Calles of viejo San Juan

Dinner and some español

We were planning to have dinner at Amadeus but it was closed! We walked down Fortaleza, but many places were closed ...hmmm.. Monday night low season...si. The places that were open didn't interest us. We ended up at Istanbul, the only Turkish restaurant in Puerto Rico. We had a tasty dinner. Carlos B had a chicken plate and I had an assortment of appetizers, which was perfect for me. Funny to have Turkish food on our last night in San Juan! So here is a list of some of the language I learned and used: cerebro esta lleno, hipocondriaco, las nubes, coqui, para lavarse mis manos, preferisco sintheticos (sp,) esta lejos, and more but I can't remember anymore. This was a pretty fabulous, unexpected holiday. Tomorrow, we'll have a few hours to explore a little more before heading to the airport. Hasta la proxima vez.

Our last full day on holiday...

We grabbed our cups of coffee from the 24/7 coffee pots on the terrace level early this morning, and ascended to the pool terrace, where we saw this beautiful sky. We spent some time reading before going out to breakfast. We found the bakery that we'd gotten pastries from on our first day, and had breakfast, as well as more pastries. After that, we took a taxi to Plaza de las Americas (yes, amigos, I went to a mall willingly) to try to find Salsa music CDs. Chuck got three CDs at Borders and I got Book 1 of Harry Potter in Spanish, which was something I'd planned on. What a good way to increase my vocabulary. See the coquis hanging from the ceiling in the mall? It was a good place to be for a few hours, to escape the humidity. Our cab driver, Cristian, was very nice and arranged to pick us up at a specified time. It worked out great. We got back to the hotel, went back up to the pool area to enjoy the breeze, until time for the nightly wine and cheese reception.

A day with friends...part dos

The black bean soup was yummy, as were the views of the playa from the hotel terrace. We sat for a long time, visiting , chatting (si, en español,) and watching the palomas and a tiny lizard.

A day with friends...

We spent a lovely day, yesterday, with los padres de Carlos. They took us around to see a few sites then to see the Marriott Hotel & casino where Carlos Sr. works. It was very impressive, very big, very active. The pool had fountains and slides, a bar where you sit on a stool in the water, and places to sit and enjoy looking at the ocean, which we did after lunch. The lunch was a buffet where we could sample lots of things we might not have otherwise tried. For dessert, we tried some typical sweets, majarete y tembleque. I managed to speak español with the madre, feeling pretty pleased with myself that I could be understood, though I’m sure I sounded like a niña.

Some views to share...

A view of the fountain at the start of Paseo de la Princesa. A drive-by photo of the ocean. The tiles on the stairs in our hotel. Some lovely memories of a too short holiday.

On our walks...

The totem commemorates something important but I didn't write down the inscription so I can't look up the words in my dictionary. It was very tall, made of ceramics, and very intriguing. After a cool down at the hotel, we went for a walk along the water side of the old city wall. These spikey sculptures were quite striking by the old wall. We walked along Paseo de la Princesa, where there were stalls with crafts and snacks. The nightly wine and cheese reception is lovely. We spoke with some of the other guests, a couple on honeymoon from Israel, leaving for their cruise this morning,; a family who sailed away from England and ended up in Antigua, which is their home now. They're here with their 2 year old son and 6 week old daughter. Chuck spoke with a man and his daughter; he's from Minnesota and Costa Rica. I wonder who we'll meet tonight! Off to the roof top jacuzzi and then, excitement, we are meeting up with Carlos C's parents!