A Very Happy Caribbean Birthday

Day 8 – San Juan/Eric’s Birthday!!!!

Eric turned 27!!!! Yay! He is seriously the best and anyone lucky enough to know him knows how incredible he is. I had the best week being with him all the time with no distractions (yay, no internet!!). We always have so much fun together and I’m so glad that we get to be together forever. I can’t imagine anyone better. He treats me so well all the time and is always looking out for other people. He’s so wonderful.

We had a VERY early morning since it was disembark day and our disembark time was 7:30 AM. We packed the night before and they had already taken our bags, so we just had to shower and get ready for the day and eat breakfast. We decided to get up extra early so we could eat in the dining room. We always wanted to do breakfast in the dining room, but it was hard because we only had one sea day and we slept through breakfast that day – whoops. We had omelets with hash browns for breakfast and then it was time to get off the ship. It was bittersweet because we really did have an awesome week. We decided that cruising isn’t our favorite type of vacation, but it was perfect for this year and it is the most relaxing type of vacation. The awesome thing about a cruise is that you don’t have to plan very much and things come to you. When we got on the ship, I couldn’t even tell you where all our stops were going to be. I just knew that the ship was going to take us to places where it was warm, sunny, and by the ocean. Every night there was a show, live music, and something funny. It really was a wonderful week.

Fortunately, because we knew we were going to get off the ship on Eric’s birthday, we decided to extend our trip for a day and see San Juan so we didn’t have to spend Eric’s birthday on an airplane. We got off the ship, got a cab to the airport, and picked up our rental car. We booked a hotel called Ciqala, which was one of the coolest places we have ever stayed. They had so many awesome amenities.

Our room wasn’t ready when we got there, but they told us we could have out by the pool (on the roof!!) and then take their free beach shuttle to the beach. We went up on the roof and dipped our feet in the pool. The view of San Juan was awesome and we could see the Jewel of the Seas! After an hour we would take the beach shuttle to a nearby beach, where the hotel had beach chairs, umbrellas, and towels. It was pretty windy so it wasn’t a great beach day, but still fun to relax with my love on his birthday. We stayed on the beach for a few hours and then decided to walk around. We found a Ben & Jerry’s, so we of course had to get ice cream (we were already missing our soft serve). The workers sang Happy Birthday to Eric and gave him a free topping for his birthday.  There was a cool boardwalk that went out into the ocean, so we decided to take a walk. The waves were really coming in hard so we got drenched on the boardwalk, but it was still fun. We were only a mile from our hotel so we decided to walk back. It was a great walk through downtown San Juan!  

Our room was ready when we got back to the hotel, so we showered and got cleaned up, and then went to explore Old San Juan. It was so awesome! We started at one of the Forts (where we got in free with our National Parks pass!) and explored the Fort. It was really cool and crazy that they had to defend themselves so strongly! We walked to the second fort and explored that as well before wandering through the rest of the walled city. The houses were really cool – they reminded me of the French Quarter in New Orleans but with more vibrant colors. We found a local place to eat dinner and had some delicious seafood. Dennis was right – it was hard to pay for food after a week of having all we wanted.

After dinner, we continued our walk through the old town and found a beautiful building decorated for Christmas. People appeared to be heading towards it so we decided to see what was going on. Turns out it was the governor's mansion and he was holding an Open House for Christmas. We went in and saw him shaking hands with a lot of people. There was also an orchestra doing a concert. It was really neat! One thing we discovered about San Juan was that everything is in Spanish, even though it’s an American territory. It was the first time in my life I really wished I knew Spanish! We only stayed a few minutes since we didn’t know what they were saying and then continued our walk. We ended near where we started at the first fort where they had nativities and a Christmas tree set up. It was beautiful! We headed back to our hotel and called it a night.

Day 9 – San Juan/End of Vacation

All good things must come to an end. We woke up, packed our bags, and headed to the rainforest for the morning. El Yunque National Forrest is actually the only tropical forest in the National Forrest Service. Our National Parks Pass came through for us again and we got in free! The rainforest was really beautiful. I couldn’t believe how green and lush everything was! We started the morning off at the Visitors Center and then started driving through the forest. We stopped at a lookout for a beautiful waterfall and then continued to another lookout with a tower. We climbed up the tower and it was amazing how far we could see – we could see San Juan in the distance with the ocean behind it. It was a beautiful view!

Our next stop was actually a short hike to another waterfall. Hiking through a rainforest is very sweaty and humid. Also – everything is wet and muddy. It was very different than our typical Utah hikes, but still very fun. The waterfall was really pretty and well worth the hike! We continued our drive through the rainforest before calling it a day and heading to the airport.