Mayaguez, Rincon, and San Juan

This little sticker definitely sums it up for the city of Rincon, also known as the "City of Beautiful Sunsets." But before I talk about Rincon, let me back up a bit. After we left Ponce, we made our way to the west coast to Mayaguez where our hotel was located. When we got there, we started seeing all of these "Mayaguez 2010" stickers, t-shirts, and other kinds of products with an Olympic looking torch logo. Curious, we asked what was going on and this girl told us that the Olympics were being held here this year. Ummmm...I'm sorry, but I don't think that's right. But she insisted that it was indeed the Olympics. Not wanting to argue, we left knowing that that was not the right answer. We eventually left and found out that what actually was taking place is the Central American and Caribbean Games, which will take place later this summer. Well, that makes much more sense. If the Olympics were held here, I think the whole island would be taken over.


Part of the reason we stayed in Mayaguez was because it is relatively close to Rincon, a popular beach town known for its surfing and big waves. The city is really beautiful. We ate dinner, watched the sunset, and went down to the beach the next day. Puerto Rico will get random rainstorms that pass through and then let up, so there were a couple of times where we had to run out from the water and duck under some palm trees while it passed. We met a Puerto Rican surfer with long dreads and the whole relaxed surfer vibe. The world surfing championships have been held here on more than one occassion. Rincon is not your San Juan or Miami-esque beach resort town. It had a quiet and relaxed vibe. The beaches are lined with palm trees and other native trees, and there are many cliffs and rocky coves. It's the type of place you could see yourself just chilling and going to the beach everyday, letting the sun slowly turn your hair golden from all the seawater and sunshine. Ahh, Rincon...the road to happiness. You just have to visit to understand.

After two days on the west coast, we made our way over to San Juan for the last leg of our trip. We tried to go visit the caverns in Camuy but one of the trolleys down to the cave broke and it was going to be another hour we had to wait before we could go on the tour. So we got our money back and kept going. It was such a shame because we've been to the caves before and I was really excited to get some great pictures on my camera, but that was just too long of a wait. And it definitely is not easy to get to either. It is in the mountains so we drove through miles of winding roads that looked down the mountainside. Kinda scary at times, but mostly just awe-inspiring. Oh well, no 'Ferngully' moment this trip, but I'll always remember how pretty those caves were.

So now we are in San Juan. We went to El Morro, the main fort in Old San Juan. The streets are cobblestone and the buildings are different colors. You just feel like you're walking in another time. There is a huge lawn in front of El Morro and they sell kites for kids to fly since the ocean breeze makes it a perfect kite-flying kind of place. Got some great shots of the fort and the ocean overall. We ate at a restaurant and had some more pina coladas. Let me tell you - they just don't make them like this in the states. It was delicioussss......mmmmm. Then we get out of the restaurant and there's a sign basically stating that this restaurant was the birthplace of the pina colada with some other info. I would hope they aren't lying.....so that's pretty cool - no wonder it was so good.


Well, it's late. I feel like I am missing out on so many details of my trip but I can't remember everything as I type. Tomorrow we are headed to El Yunque, the rainforest. This is my favorite part and I'm looking forward to rivers, waterfalls, trees, butterflies....nature at its best. Goodnight!