Me Trip Day #2

​I slept for 10.5 hours last night! Nothing woke me. The teen girls swimming at 0100 squealing with the crash of each wave only made me roll over. The neighbor going to work at 0500 made me roll back over the opposite direction. I slept like I haven’t slept in days. It was fantastic! When I did finally wake up, I was greeted with this view.

I spent the better part of the day with a small group tour in El Yunque in Rio Grande. The rainforest is always mesmerizing to me. You see it sure, but there are so many things you can easily miss if you aren’t really looking. The berries. The snails. The leaf shapes. The frogs. The flowers.

I booked this tour specifically for the hike - something I didn’t do when I was here in 2021. After a half hour on a trail, I climbed the 77 steps in the Yakahu Tower. Because I had done this previously, I climbed and quickly went back down. The crowds up top were thick, and the views from the inside windows were just as picturesque.

On the way out of the park, we stopped at a swimming hole “popular with the locals”, but only tour groups were here today. I didn’t swim, nor did much of the group, but the weather was perfect for sitting on a rock and watching the fish.

The tour made one last stop for lunch at a fruit stand. It wasn’t a restaurant per se, but the stand served traditional Puerto Rican lunch and fresh fruit smoothies. 

The papaya hot sauce - I was a fan in Aruba and I still am - and the fresh mango smoothie were fantastic!

Once I returned to San Juan I headed to the beach. I read a book, listened to the frat boys play Bad Bunny, and people watched. 

For dinner, I walked up and down the main road trying to decide where I wanted to eat. I eventually found my way off a side street to a bar for a mojito and fish tacos. It cost me $13 and rivaled any fancy meal I’ve eaten. I commented to the bartender that the tacos were great. A local sitting at the bar next to me, suggested I go one block east and try the fish tacos at the gay bar. 

Tomorrow I think I’ll rewind and redo today - the beach, a book, and a mojito or two. The lure of great fish tacos will probably not be enough to get me in the gay bar, though.