I’ve needed a vacation for a while. I went to Dublin in October but as much touristing I did I was pretty active on Ubuntu work while I was there (replying to emails, updating docs, even attending an Ubuntu event!). I decided that for my own sanity I’d stay away from those kinds of obligations as much as possible, beyond checking email and asking people to delay requests (can this wait until after my vacation?). I was pretty successful, people are remarkably understanding when you plan and have delegated appropriately.

On the evening of Friday the 9th MJ and I hopped on a redeye flight to Charlotte for the first leg of our trip to Puerto Rico. We arrived around 6AM and caught our next flight at 8AM, putting us on the ground in San Juan around 11AM.

The hotel we were staying at was the Caribe Hilton in San Juan. An older hotel but which has, among other things, a bunch of pools, a hammock forest, a swim up bar and a small beach. I love the ocean and swimming, so I was totally in heaven, especially once I learned that this was the view from our hotel room:

Rather than taking a nap upon arrival (tempting after the redeye flight where sleep was infrequent) we decided to head right down to lunch at their Atlantico bar and grill, some swimming in the ocean and relaxing on the beach, followed by some cocktails at the swim up bar and a short, accidental nap in the hammock garden. In the evening it was dinner at the Pina Colada Club, an informal little “diner” that had a variety of sandwiches, burgers and tacos (I went with grilled fish tacos).

Sunday was the first day of the conference for MJ so I was left to my own devices. I spent the whole day lazily wandering around the resort and reading Warbreaker (one of the many books recommended on my blog post on the subject) and Moby Dick. It was an awesome day, except that I managed to get a sunburn, oops. Dinner was an informal one with some of MJ’s colleagues from the conference.

Monday I went to El Yunque National Forest, which I talked about in this blog post.

The rainforest tour had me back to the hotel around 2PM and I spent the rest of the day reading and moving around to various comfy spots at the resort, being careful to avoid the sun, my burned skin needed a couple days of rest.

Monday evening I was MJ’s +1 at an evening event put on by one of the conference sponsors. It was at a salsa club and a full buffet dinner with a variety of Puerto Rican goodies (they do love their bananas and plantains!) and open bar were provided. In spite of my +1 status I put “Ubuntu” as my affiliation on my entrance badge which caused MJ and I to be joined at dinner by a representative from a South African .co.za representative who not only uses Ubuntu but knew Mark Shuttlework “before he was famous” and asked me to say hello and remind him of the good ole .co.za days. I am not exactly a social butterfly and I’m especially uncomfortable being “just a girlfriend” at events like this, but the evening ended up being an enjoyable one since I was actually able to participate in geeky conversation. Plus they had a lovely beer tasting by Old Harbor Brewery!

Tuesday was another lounging day, mostly in the shade. The wind had picked up significantly and there were actually a few clouds in the sky causing it to be a bit cooler than previous days (so in the upper 70s rather than low 80s). I decided to take some time to not only be lost in fiction, but also start catching up on my pile of tech magazines which I have going back to February. The February issue of ACM was particularly thought-provoking on a couple of counts, which fascinating articles on both Usability and Accessiblility as well as a couple of great, very practical System Administrator articles (one of which was written by a woman and used female sysadmins as examples, always nice to see!). Reading this and having time to reflect upon some other things regarding both the topics of Usability and Systems Administration workflows had my brain abuzz with future plans. Have I mentioned how nice it is to have a vacation where my obligations are limited and I can let my mind drift where the topics take it rather than being so driven by external forces? My brain is happy for this creative break.

Wednesday morning I spent hanging out in the privacy and shade of the patio for our room, reading and trying to keep my IRC-ing to goofing off (tried very hard not to get pulled into any real discussions! Mostly succeeded). MJ came upstairs following the conference he was attending around noon and we had the rest of the afternoon to ourselves! We spent it first with lunch (yummy grilled fish tacos!), then on a trip to the beach to swim and then back up to the pools. For dinner we met up with some folks from the conference who were going out to a local place for hamburgers. I quite enjoyed dinner, all they served were hamburgers (optional cheese) and fries, so ordering was pretty simple and, while small, the $3/each hamburgers really hit the spot. From there we went back to the hotel and over to Morton’s to enjoy a dessert that one of our fellow dinner attendees had been craving – raspberries and plain cream (no sugar). I was not disappointed by this dessert, I should eat berries more.

Thursday was our trip to Old San Juan which I wrote about in this blog post. Upon getting back to the hotel we spent the last half hour before the pool closed to enjoy a lovely evening swim.

Friday we spent lounging by the ocean and pools and then wrapped up the evening with a sashimi and sushi roll dinner at Lemongrass Pan Asian Latino.

Saturday it was time to go home! But not before a quick morning dip in the ocean and a nice walk through the tropical gardens.

Our flight was delayed out of San Juan, but we managed to get a first class upgrade on a plane that used Envoy Class for first. No wifi, but I had a comfy, roomy seat, power, good food and drinks – I didn’t want the flight to end!

But it had to and we made a mad dash across the Philadelphia airport to catch our connecting flight – which ended up being delayed on the tarmac due to rain. Our flight touched down shortly after 1AM and we snagged a taxi home (too late for public transit).

It was an amazing vacation. In the couple of days since my return I’ve found my stress level dramatically reduced, I really was running a bit ragged when I left.

More photos from the trip are on Flickr here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pleia2/sets/72157626518151404/

On Thursday MJ and I went to Old San Juan. I planned our route the previous day (with recommendations from vs8 on twitter, thanks again!) so as soon as the taxi dropped us off in the city we were ready to go. From the information center, where we picked up a map, we hopped on the free local “trolley” which was a small bus that stopped at various points throughout the little city. Our first stop was at Cafeteria Mallorca for a quick lunch of sandwiches and sweet breads.

From there we walked over to Cathedral of San Juan Bautista, famed for being the second oldest cathedral in the Western Hemisphere and the home of the tomb of Ponce de León. I love old cathedrals, and while it wasn’t like the exquisite cathedrals I saw in Dublin last year it certainly was beautiful inside. And as always when I visit these old cathedrals, I am thankful that the church members welcome outsiders into their place of worship.

We walked through the square where a Ponce de Leon statue resides and walked along part of the city walls along the coast. Then it was up to Fort San Felipe del Morro.

I love old forts so visiting El Morro was a lot of fun, even if the adventure started out with some light rain. The complex is quite large, with several floors to walk between from the top where the lighthouse is to the lowest level, and oldest portion of the original fort is on the edge of ocean.

We even saw a couple cats. On our way out we caught a glimpse of a cruise ship passing in front of the fort.

We then headed back down to Old San Juan and did more exploring through the streets and shops where I picked up some trinkets and post cards for my mother and sister. We ended up at Barrachina which claims to be the “Birthplace of the Famous Pina Colada” and enjoyed a pair of their signature drinks and had a delightful bartender
who offered to take our picture!

Now wikipedia sheds some light on this pina colada claim, saying that the real origin is the hotel we were staying at, Caribe Hilton and then gets into details about claims that it existed even prior to that. I liked the Barrachina one more than the Caribe Hilton ones though, it had more pineapple, though I’m admittedly not the biggest Pina Colada fan and I spent most of the week sipping on various kinds of Mojitos.

It was then off to dinner! We ate at Toro Salao and enjoyed a wonderful assortment of tapas, including two order
s of their green mussels.

By the time we caught a cab back to the hotel it was dark and almost 8PM.

I have to admit when we arrived in Puerto Rico I didn’t know much about the island, so it was quite a pleasant surprise when I learned that there was a rainforest on the east end of the island. It’s the only rainforest [EDIT: that belongs to the U.S. Forest Service] and for about $50 I could get a ride up to and a tour of some of the highlights of the El Yunque National Forest.

The tour group consisted of 4 couples and me, which meant I got to ride shotgun in the tour van! The tour started with a drive through San Juan where the tour guide pointed out some features of the city and places we may want to visit. It was then off to the rainforest! It was absolutely stunning.

Even going there now, during the dry season, it was wet, green and blooming with all kinds of flowers. Our tour took us first to the visitor center, then up past a waterfall.

From there it was to the top of a tower overlooking not only the rainforest but on the far end the coastline looking out on the the Atlantic Ocean.

We then went through a few beautiful trails and even to a former (closed due to saftey concerns) public pool fed by spring water.

The forest was full of birds, frogs and reptiles of all sorts making all kinds of noise, but I only managed to see a couple of little lizards and a couple birds, the frogs, while loud, are small and difficult to spot.

Lunch was yellow rice and beans at a little privately-owned shop within the park.

It was certainly one of the highlights of the trip, my only regret is that MJ was stuck in a conference all day and couldn’t be there to enjoy it with me!

Tonight at 10:15PM MJ and I are hopping on a red-eye to Charlotte and then on to San Juan, Puerto Rico!

I intend to take a proper vacation to clear my head and catch up on my reading. I’ll only be doing limited email checking.

A friend of ours is dropping by to check on the kitties throughout the week. We’ll be flying home on Saturday the 16th.