March 5, 2011
Plans changed slightly from the last time I updated, but not by much. Turns out San Juan's Noche de Galeria only occurs once a year (and not on the first Tuesday of every month, as so many sites suggested), so that was out. Instead, we walked around Old San Juan a bit more and then headed back to the hotel.
The next day we got up a bit early and took a drive out to Arecibo to see the observatory. Totally worth the hour or so drive, since the dish itself is a sight to behold and the included museum has some pretty cool science information and exhibits. But the main attraction - the receiver - is alone worth the drive and price of admission. Beyond that, the views of the mountains are also really nice.
After Arecibo, we headed back toward San Juan, making a pit stop at the Bacardi facility to take the tour and taste some samples. Theresa had a Rum and Pineapple Juice and I also had that as well as a Bacardi Select on the rocks. Decent, but nothing at all that you couldn't get back home. I was more interested in seeing the facility, but drinks are always a nice addition. Especially when they're free.
After leaving Bacardi, we drove to the far east side of the island to take a kayaking trip over to the Bioluminescent Bay. Let me tell you, paddling a kayak (for the first time) through a narrow channel surrounded by trees in absolute pitch black for three miles one-way is not the easiest thing in the world to manage, but doing so to see the glowing water was totally worth it. Any sort of disturbance in the lagoon would cause the water in its immediate area to glow until the turbulence subsides. Pretty amazing.
A late-night drive back to the hotel and another night's sleep under our belts, we made yet another outing back to Old San Juan to explore the Castillo de San Cristóbal. As in the case of the fort, it was pretty impressive to walk around a structure that is only around seven years younger than the United States as a country. That is, with the exception of the WWII addition that was tacked on to one of the castle's corners to keep a watchful eye on the Atlantic.
No trip to the Caribbean is complete without a relaxing day on the beach, so once we finished running around the castle, we went to a really nice beach on the coast of Old San Juan and spent the rest of our day relaxing with some sand and some swimming. The beautiful views made for a fantastic bookend to our vacation to-do list and it was a perfect way to wind things down.
Our last day in Puerto Rico was once again in Old San Juan, doing some last-minute exploring before heading back to the beach for a small picnic, and then back to the hotel to pack and relax before the flight.
Another great and much-needed vacation! As always, I've posted all of the trip's photos in the Photo Browser, so head over to the Puerto Rico 2011 album if you'd like to see everything.
(10:04)
Update: Oh, by the way... I'm a PCI QSA now. Hurrrr.
(10:13)
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