Friends, those are the spectacular views from the rooftop of the San Juan Water Beach Club Hotel in the Isla Verde beach section of Carolina, a neighboring city of San Juan.
Oh, and where I stayed for 6 days last week.
And thus begins the several post long recap of our epic Puerto Rican vacation :)
Billy and I flew out of San Francisco on a red eye flight Saturday night, connecting in Philadelphia, and making our way to San Juan midday Sunday. We picked up our rental car {sweet, a free upgrade to an SUV!}, and then braved the quick trip to our hotel. Ladies, I had heard horror stories of driving in PR, and for sure these stories were true. People do not use their turn signals. These crazy folks edge their cars into your lane without regard for hitting you, and you have to anticipate the moves of everyone around you. To say Billy was freaked out is an understatement.
But oh, we were rewarded when we made it to the hotel! The beach! The super cute room! The incredibly friendly staff! Everything about our stay was wonderful.
Right away we put our stuff in the room, then headed straight up to the rooftop bar, grabbed a super tasty pina colada and enjoyed won ton chips and a chipotle pineapple dip, along with the fabulous view.
Best pina colada of my life...wish I knew how to recreate it.
Joseph, the awesome bartender, took a photo for us, entertained us, gave us advice on where to eat, and waited on us too. That one little drink made my head spin a tiny bit,{and maybe the 11 hours of traveling, moving four time zones ahead, and not sleeping had something to do with it} so we headed down to the beach for a walk. I was amazed, absolutely so, by how soft the beautiful white sand was, and how warm the ocean was. Northern California beaches are more gravely, dirty, and the ocean is so, so cold!
We posted up on some lounge chairs and passed the time just staring at the ocean, enjoying the warm breeze, and relaxing. It. was. amazing. At one point I looked over at Billy and said "I am completely at peace, fully relaxed, and so happy to be here!" He just nodded and went back to staring at the ocean with me.
When we got hungry, we headed out to Mi Casita, a tiny little restaurant within walking distance of our hotel {no driving, woot!}. It had some more traditional dishes, so I ordered mofongo relleno pollo, which is mashed plaintans stuffed with chicken. I was totally on the fence about mofongo. The texture threw me a little, but I soldiered through. Billy and I laughed when we ate the rice and beans with dinner, because they tasted just like his mama's cooking!
We were tuckered out, so after dinner we went back to the hotel, showered, and I was in bed at 7:30pm and asleep soon after.
And that's how day one of our wonderful Puerto Rican adventure was spent!