Puerto Rico!

This past week, my family took a vacation to San Juan, Puerto Rico! While I am adjusted to do-it-all traveling where you pay to go somewhere and practically tear apart every tourist location of the city, this vacation was what my father would call a "recharge." We learned the art of relaxation by waking up, going to the pool, walking to the beach, swimming, going back to the pool, eating dinner and going to bed. It worked out nicely!

The Embassy Suites pool where we swam each day

My family on the beach

The Embassy Suites we stayed at is in the Carolina area, and reminds me of a college town. The hotel is a 5 minute walk from the beach and there are a ton of restaurants on the walk, so we had some walking time in and weren't too spoiled for our own good. From the beach, you can see the small San Juan strip!

A popular tourist attraction about 10 minutes away was Old San Juan. Many cruise lines come into here, but we took a taxi from our hotel. My favorite part about Old San Juan is the South America feel with the thin streets, balconies, architecture and colored buildings! Our family had an authentic dinner one night and proceeded to the casino, where Dad likes to prove to us that you never win. 

Walking down the streets of Old San Juan

Mom, Eleni and I returned to Old San Juan to see its biggest tourist attraction, the two forts or castles. We had gone to the Castillo de San Cristobal last time we went to Puerto Rico three years ago, but had not seen the more historic one- Castillo San Felipe del Morro. It was a beautiful site!

Castillo San Felipe del Morro

From here, you have a beautiful view of the ocean and a lovely park where people fly kites all day. The castle is 6 levels and you enter on the 5th, taking odd triangle, circular stairs down or inclines. 

Eleni, Mom and I

Maria, Eleni and I unwound each night at our hotel's hot tub. I enjoy the jacuzzi environment because no matter how shy people are, it's really hard to sit in a circle with people and not acknowledge their presence. It's an atmosphere for conversation, introductions, talking and overall bonding. It's less awkward than an elevator because in a hot tub, you're sitting for a longer period of time (even if it's just 15 minutes). We proceeded to meet a number of interesting families from all over the country- from New York, Michigan, Texas, to northern California and more. 

Comically enough, there were four east coast swim teams staying at our hotel, with mostly boys. Some of them included Cornell University, Colgate University, Marist College & Gonzaga High School. The boys loved having girls at the hotel, and appeared pretty intelligent to be college athletes at respected universities. We had some nice and hilarious conversations with them and had 25 to 30 people in the hotel hot tub the last few nights, scaring away the rest of the hotel. We got to the point where our new friends would introduce us to new hot tub visitors, and we would introduce them. It was nice hanging out with people around our age but not being bound on a two-week long trip with two-a-days swim practice like they were! Because my sisters and I aren't shy, we walked around the hotel saying hello to everyone as they greeted us as well. This made the trip very comforting and comical. 

Occupy the hot tub

Staying at the Embassy Suites cracks me up because a lot of small things are included, like breakfast and the two-hour Manager's Receptions where hotel customers receive unlimited alcoholic beverages and snacks. I found this hilarious because no one at our hotel was pleasantly surprised by this, they expected every last bit of their "free things." The breakfast & drink lines were huge, but always seemed to impress. A lot of Americans were at the hotel walking around in college shirts, just cracking me up at their similarity to my family. Overall, it was a great trip and thanks again to my mother for planning it!