Puerto Rico Road Trip

Once the Puerto Rico surf season came to a lull around the end of April and beginning of May, we planned to take a road trip to explore the rest of the island. We had been staying in Rincon for almost two months at that point, and neither of us had been to San Juan, so we decided to make the trip. This blog from the Traveling Teacher helped me a lot in planing out the route, and I recommend it if you’re taking a road trip through Puerto Rico.

We were starting from the west side whereas most people fly into San Juan on the east side, so we reversed the usual route. We took a week of from work to relax, adventure, and see what we could find.

Arecibo

Our first stop took us to Arecibo, 1.5 hours from Rincon and about the mid-point of the island. We stopped to see the Cueva del Indio and hike around the area. The views of the water were beautiful, and if you pass through a tiny hole in the rock, it opens up to a cave where you can see native petroglyphs. Bailey and I did not pass through because, as you can see, the rock hole wasn’t very dog-friendly, and Bryan didn’t pass all the way through because it also wasn’t very tall man-friendly.

We stayed up on the cliffs and walked around the rocks and down the beach. It was pretty hot that day, but Bailey seemed to enjoy herself.

Afterwards, we stopped for a plateful of empanadas and beachfront views at El Clandestino Bar and Grill. Then we were off to San Juan.

San Juan

As we walked past the colorful houses decorated with flowers and the streets opened onto the beach, I could see what just about everyone in the US loves about San Juan. It definitely makes for a picturesque and fun vacation destination. We stayed at the cute and quiet Oasis Inn in the Ocean Park neighborhood. We were most impressed by all the street art in the Santurce neighborhood.

We also paddle boarded on the Condado lagoon right after a rainstorm and saw a beautiful rainbow, fish and starfish, and (possibly in my imagination) the hint of a manatee. I didn’t bring my phone with me to take pictures, so here’s some more street art.

We ate delicious, traditional mofongo and explored the city. One highlight was doing a walking tour through Old San Juan. It felt totally different from where we stayed on the other side of town.

Since it’s right on the water, San Juan reminded me a bit of our trip to Cartagena, Columbia earlier this year.

After sweating through the walking tour, we stopped at La Factoría – one of the city’s most famous cocktail bars – for a drink. Then it was off to our next stop.

El Yunque

When I used to teach introductory Spanish classes in grad school, there was a textbook chapter on Puerto Rico’s rainforest, El Yunque. Since then, I’ve always wanted to see the lush, green forest for myself. I convinced Bryan to join the quest, and we spent a couple of days connecting with nature.

The view from our Airbnb porch was pretty breathtaking:

El Yunque is quite remote, so we definitely needed a car to get around. We did about a six-mile hike to El Yunque Peak and saw a few waterfalls on the drive in. The national forest was such a gorgeous, peaceful place. In hindsight, I wish we’d spent more time here before I rushed us off to the next destination…

Vieques

Bailey caught her first ferry, and we all became golf cart people (and dog) for our time in Vieques. We left our Jeep at the ferry terminal and rode across the water to the tiny island.

Some parts of the visit were really enjoyable and unique, like riding a golf cart around the island to pristine beaches (we went to Playa Negra, Caracas, and La Chiva) and watching wild horses roam free. We loved Kristy’s on the Caribe for breakfast and went back on day two for more. We also got to take a night tour of Mosquito Bay which has the most bioluminescence in the world.

Other parts of the visit were a bit difficult. Because it was low season, some of the best restaurants were closed. The locals aren’t overly friendly to tourists, and a lot of the island is a bit run-down. We were lucky our rickety golf cart made it out to the beaches and back without breaking down.

But we came for the natural beauty and the wild horses, and that’s what we got.

After the ferry back to the “mainland,” we were in for a long drive back to Rincon. We made a mid-journey stop for lechón (roast pork, yum!) and arrived home later that night.

Overall, it was a really enjoyable trip with a decent amount of time spent in each place. If you haven’t had the chance to visit Puerto Rico, I highly recommend it. I look forward to going back to see more of the island someday!

Working Remotely in Rincon, Puerto Rico

This week marks the eighth anniversary of this blog! Want to see my first-ever post? It was “How to Pack for a Month Overseas.” Through the years, the blog has seen many trips overseas and much more… four (+?) jobs, 500 hours of yoga teacher training, a few big moves, friendships and relationships, and all seasons of reflections.

There was a brief pause to the travel around Covid time, but now it’s back in full swing. For the last three months, I was working remotely in Puerto Rico. My boyfriend and I took some time to figure out the details of jumping back into nomadic life (with a dog, no less), but we eventually settled on the perfect spot for now: Rincón, PR.

When the end of my apartment lease was approaching, we played around with a few different options for what to do. We knew we wanted warm weather, surf, community, and connectivity to be able to do our jobs. We visited Florida and California, but neither felt right. We thought about living in New Jersey and short-term traveling abroad – we even looked at winter rentals in Asbury Park – but it felt silly to pay rent in two places and, not to mention, cold! Actual international destinations would still be in the cards, but it seemed like too much for the first trip with a dog. After many late-night discussions, we ultimately decided on a little surf town on the west side of Puerto Rico.

5 Reasons Why We Chose Rincón

1. Weather: Escaping the winter/early Spring in New Jersey is key to happiness (for me at least.) I can usually make it until New Year’s, but after that things get pretty dismal until almost June.

2. Surf/things to do: Rincón is known for its surf breaks and extended season that runs from September/October to April/May. Arriving in March, we were hitting the end of it, but we found plenty of waves. While the town is pretty centered around surfing, there is also plenty to do nearby like snorkeling, hiking, art fairs, great restaurants, and enjoying the beach.

3. Community: We weren’t very aware of this going in, but Rincón has a great community of both locals and transplants who are welcoming and active. We found it pretty easy to meet people. This was aided by Bryan having a friend from San Diego who arrived a few months before us and connected us with a great volleyball crew.

4. Easy flight: It’s pretty obvious why so many New Yorkers and New Jerseyans have made Puerto Rico their winter second home. It’s very easy to get a direct flight to San Juan or Aguadilla from JFK or Newark. We ended up flying from JFK because JetBlue has more lenient surfboard fees. It was also easier to bring my dog, Bailey, to Puerto Rico than to an international destination. I’ll add a little bit more about that below.

5. Ability to work remotely: Believe it or not, we remote workers DO work, like, a lot! So we needed to make sure we would have strong internet, reliable electricity, and cell service. That can be tricky in Puerto Rico – blackouts are the norm. We had to look for an apartment with a large backup generator. It was also useful to be in the same time zone for our US Eastern companies.

3 Things To Know Before Visiting Rincón

Most of these weren’t total surprises, and I’m definitely not an expert after only three months, but here are some things that I realized along the way. This section is only what surprised me individually because Bryan had been there twice before.

1. The food is amazing… and kind of expensive: We loved eating out at all the different restaurants. I’ll do a separate post on favorite places, but I have to say P’al Monte and Pausa Café were at the top of the list. It’s worth noting that restaurant prices are comparable to what we pay in the New Jersey area. Groceries are slightly more expensive because so many things are imported from the US.

2. You need a car to get to most places: We were prepared for this and reserved a rental car in advance (we used Sixt.) Our apartment was in a great location for walking down to the beach and a couple of close restaurants, but to get into town or to any of the surf spots you need a car.

3. You probably won’t speak much Spanish: This can be a pro and a con. Almost everyone speaks English, so living is easy and it almost feels like you haven’t left home (besides the palm trees and iguanas.) I think I only flexed my Spanish skills about three times.

After visiting for three months (from March to May,) I can safely say it was the perfect place for our current situation, and I would highly recommend it to anyone. I’m happy to be home visiting friends and family, but my heart misses our Monday/Friday evening volleyball games and the incredible ocean views.

That’s all for now, but I’ll add a little bit of info below on what it was like bringing Bailey with us on the trip…

Bringing a Dog from the US to Puerto Rico

We chose to spend the Spring in Puerto Rico in part because it was easier to travel there with a dog. I did a lot of research in advance and found this website on pet travel to Puerto Rico to be helpful. Bailey was already microchipped and has her three-year rabies vaccine. We needed to visit the vet within three days of entering PR and give Bailey her flea/tick/heartworm pill during that appointment. The vet did an exam to make sure Bailey was healthy and filled out a health certificate. It was a tough timeline since we would be going up to New York City two days before the flight. Fortunately, our flight was on time and everything went smoothly. No one ended up checking the health form on either side, but of course, you need to have it. Once we were in Puerto Rico, many places were dog-friendly (it’s always a good idea to check in advance.) When we returned to the states, because Bailey was born in the US, we did not need to visit the vet or do anything special.