Like usual fashion, we take a trip, then 6 months later we decide to do the blog for that trip. Not because of a lack of time or energy. Not because of anything really. Anyhow, this is your host Mason with the Caribbean trip of summer 2019.
At first we were planning to go to the East Coast for a massive 2 week trip (NYC, Washington D.C, Boston), but after my mom's achilles surgery, we decided that trip would be too much walking and that we had to pick a more laid-back vacation destination. We came up with Puerto Rico somewhat last minute, but it makes sense; we have family there, we haven't been there in 7 years, we don't have to walk the entire time. Why not? We also threw in a few days in The Dominican Republic for the fun of it. It is a 45 minute flight from Puerto Rico to The D.R, so it's not too far as well. Enjoy :)
Wednesday, June 26
After me personally only getting 2 hours of sleep that night, we grabbed our bags and painfully left the house at 4:00 in the morning. We took an Uber to the airport, and our plane left at around 6:00. The four of us are ready to conquer the day of traveling across the country, including Mom in her boot.
The first flight was to Newark, New Jersey, then a second flight to San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico. Here is a picture of the first early morning flight.
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We had around 6 hours to kill for our layover, so we decided to take a Uber into Manhattan and check out Times Square for a while. I've never been, so it was cool getting a glimpse at the Big Apple before the East Coast trip we want to try doing again the following summer.
Me, Siena, and Dad in the heart of Times Square.
We had lunch there as well, where I had lobster tots, which I didn't know was a thing but was one of the best foods I've ever had. Siena and I eating our lunch, getting along for once.
A selfie in front of the big and bright advertisements.
After remembering that we planned to go to Puerto Rico, and not New York City, we took and Uber back to Newark and boarded the plane to San Juan.
We landed at midnight and got our rental car, which was upgraded to a mini-van, so we had way more room than we needed. We are all exhausted and sleepy, but we had one more mission: find our rental house. After what felt like hours of driving through random neighborhoods and searching Google Maps hopelessly in metropolitan San Juan (Bayamon), we finally found the tiny 3 bedroom home. Neighborhoods in Puerto Rico are split up into subdivisions, so it was tricky finding the right one. We all found our beds, and passed out for the night, and by that time is was around 2:30 in the morning.
Thursday, June 27
The whole family woke up at around 12 in the afternoon, by no surprise. After taking our first steps out in the beaming Puerto Rican sun and humid air, we drove to El Meson for lunch, which is literally the Puerto Rican version of Subway. We also went to the grocery store and got food for the week.
We then drove to Bisabuelo Tonio's (my great-grandpa and Abuelo Jose's dad) to visit him, Abuelo, Titi Yoli and Titi Gladis. Abuelo has been in Puerto Rico a few weeks before us taking care of Abuelo Tonio. The cousins usually take care of him, but Abuelo is giving them a break.
We talked for a while and socialized, then decided to drive into Naranjito, the town where dad and his family grew up in, and checked it out. The colorful downtown.
We drove to the house where Dad grew up in, but we couldn't go into in like last time we were here because people are living in it now.
We then drove to the heart of Naranjito and did some sightseeing. We went to this fruit market and met a kid not much older than me who is from Hillsboro! Him and his family is also visiting family. Small world.
By the time we got back to the house, it was already time to go to dinner (because we woke up so late). We decided to drive to Dorado, which is the resort town where we stayed last time we went. Before dinner, Siena and I had to test the water, which was stupidly warm.
We ate at a seafood restaurant in downtown Dorado and then went home for the night. Not too many pictures of this day because half of it was spent sleeping, but really fun regardless.
Friday, June 28
We started the morning by having breakfast at home, then driving over to Abuelo Tonio's house. Taking advantage of the minivan, we picked up the two abuelos and drove over to Titi Yoli's house to swim and hang out with family. They have a pool in the backyard, which Siena and I got all to ourselves.
We swam, ate delicious food, played dominoes and music, and socialized. This photo represents all of those things, and mom finds this photo to be the definition of being Puerto Rican. There is also 4 generations of Puerto Ricans in this photo.
Oh yeah, they have these here.
A few of us turned on the TV inside to watch the U.S. girls play in the World Cup. Abuelo took me to the bakery down the street and got everyone pastries and sodas. A few of the cousins started showing up from work later on in the day.
Once it started getting later into the day, we drove back to the house and put on dry clothes. We ate at a pizza restaurant (not very traditional but whatever), and then drove to downtown Naranjito. Dad's home town has a history of having a really good volleyball team, which apparently is big here on the island. Siena and I in front of the players.
After the game, we went home and called it a day.
Saturday, June 29
Probably one of our busier days, we decided to head into Old San Juan for the day, the historic and probably most famous part of Puerto Rico. After learning that driving into Old San Juan is a nightmare, we took a ferry into it. For some reason, no matter how old we are, we still take these pictures.
Siena and I on the ferry.
Ha, a bird decided to ruin her day by pooping on her arm while we were waiting for our Uber. Some local said it is good luck to have that happen to you though.
Dad, Siena, and I in front of some statue.
We took the Uber to El Morro, the 500 year old fortress. We decided we needed lunch though, so we ate at a cafe. Mom, with her foot, chilled out at some table next to the restaurant and read while Dad, Siena, and I went to explore. This is a picture we took at the fort to recreate the time we were there in 2012.
I found an iguana just chilling at the wall of the fort.
After hours of exploring the historic El Morro under the sun, we got shaved ice and went to find mom. We took another Uber back to the ferry and rode it back to the car.
We then drove to a beach called Balneario Punta Salinas where we swam in the ocean for a while. We didn't take any pictures because we were too busy, but Siena filmed underwater, we played catch with a ball, and I got brushed by a jellyfish. Fun times.
We went home, put on dry clothes, and went to a traditional Puerto Rican restaurant. Red Lobster.
After dinner, we decided to go on another driving trip through Old San Juan to make sure we could take in everything (we couldn't do much of that because of Mom not being able to walk as much). This is a photo of the umbrellas on Fortaleza Street.
After some sightseeing, we drove home for the day.
Sunday, June 30
For our last full day in Puerto Rico, we decided to drive up to Arecibo to see the famous Arecibo Observatory, a giant radio telescope NASA uses. On the way there, we stopped at a restaurant on the side of the street that has ceti fish, which you can only find in a particular river in Arecibo. Other than that, no where else in the world has ceti.
Me, Siena, and dad waiting for our food. Talk about getting away from home.
Note all of the eyes. It was really good though, once you forget that you can see the fish your're eating.
We drove up to the hills of Arecibo where we got to the observatory. We checked out the museum, watching a quick documentary, then got to see the telescope itself.
For dinner, we drove back to Bayamon and found a restaurant with very traditional Puerto Rican cuisine. After having Red Lobster and pizza, we needed to have actual Puerto Rican food.
Monday, July 1
To start off the last day in Puerto Rico, we packed up our stuff, and went back to Grandpa Tonio's to visit more family. We met Titi Iris and Tio Pablo and their daughter Alexandra.
Me, Siena, Abuelo, and Tio Pablo walked to a convenience store to get some limbers (Puerto-Rican popsicle-in-a-cups) and other Puerto Rican candies. I got mango and Siena got strawberry.
After saying our final goodbyes to our relatives, it was time to head straight to the airport for our flight to Punta Cana. A quick 45 minute flight and we touched down on the foreign island. We checked in our passports, and we were ready to head to the giant beach side resort.
We checked in, stood in awe for how big the resort was, went to our room, stood in awe again for the giant 2 story room, then went to bed for the night. To understand how big the resort was, here was the resort map:
Tuesday, July 2
To start out the first day, Siena and I went to the beach while our parents booked stuff for us to do. The sand was white and the water was warm and turquoise. It was perfect.
We swam around in the ocean and pool, then had lunch. Afterwards, I decided to rent a paddleboard. It was super windy so I didn't get too far though.
Siena then decided to hop on and I gave her a ride around the beach.
We spent the rest of the day swimming and doing things. We went back to our room to get dressed into real clothes, then we went out to eat at a seafood restaurant. We then went back to the room and called it a day.
Wednesday, July 3
The day before, Mom and Dad booked a dolphin excursion for Siena and I, which was today. A bus picked us up from our resort, and took us to the beach were the dolphins were. Before we got ready to see the dolphins, our family took a picture with some tropical parrots.
Siena and I got ready to go see the dolphins.
But before that, Siena and I got a picture taken with a seal.
And we even got a picture taken with a giant stingray.
We were then split up into groups, then we could see the dolphins. There were so many, so I'm just going to put them all in one:
Anyway, once the session was over, we had lunch at that restaurant, then we watched some bird show where a parrot was doing tricks. Then we went into this bird exhibit where they released a bunch of birds and we got to feed them in our hands.
At one point, Siena was feeding like 4 birds at once.
Dad had a fool-proof method to make sure birds don't do him nasty + some guy who was staring at the camera.
We then watched a seal show where it was also doing tricks. Siena got called up and the seal did some up-close tricks in front of the crowd.
The bus then took us back to the resort. We spent the rest of the day swimming in the pools, and eating delicious food.
Thursday, July 4
To celebrate the fourth, we spent the entire day swimming around at the resort's waterpark, swimming in the tropical beach, and swimming in the massive pools. Since we were in a foreign country, there wasn't much of a celebration, but it's hard to beat swimming on a tropcial island.
Friday, July 5
For the last full day in the Dominican Republic, we did what we normally did; swam and had fun. Played some mini-golf here and there.
During night, we dressed up and went to a fancy Spanish restaurant. Siena and I sure dressed up well.
Me posing in front of the fountain.
Saturday, July 6
We had breakfast, left the resort to the airport, and spent the entire rest of the day traveling back home. No exciting layovers, just a quick one at the Chicago airport (which I've been to 3 times now). We got home pretty late at night, and we took an Uber back home, and went to bed.
This was one of the best trips we've had, and I can't wait to go back. Thanks Mom and Dad :) And now, I need to get ready for New Years.
