Puerto Rico

Why is Imran visiting Puerto Rico?

I had the opportunity to visit Puerto Rico for work which was amazing and truly an eye opener for me.  Before going to Puerto Rico i wasn't much of a traveler and had not been outside of the Continental United States for 3 years.  If i had not gone to Puerto Rico i wouldn't have been bitten by the travel bug and would have never taken the initiative to travel to other places.  It was after coming back from Puerto Rico that i decided to travel to at least 2 - 3 different countries every year.  Before leaving on my work project to Puerto Rico i was very hesitant to travel as this travel was during busy season and i knew i would be working crazy hours and would not get the time to visit a lot of places.  I did work long hours but also managed to find time after work to travel and explore the area.  Working the long hours was fun primarily because my coworkers made it fun and interesting.

A little background information on Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico is located in the Caribbean and is considered part of the United States.  Puerto Rico is Spanish for Rich Port and it is definitely a rich island in terms of the abundance of natural beauty and pristine beaches it has.  Being in the Caribbean Puerto Rico enjoys a tropical climate with the most consistent temperatures (at least for the 3 weeks i was there, the extended forecast would read sunny/partly cloudy between 70-80 degrees Fahrenheit).  Puerto Ricans have a laid back attitude to life and are very friendly.  There were 2 instance while flying to Puerto Rico where the person sitting next to me gave me their contact information, should i need anything.  Although legally part of the United States, it doesn't feel like it is part of America as people in Puerto Rico are friendly, in my opinion Puerto Rico should be it's own country - but that's not up for me to decide.

What i did?


Things to do in Puerto Rico

Since i was in Puerto Rico for work i don't think i got to explore the island as much as i would have liked to.  Although i did get some sight seeing and activities done.

Castillo de San Cristobal


Castillo de San Cristobal or Fort San Cristobal was walking distance from my hotel.  The entrance fee was $5 and it is located in Old San Juan. It is a Spanish fort built by Spaniards to protect the city of San Juan.  The fort has been said to have wrapped around the entire city of Old San Juan to protect the city from intruders and attacks.  However in the late 1800's about a third of the fort was demolished to make way for the increasing population.  The fort is pretty close to the cruise ship docks and is frequented by a lot of tourists. The fort is located next to the ocean and has great views from around it.

Cruise ship about to dock.

I was walking in the fort and there were couple of tourists behind me who screamed when i was walking up the fort to the viewing gallery.  I wasn't sure why they screamed so loudly at me, but later i found out they screamed to warn me of the Iguana.  I almost walked over the Iguana and didn't even notice the Iguana.

Iguana I almost walked over.

Cannon balls.

Fire Control Station.

Observation Post.

Rappelling in Ponce


Ponce is located in South Puerto Rico and is an up and coming destination for eco tourism within Puerto Rico.  Eco Tourism is on the rise in Puerto Rico and one can expect to do a lot of fun adventurous stuff without harming the environment, while in Puerto Rico.  I heard about zip lining which is offered by a lot of vendors in Puerto Rico.  I found out about Del Sur Adventures which was located in Ponce, about a 11/2 - 2 hour drive from Old San Juan where i was.  Del Sur Adventures had a package where they offered zip lining, hiking and rappelling which peeked my interest.  I called Alfonso the owner and operator of the company and set up an appointment.  Alfonso was very helpful in explaining to me what to expect.  The whole experience lasted 5 - 6 hours in which we covered 2 maybe 3 miles.  Within the 5-6 hours we completed 1 zip line, 6 rappelling cliffs over 6 waterfalls varying in length from 40 - 120 feet and a hike over a mountain which was 70 degrees steep, it was super tiring nonetheless awesome fun.  We did click some pictures and shoot some videos for the whole trip, but unfortunately Alfonso's camera got messed up and he couldn't send me the pictures and videos of my experience.  You just have to take my word on it that i did everything i said i did or email Alfonso if you don't believe me.  If you listen closely to the 3rd video below, you can actually hear Alfonso saying he will send me the files to which i replied sure sure.

Me showing where we hiked to and rappelled from.

Beautiful drive to Ponce between mountains.

There were mountains on both sides for almost the whole drive.

Returning back from rappelling. 

El Yunque Rain Forest


While in Puerto Rico i had the opportunity to work at 2 locations, one in Old San Juan and one one in Rio Grande.  The second location Rio Grande where i spent the last week and a half was located close to the El Yunque Rain Forest.  One day after work i decided to go drive up El Yunque before it got dark.  I left work in my office clothes without changing into shorts or something more comfortable and drove straight to El Yunque.  It is the only tropical rain forest located in the United States and is a good place to visit if you are a nature lover.  You can drive up El Yunque to probably the midway point after which the road ends and after a certain point cars aren't allowed, in order to preserve the natural habitat.  I drove as far as i could and walked around the rain forest as much as i could and as much as my office attire would allow.  I would have liked to hike up the mountain but i wasn't appropriately dressed to do so.  Can you imagine seeing someone hiking in dress pants and dress shirt up a mountain?  The forest has a couple of marked trails which take you to different points within the forest.  I believe there is also a trail that takes you to the top of the highest forest mountain peak, which approximately takes 2-3 hours to climb.

The forest mountain peak.

View from the point as far as you can drive.

Mini waterfall.

One of the many waterfalls on the drive up the forest.

Me auditioning for a Discovery Channel documentary.

El Yunque up in the clouds.

Beaches

Puerto Rico has a lot of beautiful beaches scattered throughout the island.  I didn't have any intentions on visiting any of the beaches, as i wanted to try to do more adventurous stuff.  Although i did stop by a few beaches while i was driving around the island.  I don't know the names of the beaches but they were all beautiful nonetheless.  All the beaches i visited were a stone's throw away from the road and i didn't need to take any major detours to visit any of the beaches.

One of the many beaches i drove past.

Private beach at the Rio Grande Rio Mar beach resort.

While driving to the airport i took this detour.  Who would want to leave such a beautiful place? 

Miscellaneous Stuff


People I Met


I was in Puerto Rico for work and most of the people i met and spent time with were my coworkers.  Below are the people i met and worked with.

I worked with Kreesdaly for the last week and a half i was in Puerto Rico in Rio Grande.  She was real nice and fun to work with and helped me with a lot of questions.  She also taught me the term "mira nene" which is the Spanish equivalent to "listen girlfriend" in english.  I still use the term "mira nene".

Sea food lunch at La Parilla in Luquillo beach.

I worked with Michelle for the first half of my stay at Puerto Rico in Old San Juan. Like Kreesdaly Michelle was also fun and nice to work with.  She was very patient with my stupid work related questions and never got mad at me for asking dumb questions.  In the picture below i am probably asking her a dumb question.

Michelle.

The first day we had Jordan come over to work, he was having a horrible day.  His project had not started as scheduled and he had just been in a car accident in the morning.  I didn't listen to country music before meeting Jordan and now i have a country music station added in my Pandora radio, I also have Los Bacilos a Spanish station added because of Michelle.  Jordan also came over and visited me once in D.C. and we went bowling, his name was Jdawwwg and mine was Iballaaaa on the bowling screen.

Jordan.

The people in the picture below i met while i went rappelling in Ponce.  They are all friends of Alfonso and Jorge who own the eco tourism company Del Sur Adventures in Ponce.  I highly recommend doing an eco adventure trip with Del Sur Adventures if you are in Puerto Rico.  We had just finished rappelling and we grabbed lunch from this shack up in the mountains.  The food was amazing and the scenery was great.  This was the only shack up on the mountain which served food.  I had the Pollo Con Tostones which is Chicken with fried Plantains and it was yummy.

From R-L: Me, Alfonso, Jorge, Mrs. Jorge and Miguel.

I was working one Friday and had to find a mosque to go pray jummah (Friday prayers).  The only Masjid (Mosque) i could find close to Old San Juan was 30 minutes away and i had to take a cab to get there as i would have probably gotten lost if i drove.  You can haggle with the cab driver in Puerto Rico and set a price for the fare.  The cab driver agreed to take me back and forth for $60.  Unfortunately while coming back i lost the case for my glasses in the cab.  A week later i saw the cab driver on the streets and asked him if he still had the case and to my surprise he kept the case and was able to return it to me.

Masjid in Puerto Rico.

Some statue and water fountains i walked by.

What i ate?


Ok now the most fun part of the trip to Puerto Rico, the food.  I absolutely loved the food in Puerto Rico and ate at different places almost every day.

The picture below was probably taken on valentines day where me and Jordan went for a bromantic dinner to Aguaviva, a seafood restaurant.  We ordered the Torres Del Mar (Seafood tower) and a tower it was.  We had a tough time finishing off the fried seafood awesomeness.  I guess what the chef probably did was set up a fishing net in the ocean and whatever he caught, he marinated in batter, deep fried, made a tower and then served it to us with dipping sauces.  There were fried oysters, fried shrimp, fried calamari, fried plantains, fried seafood flauta and other varieties of fried fish.  If you are carb conscious or are on a Jenny Craig diet, you might want to skip out on the Seafood tower.

Torres Del Mar (Seafood tower).

Puerto Rico being an island in the Caribbean maan, has a lot of fresh seafood available. The picture below was taken at La Parilla (The Grill) in Loquillo beach.  There are many small shacks or kiosks at Loquillo beach where you can eat a lot of good food for cheap.  I had gone to La Parilla for dinner and liked it so much that i also went there for lunch the next day with my coworker.  I don't know the name of the stuff we ordered but there was fried plantains stuffed with spicy lobster, 2 kinds of fish, fried of course and fried dough with coconut and sugar.  It's probably the best seafood i have had and the location made it even better as it was a stones throw away from the beach and the ocean.  The fish was so fresh that i think they might have just caught the fish and the lobster when we placed the order in.

Fried seafood.

More fried seafood for dinner.

So i am a big fan of hole in the wall kind of places and like to eat at places where the locals do.  I did some amount of googling and came across this place called La Casita Blanca (The White Castle - no the restaurant doesn't serve burgers).  The place was well reviewed and was a place frequented by locals who are down for some good home food cooking.  I drove to La Casita Blanca and to my surprise the restaurant felt like it was in the back of someones house and it really was.  They don't have a set menu just some dishes written by chalk on a blackboard.  I ordered some beef with rice, Puerto Rican style and it was just amazing and had the warm home feeling.  They also have a good selection of home cooked desserts.  

Beef with rice Puerto Rican Style.

Plantain is one of the staples of Puerto Rican diet and is widely grown in the tropical slopes of Puerto Rico.  There is an abundance of Plantains and is used extensively in Puerto Rican cooking.  The most famous dish by far is the Mofongo, which consists of mashed fried plantains with seafood generally, but you can add any toppings you would like to eat.  I went to Raices in Old San Juan which by the way is an excellent restaurant with great food.  I ordered the Churasco Mofongo con Salsa Chimichurri (Beef Mofongo with Chimichurri Salsa) there was a good amount of beef in that joint and can easily be shared with another person.  It was kind of eating steak with potatoes as the mofongo is very starchy kind of like potatoes but tastier (TT: If you don't consume pork be sure to check before ordering the mofongo as some mofongo's contain plantains mashed with pork).

Beef Mofongo.

One day i was in the mood for some kabobs and went to Istanbul a Turkish restaurant and one of the few in Old San Juan serving halal food.  I ordered the Lamb Kabob and it was really tasty, so tasty that i forgot to click a picture and only clicked a picture of the last piece.

Last piece of Lamb Kabob.

Conclusion: Puerto Rico the beautiful island with beautiful friendly people is an amazing place to visit.  As soon as you land at the airport you feel relaxed and i have to wonder if there is something in the air of Puerto Rico which makes you so calm.  No wonder Puerto Rico is the favorite place to visit of people who have already been there.  I would definitely like to go back to Puerto Rico, this time on a vacation instead of work.