5 unusual things I did in Puerto Rico.
"Let's go to Puerto Rico!" my sister said. My brother-in-law and I exchanged looks because neither of us know how to swim; and we suspected that my sister was secretly a fish. It was nine below zero so without much revolt, we caved into migrating south. It was the best decision ever. Here's why.
1. It was before dawn, a few hours into arriving in San Juan. We were on Condado beach when we randomly decided to go hiking into the El Yunque National Forest. In beach slippers I took off, not knowing what to expect. And before I realized, I was in the emerald heart of a rain forest, surrounded by trees - long and stout, with leaves of all shapes and sizes, engulfed in a smell of freshness and a faint sound of birds and flowing water. The trail was well maintained - enough to save paranoia but loopy and frikkin steep - enough to boost my self esteem. Clear waters were cascading by the trail, only to end in a massive waterfall. It slowly started to rain, and I thought the moment was opportune to kick off my slippers and jump in. There I was, bathing in freezing waters straight from a glacier in the pouring rain, in the middle of a tropical jungle. Check!
2. As charming as a black-and-white photograph, Old San Juan looks like it is right out of a vintage picture book. Avante garde art and pages of romantic novels scrawled the walls of the multi-colored rows of establishments. These were once occupied by the Spanish colonies, with each door more magnificent than the next, from the street - with a view of stairs into the houses. Right outside, the lateral streets opened into a view of the fort, a large unoccupied expanse beside it, finishing into a cemetery overlooking the ocean. Interlacing music, chatter at street-side eateries and the bustle of humans, this place was a manifestation of life - somehow calm, even in all that chaos. Check!
3. For a person who is deathly scared of water going into her ears, I am now a beach expert. During our entire trip, we visited around 9 beaches in Puerto Rico and her sister islands. There are sands of red, black, golden and snow-white. There are secret beaches, rocky beaches, crystal-clear pristine beaches, lagoons and bays. There are frothy huge waves, calm ebbs, filled with coral reefs, or waters of turquoise, deep blue or an ombre of the both. Some, crowded with activity and mojito delivery and some, abandoned with a light-house around the corner. I think I found my beach. Check!
4. Local Puerto Rico tastes like laid-back fun. Everyone is up to something and the streets are filled with rhythmic Reggaeton all the time! The radio sounds like every other radio. The latest techno-billboard hits jammed into a 30 second track and a radio jockey on the foreground with stupendous voice modulation, which ultimately breaks into an advertisement. Except this time, it was all in really fast Spanish! Apparently immigrants of Puerto Rico came up with Salsa. At first when we entered restaurants and saw people dance, we thought they were rehearsed performances. They weren't. Even kids are pro at Salsa! Wherever I went, people assumed I was a local and said something in Spanish - to which I mostly replied "Hola! No Espanol". Then they'd laugh and say something in Spanish again. And then I would laugh. I learned that piscena means swimming pool, basura means trash and pare means stop. Thanks for joining Spanish-101!
Let's talk food. For being a South-Indian, I had never before eaten this much plantain. They have steamed plantain, stuffed with vegetables and plantain with fried plantain on the side. I'm not kidding, that's a thing! But on the bright side it is also the land where Pina Coladas were invented. Also Mavi, which is a fermented brown sugar and ginger drink; and tender coconut water - mixed with local rum, of course. Check!
5. It was our last night there. We had returned from an obscure island called Icacos around dusk. We decided to paddle through mangroves under the starlit sky. Except, every time was a ripple in the water, it glowed - illuminating the fluid canvas beneath us. We were in the bio-luminescence lagoon in Fajardo. Surrounded by silent mangroves, we were floating among twinkles - above and below us, with the rising golden moon as our loudest companion. It felt like I was living a dream that I never wanted to wake up from. Check.
The title sounds like a Lonely Planet article, doesn't it? I almost inserted a picture of me with a dusty rucksack, intensely staring into a view of the mountains. Nah, if there is one thing I learned in Puerto Rico, it is to not try too hard. Just let go, enjoy a laugh and keep slowly drifting, wave after wave.
1. It was before dawn, a few hours into arriving in San Juan. We were on Condado beach when we randomly decided to go hiking into the El Yunque National Forest. In beach slippers I took off, not knowing what to expect. And before I realized, I was in the emerald heart of a rain forest, surrounded by trees - long and stout, with leaves of all shapes and sizes, engulfed in a smell of freshness and a faint sound of birds and flowing water. The trail was well maintained - enough to save paranoia but loopy and frikkin steep - enough to boost my self esteem. Clear waters were cascading by the trail, only to end in a massive waterfall. It slowly started to rain, and I thought the moment was opportune to kick off my slippers and jump in. There I was, bathing in freezing waters straight from a glacier in the pouring rain, in the middle of a tropical jungle. Check!
2. As charming as a black-and-white photograph, Old San Juan looks like it is right out of a vintage picture book. Avante garde art and pages of romantic novels scrawled the walls of the multi-colored rows of establishments. These were once occupied by the Spanish colonies, with each door more magnificent than the next, from the street - with a view of stairs into the houses. Right outside, the lateral streets opened into a view of the fort, a large unoccupied expanse beside it, finishing into a cemetery overlooking the ocean. Interlacing music, chatter at street-side eateries and the bustle of humans, this place was a manifestation of life - somehow calm, even in all that chaos. Check!
3. For a person who is deathly scared of water going into her ears, I am now a beach expert. During our entire trip, we visited around 9 beaches in Puerto Rico and her sister islands. There are sands of red, black, golden and snow-white. There are secret beaches, rocky beaches, crystal-clear pristine beaches, lagoons and bays. There are frothy huge waves, calm ebbs, filled with coral reefs, or waters of turquoise, deep blue or an ombre of the both. Some, crowded with activity and mojito delivery and some, abandoned with a light-house around the corner. I think I found my beach. Check!
4. Local Puerto Rico tastes like laid-back fun. Everyone is up to something and the streets are filled with rhythmic Reggaeton all the time! The radio sounds like every other radio. The latest techno-billboard hits jammed into a 30 second track and a radio jockey on the foreground with stupendous voice modulation, which ultimately breaks into an advertisement. Except this time, it was all in really fast Spanish! Apparently immigrants of Puerto Rico came up with Salsa. At first when we entered restaurants and saw people dance, we thought they were rehearsed performances. They weren't. Even kids are pro at Salsa! Wherever I went, people assumed I was a local and said something in Spanish - to which I mostly replied "Hola! No Espanol". Then they'd laugh and say something in Spanish again. And then I would laugh. I learned that piscena means swimming pool, basura means trash and pare means stop. Thanks for joining Spanish-101!
Let's talk food. For being a South-Indian, I had never before eaten this much plantain. They have steamed plantain, stuffed with vegetables and plantain with fried plantain on the side. I'm not kidding, that's a thing! But on the bright side it is also the land where Pina Coladas were invented. Also Mavi, which is a fermented brown sugar and ginger drink; and tender coconut water - mixed with local rum, of course. Check!
5. It was our last night there. We had returned from an obscure island called Icacos around dusk. We decided to paddle through mangroves under the starlit sky. Except, every time was a ripple in the water, it glowed - illuminating the fluid canvas beneath us. We were in the bio-luminescence lagoon in Fajardo. Surrounded by silent mangroves, we were floating among twinkles - above and below us, with the rising golden moon as our loudest companion. It felt like I was living a dream that I never wanted to wake up from. Check.
The title sounds like a Lonely Planet article, doesn't it? I almost inserted a picture of me with a dusty rucksack, intensely staring into a view of the mountains. Nah, if there is one thing I learned in Puerto Rico, it is to not try too hard. Just let go, enjoy a laugh and keep slowly drifting, wave after wave.
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