Puerto Rico 2015

Almost a month and a half ago I was soaking up the Puerto Rican sunshine in San Juan. This is an annual trip that my parents take with their friends and this was my first time back since 2010. It was even more special because this was the first year (of hopefully many) that I was able to share this experience with my boyfriend, Carson.

We stayed in the Wyndham Grand Rio Mar Beach Resort & Spa and it was absolutely wonderful. Just as amazing as I remembered it and it was such a good feeling to be back - the staff are wonderful and so is the entire resort.



Of course the first thing we did was change into some non-winter clothes and headed to the beach!

We then ended up taking a nap before dinner because travel is hard! After re-fuling we had some pre-dinner drinks at one of the resort bars and had dinner at a wonderful Asian restaurant located in the resort.



Sushi is our favorite so it was a perfect dinner! The following day was full of relaxing by the ocean and the pool, reading, swimming, eating, and drinking. And the evening included a wonderful dinner at the Italian restaurant at the Resort and more good times with everyone.

The following day was full of (surprise!) beach and pool time! I actually ended up finishing two books and starting a third one on this trip which felt really great since I have a harder time finding time to read now.

The following day we rented a car and went to the El Yunque National Forest which is the only tropical rain forest in the U.S National Forest system which is super cool. It only took a short drive to get there and we spent about half of our time hiking and half of our time driving up the mountain that it is located on.





And two of the best things: waterfalls and rain forest cats!

 

When we rented the car the lady who take care of it all suggested that since we had to rent the car for 24 hours that we go into Old San Juan since we told her we were going to be boring and just stay in that night. So we thought about it, got a list of restaurants from the concierge that she recommended and tried to decide if we should go. It so happens that Carson worked with a guy who was actually from Puerto Rico and had suggested all of these different "must-dos" for us - it so happened that going to a restaurant called Marmalade was on the list and it was also on the list the concierge gave us. When we realized this we immediately called and made reservations for 8:30 - the only time they had available and off we went leaving our friends and family to watch the Super Bowl because we couldn't care less about football to be honest.



Oh my goodness. This was the best food either of us has ever had in our entire lives. And not pictured is this white bean soup that our friend told us we had to get - and he was absolutely right, it was heavenly. The service was also amazing and we met some other couples there who were actually from the states too which was nice.



We left the following day but not before having a delicious last breakfast and taking one last walk on the beach and gathering sand for our collection at home. I can't wait to go back and experience Puerto Rico again. 

What are some of the places you want to visit next?