| Author | Message | ||
     Erik Olson (Jon) Senior Member Username: Jon Post Number: 540 Registered: 02-2002 |
The missus wants to go to Puerto Rico for a late spring vacation. Has anyone traveled there, sp. to Fajardo or any of the beach near San Jaun? Airfare and accommodations seem really inexpensive - any thoughts on this as a destination would be very much appreciated! Cheers, e | ||
| Walter Dent (Walter) New Member Username: Walter Post Number: 40 Registered: 11-2003 |
I dated a girl from Puerto Rico. Does that count? | ||
| Erik Olson (Jon) Senior Member Username: Jon Post Number: 541 Registered: 02-2002 |
I had a Brazilian nanny - well, my kids did anyway, but we should not get into that if my wife is going to read this thread. e | ||
| John Cinquegrana (Johnc) Senior Member Username: Johnc Post Number: 599 Registered: 07-2002 |
Erik, have you considered anywhere else? Maybe you should consider Brasil since you had a nanny from there. | ||
| Erik Olson (Jon) Senior Member Username: Jon Post Number: 542 Registered: 02-2002 |
Too far, too expensive. e | ||
| Steve Cooper (Scrover) Senior Member Username: Scrover Post Number: 681 Registered: 09-2002 |
"Too far, too expensive." Brazil or the nanny? Puerto Rico has it's beauty; I'm not sure San Juan is one of them. But then, I only saw the docks and the whore houses  I do remember a dead pig floating in the harbor, or maybe that was just a bad dream. If she wants to go I'm afraid you might have no choice. SC | ||
| Pugsly (Pugsly) Senior Member Username: Pugsly Post Number: 271 Registered: 11-2002 |
I've spent quite a bit of time on Puerto Rico. I like the Western side of the island, it is much less populated. Never spent a lot of time in San Juan. I would pick someplace like Costa Rica instead - good deals there, too! Better beaches, real rain forest, active volcano, etc. | ||
| Jaime (Blueboy) Senior Member Username: Blueboy Post Number: 887 Registered: 02-2002 |
Erik, San Juan is pretty nice. Old Town San Juan is also very cool. There is a US Natl Park there as well as the Bacardi Rum plant. If you want a nice beach, stay at the Marriott. Marriott also has gambling which spices up the night life. The Hilton is also nice, yet, the beach is not on the ocean but on a lagoon off the ocean due to the rock retaining wall. Still a nice hotel. Also there is a Mortons Steak House next to the Hilton. Great steak! Rent a car as its not too difficult to get around. SJ is crowded in the morning, yet, the traffic isn't too bad. Enjoy! Jaime  | ||
| Dan Ratcliffe (Dan_ratcliffe) Member Username: Dan_ratcliffe Post Number: 62 Registered: 07-2003 |
Spent about 8 months total over twenty years in PR. Most of it wandering around the training areas of Vieques, sleeping in the bushes and doing with out, etc. Went down and back on the government dime, couple of times the plane didn't even bother to land, so I can't help you on prices. Only place I can remember going for fun was to a place in San Jaun called the Black Angus. Can't access the brain cells needed containing directions. Can't take a wife there though, kind of a place every young jarhead on the planet had heard about and tried to get to, fine example of a bordello, ah hmmmm, I mean gentleman's resturant. So I guess I am just no damn help at all. Have fun! | ||
| Leslie N. Bright (Leslie) Dweb Lounge Member Username: Leslie Post Number: 2995 Registered: 02-2002 |
couple of times the plane didn't even bother to land That's one way to describe it...... Who said anything about the plane being perfectly good anyway? lol..... -L | ||
| Todd Nash (Nash) New Member Username: Nash Post Number: 31 Registered: 02-2003 |
Erik, My wife and I go to the Carribean every chance we get. On a budget, Cozumel or Costa Rica are great places. Puerto Rico is okay, but San Juan isn't the prettiest place itself. Steve, Puglsy and Blueboy had it right. To me, the Bahamas and the Virgin Islands are better choices, especially if you're a scuba diver or if you want to snorkle. Have fun, anywhere sunny sounds good to me right now. | ||
| John Roche (Jroc) Member Username: Jroc Post Number: 222 Registered: 08-2002 |
Erik, San Juan, Puerto Rico is a nice/fairly inexpensive place to see. As Pugsly stated, the western side of the island is REALLY nice. If you've only seen San Juan then, as far as I'm concerned, you haven't seen Puerto Rico! A couple of years ago I flew into San Juan, with my now wife, then drove to a resort on the west side called La Parguerra (check spelling). It was not only beautiful but nicely equipt. We stayed there a couple of days then traveled to a neighboring town called Guanica. This is where the bulk of our trip was. Guanica is famous for their phosphorescent bay. The food, people, and diving is awsome in Guanica. It's alot less explored than most other diving destinations. With all this said the reason we would rate this among the great vacations we've taken is value. We had alot more time than money then and we had an amazing few weeks there. San Juan is nice to see but IMO waaaaaaaaaaay toooooo commercialized. Rent a car, we rented from a place called Charlie car because they don't/didn't plaster their vehicles with advertisement and we were warned that it was a good way to avoid being targeted as a tourist. Getting around was simple because they (PR) mark all there major highways with animal icons. ie take the rooster to the horse, LOL very ingenious. As Todd as said, there are plenty of other places to see on a buget that are REALLY nice too, but Puerto Rico is also among them. My wife and I are the type to "go off the beaten path" and we've had some amazing experiences because of it. Don't be afraid to explore but use common sense, and stay aware. Good Luck, and if you go you've gotta try Mofungo (pronounced phonetically) very hearty, and Juego de China LOL inside joke. Hope this helped PS In a former life I went to San Juan, PR with some guys and "wound up in" the black angus. We were told it was an after hours dance club, at least that what we THOUGHT we were told (our spanish not so good). WOW! Talk about an inappropriate place to bring your wife! That was MANY MANY MANY Years ago (Just in case MY wife reads this!) LOL | ||
| KJ (Karen) Senior Member Username: Karen Post Number: 212 Registered: 02-2002 |
I don't know if the Black Angus is around anymore. Just hearing the name was a blast from the past. And no, I've never been there myself, just heard the stories. For us P.R. has always been a place to connect with a plane going somewhere else. Karen | ||
| Joe M. (Little_joe) Senior Member Username: Little_joe Post Number: 299 Registered: 11-2002 |
I've spent a bit of time there since my in-laws are from the island. I'd avoid San Juan like the plague. You should see Old Town then high-tail it out, and don't stop for any red lights after dark! Seriously. If you're staying on the Strand, nevermind (but then why go to PR?). Bacardi is to rum what warm Milwaukee's Best is to beer. Get other local rum - Ron del Barrilito is awesome and widely available. Better are some of the locally bottled potions if you can find them - just don't drink any moonshine rum along a road, chances are it's been distilled through a car radiator (makes for a wicked buzz). El Yunque is the national forest SE of San Juan - it is amazing and worth a day. Ponce is a better bet if you need an urban experience. Ponce is much cleaner and safer and has an amazing native/Carribbean art museum plus numerous cool neighborhoods and districts. The coffee-covered hills northish of Ponce are also quite nice for a scenic drive. BTW, my mother-in-law is from a small village (Naranjito) in the center of the island. She said they routed roads based on walking donkeys up hills and mountains, let them loose, and used the donkey paths down as their roads which were later paved. The donkeys supposedly can figure out the best way down - ??? If you drive the center or hilly parts of the island off the major SJ-to-Ponce highway or the highway around the island, you will see amazing scenery and are likely get very seasick. The roads are insane. Crime is a major concern just about anywhere you go in PR. You'll notice every house has bars on the windows. Phosphorescent Bay is a great suggestion. Arroyo is not far away and is a neat town w/ fantastic beaches. Unfortunately we haven't been to Fajardo yet.  Aguadilla can be missed. PR can be a great place to vacation - it's like a tropical West Virginia. Your money will go very far, there is a lot of variety, but you have to be wary of crime outside of the tourist areas. The coqui is intoxicating! This is a little tree frog native and exclusive to the island. Nights spent listening to "co-quiiii" will be with you for a long time. Puerto Rican food is fantastic, too! joe | ||
| Robbie Donaldson (Robbie) Senior Member Username: Robbie Post Number: 525 Registered: 02-2002 |
Hey Erik, sounds like you guys are pretty set on Puerto Rico, but wanted to throw out Aruba as another great destination. Went there for my honeymoon in Sept. Only about a 4 hour flight from Charlotte, directly into the island. They accept American currency but have their own as well. Most everyone on the island speaks English, Dutch, Spanish and their own language Papiamento. One of the greatest draws for us (besides being outside of the hurricane belt) were the reports of it's very low amount of crime, and higher standard of living that arubans maintain as compared to someplace like PR or Jamaica. There was noone begging to braid the wife's hair, or carry your bags or really fear of being in the middle of town wandering around looking like tourists. We even drove into the middle of nowhere, into the backs of lower end neighborhoods and never had any trepidation about being there. People would just smile and wave. Very friendly. Best part though was the fact that the island is actually a desert island, with rocks, cactus and sand as the norm. Which means the whole island is driveable, and they will let you. We rented a Jeep (can rent a Defender but more expensive of course) and took a few "roads" of the type that I haven'e even taken the Discovery on yet. Just don't rely on maps, once off the 4 main roads, you are on your own. Spent about 4 hours driving dirt/rock roads looking for the Natural Bridge and Natural Pool. Never had my front wheel or rear wheel in the air as much as I did that day. Wife was yelling most of the time, which didn't help matters. The island has a lot of other adventure type of activities as well, so it's not as if it is just 4wheelin on your own. They also have backroad tours via horse, defender, 4wheelers, plus scuba, fishing, wind-boarding, etc. Another great part of Aruba, it seemed to be catered more to couples, so there weren't hordes of single guys wandering the streets. Check out: http://www.aruba.com/home.htm Some pics (driving pics are tame, never got any pictures of the hairy stuff. basically anything that "looks" like a road in the background is, besides the natural bridge):      | ||
| Erik Olson (Jon) Senior Member Username: Jon Post Number: 543 Registered: 02-2002 |
Thanks all, the missus and a hot girl she knows from college are going down there for a long girls-night-out weekend. I've tried desperately to convince her to fly to Belize in September to join me once I arrive, and she'll have none of it. Something about it being too nice, and wanting to go to the "Oakland of the Caribbean" instead. So, Puerto Rico it is. If I should ever absolutely have to go to PR, I'll keep the Black Angus in mind. Cheers, e |
