I Love Puerto Rico

It's got everything. Unbelievably helpful and friendly locals, the old town of San Juan with it's architecture, bars and restaurants. It's got jungles, rain forests, waterfalls, giant radio telescopes, all to the soundtrack of crazy salsa music. It's played everywhere, every boat that passes us is blasting out music, so are cars and even motor cycles and it is LOUD. And there is always someone dancing, I love the place.

We had 8 days to explore as much as we could until Richie flew home so we had to find somewhere safe to leave the boat. 

They love their flag, it's everywhere

We dropped anchor in Roosevelt Roads, a massive bay that used to be a US navy base until the Iraq war, it is now just a ferry terminal and marine police station. Now that's a safe place to leave the boat, outside a police station, but there was nothing else nearby so the next day we moved along heading towards Ponce, the second biggest town in Puerto Rico. We stopped in a bay for the night, Puerto Patillas which was extremely rolly so moved on very early the next morning and tried to get some shelter from the easterly swell behind Monkey Island. The are 1,500 Rhesus monkeys on this island and you can't land because they all carry herpes B. You could see them all just sitting there looking for an escape route. Richie got spooked, "Monkeys can swim and they might swim out to the boat at night hijack the boat and give us herpes" I think he's been watching planet of the apes or Madagascar or something. So we moved along again.

Glad we did because we discovered Salinas. A super sheltered, shallow bay. A marina that you pay $50 for a month to use their showers and toilets and use their address to get stuff delivered - heaven. Also loads of bars and restaurants around the bay.

So we hired a car for 8 days off Sidney who delivered the car to the marina, photographed my drivers licence and said pay him when we return it. The EASIEST car hire ever. So for our first trip we went to the capital San Juan and got an airbnb near the old town. It was 1 hours drive from Salinas down some very well kept motorway. On arrival our airbnb had been cancelled but we ended up in a lovely hotel for a lot less money. Something like £130 and it was 15 minutes walk from the old town. While waiting to check in the receptionist gave us all a beer which they didn't charge us for. The room was ace, some good art. This one was bananas.

Went for an afternoon walk into the old town past lots of grand buildings. One of them had statues of US presidents looking across the road.

Such a nice looking place

Found a baseball bat wood turning shop. (some nice hard woods here Pat)

Puerto Rico is a strange mix of Spanish and American. The old towns are surrounded by grid like structures of US towns. There are massive cars everywhere, not many people walk around. There are MacDonalds, K Mart, Burger king, Walmart, cookie shops, everything an American needs.

We had a great night out in the old town, lots of pina coladas and a lovely meal.

Next day we went to the local cafe for breakfast, it was the trendiest greasy spoon I've ever been in. Great music blasting out as usual.

Then on for a quick walk to a disused park that was very grand in it's day. No longer used as the Americans built a road through the middle and you couldn't get to it without getting run over. Not many zebra crossings here.

Lots of big lizards though.

Before leaving San Juan we had to stop at a local record store so Richie could buy a load of vinyl. He was chuffed to bits. Lot's of local stuff. The on to Charco Azul Swimming Hole up in the hills. It started raining as we gained altitude but we managed to stay dry-ish until we got to the swimming hole. 

Some locals we met recommended a place to eat called Los Pinos just down the road. And so started our most genuine Puerto Rican experience yet. We arrived in the town which was way up in the mountains and it was absolutely pouring down, tropical rain. We all got soaked to the skin running from the car to the restaurant and as we arrived the band kicked off and all the locals started dancing. One of the locals asked us if we needed help choosing our food, she didn't work there she was just being friendly and helpful. 

The food was great, the locals were great and the band was amazing all with the rain hammering down on the metal roof. A very memorable experience.

Next day Richie dragged us to White Canyon for another river walk. Spectacular white stones.

After the canyon we visited Ponce, the second largest town in Puerto Rico. I reckon you can tell how rich a place is by the fountains and how much spare water they have. Ponce has a great, gushing fountain.

Next day it was Arecibo. I've known about this place for 50 years. When I was a kid every time I visited Jodrell bank radio telescope in Cheshire the bearded astronomers always said, "Jodrell bank is the worlds largest STEERABLE radio telescope but the honor of the biggest Radio telescope goes to the Arecibo dish built in a natural dip in the jungles of Puerto Rico" I remember being 12 asking my Dad, "Where's Puerto Rico?" Who'd have thought I'd get this close. It was quite a drive up a very meandering mostly single track road.

Unfortunately the place has closed down due to one of the focus supports collapsing a few years ago. The place was very reminiscent of Jurassic Park, a great scientific establishment in the middle of the jungle. We couldn't get in, no one around. Richie and Mandy would not let me climb over the fence, why did I listen to them? Anyway I got some good drone shots of the dish. They sent a signal from here 50 years ago announcing our existence to any aliens listening on a similar size dish. So any alien within 50 light years could know about us. I reckon they are on their way.

The following day was Richie's last day with us and probably the craziest walk we've ever done. El Toro. The sign said Muy Dificil. It was. It started off like a lot of our walks, very reminiscent of Brotherton park, then it started getting a bit muddy. We met some rangers working on the trail after about 20 minutes and they said it was very muddy ahead but we looked like we were correctly attired for the job. So we continued, how muddy could it get? It was 2.5 miles to the top of a 1,300m hill and about half a mile from the top the sole of my right boot came off.

The mud was knee deep and you couldn't go off trail as it was dense jungle so we slopped our way to the top had our butties and slopped our way down.

los hombres de barro

Lots of clothing destroyed by the mud, one pair of walking boots and it took about a week scrubbing my toe nails to return them to their normal un muddy colour. Great fun, exhausting, wading through knee deep mud with only 1 sole, It was not like Brotherton park at all. Then back to our favourite restaurant in Salinas, La Barkita for our last meal with Richie.

A pretty crazy, mad 8 days of exploring but then it was time for Richie to leave us. Four months he's been with us, what a ride. Across the Atlantic in 25 days exploring lots of Caribbean islands. He has become a very useful crew member and sailor. Telling us the history of the islands we visited, washing dishes, hauling sails, helming and of course catching fish. Anyhow here is a list of things he threw overboard:-

1 Bucket - lost forever.

3 boat hooks - 1lost forever and the other 2 recovered.

1 fender - recovered

Himself (Getting in the dinghy) - recovered

Me (Took me with him whilst getting in the dinghy) - recovered

My varifocal expensive spectacles (When he took me in) - lost forever

My phone (When he took me in) - Irreparably damaged

2 teaspoons - lost forever

3 forks - lost forever

4 knives - lost forever

A bag of 3 sets of new snorkeling gear - recovered (With great difficulty)

Perudo game - recovered (he jumped in to recover that)

His hat (Mid Atlantic) - lost forever

Mandy crying into her rum punch missing her son. So was I, I have to now do the dishes for the first time in 4 months.

Now it's time to relax in Salinas for a few weeks, catch up with boat jobs, get new spectacles, new phone and meet lots of other cruisers who are heading down south and meet old friends for hurricane season. First time on our own since leaving the Canaries. And breathe......