didn't trust him, before having to go back begging for a lift. Woah, that was unpleasant, ha. *Note to travellers- do not openly show your distrust for cabbies in Puerto Rico, simply walk away and say you're going to 'eat lunch' first and then proceed to find cheaper alternatives, it will make the inevitable crawl back to the cabbie much easier. Or you'll be lucky enough to find something cheaper.
Making the most of an awkward cab ride
The pre-season meant we had the sunrises to ourselves and cheekily camped metres from the glassy sea waters on Luquillo beach (we realized later that we were sleeping on an ants nest!) Aby was sweltering in the tent's atmosphere, whilst I was shivering away with, in hindsight, some kind of water-born fever. Nevertheless, we had plenty of fun exploring the rugged coast. Every day we walked along the coast line for about an hour to get coffee and breakfast, and in the evening we would walk the mile-long stretch of sand in the opposite direction to reach the Luquillo kiosks for dinner. On our first jaunt to the kiosks we made the mistake of stopping at the first one, but what this place lacked in food variety and quality it sure made up for in comedy value. We spent the night drinking tequila, eating fried food and laughing hysterically at Spanish soaps. Comedy gold. We didn't even care that we were seriously overcharged for the pleasure. We became wiser and dined at number 21 the next evening. Delicious.
After all the walking we decided to up sticks and spoil ourselves with a car rental. Public transport in rural PR is a joke so if you want any semblance of freedom you're going to need some wheels, or a good set of walking shoes!
We hailed an irate cabbie in Luquillo town and headed to what turned out to be one of the most expensive resorts I've ever seen. The company owned an island - I mean really. We rocked up with our camping rucksacks (with a saucepan hanging off the back), sweaty and smelly, unprepared and undeterred. We must have been their worst nightmare!
Off we toddled, direction: rainforest. Aby is a superb planner (my heroine) and she had sniffed out a really tucked away Eco hostel up in some forested hills, surrounded by waterfalls. We drove up endless bends in the dusky light, wondering what we'd find. It was rather local surroundings, with a small bar and a spattering of modest homes. It was great to arrive, meet our lovely host at Casa Cubuy Ecolodge and get bedded down.
Doug
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