Warm in Puerto Rico

Parts of Puerto Rico were really beautiful, and most of the people we met were really friendly. I really wished I could speak Spanish, because even though quite a lot of people spoke English, I'm sure it would have been a better experience if I could speak their language.

The highlight of the trip would have to be Culebrita. It was nice chilling on an island with less than 15 other people around.

Quick Tips:

If you want to relax and stay away from Spring Breakers and cruise passengers from the U.S., you should probably avoid San Juan in general. It's nice to stay there for a few days but during peak seasons, the place is packed with people getting off the cruises (thousands of people!).

I heard the west coast is nice but we went to the east coast. Culebra is a small island, and there isn't a lot to do in terms of shopping, nightlife, food, etc., but if you want to enjoy the beautiful beaches, etc., this is a great place to go.

Best Way To Get Around:

We took cabs quite a lot--from Isla Verde to Old San Juan, Isla Verde to Fajardo, and Fajardo to Old San Juan. Within Old San Juan, you can walk from place to place.

We nearly took a bus to this market, but we didn't want to waste time, so we took a cab instead.

The website makes it look a lot nicer than it actually is (www.borinquenbeachinn.com). But it's really cheap, so you get what you pay for. The location is really good--only 5 minutes from the international airport but also just a minute away from a really nice strip of beach.

Our flight was delayed, and we got in two hours late. The guy at the front desk said that the manager told him to give the room to other people, since we didn't call to say our flight was delayed. But the guy at the desk was nice enough, and he waited for us.

The room was small and plain, but clean. They had towels, but they were really small. The shower didn't work too well.

The best thing about this place is the location. We stayed there because this was a budget trip. If I were to go back to Isla Verde again, I would probably think twice about staying at this place again.

Don't be fooled by the name--the view of the ocean was not really what we expected. We could see the ocean, but behind all the electric wires and posts.

This place was really cheap, and we got what we paid for. Or maybe less? The water stops at certain times during the day, and even when the water was working, the shower was pathetic (only small trickles of water). The room was nice enough.

If you're on a tight budget, this will do. But if I go back to Culebra, I will definitely stay somewhere else. The lady who works there only speaks Spanish, so it was hard to communicate.

The good thing about this place is that the guy who works there is the guy who operates the water taxi to Culebrita. But you can stay somewhere else and still book his water taxi.

Our room didn't have a lock but we weren't too bothered by that. They have a restaurant there, but we didn't eat there.

This place is really close to the dock and the two main restaurants on the island. I guess the thing I hated most about Culebra Ocean View was the shower.

This was the most expensive place out of all the places we stayed at in Puerto Rico. The location was great (right in Old San Juan, walking distance from all the places in Old San Juan--the shops, restaurants, bars, Del Morro), and it was more than I had expected. I had read some bad reviews about the place, but it was probably worth more than what we paid.

The people at the front desk were really friendly and helpful. Not like we were worried about the security, but if you are, you will feel safe here, because on every floor, to get to the rooms, there's a glass door, and you have to have a key to open it.

There are lots of cabs along this street, so hailing one is no problem.

Be sure to ask for a room in the front, because the rear rooms don't have a window.

I had reserved a table, but when we got there, the waiter told us that he did not have it down. The place was packed, so we waited for a few minutes and got a table right by the entrance. I wasn't too happy about that but we settled for it.

The hotel looked really nice at night, and the atmosphere was mature yet lively. The service was somewhat slow at first but got better towards the end.

The sangria here is the best sangria I've ever had. I started off with a beer from the Dominican Republic (Presidente), which was all right, and had sangria for the rest of the meal.

There were 5 of us and we ordered two-three tapas each to share among us, and we also ordered the El Picoteo paella, which had seafood and chicken in it. I personally thought the other dishes were better than the paella (maybe it was because I was so full by the time we ate it).

I can't quite remember everything we ate, but everything we ordered was good. It was a very satisfying meal. The price of our meal was high, but I was more than happy to pay for my share--and we even tipped generously (maybe the sangria had gotten to our heads...).

I would definitely eat there again.

I wanted to eat here because it serves Puerto Rican cuisine and is the oldest restaurant around. It opened in 1848 and has been in the same location since that time.

The atmosphere is really nice, and it's not too loud. The service was good, and the interior was classy (colonial ambience). I ordered the octopus with garlic for an appetizer and a prawn dish for my main course. To be honest, the food wasn't THAT great--it was nothing to fuss about--but it was good. I had flan a la mode for dessert, which was really good.

My friends both had a rice soup dish. The portions there were fairly small--so it ended up being quite pricey. I would probably want to go there again to try other dishes.

We walked into this restaurant because we had just arrived in Old San Juan from Fajardo late at night and there were no other places that were still serving dinner. We walked in 5 minutes before the last order. It said that you have to be 25 to enter, but they didn't seem to care.

I tried their signiature drink, the Dragon Punch. It was good but nothing special. This restaurant serves fusion food--Asian crossed with Latino (not quite sure what that is...).

I ordered the stir-fried lobster udon. It was actually really good (but it was quite pricey because it's lobster--and yet, there wasn't that much lobster meat in it).

My friend ordered a beef dish, and it was really small. My portion was enough, but hers was way too small.

The waiters and waitresses were pretty good-looking people, and the service was good (friendly). They were getting ready to close, but they were nice and didn't rush to kick us out.

This restaurant was just down the street from Hotel Milano.

We ate lunch here because I had read about it in a guidebook (and I wanted to try Cuban food). We walked up and down Isla Verde Avenue a few times and had to ask a passerby where it was. We walked from Borinquen Beach Inn, past the Intercontinental and right to the end of Isla Verde Avenue--it was right next to the cock-fighting stadium.

The waiter who was serving our table was very friendly. We seemed to be the only non local people eating there. He recommended some dishes for us. I ordered a Cuban food platter--there were many things that I had never tried before (and I still don't know what half of them were), and there seemed to be a lot of rooty vegetables and potato-like stuff.

The deep-fried plantains were our favorite. I also really liked the pork dish I had. The rice and beans were good as well... so yes, pretty much everything was good. We wanted to eat dessert but were too full.

The inn that we were staying at wasn't situated in the area with all the big hotels - we were near all the housing. So when we walked to the beach, we saw more local people than tourists. The beach wasn't crowded at all, but it was really pretty.

You can rent beach chairs for $1 until about 4pm. There are venders (ice cream!) who come around.

On our first day, we pretty much stayed on the beach the whole day. When we got hungry, we walked to the street (which is 1 minute away) and along to find food. You can also buy stuff at the convenience stores (I saw about two to three), and if you forget to bring sun block or whatever, there's a Walgreen’s too.

There are promoters handing out flyers, so if you want to check out concerts or parties, you can probably find out about them from some people on the beach.

Culebrita is a little island about 30 minutes away from Culebra. Turtles come here to lay eggs during the summer, so visitors aren't allowed there during that time. There are absolutely no residents on this island because it is a reserve. You can walk from one end to the other (it's that small). On our way there, we saw a dolphin and two turtles.

We took Luis' water taxi (he works at the Culebra Ocean View), and he dropped us and two couples off at the island at 10am and said he'd be back by 4pm. We had no idea where to go, so we just walked along the trail. We got to a beach with really rough waves, and since we expected much more, we decided to walk on and find the pretty beach. After walking for about 10 minutes, we finally got to a beautiful beach with white, soft sand and clear, calm water.

We put our stuff under a palm tree and decided to go snorkelling. Unfortunately, all we saw was seaweed and a few fish. There were no corals. We gave up after a while and decided to explore the island instead.

There were pelicans diving into the water (to catch fish I guess)and we wanted to go snorkelling there, but there was sh*t everywhere, so we decided not to.

We walked along the coast and found pools of water, and there were fish there.

We all got sunburnt from staying out in the sun for too long, so by the time Luis came to pick us up, we were all sitting in the shade, putting on aloe vera.

We decided to catch a ferry in the morning, so we left Isla Verde really early and took a cab to Fajardo. When we got to the port, there was a LONG line. We looked for the ticket booth and realized that this long line was for the ferry to Culebra. I had no idea that there would be this many people wanting to go to Culebra. On the ferry back, I found out from a guy who I was talking to that that whole week was a religious holiday in PR (kind of like spring break in the U.S.). The tickets were sold out, and we had to wait for the next ferry (2pm)- we had to wait in line for 5 hours because people kept coming.

After the long, tedious wait (and taking turns to get food, go to the toilet, etc.), they finally opened the ticket booth, and we got our tickets. Soon enough, we were on the ferry to Culebra.

When we got there, we took a publico-type transportation--we paid about two dollars each and shared a van with other people. We got to our hotel (or inn, I should say) and went straight to Flamenco Beach. It was already past 4pm, so the beach didn't look as great as it probably is. But still, it looked good, and we bummed around.

After dinner, we called a cab, but they said they would take at least 20 minutes. Then we saw a police car, and I suggested we ask them how to get a cab and maybe they'd offer to give us a ride. And these really nice and friendly policemen actually did give us a ride back!