Category Archives: Travel

Back to the Beach and other Adventures as Puerto Rico Reopens

Can you tell I’m happy to be back at the beach?!

After a very long lockdown, Puerto Rico is now officially back open for business. It is not quite “back to normal” but for all intents and purposes, we are finally coming out of lockdown. That is not the same as having a pandemic end, but at least the self-imposed torture of “quarantine” seems mostly over.

Masks are the newest fashion! haha Masks for Britton & my neighbor/friend Omayra

Poco a poco Puerto Rico has loosened the restrictions to the point that besides the masks and some rules in certain stores (checking temperatures, not allowing children inside) the happy island I know and love is pretty much back. We have been appreciating our newly returned freedoms by going to the beach, hiking, checking out new waterfalls and spending time with friends in small groups again. How much we have missed these simple pleasures of life. Where the hurricane days stripped away the physical comforts of electricity, communications, and even water service, during the lockdown we were fully connected to those things but lacked and very sorely missed our social and nature connections. The lockdown was like an inverse hurricane. I’m not sure which was worse, but I don’t wish either on anyone!

Beachside days

Fun in Rincon

Flamboyan season has been soo beautiful this year!

Aeden’s first school photo. Daycare will even be starting up again in July! yay!

Good times once again

Gozalandia falls and El Ultimo Brinco in Rincon

Fun trip to Adjuntas-even saw a blue flamboyan (jacaranda)!

We had a nice time in Adjuntas visitng Charco El Mango, a suspension bridge and some other sights until Britton suddenly felt ill and we had to return home. Turns out his car accident a month earlier and a genetic disposition for blood clots was not a good combination. He’s doing much better now thankfully!

Quick stop at Playa Tres Hermanos on Father’s Day

Our little boy is growing up so fast!

An easy waterfall that turned into an adventure: Salto Collazo

Just off the side of the road, but waaay down below we found the tallest waterfall we’ve ever seen. Salto Dona Carmen

Overall, we are very grateful for every day we get on this beautiful island and in this strange life of ours. Hope everyone else is doing as well.

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San German Adventure to Porta Coeli and Waterfall Charco La Cabra

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It had been a long while since we last visited San German and Porta Coeli church. Every time we’ve gone there, it has been closed. But this time, we lucked out! We got to tour the inside and even heard ghost stories. It cost $5 per person which seemed a bit high for how small the church is, but it’s good to help keep it and the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriquena going. It is one of the oldest churches in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean in general so it was nice to see that it hadn’t been damaged by the recent earthquakes. I learned that Porta Coeli is pronounced Cheli and that it means the door to heaven! As we were there, they were setting up for the jazz night in the plaza that happens pretty regularly on Thursday nights.

Outside the church

Inside the cathedral that is only very rarely used

I loved the arched doorways

Through the arch you can see the old colonial town

We enjoyed walking around downtown to the other church area

Here’s the full video:

Next up in our day trip, we thought we would check out Charco El Pilon in San German. From the map it looked like it was only about 20 minutes from the downtown. However, once we got on the road, and especially as we entered the natural forest reserve we realized this was going to be a much more difficult drive and require a 4×4 vehicle. So we decided to stop and walk around a bit in the jungle near a river when lo and behold, we found another beautiful waterfall! Later I asked what waterfall it could be and it is called Charco La Cabra, a very unknown little fall and pool. It is always so cool to find the off-the-road waterfalls because places like Gozalandia are now getting WAY too crowded and touristy.

Walking into Charco La Cabra

I didn’t see any cabras (goats) but we did see a cow, a duck and a pig!

Scrambling over rocks in the river

Britton at La Cabra

A cool natural grotto we found

Chillin’ riverside

It was a wonderful day out and we’ll be back to search for Charco El Pilon and Charco La Iglesia in San German soon!

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Cueva Ventana and Much More in Utuado and Arecibo

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At the famous spot! Cueva Ventana

It’s hard to believe that we had never been to Cueva Ventana! It is one of the most famous landmarks in all of Puerto Rico and the famous window scene is used in many tourism campaigns and even things like bank website pan screens. But, I suppose there is a first time for everything. Apparently since 2013 it has become a truly “tourist” destination that is only accessible with a paid tour. This isn’t usually our style of adventure, but since it was the only way to see it and we really DID want to see it, we didn’t hesitate when a friend mentioned they were heading up and if we would like to join. We had to make sure it would work out with Aeden’s daycare, but once that was settled, we made arrangements with our friends who are visiting, Petra and Brian to take the trek up there and meet the larger group.

Ancient Taino petroglyphs in the cave are said to protect the entrances

Fun in the cave. It was light enough throughout most of it to take pretty good photos without flash

We had to wear safety helmets and the group was huge! Things we’re not used to!

The tour was fun and the caves were super neat, but I yearned for the days before the paid tour. It didn’t cost too much ($11 for PR residents with ID, $22 for non-residents), but it was just so slow and lumbering and very basic. The guide was pointing out things like snails on the trees and tarantula holes in the ground. Things that might be interesting to a visitor, but are daily sightings for us jungle dwellers. So we tried to make the most of the slow moving train taking pictures and looking for cool plants along the way. We found mamey, corazon, seeds that are often used in jewelry and other neat plants.

Lago Dos Bocas

I had researched the area before and found that Lago Dos Bocas is just a hop skip and a jump away. I wasn’t sure how it would be since it had been over a decade since we’d been there! When we arrived, it was obvious that it had not been fully repaired since Hurricane Maria and the ferry boats weren’t running. Apparently on the weekends there are private boats that will take you to a couple of restaurants on the lake, but they weren’t going. It was intermittently rainy, so we just enjoyed the lakeview for a bit and then headed down the road.

Pretty spot, the Lake of Two Mouths

Wouldn’t you stop if you saw this??!

While were were driving along, I spotted a mural that said “La Hamaca”. I had heard of La Hamaca Bridge in Adjuntas, but I didn’t think we were quite that far inland. Still, I encouraged us all to stop and check it out. Sure enough, it was another Hammock or suspension bridge crossing a river in Utuado!

Suspension Bridge La Hamaca Salto Abajo, Utuado

A fun little stop!

Shortly after this picture was taken my hat took sail and Britton had to wade out to get it haha

We had a nice meal of comida criolla by the river and then checked out downtown Utuado. It was an old colonial plaza with some cool architectureand a quiet vibe. There were still some areas cordoned off because of earthquake damage which surprised me this deep in the island’s interior.

Colorful Utuado

Finally as we were driving back down the curving back roads we passed the Caguana Ceremonial Park and stopped. My vague memory of this on our honeymoon is so different than what it looks like now. They didn’t even have the little grass replica huts, but they did have the large ceremonial roads and fields and some very impressive huge ceiba trees as well as achiote/annato trees which was used, among other things, as a skin paint for the Tainos. It was beautiful and vast, but the museum was closed, so there wasn’t much else to see. But for $3 it was worth a stop to support them in hopefully fully opening up again. .