PR Day 3 and 4

Okay let me finish up the remainder of my adventure at Puerto Rico.

Driving to Cayey

The third day we woke up pretty early around 7, maybe even earlier. We all dressed in our black dresses and suits to for the funeral that was beginning at 10 a.m. I am not going to lie I was pretty nervous, I haven't been to a funeral since in years. But we went and it gave me some insight to how funeral were done in Puerto Rico. First off, I was not raised Catholic, I was raised nondenominational christian, we didn't have the rosary and praying to the virgin mother when I was growing up. The funeral was Catholic and in Spanish, let's just say its a miracle I passed my Spanish class because when the Padre decided to start the mass, I was lost. But I repeated what everyone else was saying as we went through the mass. At the end we put my boyfriend's grandmother in the hearse and walked to the cemetery.

Yes, I said walked. I never done this before, but I felt it was beautiful in its own morbid way. She would have wanted it. As the car drove from the funeral home to the cemetery, we followed behind the car on foot and played a certain song requested on her burial behalf. We walked through the streets of Cayey and put his grandmother to rest where she had wished to be. It was beautiful, and I cried like a puppy dog when I saw everyone else and the eerie feeling of death among the group. It made me think about life and death, how fragile it actually is.

The view from the parking lot. 

After the funeral we went to a restaurant up the hills in Cayey. The Lechonera El Mojito. Very nice place, outdoors with a bar and gift shop and it gave off a very festive vibe. We were told that after the funeral we were to eat pork. Now, growing up here in South Florida, pork cannot be escaped, the delicious other meat is prominent down here but there, they made it so much better than I expected. I had three dishes of lechon or pork's shoulder, arroz con gandules, and yuca. The drinks there definitely had me feeling less sad and brought up the spirit of the family who came to celebrate her life. To put it in simple terms, I got drunk. By the time we got to the hotel everyone was feeling good, we drank even more and I passed out by 8 p.m.

View from El Morro

The next day we also woke up bright and early, that day we headed to San Juan to be tourists. The trip to San Juan was insane, I definitely had to cover my eyes while the drivers escorted us the lovely historical port and city. First place we visited was the city of Old San Juan and to the infamous fort El Morro. See in Puerto Rico there are two forts that surround Old San Juan, the Fort El Morro to the West and the Castillo San Cristobal to the East. According to the national park pamphlet passed out in El Morro and my feet, it is a half and hour walk in distance between these two forts. Also construction of El Morro began in 1539, making the Fort over 470 years old. And I thought the town of St. Augustine was old, this is a different level. Next to the Fort El Morro is the Cementerio Maria Megdalena de Pazzis, said to be one of the oldest cemeteries.

Feeding the birds

After we went and toured the inside of the Fort, we walked more throughout San Juan. We came to a little park area where a man was feeding the pigeons, there was swarms of these creatures all around this man. He came up to me and asked me to hold out my hand, I obliged and he poured bird seeds into my hand and three pigeons landed and started feeding from me. I cleaned my hands with plenty of soap and water after, I never experienced that before. As a person who has been to New York City, that means a lot.

While we were walking we stumbled across a little restaurant in San Juan. The name currently escapes me.
In this restaurant, my boyfriend and I enjoyed some interesting food. My boyfriend, the seafood junkie that he is, ordered seafood paella. I ordered beef steak cooked in onions with white rice, red beans, and tostones (smashed and double fried plantains). Oh not to mention we ordered drinks.

Mojito

I first started out with a simple rum and coke, but for the first time ever, I ordered myself a mojito. The mojito was out of this world, the lime citrus flavor coincides with the mint flavor and becomes one of the best alcoholic limeade drinks I personally have had. I was told not to drink too much, because after our lunch we were going to head over to the Bacardi Factory in Puerto Rico.

Bacardi Cuba Libra

At the Bacardi Factory, we were presented with three different tours possible to take. The regular historic tour that cost $15 per person, the mixology tour for $45 per person, and the rum tasting tour for $45 per person. I went all out and chose to take the rum tasting tour. At the front table where we paid, the woman gave us little coins and said we can use these to buy our complimentary drinks at the bar at the opposite end of the patio we were at. My first drink consisted of a rum and coke, and later because we had left over coins I also got myself a dacardi. During the tour we learned of the history of the Cuban originated rum and how it came to be. One of the facts I learned was of the bat logo, the wife of the creator went into the distillery and saw bats hanging from the ceiling. She felt the bat represented family and unity and we now know this as the logo to their infamous rum. During the rum tour we also learned of how the rum was created as well as tasting five different types of rums produced by Bacardi. The first one we tried was the Bacardi white rum, the ultimate mixer rum, white because it was filtered through activated charcoal. The second one we tried was the Bacardi Gran Reserva Maestro de Ron, great for a maestro collins drink. We also tried the Bacardi Rum 8 Anos Reserva Superior. We also tried the Bacardi Reserva Limitada as well as the ultimate rum. Our final taste of the Bacardi rum was the Bacardi Casa Special Reserve. Oh was it smooth. By the time I was finished with the rum tasting I was done for the day. I got to drink, see the sites, and walk through an American commonwealth that has a very different culture.