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. Our arrival in Ponce didn't really show the city to its best-- we came in through the back door, passing by lots of abandoned or should-be-abandoned crumbling concrete buildings only to arrive in a mostly-dark-and-quiet down town. Turns out Mondays and Tuesday are "everything's closed" days here in PR. Didn't help that Monday was a minor holiday too.

We had a tough time finding an open restaurant for an early, toddler-friendly, dinner. But as luck would have it we stumbled across not only an open deli & bakery, but an open *veggie-friendly* Classic Delights deli & bakery. I was missing my fake-meat deli slices! We had various veggie wraps, an omelet, and 22 oz glasses of fresh squeezed OJ. And if that wasn't good enough, we followed up with some ice cream from King's, a local favorite. We hit the sack early, knowing we had a big day today and a tired toddler.

This morning we were up early helping Andrew with his unscheduled early departure, only to fall back asleep from another hour (hey, if the baby`s asleep I'm gonna sleep). AJ and I headed up to the roof-top breakfast area for some cake, sugar cereral, and coffee with hot milk (getting sick of the super-sugary breakfasts, but love the coffee! Would it kill people to offer a banana or something around here?) AJ had a blast sticking crumbs through the holes of the enclosed deck and then watching the cloud of pigeons descend on her offering (thus illustrating the need for an enclosed deck).

Once Jani joined us, we got ourselves together for a day trip to San German and nearby beaches. We made a pit-stop on the way out of Ponce to drop of some laundry and Evan bought a huge bunch of bananas for a dollar. We counted 13 bananas and laughed at the idea of eating even half the bunch. Little did we know...

The drive on the highway felt super-fast and smooth after yesterdays tiny mountain roads (all two-lane roads here seem to be more like one-and-a-half lane roads...) and we were quickly back in the damper, greener foothills. San German turned out to be a little hard to get into, and we almost gave up on it when Evan spotted a sign pointing the way to the beach. But after a few turns down increasingly tiny streets lined with increasingly ornate buildings (think New Orleans' French Quarter) we managed to find one of the two squares the town is known for. We spent a little while walking around, taking photos of the old gothic church and while I wished knew more about architecture so I could better appreciate what we were seeing.

We quickly figured out that Tuesdays are not better than Mondays for finding open things in Puerto Rico-- the church and virtually all the interesting-looking restaurants were closed. Ditto for the other, equally scenic, square. The tiny Turismo office was open, and the nice man behind the desk was more than happy to dig out an English version of the town guide, printed on one legal-sized page, complete with a note from the Mayor.

Hoping to find more food options, and sweating badly in the bright mid-day sun (while the smarter locals relaxed under trees in the square or walked very slowly down the shady side of the street), we piled back in the car and headed out of town.

The landscape quickly returned to the near-desert state we'd seen around Ponce, and then got even browner and more parched looking. Houses were few and far between and the water seemed very far away. But after nosing along little highway 116, signs for seafood and guesthouses and boat rentals started popping up¸, garish against the landscape. We passed through Lajas and another nice square & church combo, and then headed down, down, down to the water front. We knew it was there because of the sudden profusion of restaurants and glimpses of boats between the bushes in front of us.

At first we were excited to have apparently hit the jackpot on beach-side eating. But as we slowed down for a closer look we realized that everything was closed. Tuesday-ed again! We found one place, out of maybe 15, that looked open. Open but empty. And located off a mall parking lot about 2 blocks in from the water. By this time the baby had fallen asleep, so we took a quick vote and decided to keep looking down the coast, back towards Ponce.

We followed Carretara 116 around the Bay of Guancia, which was pretty, but not very promising in terms of beaches or food. We passed through the small town which had a scattering of cafeterias advertising mostly chicken and pork. The we were out of the town and out in the middle of nowhere, the crystal blue waters off to our right. We passed the crumbling ruins of and old light house and an amazing stretch of beach-park complete with snack bars, tables, changing rooms-- all closed of course.

Finally we saw a little road off to the right with a sign for, of all things, Gilligan`s Island. There it was, a small blue-and-white building with a doc and scattering of trees on a small beach. A restaurant. An open restaurant. Not only was it open, but it served up the best meal I think I've had on the island-- fresh fish, covered in red peppers and onions, salad, and fruit. Throw in some rice and beans for the baby and a couple of beers and you have a portrait of paradise!

After our heavenly meal we headed a few more minutes down the road to where it dead-ended in a nice curve of gold sand. An hour of swimming and splashing in the waves was more than enough to tire us all out. Then it was back in the car for the drive "home." AJ and I were both over-sunned (though, I'm happy to say, not at all burned!) and over-tired so we crashed out for a few hours of nap before dinner.

"Working vacation" indeed!