jani

I spent a week in Puerto Rico for the First Annual Wikitravel Get-Together, and you can read all about it, from multiple angles like the refractions of a prism, right here: Get-together07

And here's a pointer to the one extended story I wrote myself, on the delights of public transportation on the island: Poco loco publico. (Don't worry, it's a little more exciting than it sounds. I promise.)

Sapphire

After managing to catch a couple of publicos from Ponce to Fajardo I arrived at the ferry station in Fajardo around 11:00. I had intended on shipping myself off to the exotic, and much touted Culebra, which according to Puerto Ricans was paradise, but the next ferry to Culebra left at 15:00. There was, however, a ferry to Vieques at 13:00.

maj

There's that day, usually about half-way into a vacation (preferably to a tropical island with friends), when you stop thinking of the First Day or the Third Day or Four-Days-Until-I-Go-Home and just think about "today." I seemed to have reached that point, because I'm having a really hard time sorting out which day was which great beach or fantastic meal. I'm sure I have everyone's sympathy...

Maj's lunch at Guanica.

Amita June beneath the trees at the San Jacinto restaurant, in Guanica. She's waiting while we're having lunch.

The other square in San Germán. The city has two connected plazas, for no apparent reason.

A square in San Germán, Puerto Rico, as seen from the stairs of the church. That's me and Amita June in the far left.

Amita June in the square in Old Ponce.

The church in the square in old Ponce.

The famous firehouse ("Parque de Bombas") in the square in Old Town Ponce.

evan

We've had some pretty intense driving around rural Puerto Rico in the last two days. Tuesday morning we hit the road westward from Ponce to San Germán, a small inland colonial-era city known for its architecture. It was a nice place to stop -- we took some good pictures and walked around the towns two plazas. But the unbearable Puerto Rican tendency towards traffic jams made the visit barely worth the trouble. We were glad when we got on the road again, south towards Parguera.

jani

This little island's got a lot of things going for it, but public transport ain't one of them.

My mission, should I choose to accept it, was to make my way from Ponce, Puerto Rico's second-largest city (pop. ~200,000), to San Juan, its largest (pop. ~2 million). One might assume this would be easy; one would be wrong.

From the observation deck at Arecibo. I couldn't really get a wide enough shot of the antenna, so this is about the best I could do.

Me at the Arecibo Observatory, about 20 miles south of Arecibo. It's a pretty rough drive, and a steep walk to the antenna, but it was really impressive.

Maj enjoying a Medalla and a bottled water at Salitre.

Jani tucked into the mofongo at Salitre in Arecibo. I think it was his favorite mofongo so far.

View from the patio of Salitre in Arecibo.

The selection of fresh fish at Salitre in Arecibo.

Brunch at the Parrot Café.

We enjoy some sangria in a Mexican restaurant in Old San Juan.

Amita June enjoyed the trip to the fort.

Maj, Evan and Amita June on the walls of the El Morro fort. Yes, that is the edge of the wall, and yes it does plummet to the sea. I'm not sure what we were thinking here.

On the prowl in Old San Juan.

Jani enjoys the chicken and rice.

Amita June getting a handful of arroz de camarones.

My asopao de camarones, a rich (and I mean rich) seafood soup with shrimp. Those are mashed plantain fritters on the side.

Maj and Amita at La Bombonera during the Wikitravel Get-Together kickoff lunch.

Me and Amita June on Condado Beach, a block and a half from our hotel.

maj

Arecibo ObservatoryWow, we've been going all out the last couple of days-- Yesterday we went from San Juan, over the hills and through the jungle to Arecibo and then over the jungle and through the hills to Ponce on the amazingly dry (as in dying cactus dry) Southern coast.

This is the view of Parc La Fontaine across the street from our house the day we left Montreal for Puerto Rico.

Sapphire

Yesterday, I asked the receptionist at the Hotel Melia about publicos and how to get to Fajardo. He promised to have the guy during the morning shift give them a call and reserve a place for me. He asked me "When do you want to go" and I told him no later than six. The reasoning for that was so I could catch a ferry out to Culebra. Unfortunately, I reverted to civilian time, rather than say 18:00 so I think he confused 6 PM for 6 AM.

evan

I'm in the extremely pleasant balcony hallway of the awesome Hotel Melia in Ponce, Puerto Rico. Everyone's getting ready to go for a trip to the west of the island, so I thought I'd take a few moments to blog about the last few days.

maj

This morning we tried to get an early start to cram as much in as possible. We started with another envigorating breakfast for sugared cereal and industrial coffee and grabbed a taxi into the Old City to check out the other amazing old fort overlooking the sea.

maj

Amita and Evan on Condado BeachI slept pretty good last night, despite the fact that the three of us (Evan, Amita June,

evan

Maj, Amita June and I got off yesterday pretty well from Montreal. It was a bit of a rush at the last minute, since we decided to meet with our general contractor for house renovations just before going to the airport. (Yeah, I never thought I'd have a general contractor or do house renovations, either.)

 There was snow a foot deep in Montreal when we left. It's been a crazy April in Quebec, and a little bit depressing. I love snow more than anyone I know, and even I am starting to get sick of it. Spring already! C'mon!

evan

So, my friend Biella is from Puerto Rico, and I asked her for some recommendations for our trip. She was extremely thorough, and gave us this great list of suggestions (and permission to post it here). ---- Hey Evan Good to hear from you and sorry about my silence about PR. I have been meaning to write stuff to help you all orient yourself and now I will!

maj

After way too many phone calls to PR, half-a-dozen booked-and-recbooked hotel reservations and hours of research, we're just about ready to head off to the Wikitravel meet up.

I have to confess I'm a spaz about travel planning. Well, some travel planning. Hand me a sarong and a one-way-ticket to Bangkok and I can wing it for day-to-day, slipping gracefully across borders, finding (or not) places to sleep, buses to transport me, and food to eat... but send me to a popular American vacation destination in mid-April with a husband and baby in tow and it's a different story!

maj

Does anyone know anything about Natalicio de José de Diego? We're going to be in PR over this holiday and I'm wondering what to expect! Unfortunately, it's on the day we're planning to drive from San Juan to Ponce and I'm betting traffic is going to be an issue what with people heading out of the city... Are there any events or places we should try to get to for this holiday? Thanks, ~maj

maj

So I'm having a surprisingly hard time finding any information about public transportation in Puerto Rico. Just about every source I consult says something vague about it existing and then just says "rent a car". That's just not practical for some folks who are, say, under 24 and/or Finnish. Does anyone have any experience getting around PR sans car? It sounds like it might be easier to find out actual schedules for longer distance (+30 min) trips. They're supposed to be fairly regular, with vans leaving from town squares. But how "regular"?