25th Anniversary Trip, Day 1

Last night, after a long day of flying, we arrived in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  By midnight local time we were at our hotel in Old San Juan within the walls of the old fort El Morro.  Our hotel is The Gallery Inn, a group of 16th century townhouses that served as naval headquarters for a time around 300 years ago!

Our room at The Gallery Inn

After a short sleep we got up, had breakfast and took a cab to the airport to rent a car.  We drove to the radio telescope at Arecibo.  Very cool!  I've been waiting about 15 years to see it and I wasn't disappointed.  It's huge!

Arecibo Radio Telescope

  
After leaving Arecibo we stopped for lunch at a local restaurant and I got to try Mofongo.  It's sort of a national dish here, but I either got a plain one or it was hyped too much on TV.  It consists of mashed plantain with chunks of plantain and is baked.  It's starchy and is a bit like dry mashed potatoes with a faint banana taste.  Don't get me wrong, it was good, just not as fantastic as people said.  The skirt steak that came with it was fantastic, though!

Mofongo at the Metropol Restaurant

 After lunch we cruised 100 kilometers to the far east end of the island to visit El Yunke, the only tropical rain forest in the U.S. National Park System.  It was gorgeous and was full of the sounds of birds and flowing/falling water.  I could have spent an entire day here just lying in a hammock and enjoying nature.

Peggy Enjoying rain forest flowers

In the clouds at El Yunke

We turned in our car at about 9pm and went back to the Hotel for a quick swim before bed time.

Hotel pool

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