PR Day 1 and Day 2

When I first landed in the airport in San Juan, it was the early evening time. Our ride greeted my boyfriend and I outside the airport, we immediately sprayed ourselves with our military grade bug spray and packed into the rental vehicle his mother got. We drove a good I believe it was forty minutes south to our hotel in Caguas. At night, each little city area we passed seemed beautiful and the dark silhouettes of the mountains in the background gave me a feeling of nostalgia. See I stayed in Panama for about a month one summer and the landscape is pretty similar, and the crazy driving as well. But we arrived at our hotel and unloaded our things into our hotel room on the fourth floor.

Our hotel, the Four Points in Caguas, was amazing. As soon as we pulled into the parking garage we noticed our hotel had a casino attached to the side. A casino, usually we only get that at the Hard Rock down here in Florida but we had one. We didn't go to the casino the first night, we saved that for another day. But anyway, we checked in at the front desk and noticed the hotel also has a gallery attached between the casino and the hotel lobby. We also noticed the diner area with a bar that looked out to the pool area. The first night it rained so we also didn't go swimming. But we did drink our first night in Puerto Rico.

My boyfriend isn't a big beer fan and I am not one either but we had no idea what to order so our first beers in Puerto Rico were Corona Extras. They were very good with our lemon and lime slices on them. We drank and ate dinner in the diner area, he has a quesadilla and I had chicken with rice and beans. Later on his family came down and ate and drank with us as well. Turns out his whole family also were staying at this hotel with us. At the dinner table we discussed the funeral arrangements that were to come also places we were to eat dinner at.

Our first night was pretty simple, two beers and prepare for the viewing.

The next day we rose early and set out to the city of Cayey, which is even further south than Caguas. I got some pretty good scenery snap chat videos on our trip further south.

The city of Cayey was small but this is my mother-in-law's hometown and I felt it had several major cultural aspects. I am not sure how Catholics and Puerto Ricans mourn their dead but our viewing lasted from 9:30 am until 9 pm. We didn't stick around the funeral home all day though, at some points when we became restless we would get up and walk through the city of Cayey and go on little adventures while also meeting many citizens who knew my boyfriend's family.

Anywho, I heard pretty interesting stories about Cayey pertaining to my boyfriend's family history. When we arrived the city was practically empty, most of the people were at church and the church fair because it was Sunday. We wandered around going up to different businesses, many of which were also empty or closed. Around one or two o'clock, his mother took us to have one of the best tacos I've ever had. We went to a little restaurant in Cayey called Ramonita's Tacos. There I tried their chicken and pork tacos, the chicken is my favorite. As well as inhaling the wonderful tacos which I drenched in their hot sauce, I tried the beer of Puerto Rico, Medalla.

These two did in fact brighten up my day as well as fill my belly. Highly suggest this restaurant to those wanting to grab a quick and filling bite to eat.

We also grabbed a bite to eat after the funeral at the restaurant next door to Ramonita's. La Hamburguera Tropical Bar and Grill was equally as delicious as its neighbor. They also had music and a dance floor set up. Along with our drinks my boyfriend and I danced a little and ate with his family who came from their locations to Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico

I sincerely apologize for my leave of absence from this blog, The last five days I was in the beautiful island of Puerto Rico. Unfortunately this was not a vacation, I was morning the loss of one of my boyfriend's family members. But we also sought out the opportunity to go not only to celebrate her life but to see the sites where a part of my boyfriends family originated.

Puerto Rico, a Caribbean Latin American Island, not that far from Florida and a US commonwealth, felt like I stepped into another county. I have never been to Puerto Rico before, this was my first trip and I can say I loved it there. We arrived around 6 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon, our flight was a two hour trip and went through smoothly... Sorta. Let's just say I found out I do not like flying on a plane. I have nothing against the mode of transportation but its like a roller coaster simulator and I get highly irritated of that feeling. I almost broke my boyfriend's hand when we took off in Florida and landed in PR.

First thing I was told about Puerto Rico before going there wasn't that it was a beautiful country nor was I suggested places to visit. I got the negative first and was told of the high amount of Zika cases present in the country. Hell on the way to the airport, I saw a giant condom billboard ad promoting safe sex, because Zika is sexual transmitted as well. A friend of mine was like "Don't catch the Zika!" So my boyfriend and I packed travel size bottles of military grade bug spray in our carry on bags. I was also told before leaving how the country is practically going bankrupt and how their taxes is higher than those in Florida. Oh not the mention the driving! The driving was worse than a drag race through congestion of the I-95, for those who live in Florida, you know that is hell. My road rage couldn't handle getting behind the wheel.

But I will say I saw many beautiful scenes while I was in Puerto Rico, the mountains, beaches, and the unique community of people made my experience a good one. Not to mention the drinking age is 18 and up, so almost every night I had an alcoholic beverage in my hand. The food, although most of what I had was fried, made me gain a few pounds while I was there. The pork, although I do not eat pork often, was to die for. The crispy skin and the Hispanic seasoning we all know and love made the food there amazing. One of my favorite things to eat while I was in PR was Bacalaítos, fried cod fish in like a pancake batter. My goodness! God bless the Puerto Rican Momma who made this, I had it almost everyday I was there. Each day at Puerto Rico brought me to a new experience to another Hispanic culture besides my own. Learning of their legends, stories and Catholicism traditions in the island has brought me closer to my boyfriend and his family. Stay tuned for each day of my adventures in the beautiful island that is Puerto Rico.

This was taken from my hotel room.

Call me Chef

Recently I picked up an interest in cooking. I'm just experimenting with stuff around the house and making things to see what's good. I recently tried tried making fried chicken. Well I made two types of fried chicken, I fried one batch and baked the other to see how it would end up. I prefer the one batch I fried because I actually had the right ingredients and it tasted really good. The batch I baked was too sweet for me because I ran out of flour so I improvised with frosted flakes and saltine crackers. It still ended up good. It helps that I can watch these videos on YouTube that will show you how to cook certain things. For example, my sister loves Korean food so I looked up how to cook some Korean dishes, so sometime soon I am going to surprise her with Kim-chi and Korean fried chicken. I myself enjoy the Spanish food and my Dad, being the Caribbean person he is, loves his curry and Caribbean food. Learning how to cook all this is definitely fun, I am though scared to taste my own food. I'm afraid to taste it because I am too critical of myself. So my sister taste tests most of my food.