And I’m back for Part II of my San Juan recap! As I mentioned in the previous post, the second half of our trip was definitely more adventurous than the first half (seriously – we took five-hour naps in the hotel room on Saturday and Sunday!) We planned for a big adventure day for Monday, and then, since our flight back to Florida didn’t leave until 4pm on Tuesday and the hotel gave us a late check-out, we were able to spend some time in Old San Juan in the morning before we said adios to this beautiful island.

Here’s some more of what we loved during our time in Puerto Rico:

Horseback riding through Carabalì Rainforest Park. I knew I wanted us to have one “adventure” during our trip because spending all five days at the beach or in Old San Juan wasn’t going to cut it for us. I wound up finding out about Carabalì Rainforest Park and their horseback riding tours and it sounded like a blast! I’ve only been horseback riding once in my life, but it was super fun, and I’ve always wanted to go again.

Getting to the park was an adventure in itself since my GPS took me to an entirely different location. I finally had to pull off the road and call the tour company to find out where the heck to go. Thankfully, we found the location 20 minutes before our tour was designated to start. Whew.

The horse I was given was named Peter, and he was gentle but also really liked being near to the front of the pack (he would gallop a little if another horse tried to nudge in front of him, ha). We rode for about 45 minutes to a river, where we stopped, refreshed ourselves, and took in the beautiful views. (I also had the most delicious mango sorbet here, and I’m still dreaming about it today!) After a 15-minute rest, we got back on our horses for another 45 minutes.

I was a little nervous about riding a horse (I kept envisioning my mom just toppling right off… overactive imagination, much?), but the horses were super gentle and easy to ride. And, thankfully, they had steps for those of us rookie riders to get on and off the horse. They thought of everything, that’s for sure!

Oh! And while we rode with two (human) tour guides, our real tour guide was this adorable dog that had wandered into the park a week ago. She ran alongside us the whole time and even jumped into the river at the halfway point to cool off. She was so adorable! Except on the way back when I saw her murder an iguana. No lie there – she straight up killed an iguana. And then proudly ran with it in her mouth for about half a mile, as if to show all of us her “prize.” It’s crazy out there in the rainforest, guys.

El Yunque Rainforest. This rainforest is a “must-do” in Puerto Rico. Everyone told me I needed to visit it, and every Puerto Rico vacation guide included it. And I must say, they are right. It is a place you must visit when you’re in Puerto Rico. We headed straight to El Yunque (pronounced Yunky) after horseback riding and got there a little after noon. We started at the visitor’s center where we changed out of our horseback riding clothes (we were in long pants and dying from the heat!) and I ate a disappointing lunch (we soon found better lunch options as we drove around the rainforest, so save your money and eat at one of the roadside stands!)

Once we learned how to get to all the fun areas in the rainforest, we hopped back into the car to find the different places of interest. We considered stopping at the first waterfall, La Coca, but since it wasn’t a waterfall you could swim in, we opted to wait and see if we felt up to checking it out when we were heading back. Instead, we went to the Yokahu Observation Tower. After climbing 96 stairs, we got to the top where we could see the entire rainforest spread out all around us! So gorgeous.

We didn’t spend too much time on the top of the tower and were soon heading down the road to the real reason we had come to El Yunque: the La Mina waterfall.

La Mina waterfall. I’ve never seen a waterfall in person, and it was definitely something I wanted to do while I was in Puerto Rico, even though it meant hiking. There are two trails to get to the waterfall, one being easier than the other. I think we chose the more difficult trail that involved a lot of downhills and uphills. It was just not fun and it felt like we were never going to make it to the waterfall. (At one point, I had to take a seat on a rock and have a meltdown. My mom is truly a saint for dealing with me.) Eventually, 3,000 steps later, we found the waterfall and it was magnificent. The water was ice cold, so I didn’t go swimming, but it was nice to sit on a big rock, take off my shoes and socks, and dip my feet in the water. We spent about 30-45 minutes at the waterfall, enjoying the view, the water, and the people-watching, before making the journey back to the car.

Not breaking an ankle while hiking. I mean, I have to include this as a good thing that happened while in Puerto Rico! Whenever I told friends that I was going to go for a hike in Puerto Rico, they got very concerned. For those that aren’t familiar, I tend to get hurt when I go on a hike. I’ve been on two hikes and both times I have either broken or sprained my ankle. But, thankfully, I went on my first hike where I didn’t get hurt! *confetti emoji* I can’t lie: I was scared during the entire hike, even though I saw people wearing sandals or even going barefoot. But I took my time, went suuuuper slow on the downhill portions, and held on for dear life whenever there was a railing to use, and I got through it. I don’t think I’ll ever be someone who enjoys hiking, but I’m glad I set aside my fear to see the waterfall.

Cafe Berlin. We went to this delicious little cafe on our last morning in Puerto Rico, and it was probably one of the best breakfasts I’ve ever had. I’m not really a breakfast person (I know, I know), but this place turned me into a believer. My mom and I got matching mimosas and then I got their San Juan breakfast, which included eggs, sausage, breakfast potatoes, and pancakes. Everything was so fresh and delicious! Even the eggs were outstanding, and I’m typically very critical of how eggs are made. Man, I wish we had been to this cafe sooner because I would have probably eaten there every day.

Castillo San Cristòbal. This was our last touristy adventure of our trip, and I’m so glad we made the time to visit the fort. There are two different forts in San Juan: Castillo San Cristòbal and Castillo San Felipe del Morro. We didn’t have time for the second fort, so I guess this means I need to go back to visit it, yes? 🙂 I truly enjoyed walking around Castillo San Cristòbal and found everything so fascinating. I’ve been to the fort in St. Augustine, which has live cannon firings during the day, and found this fort just as interesting, especially because I really didn’t know much about the history of Puerto Rico before coming to the island. It’s definitely a place you must visit while you’re there, even if you just want to take in the beautiful views of San Juan and the ocean.

And that’s our trip! It was wonderful and fun and I’d love to go back someday.

Questions about Puerto Rico? Leave them in the comments.

My trip to San Juan, Puerto Rico was a fabulous one – and I ended up enjoying my time on this little island so much more than I expected. San Juan is such a beautiful city, bursting with history and culture, and I’d love to revisit it someday in the future. (And since flights can be super cheap, it’s a given that I will!)

Originally, I planned one full post about my time in Puerto Rico, but it was way too long (nearly 2,500 words), so I’m breaking my vacation recap into two parts. The first half of the trip was fairly low-key while the second half was busy, busy, busy. (I could have used another day or two of relaxing poolside before coming home, that’s for sure.) Anyway, here are the highlights of my trip:

Pool time. I love spending time at the pool, even more than going to the beach. I was especially pleased with the pool at our hotel (Doubletree San Juan) because it was the perfect size, it had two mini-waterfalls, and there were hammocks to lounge in. While I didn’t spend as much time at the pool as I would have liked, it was especially nice to cool off after a long day of walking around Old San Juan. Ahhh.

Piola Pizzeria Artesanal. Oh, man, you guys. This little pizzeria was fantastic. My mom and I stopped in during our first night in town and they were having a margarita special for Cinco de Mayo. The margaritas were strong and delicious, and the pizza was even better. I ended up eating five slices on my first night, mostly because I hadn’t eaten much during the day and was a hungry girl! We ended up going back to the pizzeria on our last night because we enjoyed the pizza and environment so much.

Spending a day at a (dog-friendly!) beach. Our first full day in San Juan was spent at the beach. Our hotel had a shuttle service that would bring us right to the beach, and then Doubletree had employees on the beach who set us up with lounge chairs and an umbrella! Talk about service. The beach was fairly quiet when we were there, but it was super windy. I read my book, listened to a podcast, and took lots of videos of all the dogs on the beach. (Can’t stop, won’t stop with Instagram Stories!) I didn’t realize Puerto Rico was such a dog-friendly place, but there were dogs everywhere we went. It was delightful.

While we were out on the beach, a Doubletree employee came around to take lunch orders, so we ordered hamburgers and drinks (I got a piña colada and my mom had the local beer) and ate out on the beach. Perfect!

A walking tour of Old San Juan. I love taking walking tours when I’m in an unfamiliar city, especially a city that’s teeming with history like Old San Juan. I signed my mom and me up for a two-hour walking tour given by author David Rodriguez for Sunday morning. The walking tour was sensational, and David did such a fantastic job taking us all around the city and telling us about the significance of the different sites. We even spent some time in one of the catacombs, which was thoroughly interesting! I really didn’t know how historically significant Puerto Rico is (it’s never something that was taught in my history classes!), so it was really eye-opening to discover the impact this little island has had.

If you decide to do this tour, make sure to wear comfortable shoes! I wore TOMs, which I prefer to running shoes when I’m doing a lot of walking (my arches tend to cramp in running shoes after a few miles), and by the end of the tour, my feet had swelled due to the heat and humidity and my FitBit registered around 7,000 steps. Mom and I were definitely ready to head back to the hotel and take a nap after walking around Old San Juan for two hours, ha.

Barrachina. This restaurant is said to have been the place where the piña colada was created, so I knew my mom and I had to check it out when we were in Puerto Rico. We headed here for lunch after our walking tour, since it was close to where the tour concluded. Of course, we both got piña coladas and they were delicious! I also had a chicken dish with the most delectable rice and beans. I actually moaned after my first taste, haha. So, folks, please visit Barrachina when you’re in San Juan. You won’t be disappointed!

Successfully driving a car around Puerto Rico. Monday was our “adventure day,” where we explored two different rainforests: one on horseback and one on foot. We decided to rent a car to go to the rainforests because they were about 45 minutes away from our hotel and taking a taxi would have been stupid expensive. I was nervous as hell to drive around Puerto Rico because, even though they drive on the same side of the road, it’s still an unfamiliar area and I had to drive on a lot of highways. I’m a good driver, but I can also be a nervous driver at times, but I handled it. We rented from Bella Rent A Car, and I highly recommend this rental place over any of the “regular” car rentals because it was cheap ($60 for the day, and that’s with getting the most expensive insurance).

Once I got a handle on the highways, driving around Puerto Rico was easy-peasy. I mean, I am an experienced Tampa driver and I’ve also driven around rush-hour Atlanta before, so I should have known I wouldn’t have had any major issues. But I was still so worried about the drive that I nearly called the whole thing off. I’m so glad I didn’t, though! Because a) this day was the best day of the trip and b) conquering your fears is the most empowering feeling.

To be continued! 🙂