PUERTO RICO // PART EIGHT

Puerto Rico Part Eight.

El Viejo San Juan, or the old San Juan is one of my favorite places to visit in Puerto Rico. It has a rich history, beautiful old buildings and is so colorful! As you can see, I couldn't get enough of all those beautiful pastels and brightly painted buildings. When you're strolling through the mostly brick streets, you feel like you've been transported to Europe. It's definitely a fun place to spend the day exploring, loading up on touristy tchotchke's, eating piragua's and seeing all the cool boutiques with local art. If you can only spend a weekend in Puerto Rico, I would suggest spending it here! 

I love you, Puerto Rico! 

PUERTO RICO // PART SEVEN

Puerto Rico Part Seven.

We went to the boardwalk one day to get some food and take in local culture. It seemed a bit touristy and gimmicky, but I think that's the vibe of most any other boardwalk I've ever been to. We enjoyed watching the pelicans catch fish, looking at the big ole fish that swim close to the docks (aren't they scared of getting snatched up!?), listening to live Puerto Rican music and of course, eating some local fried fare. How cute are the mom and daughter on their bikes?! 

PUERTO RICO // PART SIX

Puerto Rico Part Six.

I am not much of an outdoorsy person and definitely would never describe myself as very adventurous, but I felt like a real Indiana Jones when we went exploring the Cuevas de Camuy, or the caves of Camuy. We went down a mountain into one of the longest chains of natural caves in the world, carved out by the Camuy River. It was so cool to be inside a cave looking up at all the beautiful foliage and seeing how plant life adapts to darkness. 

After exploring the caves for a while we decided to head over to Arecibo to see the Arecibo Observatory which is an enormous single aperture telescope. I remember seeing this huge thing in the movie Contact and most vividly from an episode of X Files. It sits on top of a mountain in a rather remote location. The structure is HUGE. To give you an idea of scale, that arm looking thing that leads you out to the receiving head of the telescope is a walkway for people. Yeah. It's pretty big. 

PUERTO RICO // PART FIVE

Puerto Rico Part Five.

El Castillo Serralles sits at the top of Ponce over looking the entire town. It's a beautiful home, the home of a family who started sugar cane farming and later a distillery in Ponce many years ago. It is more of a mansion than a castle, the title is a little deceiving but it's a beautiful home with gorgeous details, and this view is just so cool. My Mom wanted the smaller house that is a little run down right in front of the mansion. I think it's charming too!