every country or bust!
we went hiking in el yunque national park in northeastern puerto rico (only about a 1 hour drive from san juan) – the only true rainforest national park in the united states! it is incredible. definitely don’t miss it if in puerto rico.
ann and i went to puerto rico for about 1 week in january! our first few nights we burned some hyatt points at the hyatt grand reserve resort about an hour east of san juan, which was very nice, and has the largest swimming pool in puerto rico! there were many covid-19 restrictions at the time (beaches closed and nighttime curfew such that we needed to spend the night of our arrival sitting on the floor of the airport rental car center, but all’s good)!
we got food off property to save money, and out favorite was a prolific puerto rican acai bowl franchise called acai express.
further east on the road to fajardo, there is a great strip of beachside restaurants at luquillo. people drive out from san juan for the food along this strip.
one evening we went kayaking on the bioluminescent bay at laguna grande near fajardo, which was truly amazing! puerto rico has 3 of these bioluminescent bays, which have large quantities of bioluminescent dinoflagellates living in the water. In the dark, when these are disturbed by your hand or your kayak paddle, they glow. with time and pollution (especially fuel from motorboats) these organisms are becoming less prolific, so they may not be this bright, or present at all, in the future. the locality has banned motorboats in this lagoon, so hopefully that will keep them glowing into the future.
one of my favorite places is a good korean spa, or jjimjilbang. these 24/7 indoor meccas to heat and wellness began in korea in the 1990s. they typically contain gender segregated hot pools where you are not allowed to wear any clothes. this is followed by putting on a facility-provided sweat suit and entering a large co-ed area in which there are a multitude of saunas of varying heat, humidity, essences and themes, an ice-cold room, and places to relax and sleep. and food in the in-spa restaurant, because you are going to spend the entire day there. the best jjimjilbang in the united states are in southern california and in texas. i was able to visit the brand-new spa world in houston and spa castle in dallas in short succession, and they are both amazing! both were completely empty as it was the height of the covid pandemic, which allowed me to take these photos. paradise on earth!
