I am truly the best at putting off writing about my travels. SO, I'm hoping that the pretty penny I spent on this domain name will keep me accountable for the next year or so. TBD.

I made it to San Juan in the afternoon on June 28th (happy birthday Mom!), exhausted from a late night of packing and then an early wake up call for a 7:20 am flight out of Cleveland. In my delirium I was still able to make it out of the airport without a working GPS (!!!) all the way to my first home in San Juan - the InterContinental Hotel, which sits right on the beach in Carolina.

I'm still working out the different areas in greater San Juan and how they relate to city central, but from what I've heard so far there are different "counties" of San Juan, like Carolina, Condado, etc. These counties are still part of San Juan, but they harbor neighborhoods that differ quite a bit from place to place, making up their own significant little cities.

Carolina is definitely more touristy, with a lot of fast food restaurants and souvenir shops along Avenida Isla Verde. Most of the resort hotels are also located on Ave. IV (I don't think it's actually abbreviated like this, but it totally should be) so the beach is typically filled with all sorts of different people from all over. A good number of locals also make their way out to Carolina Beach for some quality time in the sand and surf after work or on the weekends.

Back at my hotel, I had a great room on the 15th floor that overlooked the swimming pool and then straight out to the beach. I'd often wake up in the mornings and dramatically open the curtains that led to my balcony to really relish in the fact that this was my home for the next 10 days. And with my new early morning schedule, I'd often see the beach before the onslaught of people arrived, typically catching one or two people on their pre-sunrise early morning walks.

Fortunately for me, a family friend (Mark) is also down here working on the same project that I am in a different facet. He's been nice enough to show me around and include me in the plans that he and his good friend Clay have put together. The night that I arrived, Mark, Clay, and I all had dinner at Paseo Caribe, which is a huge shopping center with a gourmet food court built into the center. For dinner, I had mussels in garlic sauce and the boys got Pho. Lots of options and a pretty cool dining space as well.

Later that weekend, Mark showed me the snorkeling spot in the bay near his hotel in Condado that he likes to frequent. There are several man-made reef structures placed near the shore of the bay that are home to all sorts of fish, urchins, octopus, and other various sea critters. It makes for an exciting snorkeling experience that is surprisingly accessible. The waters were pretty turbid while we were out, but there was still plenty to see throughout the snork.

Work has been pretty time consuming since arriving, which is to be expected but has still taken some getting used to. I work Monday through Saturday from about 7 am until 5:30 pm with 30 minute bus rides on either side of the work day. It feels good to be busy, but as someone who values sleep, it has been a big adjustment getting used to a 5 am wake up call. It's probably for the best though. Who knows, maybe I'll come out a morning person at the end of this? (Unlikely)

Although there's been lots of work there has also been lots of play. A small group of us had the day off for the 4th and made our way out to two small towns south of San Juan, Aibonito and Guavate. Aibonito has a yearly flower festival (Festivale de Flores) that takes place up in the South-central mountains of the island. Plant vendors from all over come to show off their best blooms, sell some of their green inventory, and sample all sorts of fried snacks from the carnival food vendors that also set up shop. We made our rounds at the festival and then wound our way back north on twisty, mountain roads to "the pork trail" in Guavate - a stretch of road-side restaurants, called lechoneras, that specialize in roasted pork and other Puerto Rican comfort foods. My heaven (not). The place we decided on for lunch, El Rancho Original, was recommended by Clay who had been on the trail once before. It did not disappoint. The restaurant itself is situated mountainside, next to a crystal clear stream that flows through the back garden. Although I couldn't enjoy the pork, the spread of root vegetables piled on my plate, strong rum drinks, and stream-side dining really made it an incredible time. Not to mention, there was live music everywhere we went, which led to my (terrible) return to bachata dancing. I definitely have some footwork to practice.

A visit to Viejo San Juan this past Saturday led to the discovery of some fantastic new restaurants and bars (I'll write about these in a later blog post) as well as a look into the going out culture in PR. To put it simply, everyone here likes to have fun and I like to have fun too.

It's hard to believe that I've just been here a week now and I've already seen so much. And alternatively, that I'll be here for another ~75 weeks and still have so much to see. Now, onto the next week and next hotel of my adventure down here!