Puerto Rico

This past weekend, I had the lovely opportunity to celebrate my lovely girl's, Katie, 21st birthday in Puerto Rico. Why Puerto Rico? I wanted to do a small getaway for awhile and there was a really sweet deal - $300 for airfare and hotel. Plus, I'm in Florida... I mind as well take advantage of this opportunity.

Puerto Rico is a commonwealth, which makes it part of the United States. So getting around the area wasn't too bad. Many people there already knew how to speak English and were very friendly. I was still able to use my US dollars and the AT&T phone service still worked!

Anyways, I'll let the pictures tell the story about my trip. :)

Katie turned 21 at midnight! Happy birthday!

I'm so glad Paola came with us on the trip. She was the only Spanish-speaking person aka our translator.

The next day we went to Old San Juan. It was quite the hike.

Beautiful old Spanish architecture.

Only in the Caribbean you can get this beautiful view. Wow.

Castillo de San Cristobal was one of the fortresses built to protect land-based attacks in San Juan.

Entrance of Castillo el San Felipe del Morro aka Morro Castle/Fort Morro. It was designed primarily to guard the entrance of San Juan bay from enemies. Puerto Rico was a rich port island that served as an entry way into the Caribbean. The Spanish used these fortresses to defend their territories from their enemies at sea. Morro Castle had survived several European attacks from Britain and France.

Back of Morro Castle. Again, a gorgeous view.

Close up view of how you would shoot a ship at sea. Lol.

Tower overlooking the sea. 

Afterwards, we started exploring the streets of Old San Juan.

Puerto Rican food was delicious!

Some more shots of Old San Juan.

So apparently, this is where the first pina colada was created. ;)

Overall, it was a fantastic trip. There were some setbacks to where I couldn't enjoy it fully but I still had fun. The people, food, and culture definitely made the experience worthwhile. I think I picked up on a few Spanish words too. :) Sadly, I feel my moments here in Florida diminishing. I think about the future and wonder where it will take me. I guess I have to play everything by the moment. And I can't always plan everything. Just have to let it flow. ~

Thanks for reading!