Back to Life, Back to Reality!

An affair to remember!

Old San Juan

The district of Old San Juan is full of great architecture and quaint little shops and cafes.  The streets are made of an amazing blue - black cobble stone.  The buildings are painted every pastel of the rainbow.  A lot of cruise ships stop at this port. 

This statue had a giraffe like body with a cat like face.

Beautiful architecture

The town was full of statues

Skinniest house in San Juan.... yes, the yellow building is the front of somebody's house!

The FURRY tree

Benny loving the FURRY tree

Benny running the stairs

While we were in San Juan a cruise liner must have stopped to port. We were enjoying the quiet uncrowded city and suddenly there were MEN everywhere. Thousands and thousands of MEN! Any guesses on what kind of cruise it was? I had Ben snap a picture of this group of men gathered outside a little shop called "Sassy Girl." I could resist the humor!

All the pastels of the rainbow

The Crazed Musician, Conducting His Symphony With A Sea Of Birds!

Beginning applause.....

The first note is played.....

The anticipation builds......

The music takes flight......

The crescendo......

Becoming one with the music.....

A true master of his craft.....

A performance to remember!

Necessity vs. Luxury in Puerto Rico

Our beach Villa on Culebra island.  This was an "echo friendly" facility and was said to be one of the nicest facilities on the island . Translated in English that meant 1 towel per guest, one set of sheets, and one roll of toilet paper PERIOD.  NO housekeeping, restaurant, transportation, extra pillows or blankets, soap, shampoo, shower cap,  no frills no fuss! We had many adventures on this beautiful little island and truly appreciated its primitive charm!  What this little island lacked in amenities it more than made up for in beauty and serenity. 

Our room in San Juan Puerto Rico. 

The bathroom alone is larger than the entire Villa on the island!  Fresh towels and sheets daily... we felt like royalty!

The view!

The Island of Culebra - Day 3 Leaving

We enjoyed our stay on our little island.  We even felt comfortable enough to hitch a ride to town one evening from a complete stranger.  Yes, I know you would NEVER do this at home, but the island is different!

Good buy Culebra......

Kelly, sad to say goodbye!

Ben, smiling just thinking about clean towels and sheets!

Another LITTLE island on the ride back to the main land

The end!

Culebra - Day 2 Part 2

By day 2 we had learned a few more "tricks" from some long time campers on the island.....Where to buy some groceries, fresh baked bread and lunch meat!  We had FOOD and were feeling good!

The Island of Culebra - Day 2

Culebra - Day 1 Part 2

The adventure begins!  Anyone who knows Ben knows he LOVES to explore any new place he visits.  We "adventured" to his hearts content our first day on the island.

Benny is a great wind break from that ocean breeze!

island jetty's

the rainbow after a brief sprinkle of rain

sitting at the dock in town

the canal waterways

Susie's, our first dining adventure on the island, and our best meal we had!

Island adventure story:  We were feeling pretty proud of ourselves that we'd figured out the taxi trick so quickly after our arrival.  Ferry's bring people to the island 3 times per day and taxi's wait at the doc to take visitors to the famous Flamenco Beach.  Our Villas were on Flamenco Beach, several hundred yards down from the public drop off.  We would run to the drop off  and flag down a taxi.  On our first night we found a taxi and headed to town for some dinner (remember our hotel serves NO food or drink).  We were dropped off in town.  A restaurant recommendation from the taxi driver and we were in business! Our taxi driver failed to mention EVERYTHING in town was closed because it was Sunday. The few restaurants open on Sunday would not open for 2 more hours.  We wandered around with our stomachs growling and kept telling ourselves this was an adventure.  Susie's finally opened and we were waiting at the door.  We had a nice meal and felt renewed.  Another minor detail the taxi driver failed to mention was that once he dropped us off in town we had no way back.  The taxi's stop running after the last ferry.  Thank goodness the restaurant let us use their insect repellant and Ben happened to have a head lamp in his back pack.  We started out on foot and an hour or so later we were back at the villa. It's all about the adventure!