May 1, 20168 min read

Puerto Rico & Vieques

Updated: Nov 20, 2018

My mom, boyfriend (Nico), and I were picked up by an Uber with flashing party lights to go to the airport and take a red-eye flight from SFO to Atlanta to San Juan. Mom and I were on the same flight while Nico took a different plane that connected through Charlotte. We were meeting up with my Aunt and Uncle in San Juan for a week in Puerto Rico before getting on a cruise.

A Day in San Juan

San Juan is just how you'd expect most cities in Central or South America to be -- busy with congestion and small cars that see traffic laws more like guidelines. Still, it takes a moment to get used to the chaos even if you know what to expect. One of the first things I experienced when we screeched to a halt in bumper-to-bumper traffic were Puerto Ricans speeding backwards up the on-ramp in order to avoid the traffic jam. As we slowly inched along the freeway, I heard sirens behind us. This must be the ambulance coming to the crash ahead, I thought. But it was a gang of police on motorcycle. It didn't seem like they would be able to help much at the scene of a crash. I watched, speculating about what was going down when I noticed the hearse slowly following behind the moto-cops. A funeral? Don't they know there's a car crash ahead -- Are they bringing the hearse for the people who crashed?? Behind the funeral procession followed an ambulance, a fire truck, and more emergency vehicles. The entire incident left me with more questions than answers.

When we finally arrived in Old San Juan, we stopped at a restaurant my aunt found in her guide book called El Jibarito. I ordered a piña colada (because vacation) and tried traditional Puerto Rican food. One of the dishes was mofongo, which is a Puerto Rican dish made of fried plantains and other ingredients. I was nervous to try it because I don't like bananas, but it doesn't taste like a banana at all! I actually really liked trifongo, which is a mofongo made with three different types of plantains. It was a great way to start the trip.

Not mofongo, but this is what I ordered

After lunch, we explored Old San Juan. It is a beautiful city with bright and colorful buildings.

We walked to Castillo San Felipe del Morro, an old fort built on edge of town. There's a large grass park that expands out in front of the fort where dozens of people were flying kites. Although pretty to look at, I'd suggest not walking inside any of the turrets -- the one I went into smelled like vomit.

Me & Mom

Activities in Luquillo

After exploring the fort for a while, we decided to drive to the town of Luquillo, where we would be staying for the next few days. The condo that we stayed at was found by my aunt and uncle on VRBO, a website similar to Airbnb. It wasn't too bad of a place but I guess the pictures online looked a bit better than the condo itself. It was small and there were about 5 different locks to be conquered before you were able to get inside. The location was the best thing about the place. It was right on the beach. My uncle made rum punch and with the windows opened, it was a nice place to relax. The AC in this joint was annoying. There was only AC in the bedrooms and it would feel really good at first but then I would wake up in the middle of the night, shivering.

The view from our condo deck

Luckily, we didn't spend too much time in the condo because we were out and about exploring Puerto Rico. On the first full day, we went into El Yunque Rain forest. It was raining pretty hard that day so we all purchased some very stylish ponchos and then drove to La Mina Falls trailhead. It was a small, simple hike to the falls. I didn't find it to be difficult at all. The rain stopped as we were hiking and it was nice to take off the poncho. The falls themselves were pretty brown. I'm not sure if that's because of the stormy weather we had been having or if they were always that color. There are two ways to reach the falls. We walked to the falls and then up the other path along the river and back.

After the hike, we got back into the car and drove to Yokahu Observation Tower. This area had a really nice view looking over the canopy of rainforest. At the top of the tower, someone brought a drone and captured really cool footage of the surrounding area.

The next day we thought about going ziplining but Nico had poison oak (that he picked up in the states) all over his body so we decided to have a beach day. The beach outside our condo, Playa Azul, was nice and secluded. Although it was easy to access, it was never crowded. This may have been because we were visiting at the tail end of the tourist season or because the weather was constantly flirting with the chance of rain but still I can't really imagine it ever being busy. The water was shallow for a ways out and there was a reef but it had been pretty damaged from tourists and fisherman and such so there wasn't much to see snorkeling here. The beach stretched on for a long time, making it easy to walk to other beaches like, Playa La Monserrate. It was a beautiful walk with white crabs running around on the sand and rainforest hanging overhead, making you feel like you were on an uninhabited island.

For our last day in Luquillo, we went to Seven Seas Beach. The beach itself was very narrow but there was some better snorkeling than the places we'd been to so far. We hung out here for awhile before going to the airport to fly out to Vieques...

Food in Luquillo

Since our condo had a kitchen, we did make a decent amount of food at home. There was a restaurant near where we stayed called the Brass Cactus. It served some pretty decent Mexican food and burgers but I was really impressed by the drinks. The owners of the restaurant are originally from Dallas but now own and operate the Brass Cactus in Luquillo.

Besides eating at the Brass Cactus, our group took a trip to the Puerto Rican kioskos, a popular attraction in Luquillo. The kioskos are simply a row of small buildings along the beach. Most of them sell food or drinks but some of them have souvenirs. The kioskos range from takeout food to sit-down meals. We looked up a few popular ones on TripAdvisor but never got a chance to eat at any of those. This was probably because we were here midweek and some of the kioskos are closed Monday and Tuesday. Also, I think one was closed for renovations. I forget the name of the kiosko we did end up eating at. The food wasn't anything to get really excited about. I had mofongo but enjoyed the one I tried in San Juan a bit more. All that being said, many people do rave about the Luquillo kioskos and perhaps I would have more to say about them if we had gotten a chance to try one of the highly rated joints.

Activities in Vieques

To get to Vieques, we flew in a small prop plane. The plane fit the pilot and about 6 passangers. It was pretty cool to look out over the turquoise water as we bounced overhead in the cloudy sky.

Once we arrived in Vieques, we went to our little hotel, Casa de Amistad, located in the town of Isabel Segundo. This small bright hotel was the perfect place to stay on the island. It had a pretty pool in the little decorated garden. There were lounge chairs and string lights on the roof that was accessible by a narrow spiral staircase. The hotel had a shared kitchen with a fridge full of beers and snorkel rentals that were paid for using the honor system.

For our first full day on Vieques, we went snorkeling at Mosquito Pier, which is said to have some of the best snorkeling on the island. I saw lots of different fish. Some people in our group saw sea turtles when they swam out to the end of the pier.

Later, we drove to go find a black sand beach. We went to Playa Negra, but the sand was only partially black. It was mostly just regular yellow-ish sand with some black streaks mixed in. I've been to an all black sand beach in Hawaii once so I wasn't super impressed. There were, however, tons of white crabs along the pathway down to the beach. I tried to get a picture of them but they would dart back into their holes every time I'd get close.

One section of black sand I was able to capture

Here's what most of the beach looked like

For the rest of the day we went to Sun Bay. It was a beautiful long beach with wild horses nearby. The herd would let you get close up and take pictures. There were cute babies and beautiful mares.

Our second day on Vieques was full of lots of rain. We decided to go to the Vieques fort, which had been renovated into a museum. Maybe I just have a low attention span for museums, but I would have preferred to have just relaxed at the hotel.

After that, we went to Caracas Beach, located at the nature reserve. This was one of the prettier beaches I've seen in Puerto Rico. It had light, white sand and clear turquoise water. The rain let up a little bit when we arrived and a pretty rainbow was painted across the sky.

That night we went on a kayak tour of Bio Bay, which is THE activity to do in Vieques. Millions of bacteria in the water glow as they release energy from being moved. With every stroke of our paddles, the seawater would light up with tiny organisms. It's amazing to see and you're just going to have to take my word for it because it was nearly impossible to get any photos.

Food in Vieques

Moments after landing in Vieques, we were already introduced to amazing food. One of the best meals of the trip was at... the airport (yes you read that right). As we waited for my aunt and uncle to pick up the rental car, my mom, Nico, and I waited at the small cafe right outside the airport. A local couple sitting at the table next to us were enjoying a delicious looking basket of dumplings. We began talking to the couple and came to find out, they'd order dumplings at the airport every week. Who would have though the airport would be a local favorite? After ordering the dumplings for myself, I didn't doubt it.

For our first night, we went out to Conuco, an upscale Puerto Rican food restaurant located in town. I got the chicken fricassee, which was amazing.

On day two, we had lunch at a place in Esperanza called Bananas. We loved this place so much that we went again the next day for dinner before heading out to the Bio Bay. At Bananas, the drinks were amazing (I ordered a Pain Killer almost everywhere I went on this trip). Also, the appetizers were to die for. We got gorgonzola bread (that nico loved even though he doesn't like blue cheese) and yummy mahi bites, which were encrusted in coconut. Just thinking about these apps are enough to make me want to be back in Vieques. For dinner, I'd highly suggest the coconut curry or the grilled mahi.

Gorgonzola bread & a mahi bite

We spent our second dinner at Coqui Fire, a favorite for visitors and number 1 on TripAdvisor. The restaurant serves delicious Mexican food. I ordered a sangria while the others in the group had margaritas. Nico really enjoyed this spicy margarita they served. For dinner, I had enchiladas.

All-in-all, I'd definitely go back to Vieques simply for the food. The beautiful beaches, the bioluminescence, and the wonderful snorkeling also make this an easy decision.