Honeymoon: Puerto Rico!

Everyone buckle up and get ready for longest blog post EVER.

I think I've been avoiding getting this done, but I've also been so excited to post everything!

I promise I'll try to keep it interesting..
HONEYMOON: PUERTO RICO WITH MY HONEY!

This post is all about our honeymoon adventures!
BEST WEEK EVER! The wedding events were all so so perfect. I'm talking fairytale perfect, and the honeymoon was the cherry on top!

It all started with a midnight flight to Charlotte North Carolina. Made for a long flight.

Took a nap in the Charlotte airport and we couldn't wait to get to PR!

DAY 1:

WE FINALLY arrived in PR. (see the picture at the top)
I was so excited to land, and see this blue sunny sky! Our travel agent told us to expect a cab ride from the hotel to the airport to be about $35.00, turned out to be $70.00

Watching Spencer (who has never been out of the country) soak everything in during the cab ride was fun. He was loving it.

 

An hour later we got to our hotel and immediately headed to scope the beach!

 (You'll see a lot more of the "famous Finger" from Spencer's photo skills..)

We were starving and wanted to go somewhere local to taste the PR cuisine! After asking our hotel valet guys for suggestions, all we walked away with was a flyer for a new restaurant- completely in Spanish. SO, to start our first adventure we started walking.

 Our hotel was in a community which made for about a 40 minute walk outside. Some guy pulled up next to us and told us to jump in and he'd take us where we wanted.

My thoughts: YES A RIDE!!! I jumped in the car and Spencer followed. This was adventure #2. The mariachi band was blasting through the radio and I handed the flyer to our strange driver. We headed down the road and my hair flew around in the warm wind with the windows down. I loved every minute of it. Spencer starts telling the guy to pull over at ANY restaurant, and we continuously pass one after another. Spencer soon comes to the conclusion we are being kidnapped.

I mean, who DOESN'T jump into strangers cars?

We ended up at the Local restaurant and I was so happy to have food, and Spencer was just happy we were alive. Menus were in Spanish and lucky for us, no one spoke any English. Finally, through the flailing of my arms and speaking really loudly thinking it would help, I managed to tell the owner to bring us their best food. My sign language worked. We ended up with 1/2 a chicken, rice, beans, plantain, and ribs!

DE-LICIOUS!

We safely walked back to the hotel to explore the actual hotel and we loved it!

(this was the view from our glass elevator, down to the main level of the hotel- Yes those are palm trees and streams!)

Our day ended with a beautiful beach sunset!

DAY 2

We woke up and decided this $70.00 cab ride business would NOT be happening on a daily basis for us to get anywhere so we thought we'd rent ourselves a car. Unfortunately we are not of legal age to rent a car, so we went "under the table" with some sketch car place that, again, did not speak English. We paid for the car for 4 days, plus a $300.00 Deposit we would (hopefully) get back when returned the car safe and sound. We really considered this deposit money to be gone.This was adventure #3

This little rental car was good to us!

We wanted  to visit Old San Juan and started our journey driving. We got to the first toll, and quickly realized we didn't have any change! I told Spencer to throw in the dollar bill we had, praying the machine would magically suck it in as cars lined up behind us. No such luck. THANKFULLY the guy in the car behind us spoke English and helped us out with some change.

Total panic attack, as well as adventure #4.
 We were back on track to the ferry! Once we got to the ferry station the guy working told us to park in the lot, but leave the keys in the car. This was adventure #5.

We rode the ferry over to Old San Juan, and stepped off the boat to see these tiny cobblestone streets lined with local shops, housing and restaurants. Most of the buildings were so colorful with lots of balconies. Pictures do not do this place justice.

We paid $3.00 for a coconut with a straw and we were completely disappointed. This was not your normal sweet milky coconut. Spencer thought It tasted like Body Odor-flavored water. This was adventure #6. To say the least, we did not finish our coconut. It was fun to walk around with it like a typical tourist though!

We walked to the old castles and toured those to realize it takes up the WHOLE island! The views were amazing and the history with everything was so interesting Spencer was loving it.

After walking through the streets of Old San Juan we made a final stop at Senor Frogs for some lunch! Spencer enjoyed his tall orange soda in replace of Dr.Pepper.

 Apparently PR doesn't drink Dr.Pepper..

It was a long day of traveling, walking and exploring Old Sand Juan. We were happy to find our car still intact when we got back to the mainland. We headed back to our hotel in Dorado and passed some awesome beaches on the way! We saw this crab friend and I've never seen one before. This was adventure #7. I wasn't aware their little legs moved so fast!

Spencer was trying to pick this little sucker up and he BOOKED IT!

Driving back to the hotel from the beach I snapped this picture for my sister Fatalie. She has a strange love for roadkill, and this was one unforgettable iguana road kill. They are everywhere down there! Watching them get hit by cars was NOT pleasant, FYI.

That would be adventure #8.

We ended our long day with a real authentic meal at.. Applebees!

DAY 3:

We had heard from so many different people we HAD to go to El Yunque Waterfall!

We drove about 2 1/2 hours from our hotel to the Rain Forrest, getting lost along the way in a not-so-great looking area. This was adventure #9.

We got back on track and finally pulled up to the most BEAUTIFUL lush green Rain Forrest..

There were literally George of the Jungle ropes hanging everywhere!

(This is Spencer's I'm-done-with-taking-pictures face.)

We loved the Rain Forrest and all of the life and beauty that was there!!

Our first stop was the smaller waterfall about 15 minutes deeper into the Rain Forrest. It was a little chilly from the humidity and the cover from all of the trees so we decided not to climb around in this one, we'd save the jumping in the water until the big one.

The second waterfall was another 15 minute drive into the Rain Forrest, plus about a 40 minute hike to actually see it. The sounds, smells and sights of the hike were incredible!  We noticed not too many people walking back wet, and to say the least we were a little disappointed when we saw it. We were expecting a huge jump-in-the-water from the top kinda waterfall, annnd it definitely was not a jump-into kind. Way too small. Plus it was FREEZING. The picture above is the extent of our "jumping in" the water. This is adventure #10.

Totally worth the walk to see, but a LIIIITTTLLE bit too hyped up!

When we got back to the car I noticed I had 4 missed calls and a few text messages from Fatalie. Apparently she heard on the TV there were multiple earthquakes in Puerto Rico, Mexico. She called crying to make sure we were safe, only to find out Puerto Rico is NOT in Mexico. This was the picture I sent her telling her we were a-okay!

Fatalie is a Dumbalie!!

The awesome white sand beach we heard all about was supposed to be about 20 minutes outside of the mouth of the Rain Forrest right off the highway. Spencer watched the travel channel about this beach and they are famous for their shark tacos, which was on our check list to try.

Once we got to the beach we were expecting it to be lined with awesome beach side vendors. Nothing. AND, no shark tacos. This was a sad day to not try shark tacos, but we enjoyed the beach anyways!! It started to get really windy so we started our journey back to Dorado. We hit some traffic on the way back and ate at our hotel restaurant when we got back.

This is the end of Day 3.

DAY 4:

On day 4 we decided to sleep in. We had been waking up early to make it to breakfast on time, and to find a place to eat. It was pretty packed for breakfast usually, so we hit up Starbucks instead. Spencer was so set on snorkeling this trip we found a tourist magazine and immediately started looking for places we could snorkel. Just our luck, nothing was even remotely close to where we were staying. We found a place in San Juan and called to arrange our appointment. We had hope in this excursion because the lady on the phone spoke perfect English. Praise.

We had a few hours in between breakfast and our snorkeling appointment so we then hit up the private beach at our hotel!

When we got to San Juan and pulled up at the resort we were going snorkeling at, we were AMAZED! It was so so gorgeous. Huge glass rooms with no doors leading RIGHT to the beach, beautiful palm trees lined up, complimentary cantaloupe water and tanning stations out ON the ocean. It was incredible.

They even had huge parrots!

NEXT TIME, we're staying at THIS PLACE!

We quickly scarfed down some local food. EXPENSIVE local food and RAN to our snorkeling appointment.

This would begin adventure #11.

After you look at the two photos above, I was perfectly calm, content and so excited to snorkel. I was even diggin our goofy looking masks.

Spencer is like a fish. Every time we would go to the beach he'd be out in the waves bobbing in and out of the water, he loves it. I on the other hand, like the beach, but not necessary the ocean. (See the examples in the pictures above. Also notice the Famous Finger again..)

 One thing Spencer learned about me on our trip to Texas, is that I'm terrified of fish.

I'm not talking goldfish, or tropical fish in tanks. I'm talking wild fish swimming around me in lakes or the ocean. NOT a fan. The minute my little flippers were on and we were sitting in the water, I started to panic. Spencer jumps in the water and quickly swims off like he's one of the fish, and I'm left behind about to cry standing in thigh-high water. This would be adventure #12.
Spencer noticed I was back on shore and came right back to tell me I didn't have to go if I didn't want to. WHAT A BABY!! I was NOT about to not snorkel. So I put my mask on again and put my mouth on that gross little tube millions of other mouths have been on, put my face in the water and tried to breathe through the tube. This is adventure #13. That's when a wave of salt water splashed up and into my breathing tube as I inhale a deep terrified breath of salt water.

Finally our guide and another girl going to snuba with us are out in the water and ready to roll. Face down in the water, we started our snorkeling excursion.

I had to keep giving Spencer the thumbs up to let him know I wasn't dying.

It took me about 15 minutes in the water to finally calm down and I just stayed close to Spencer. Towards the end of our snorkeling I was totally fine chasing the fish around. A HUGE needlefish swam by and I started chasing it.

I loved snorkeling!

Notice the awesome suction-mark on my face from pulling my mask so tight. That stayed for a few hours..

On the way back to Dorado from snorkeling we hit some MAJOR traffic. We thought the traffic the previous days were bad, but it was NOTHING compared to the traffic we got stuck in this day. A 45 minute drive from San Juan to our hotel, took about 2 1/2 hours. It was horrible. This would be adventure #14. Once we got back to Dorado it suddenly, out of NO WHERE started POURING rain. A total downpour. We were so happy the weather stayed nice long enough for us to snorkel! It was raining so hard we could barely see anything driving with the windshield wipers on high. Suddenly we heard a HUGE BANG like we ran into something, but there was nothing in the way. Man, those Puerto Rican potholes will get ya!!

This will be adventure #15.

We decided to hit up the Tepanyaki style steak house across the way from our Hotel. We met a really nice couple that ate with us and enjoyed the BEST dinner! Since it was pouring rain, we watched lightning storms in the ocean from the balcony in our hotel room. This ends the festivities for Day 4!

DAY 5

Day 5 was a breakfast at the hotel kind of day. We woke up to pouring rain still and decided to go to the pool since NO ONE was there. The rainy beach was fun, and it would rain on and off but the clouds would not leave. 

Day 5 was our last full day in Puerto Rico so we decided to stay in the countryside. We walked out to the car when I noticed the front bumper of our rental car was HANGING OFF! Yes, hanging off. Remember the Pothole we hit on adventure #15? It soon lead to us trying to push the bumper back in only to see it pop right off again.

This would be adventure #16.

 We shopped at our favorite local store called Me Salve. It's a good thing they don't have them here. We went to the local bakery for lunch where, once again, no one spoke English. Ordering was interesting I wasn't exactly sure what I was getting.

 

They had a nice display of sweets though! 

We went to the closest car wash to try and clean up all of the sand we left behind from our multiple stops at the beaches. We watched the storms roll in the rest of the night!

DAY 6:

Day 6 our hotel check-out was at noon. We ate breakfast at the hotel and called Tuno, the guy we rented our car from. He conveniently came to the hotel to fetch our cute little zippy rental car. Before we pulled the car out of the parking garage to meet him, we RAN up and tried our hardest to get the bumper to stay attached until he could give the car one last good look before driving it back to the rental place.
It managed to stay for a while, we drove the car around and parked it on the OTHER side of his car so it would be less noticable. We tried to be so sneaky and watch as his assistant gave the car a look over. He walked around the front of the car and POP!! The bumper was no longer attached the way we had planned.

THIS was adventure #17.

We ran inside laughing and cursing the potholes at the same time.

Now we REALLY considered our deposit to be gone.

Our cab driver came and picked us up as we prepared ourselves for another $70.00 Journey to the airport. We got there around 12:30 pm and had a LONG day of flights ahead of us. Starving, tired, and ready to go home we grabbed two individual pizzas and a bag of chips for a total of $40.00. Crappy airport if you ask me.

Our flights were intense on small airplanes and no sleep.

We arrived home early hours of the morning and passed out at my parents house.

 

We were so thankful to be home and to start putting our apartment together.

This is just the beginning of so many adventures we have to come and we are so excited about all we have to look forward to!

If any of you actually read this whole thing, I will be so impressed.

Sorry about how long it was, but I was so excited about all of it!

Thanks for reading, and soon once I have the wedding pictures back I'll do a blog post on the wedding day.
I'll try to make it shorter than this one.

HAPPY FRIDAY!

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