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.

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.