So, I went away this past weekend to Puerto Rico to celebrate a friend’s birthday. This was my first time in the country and I was really excited to be in warmer weather. The trip was only from Thursday to Sunday. I decided not to extend the trip because I’m planning to go on another quick, tropical trip next month. Since Puerto Rico is a US Territory, it’s easy to travel to and from the country and I know that I’ll be back soon so it didn’t bother me too much that I didn’t get to see and do everything.
Typically when I take vacation trips, I prefer to be low key and go with the flow – especially when I go to a beach city. I prefer to soak up the sun and enjoy my time on the beach or at the pool. This was not my typical trip since it was planned by someone else. So, I got back a little more tired than I’d like. But I did have a ton of fun so I’m not complaining!
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STAY
We stayed at the Sheraton at the Convention Center. To be honest, it wasn’t a great experience. First, the hotel was going through renovations but didn’t make that clear. It was almost as if they were trying to hide it. If they were upfront about that, I would not have been annoyed about the handling of everything. Trust me, I’ve stayed in a lot of hotels. Some of which were going through renovations but they let you know when you booked, at check-in, and with signs everywhere. The first room they put us in was dirty – dirty sheets, stains on the carpet, and stains in the bathtub. It was really gross. The second room we were put in was a lot better but we were missing some items that we had to call and ask for. I’m not a big Marriott fan – I’ve always stayed in the Hilton brand cause that’s where all my points are – so this experience really turned me off.
Another downside of this hotel is it’s not directly on the beach. But that infinity pool was popping okay?! While much of my time was away from the hotel, it would’ve been nice for the little breaks I had to be able to walk to the beach. There is a casino in the hotel but I’m not a gambler so I didn’t even step foot in there. There are a couple of restaurants in the hotel and a big bar right in front of the Marpol restaurant.
FOOD
We didn’t go to as many food places as I would have liked but that’s because my mornings started early with the activities that we participated in. When we did go somewhere, I didn’t take a ton of good photos because I was always so hungry every time we sat down to eat. But I definitely made sure that there were fried plantains, mofongo, and seafood incorporated into each dish I had.
- Los Pinos Cafe Miramar – This was dinner the first night. Though I don’t think this really counts as dinner because we got to the resturant about 12:45a and got our food around 2a. Los Pinos is a 24 hour resturant that was poppin which is why it took us soo long to get our food. I ordered Mofongo for the first time and got all my life. I truly didn’t know that I needed this.
- El Oasis Amarillo – This was a resturant that our tour guide took us after the waterslides. It was on the side of the road and you could smell the deliciousness of the food on the grill when we pulled up. It’s a small resutarant ran by a family with excellent food. They had empandas and meat skewers. I had the chicken and steak skewers with lobster empandas. It was the perfect meal for me.
- 1950 Condado – I once again ordered the Mofongo with creole sauce here. It wasn’t as good as the one I had at Los Pinos but I ate it cause I was hungry. This was my least favorite resturant that we ate at the entire trip. Maybe it was because I was tired or the resturant was overwhelmed by the crowd but the food wasn’t that great. I tried other folks dishes and it just wasn’t hitting for me.
- Roja Vieja Grill – This was my favorite place the entire trip. It was soo good! I ordered the fried red snapper with Mamposteao Rice and fried ripe plantains. The drinks were so delicious too! Someone at the table ordered the oxtails and omg, the meat was falling off the bones. I was so stuffed after eating that I was struggling to stay awake to join in the after dinner convo. 😅
ACTIVITIES
Natural Water Slide
A little over an hour away from where we stayed in Puerto Rico, we traveled to the natural waterslides. I’m really glad I decided to participate in this activity and get out of my comfort zone. We had to hike to the waterslides and as someone who has never been hiking, that was a feat in and of itself. It rained the night before making everything slippery. We also had to climb up and down slick rocks that were a bit scary because if you fell, you could’ve broken bones. 😬 But despite the challenge, I’m glad I made it down, safely, the big and small waterslides. The scenery was absolutely beautiful and the photos don’t do it justice. So glad, I experienced this.
Catamaran
We were on a catamaran for the entire day on Saturday to drink, eat, sail, enjoy the beach, and snorkel. It was absolutely wonderful. This was my first time on a catamaran and I’m now convinced that I need to either invest in a boat or connect with people that own one so I can spend my summers on the water. I can’t remember what part of the country we were but it was a little over an hour away from our hotel. The water was so warm and nice and it was great to get more sun. We also went snorkeling. Unfortunately for us, there was not a ton of fish where we were but it was cool to see some of the reefs and the little schools of fish. Apparently, the folks that stayed on the boat saw a dolphin. I don’t know how much I believe them cause I saw absolutely nothing where I was.
Overall, this was a fun trip to Puerto Rico that I needed to take my mind off of family issues that were happening. I didn’t get a chance to see Old San Juan but as I said, I’ll definitely be back – hopefully, next year. As I was going through my photos to include in this post, I realized that I didn’t take a ton of pictures. At the time, it was great because I didn’t get distracted with my phone and lived in the moment. But I am kinda annoyed that I didn’t get more pictures of the scenery or even of myself. I did play photographer with everyone else on the trip so I’m glad they got some good photos.
HAVE YOU BEEN TO PUERTO RICO? DID YOU ENJOY YOUR TRIP?
