Buenos noches!

First, some fantastic news!  Rachel had a baby girl last night, Anne Elizabeth!  She wasn't due until the end of March, but she is doing great.

Now the trip:  When traveling I like to try local specialties.  Last night at a very nice restaurant I decided to try the chicken and rice stew, prepared Puerto Rican style.  I was served a generous bowl of stew with a tomato base that was totally yummy.  As I was eating, I noticed there weren't a lot of chicken pieces.  Then I noticed an entire chicken wing, including skin, in my bowl, a joint of some sort, and bones with meat on them.  Not Minnesota style chicken stew, but good nonetheless. 

We're getting to know Rincón better. It's a laid back beach town with lots of surfers this time of year.  There are no chain restaurants, no chain hotels, and not one stoplight!  The streets are narrow, and as far as I'm concerned everyone drives too fast.  There are plenty of restaurants and bars, most pretty casual.  It's built into hills covered with green jungle (forest?), and quite pretty.  I'll try to get some good photos.

This morning we walked for about an hour and a half on a beach named Steps Beach.  This photo of Dave explains how the beach got its name, but doesn't explain how the concrete steps got on the beach! 

Dinner tonight was at a Mexican restaurant.  We didn't realize it was Tequila Tuesday until we were seated and told they were serving only bar food.  When we asked if there was anything else, the waiter asked what we might like and he would ask the cook.  I suggested enchiladas, he checked with her, and even though enchiladas weren't on the menu she would make 2 chicken with verde sauce and 2 beef with red sauce.  Those were the best enchiladas I have ever eaten.  The people here go out of their way to make tourists feel welcome.

Hola from Rincon, Puerto Rico!

As you can see, I wrote the first entry while at home, continued today in Rincon.  I'm new to blogging, so please be patient.  I discovered that for some reason the directions for blogging keep showing up in Spanish!  Which certainly doesn't help.  But here goes.

Friday, January 26:  Heading to Minneapolis today to catch the plane tomorrow a.m., direct flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico.  We'll arrive in San Juan tomorrow about 3 p.m., spend the night there, then head for Rincon.  After Rincon, we are flying to the tiny island of Culebra...flying in a very small plane.  We are allowed 25 lbs. of luggage per person.  We are traveling LIGHT!  Here's a photo of our carryon suitcase (clothes), backpack (snorkel gear and books), and tote bag (computer and swim suits), plus camera bag....for 15 days!  Luckily our condo has a washer and dryer.

Puerto Rico is one of the largest Caribbean islands, 100 miles long and 35 miles wide. Culebra, on the other hand, is tiny:  7 miles long and 4 miles wide, population 2,000.  Culebra is about 17 miles east of the main island of P.R.     

Although Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory, Spanish is the dominant language.  Dave has been studying Spanish road signs, I've been working on basic Spanish.  Hablo Espaňol un muy poco.  Tap water is drinkable, our U.S. car insurance and health insurance work and the money is the same as at home.  All nice!

Sunday:  We arrived at our condo, no problem finding it.  When we rented a car, a man who was also renting a car and owned a house in Rincon, offered to lead us not just to Rincon, but right to our condo building!  What a nice way to start a vacation.
The condo, in the Bahia del Mar building, is a nice vacation condo. Brand new everything!  including big screen TV.  But....we knew we were in trouble when we walked in and in the center of the coffee table were----4 remote controls!  So far, we haven't been able to figure out anything but the wireless internet, but that didn't need  a remote control.  We went on the requisite first drive tour of the area and took a couple photos.  More to come later.  We found a bakery, which thrilled Dave as he loves his vacation pastries.  I'm signing off now, time to decide where to go for dinner.  Hasta mañana.

Notice the 4 remotes!