Puerto Rico: Days 4, 5 and 6

Day 4

We drove around a lot.  San Juan (where we're staying ) is sort of in the center of the northern coast.  We drove on crazy back roads through the mountains to the south coast.  I didn't take many pictures, but for the most part it was a pleasant drive with beautiful views of the mountains and the forests.

On the south coast, we found this amazing little restaurant in the middle of NOWHERE.  The place is set right on the Caribbean.

I took this picture from my seat during lunch!

Checking out the crabs on the beach below

Later we went for a little walk on the beach




Eleanor LOVED her mango!  She eats these at home too, but the one we got was SUPER fresh.

Day 5

We went back to Old San Juan in search of paintings.  We found some beautiful ones in at store but they were a bit out of our price range.  We're going to go back later because supposedly more people are selling stuff out on the street on the weekends.

This is the 2nd oldest church in the Americas.
(The oldest is in the Dominican Republic.)

Eleanor L O V E D feeding the pigeons in the park.

She was SO happy!

Pigeons kissing... or fighting over cracker crumbs?

Later that day we attempted to go to the art museum.  We were not successful.  It turns out there's an Ave Jose de Diego and an Ave de Diego, and we got the wrong one.  (I blame Google Maps!)  We spent about an hour driving in circles, getting lost, getting extremely frustrated, and finally just laughing at the situation.  "What, that was the entrance ramp back there?  Well of COURSE there was no sign!"  The traffic here is completely insane - worse than Atlanta or Washington D.C. - so missing your turn means it will take you at least 20 minutes to get back to where you started.  We finally ended up at Plaza de las Americas, the largest mall in the Caribbean.  It is absolutely huge - 3 stories - and has lots of upscale stores like Coach, Pottery Barn, White House Black Market, etc.  We got Eleanor a few books in Spanish at the Borders, but that was it.  It was a bit of a disappointing afternoon, but having the ability to laugh at everything really helped.  Anyway, we hope to find time to go back to the art museum now that I know where it is.  Oh yeah, and it turns out that it's within walking distance of our place.  Of course!

One worn out baby!

Day 6

Today was probably my favorite day so far.  This morning, we went back to El Yunque to this little pool and waterfall.  There were a few more waterfalls up the trail, but we didn't have on great shoes and it was a little slick when you're carrying a baby on your back.

Eleanor had a blast playing with leaves and rocks.  This kid doesn't need any fancy toys - just give her a few leaves!
(That's a cloth swim diaper, by the way.  We didn't see the point in putting on her suit.)

She played like this for at least 30 minutes and SCREAMED when her mean parents made her leave.

The Bano Grande, or big bath.  People used to swim here but for some reason now you can't.

After a tasty lunch, we drove to the very northeast tip of PR to a nature reserve called "Las Cabezas de San Juan."  We took a tour that lasted about 2 hours and it was great!  They drove us around on a little tram so it was easy to do with Eleanor.

Not a bad view while you wait for the tour to start

That's some serious Mother-In-Law's Tongue (the plant) out there

We took a walking tour of a mangrove swamp on a boardwalk

We stopped at a beautiful rocky beach

And we climbed up to a lighthouse with an amazing view!  This is looking east, and in the distance you could see the island of Culebra.  (I don't think you can see it in this picture.)  It's part of PR, but on a really clear day they say you can even see St. Thomas.

Looking south along the west coast of PR.  Somewhere in here the water changes from the Atlantic to the Caribbean

Looking west along the northern coast - San Juan is behind me in this picture.

This lagoon has phosphorescent microorganisms living in it.  At night they light up and you can go on a kayaking tour and see them like stars twinkling under the water.   We'll have to save that for a future trip when we don't have a baby with us!