This day was “The Rest of Puerto Rico” Day. We took the rental car out and drove into the city to stop at a little Bistro for breakfast. The entire menu was in Puerto-Rican Spanish only. My rudimentary Spanish came in handy enough for me to figure out what I did and did not want, and I finally ended up with some French toast with fruit and a caramel latte that were both REALLY good. Steve had a giant omelet and he loved his too. Everything on the plates was huge, so much food.
From there we drove around to check out the island. We drove along the ocean, drove into the rain forest, drove up some mountains. We went up to check out some waterfalls up there, and climbed up an observation tower. We ended up wandering around through some back roads in town, and some super narrow one-way streets that were super tight and winding up the mountain, found a couple pot holes that were man-eaters, too. It wasn’t easy maneuvering around, but Steve tried to navigate and I tried to drive, and we got the job done. One thing that surprised me was how many people were up on that mountain with us. It was a National Park, and there were cars and people *everywhere*, which made it a little less enjoyable than if you could have the place to yourself, but hey. It was beautiful, but there were very few times and places I could actually pull off to get a photo of it, and I sure couldn’t drive and take the photo at the same time because the roads were too tight. You’re skimming mirrors on traffic coming down the other side, and your right wheel is on the edge of a drop off you’re not going to get out of without help. So…concentrate it was. ;) It made for a nice day, and rounded off Puerto Rico so that we pretty much saw most of the different parts of it. From rich areas to old downtown cobblestone and shops to mighty forts to rainforest and mountains to hurricane-hit destroyed areas and tiny shacks with bars over the windows and homeless people in sleeping bags and everything in between. It’s its own culture, a beautiful area, all the radio stations are in Spanish only, all the road signs are in Spanish, and the drivers make up their own lanes and rules a lot of the time. The people have been typically blunt but friendly and helpful. The beaches are beautiful and so are the mountains. And since it’s in the 80s, you can’t beat the weather.
All in all, this has been a really nice trip.
Now I just have to make it home. I’ve got my flight plan filed, and I did that 23 hours early to try to avoid a bad EDCT into Florida. The flight plan that they recommend is the only one I can see, really, and it takes me into Dominican Republic airspace before I get to Miami Center, whereas on the way down I was with Miami all the way until I got to San Juan approach, so I’m hoping that’s not too bad. I don’t know what I don’t know about all these little countries and rules and waypoints. I tried Google, but…I think everything’s all right, but if not I’ll find out tomorrow and deal with it. Google also said I had to have my plane inspected by Dept of Agriculture before I left for the mainland, but Steve thinks it might not mean us. I dunno. We’ll also find THAT out tomorrow I guess. They (Dept of Ag) open at 8 which is when we want to leave, so if it’s required, I guess they’ll be there at least.
Last night here, and we have to wake up at 6 am, which is 5 am Indiana time, so that’ll be plenty early.
Beautiful beaches and sunshine
Waterfalls
Rain forest
Observation tower but it was a 2.5 mile hike up there and not happening
Another small waterfall area
Observation tower I COULD get to
Last day…
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