Avery, a friend of mine for about 6 months that serves as my surfing sensei, is getting married soon and invited me to his bachelor party in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He promised a lot of surfing and a good time, so I booked my ticket for Friday - Monday. I actually PAID for my ticket this time... I'm getting pretty close to reaching Platinum status with Delta.
Since Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States, you don't need a passport to go there. However, you definitely know you're not in the US when you land. Most signs are in Spanish and while most people can also speak English, I ran into a few that didn't.
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| View from our hotel suite |
Avery's groomsmen booked adjoining rooms in a corner suite of the
El San Juan Resort and Casino for Friday and Saturday nights. I had never met any of them before but they were all friendly guys, most from Avery's home state of Louisiana. The area of San Juan looked like an older, less polished version of Miami. There were lots of hotel and condo towers right on the coast, but it just wasn't quite as glamorous.
We spent most of the day lounging at the in-pool bar and went to
Brava, El San Juan's nightclub, that night. It reminded me of a few of the dark and low-budget clubs I visited in Santiago, but there was one interesting twist.
Sean Kingston happened to be in the VIP section - there goes any chance of getting attention from the girls. They were all too busy trying to get free drinks and pictures.
On Saturday Avery, his other California surfer friend Dave, and I were bent on finding some waves to surf. After checking the swell forecasts and talking to a few locals, we found that our best bet was only a quarter mile up the beach near the Ritz Carlton Hotel (if you're looking for a landmark). There were other breaks across the island that are all accessible and go off with different swells, but we would need a car, long board rentals, straps for the car, and more time. Avery was staying longer than the rest of us so he took notes about these breaks. We just rented soft boards on the beach for $25 per hour and headed out at the local break (I don't even remember if it had a name).
The waves weren't great by any means, but it was fun to get out there and catch some anyway. Most were ankle biters and there were a lot of people in the water to fight off. Not only that, I found a few pieces of floating wood spiked with rusty nails right on the break - yikes. Overall this break was worth visiting, but if you're coming to PR for a surf vacation you should go for the more remote locations and save this for a last resort.
***Note: we met a few ladies in their 40s on a women's weekend that rented SUPs (
stand up paddle boards). They accidentally dropped their paddles, which sunk and cost them $250 per. I don't know why you would create a paddle that didn't float, but make sure you check if you go SUPing!***
On Saturday night we got back together with the rest of the crew... a few of them went to a cockfighting match near our hotel. This is still legal and sanctioned, with gambling and telecasts like horse racing back in Kentucky. We all had dinner and went back to Brava. The best man, Avery's brother, reserved a table and it was a special occasion - fight night. Puerto Ricans love boxing, especially when one of their own is fighting.
Cotto vs. Margarito II was entertaining, mainly because of the atmosphere it created in the club. Everyone was singing and cheering Cotto's every move. When he won, it made the club go crazy.
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| Club Brava |
The guys ended up running a bar tab in the $1500 range, but it wasn't so bad since there were so many of us. I ended up talking to a really cool girl from Florida for about 20 minutes before realizing that she had an engagement ring on her finger - doh. Oh well.
The next morning we had to be out of the hotel and most of the guys were going home. A few of us were staying for an extra night, but we booked a hotel in
Old San Juan. Driving through that section of town really reminded me of Casco Viejo, the old section of
Panama City that I visited earlier this year. All of the buildings were extremely old and it really took you back in time. The only downside was the massive cruise ship terminal nearby that kept a steady stream of typical American tourists clogging up the streets.
Dave and Avery broke down and rented a car so they could try to surf the northwest coast breaks on Monday (I was flying out in the morning). Since we had a car, we decided to go explore the northeast coast a bit. We got directions to a break that wasn't too far away that broke right on some rocks. I don't know exactly where it was, but my best guess is near the El Chorro river mouth. Avery convinced a guy to let him borrow his board, but the rest of us just sat on the beach and watched. It looked pretty brutal and I've never seen Avery so shaken up after a session.
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| Old San Juan |
Later that night we got a recommendation for a local dive bar/restaurant called
Pa'l Cielo, which translates to 'Of Heaven.' It wasn't in the touristy part of town, which was refreshing. The food was delicious and as it got later the crowd started to pack in. You could pick out the few gringos in the room and Avery made the executive decision for us to leave. Dave and I were having a good time since we had both experienced similar bars in other countries, but no big deal. We left and headed back toward Old San Juan.
It just so happened that the 18th annual Southern Fortaleza Culinary Fest was happening a few blocks from our hotel that weekend. Every restaurant on Calle Fortaleza (aka Restaurant Row) was selling small portions of their menus along with decent mojitos, along with music, art and people walking around everywhere. It was a great way to end the weekend and felt like what the 'real' Puerto Rico would be like without the tourism and American influence.
If I ever get the chance to go back I'll try to explore
El Yunque National Forest (the only rain forest in the US), maybe do some snorkeling and diving and tour a rum distillery or two :)
