VISITING PUERTO RICO PT. 1

I've been back in Philadelphia for just over a week now and already I feel nostalgic for our trip to Puerto Rico. I had no idea just how much I needed a break from it all, but I really truly did. As I look through the photos it occurs to me just how impossible it is to sum up a trip like this in just a few concise sentences. I suppose the easiest place to start is sometimes the most obvious, so we'll start with our visit to Old San Juan.

San Juan was all at once exactly what we expected, and not at all as it seemed. The pastel buildings and swaying palm trees did the Pinterest photos justice, but the overwhelming number of souvenir shops and touristy restaurants left us wandering the streets a bit perplexed and a little disappointed. We decided to embrace our touristy side and with a camera firmly planted in our hand we made our way from one end of Old San Juan to the other where we looked out over the San Juan Gate into the turquoise waters and realized just how beautiful this little island is.

Before we made the slow trek back to our Puerto Rican abode we stopped into what looked like the only authentic restaurant in the whole old city. I watched in amazement as the young bartender made us the freshest (most delicious) mojitos of our lives and made note to only drink homemade mojitos from now on. It wasn't what I had hoped, but in the end it was exactly what we needed to propel us into the rest of our Puerto Rican vacation. -b.