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Uncle Markie out and about.

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Sat
18
Feb '17

Trip Report: Exploring San Juan, Puerto Rico

Years ago I was in Puerto Rico with Dan – you can see the post here. Note – you’ll have to scroll past the CURRENT Puerto posts to get to the ones from 2004, but since there were several it seemed easier. In 2004 we explored the island, but not Old San Juan, the reason for this trip.

Normally I’d do a “Day By Day” report of a destination city, but I’ve rolled all three days on the ground into one report. Could be that with the heat, I’m coming back to take a lot of naps in the noon day sun. Could be that I’ve just been a slug while I’m here, walking, eating, catching up of work, watching the rolling mess of the current administration.

But let’s start with my first evenings meal here on the island – no help from Yelp, just wandering around until I found someplace that looked OK. Tonight, that would be Deaverdura. Basically, a hole in the wall with a small bar and a kitchen where I think it’s Mom cooking. Don’t expect quick service (it’s Puerto Rico after all), or a menu –what would you like, grouper, pork, chicken, etc., all served with rice and beans. That said, I felt like I was eating at a family table, and felt guilty for being one person at a 4-top..

Started out with a Pina Colada – it is Puerto Rico after all:

And moved onto the pork….

Those are the beans in the cup – they go GREAT over the rice.

I wanted a Mojito as my second drink – but they were out of mint. Truly a family place! I went for a light rum and coconut water…interesting, but not again.

After a night of sleep, it was off exploring the city. Walled down to the port and found a sandwich/wine bar for a bite. Mejunje Restaurant would be the place. I had the Sirloin Sandwich, which came with potato chips with a drizzle of balsamic – odd, but tasty:

$13 with tip and a Diet Coke. Apparently, dinners and wine run more.

Off to the old fort after my food…ended up walking there. As long as you have good shoes, Old San Juan is very walkable, and there is a free (if crowded) public trolley that winds its way slowly around the old city.

I opted for the trolley back into town for a nap. Uncle isn’t used to this heat and humidity.

Dinner at Hecho En Casa (which had a couple of Rainbow Flags inside, but I don’t see them on any Gay San Juan site, though the “hostess” was definitely family) for a local favorite, Mofongo, mine End Pulop (with Octopus). Here is a definition of Mofongo and here is a picture:

And your options:

Happy Uncle Markie….

Time for more cable TV, something that doesn’t exist in my house in Seattle. I’m an OTA (Over The Air) kind of TV watcher at home. Oddly, in the evenings, still watching the same thing, though during the day, it’s CNN with the sound off.

Exploring the city the next day brought a bit of a shock. FOUR cruise ships in town – right at the edge of Old San Juan. Holly Moly!

When I say “in the middle of the city”, I mean it. The city changed overnight as it were. The free trolley was jammed with PPPs (pasty, pudgy, plainspeople). You should have seen the CVS across from the dock. If it weren’t for cheap local rum I wouldn’t have entered!

Sad to say that my morning/noon meal the next day was at Wendy’s, on the Square across from the hotel, next to the Department of State (seriously, right next door, and there are cops everywhere) for a Clasico Singulare con Caso. This is what happens when you are cranky and need food NOW!

More exploring during the day, but I realized the cruise ships were in town for TWO days, so there goes my revisit to the Bacardi Distillery that I did in 2004. (LINK)

It might be the heat, or the new mini-dose blood pressure meds, or the humidity, but I’m taking a lot of naps in the air-conditioned cell.

But you still have to do at least one church….

The church was right across the street from El Convento – the hotel (in an old convent) that I’d toyed with staying at, but the “discount” rate of $265 a night put me off:

Maybe if I’d been travelling with someone I would have sprung for it (paging Rache!)

There was also this “odd” guy I saw a couple of time on the street – the first time is musket was not covered:

Guessing he was part of the National Park’s Fort Program. Did I mention I didn’t even go into the Fort – I left my Parks Pass as home, and was too cheap and too tired to pay the $5.

Dinner tonight was just around the corner from my hotel – at Café Punto. I opted for the non-air-conditioned hallway with more action that the two small square rooms with AC.

I ordered two appetizers off the extensive (and somewhat expensive) menu – the assorted meat/seafood turnovers and the fresh fish ceviche:

I love that it came with fried plantain chips. That would be a mojito with a slice of sugar cane as a stir stick. A little sweet for me, but when in Puerto Rico…

By day you notice that many of the street bricks are glazed (like Portugal):

Unless the cruise ships are still hanging around…

By night it is just as beautiful:

For my last full day in San Juan, decided to try the café in the lobby of the hotel for a sandwich…. Which was pretty good! The place is called Caldera.

 

And there is one very cute staff member (Ernesto?):

Wandered around the city a little more, took another nap (the heat kills me), got a little blogging and shop work done:

Even though there is no power, the second-floor breezeway between my room and the incredibly noisy ice maker is a nice quite space with a decent cell signal since I can’t get the laptop to connect to the network, but my phone will. Finally gave up and just tethered laptop to the phone.

For dinner I ended back at Café Punto to try their other ceviche which was baby conch, and their tropical ensalada capresse:

Basically I’ve been spending in the $30-$35 a night on dinner that included a cocktail or two. Trust me, I could have spent MUCH more looking at some of the menus in windows.

Well, that’s it for this post for tomorrow I leave the Caribbean and go back to Seattle.

[220.2]

Thu
5
Oct '06

Last Day in Puerto Rico, Ocean Park Beach and the Airport

We both have early afternoon flights back to the states… and we need to be there early to deal with the dent in the rental car, but their is still time for a little trip to the beach, but not to Pinky’s for breakfast.

Pinky's Restaurant, Ocean Park, San Juan, Puerto Rico    Uncle Markie lobbing coconuts at the beach     Dan and Mark at the Beach, Puerto Rico

A little trouble finding the right exit for the rental car place (got off one exit early), but there was a gas station right there. The guy who checked the car in made two marks on the sheet (well, one small one, and one LARGER one). Got to the check-in counter and the woman looked at the check-in slip, then pulled the check-out slip (which looked like it had the measles with all my nit-picking marks on it), and did up the bill for $96.80 (not bad for 4 days — cheaper than Hawaii) and out the door we went. Need to call the guy who dinged it and tell him that good karma pays off.

Having not had breakfast — I had to get something in my stomach — that turned out to be a quesadilla which was a little greasy, but definately needed. Had tons of time to talk business, and do some duty free shopping.

Duty-free from a US pocession — sounded weird and was limited to cigarettes, and booze that was manufactured in Puerto Rico. Cheaper than at the distillery, but the Grand Reserva ($70) that we got at the distillery is only available at the distillery. The other stuff was a couple of dollars cheaper, and half the cost of what it would be in the states.

Last photo is of what looks like a DC-3 boneyard — only one of the planes appears to actually have propellors. Parts? Restoration? Both?

DC-3 Boneyard at San Juan International Airport

Wed
15
Feb '17

Trip Report: Puerto Rico Bound

Why Puerto Rico? When I was bumped off a flight in October in Columbia, South Carolina I was given a $600 voucher. When I was looking at the calendar – February sounded like a great time to go someplace warm.

Roxy was around so I got a ride to the airport in my own car — $20 savings right there – with time for a goodbye hug:

Got my bag checked and headed to the Alaska Lounge – with a pit stop along the way. I was coming out of the bathroom when I spotted these two guys that looked interesting…and looked like they could use free food and free drinks. Dragged them into the Lounge with me since I’m allowed two guests:

That would me myself, Jeff (I think):

And Payton:

Both from Bend, Oregon, I hope these boys don’t end up dead – they are on their way to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico on the spur of the moment. Basically $2,000 dollars in airfare. For that, they probably could have flown first but I doubt they thought of that. They have an overnight layover at Sea-Tac so it’s probably a good thing I got them into the lounge for some food. Lounge closes at midnight, so hopefully they won’t burn it down in that time. I do worry a little since they seem to be out of a Cheech & Chong movie. Peyton is sporting a black eye from “falling down a couple of times”.

My guess that Payton is the wild one and Jeff the hapless tagalong was confirmed by this mugshot:

Seems that when he was 20 he got popped for DUI at 3:30am. Let this be a reminder – ALL sorts of stuff ends up on the web. (http://oregon.arrests.org/Arrests/Payton_Hill_22889703/) Had he not given me his business card with his full name on it…..

That was my airport excitement. One of the nice (and few) things about flying United is that in the waiting area they have a seat map of what’s still open – meaning that when I saw my bulkhead row was full, I had them move me to the exit row where the seat next to me was open:

A note to fliers – that bulkhead seat is also directly across the aisle from a bathroom door, so don’t expect to get much sleep.

Up in the air and it’s time for drinks, even though it’s a red-eye (which means I’ll pay for it upon arrival in San Juan):

Just as Alaska Air has added more premium liquor to the in-flight service (Crown Royal & Woodford Reserve), United has added Jim Beam Devil’s Cut (90 proof, which might not be a good idea) and for a dollar more, Buffalo Trace (both are Bourbons).

Spent too much of the flight reading and drinking, with not enough time sleeping, so my arrival at IAD (Washington, DC) was a little on the hungry/groggy side. Grabbed a quick bite – didn’t seem like enough time to make good value out of my United Lounge pass in my current state.

I’d gotten upgraded to First on the IAD to San Juan leg a couple of days ago (I was number one on the upgrade list for the SEA-IAD flight), so I have a little more room on this leg:

And pre-takeoff drinks…..

I was not hungry from my snack earlier, but I can’t turn down free food. I also realized I’d be starving by the time I hit San Juan at 1:30.

I really should have slept more on the flight to Washington – that way I could have drank more free whiskey on the way to San Juan. After that second breakfast I was OUT until we landed. Live and maybe learn.

Upon landing in San Juan I almost thought I was in Vegas!

Contrary to what Fernando told me, Uber doesn’t service the airport for arrivals – but the cabs are flat rate, with a “quote sheet” with the “base fare” of $19 and the “extra” $1 per bag, $1 airport fee, $2 fuel surcharge. Not that bad.

Got checked into the Hotel Plaza De Armas after a little delay – I showed up at 1:45 and check-in is at 3 – but they got me in at 2:30 with no extra charges. I’d wanted to stay in the heart of Old San Jose, which means, nothing is cheap. Even the non-fancy stuff is not cheap, hence, my $90 a night for a monastic windowless cell.

Plus side is very tall ceilings, down side is that wi-fi doesn’t reach the room, and cell service barely does, no coffee maker, no clock. Clean but a little on the tatty side.

I should add that there is a HUGE, for the size of this hotel, atrium that does have decent wi-fi (though I could never get the laptop to connect, the phone did) and plenty of comfortable places to sit.

As you can see, I’ve taken up residence on one of the walkways outside my room – FYI, this furniture wasn’t here when I checked in.

This spot is less than 20 feet from their routers wired third-world style:

What I wish they’d do is take a sander/buffer to the floor tiles, which would really POP. When this building was built, this was an open-air atrium.

My first priority was taking a three-hour nap.

Next up, exploring Old San Juan.

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Sun
1
Oct '06

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Got some sleep on the flight, thankfully. Dan’s flight is due in about a half an hour after mine so there is plenty of time for luggage collection (2 bags — 1 filled with snorkling stuff). Entertained by local “folkloric” performance in the baggage claim area. See pictures.

Folkloric Troup at San Juan Airport    Folkloric musicians at the airport

Rental car from Dollar Rent-A-Car, and we are off to the Andalucia Guest House in the Ocean Park neighborhood of San Juan. The guest house is a couple of blocks from the beach, and located close to lots of good restaurants.

 

Mark by the Spa at the Andalucia Guest House

 

Dan and I take a little stroll on the beach looking for a place for lunch, but end up across the street from the guest house at Kasalta which has good cafe con leche, sandwiches, and pastries. Of course, then it was time for a nap. And then a scotch from the bottle of MacCallum cask strength that I brought along.

Dinner was at a combination Chinese/Mexican restaurant. The choices on Sunday evening at 9pm were a little limited — unless you wanted KFC/McDonalds/BurgerKing/Wendys which were also in the neighborhood.

Mon
2
Oct '06

Caribbean National Park, Puerto Rico

After breakfast at Pinky’s (which turned into a regular morning experience) of a wrap with bacon, eggs, and creamcheese, we headed south to the Caribbean National Park which is also called the El Yungue Rainforest.

A little stop at the visitors center, then we were off in the direction of La Mina Falls which I had read about in a Seattle Times travel article.

La Mina Falls, Puerto Rico

A long walk, but worth it. Downside was that when we got back to the car, there was a huge ding in the door. Nice way to ruin an afternoon. Dan noticed that on the dashboard there was a parking slip from a resort — with an account number, room number, and checkout date. Guess I’ll call when I get back to the room.

Lunch was at the little snack stand further up the mountain — I had a wrap — Dan a burger, which was a true homemade burger off the grill.

Dinner was a Bebo’s on Loiza Street — also walking distance from the guest house. I had the goat stew and we split a bottle of wine. All the entrees were under $10, and the wine was like $20, think the whole bill came to $50 with tip. I could get used to this.

 

Tue
3
Oct '06

Barcardi Distillery, Cantano, Puerto Rico

Today’s adventure is a bus ride to Old San Juan (75 cents), catch the ferry (50 cents) to Cantano, and finally a taxi ride ($3) to the Barcardi Distillery.

Amusing note: the person who dinged my car called this morning with an apology and a promise to make it good. Restores a little faith in humanity.

Again, breakfast at Pinky’s (lox, bagel, cream cheese, onions, tomatoes, capers) and then we are off to the distillery. For not really knowing where we were going other than some vague directions, we managed to do really well.

The Old San Juan to Cantano ferry.    Barcardi Distillery, Cantano, Puerto Rico    Dan and the trolley at the Barcardi Distillery

Tour (free) included two free drink coupons and the tour in English would be in 20 minutes — time for one of those free drinks but he didn’t take the coupon — lucky me. I had a Mojito. Onto the trolley we go — to see the Visitor’s Center will all the exhibits, movies, and those art gallery self-paced tour wands. Felt a little rushed, but we did have time to send a video postcard to Lisa (Dan’s wife). You can find that postcard at: http://www.twango.com/media/markso.puertorico2006/markso.11339 and while you are there, you can look at all the other pictures from that trip (and others).

Dinner tonight was two different sushi restaurants. East (reasonable priced sushi, valet parking, OK quality, small but good sake list) and Wasabi (15% more expensive, automatic 15% service charge, valet parking, cool designer interior, better quality sushi though the slices of their roll items were uneven, good wine list, bad sake list).

Wed
4
Oct '06

Camuy Caves and Aercibo Observatory, Puerto Rico

Breakfast at Pinky’s… imagine that. Tuna Carpaccio, bagel, cream cheese and all the rest.

First stop is at the Camuy caves. $3 for parking, $12 for the tour, and no time to use the bathroom before the tour leaves. Or for batteries for my camera since they are near the end of life. Once again, onto a trolley sort of thing, although these are pulled by the same baggage handling tugs that you see at the airport.

Camuy Caves Trolley    Camuy Caves in Puerto Rico

Huge caves, fairly easy to walk, though a bit slippery. Dan wanted a DVD of the trip, but alas, none were available in the gift shop.

Next stop was the National Astronomy and Inosphere Center’s Arecibo Observatory. The walk here was much more taxing — 500 steps to get from the parking lot to the vistor’s center. This observatory was made famous with the filming of the 007 movie “Golden Eye” and by the film “Contact.

Uncle Markie at the Arecibo Observatory, Puero Rico    Workers coming back from the telescope at Arecido Observatory

Dinner tonight is at DOC — which is almost directly across from the guest house. DOC (Denoiminacion de Origen Controlado) is a small Italian deli and restaurant. I had the salmon crepes, Dan had a pasta dish — both really good, and went with the lovely $28 bottle of Tempranillo. Nice, intimate, wonderful but limited menu. Also had a lovely insalata caprese.

Sat
30
Sep '06

Red-eye to San Juan, Puerto Rico

I love readeye flights. Not. Got to the airport a little early, only to find that the Alaska Airlines Board Room closes early on Saturday nights. Guess I’ll have to pay for drinks and snacks. I stopped at the first place I came to — hunger called, there wasn’t time to eat coming back from the island and cleaning the apartment before heading to the airport.

Had a burger and bourbon. It wasn’t until I was finished that I slapped my forehead and remembered that further down the concourse was Anthony’s — which has good wine and oysters on the half shell. Next time.

Flight to Dulles (Washington, DC) uneventful other than spilling a drink on myself, one that was amusingly served in an American Airlines plastic glass (on a United flight!), and a nice flight attendant in First (I was one row into coach) who comped me a couple of scotches in a real glass. Two movies, didn’t sleep.

More bad airport food for breakfast. Exhausted. Sleep entire way to San Juan.

Fri
27
Oct '06

On the road again, black cod in sake lees

Arrived at 10am for the 11am ferry —barely. Lots of Prioirty Loading trucks and buses. Advantange of being small, the center lane. At least I got off early.

On the Ferry in the middle of trucks. 

Back in the city with a Woody’s dog on the way. Dinner tonight with Jimmy and Suze — and Chris since he’s in the apartment. Rum tasting — five different rums that I brought back from Puerto Rico. Big Fun.

Move the big TV into the apartment, surprise Chris, get combo VCR/DVD hookied up, go shopping for HDTV antenna, still needs tuning, but a beautiful fall from the apartment — view is looking south and east towards the Amazon headquarters which is the big building on the horizen.

View from the city apartment.

Great dinner — early, 6:30, Jimmy has an early day in the morning, bottling 20 gallons of wine tomorrow.

Dinner is roasted Hubbard Squash, a salad that Jimmy is bringing, and broiled Black Cod that has been marinated in sake lees (the leftovers from the sake making process). A damn fine dinner complimented with a nice bottle of Italian red. It all sits nicely on all the rum we had before dinner.

Five different rums, three from Barcardi: the eight year old, the reserva, and the reserva limited ($70 a bottle). The other two are a Reserva Aneja and a Ron del Barrilito. These are all rums I picked up on the trip to Puerto Rico a couple of weeks ago.

Early night for me, too, but ended up watching South Park on the only Hi-Definition signal we get so far (need to noodle with the antenna)

Mon
12
Jul '21

Carbon Footprint 2006

THE BEGINNNG OF THE BLOG

July

  • Shanghai, China

August

  • Suzhou, China
  • Nanjing, China
  • Chizhou, China
  • Jiu Hua, China
  • Juijang, China
  • Jingdezhen, China
  • Wuhan, China
  • Yueyang, China
  • Jinghou, China
  • Three Gorges Dam, China
  • Xiling Gorge, China
  • Quatang, China
  • Lesser Three Gorges, China
  • Fengdu, China
  • Chongqing, China
  • Xian, China,
  • Beijing, China
  • Breitenbush Hot Springs, OR
  • Kona, HI

September

  • San Juan, Puerto Rico

October

  • San Juan Puerto Rico
  • Tampa, FL

November

  • Shelby, MT
  • New York, NY
  • Tampa, FL
  • Victoria, BC, Canada
  • Vancouver, BC, Canada
  • Scottsdale, AZ
  • Tucson, AZ

December

  • Reno, NV
  • Ocean Shores, WA
  • Forks, WA

Comments Off on Carbon Footprint 2006

Sat
11
Jun '11

Seattle – Border – Whistler, British Columbia

Surprisingly (for me) we made it out of the house and onto the road at 10am. That even included a full breakfast service.

At Duty-Free, picked up two bottles of wine (yes, I know, wine) and a bottle of Bacardi Reserve Rum — seems that my house/road guest being from Puerto Rico originally means he likes his rum. The reason for the wine (two bottle limit) is that we are only up here for two days and that’s a bottle for each night, and drinks before and after. The goal is to have nothing left.

NO ONE in front of me in the regular (non-Nexus) lane which was a shocker. The traffic coming back into the states looked like about an hour delay. My guess is that with the hockey finals and a soccer match last night that there was extra traffic for a Saturday.

Made a pleasant discovery in the first town over the border… a reasonably priced sit down lunch place, a chain, but good. Boston Pizza would be the name. Fernando had a small pizza with a pint of beer, I had the bacon wrapped steak chunks with a small amount of onion straw fries with a Cosmopolitan. It was just the right sized meal rather than something to put me into a food coma.

The reason the discovery is so important is that when headed to Whistler, it’s just at about the perfect lunch time since once you get on to the still-torn-up Highway 1 there isn’t much of an easy-on easy-off area.

The weather turned nice enough that it was top down for the rest of the way to Whistler.

Needless to say, this was taken by Fernando from the co-pilot’s seat.

A quick stop for the final groceries in Squamish (wasn’t I just here a couple of weeks ago?) and off to the WorldMark Cascade Lodge at Whistler Village. Here is a cute shot of the 2010 Winter Olympics Stone God:

After checking in and setting up the wireless node, I flopped on the couch and crashed for an hour. I love driving, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t take something out of me.

Dinner was a pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes, and a big salad with a lovely Greg Norman Cabernet Syrah from Australia.

Add dip in the hot tub after dinner and you have a fine day.

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Sun
6
Sep '20

Trip Report: Seattle In-Town “Vacation”

Covid takes its toll on another getaway. Well, I still went, but the guest of honor had to cancel his flight (well, I cancelled and rebooked) because of a possible Covid-19 Exposure. He learned two days later that is was most likely TWO different exposures. Better safe than sorry.

I’d mention names here, but because of medical privacy concerns, I won’t.

The getaway was supposed to be in the Two-bedroom Penthouse at The Camlin, in downtown Seattle, part of the WorldMark timeshare system. Here is a link to the WikiPdedia entry. Swiped this photo from their web site:

Memories was why I booked it – the guest of honor (aka disease vector) and I used to occasionally go drink in the bar called The Cloud Room. Sadly, I couldn’t find any photos of the interior, but here is a great poster:

Normally, I’d check in right at 4PM, but I was waiting for a new computer and monitor – don’t want to leave THOSE things lying around the front door. It was about 5:30 when I was checked in, and popped the door open to MY assigned room, to find a guy lounging on the couch. Needless to say, we were BOTH surprised. He called down, I went back down, seriously annoyed. They said they had miss assigned rooms, and they would put in in 1105 (rather than 1104). Fine. Went back up to find that 1104 is a Two-bedroom DELUXE, not a Two-bedroom PENTHOUSE. Penthouse has a DECK, the Deluxe does not.

Many calls down to resolve the situation since the other people were completely unpacked, and there were at least four of them.

After waiting for them to fix it – called down and said, “60,000 Wyndham Rewards Points in my account and I’ll stay where I am.” Fortunately, I know the value of points. 60,000 points is enough for two nights in the Wyndham Grand, say Puerto Rico (where I had a reservation at one point last May, cancelled but should have gone), or 4 nights in the Wyndham Shanghai (I had a reservation for May that I cancelled because of Covid), or a whopping 8 nights at your basic Days Inn.

So, no video of the Penthouse (though you can find a post about it here with a video tour), but instead, you will get a video of the Two-bedroom Deluxe:

Besides the points they also gave us exclusive access to the current Terrace Lounge, the private dining room for the Cloud Room Restaurant. Normally, it is open to all the guests, but with Covid it is closed (and clean).

And a little Bonny Doon Le Cigar Volant – and the fine company of Jonathan. And then joined by Bliss for after dinner drinks which turned into him using the Murphy bed in the living room. Social distancing!

Lovely evening, sadly, without a deck. And the morning was annoying when housekeeping walked in on my naked ass (they saw the other side), which resulted in the front desk calling me with serious apologies. Seems the room move triggered something in their system. The call came from the General Manager of the property.

By the time I was ready to check out, Pedro (the General Manager) requested a meeting to further apologize. There would be some additional training about taking special attention to penthouse reservations and how to respond to a housekeeping request that is 19 hours overdue. Turns out he has been there for years, and even worked at The Camlin before it was a WorldMark.

When the points arrived in my InBox – they got deposited and I sent a note to Pedro. In a couple back/fourths, seems that he collects Camlin ephemera – you know, the stuff from a property that usually gets thrown out. I mentioned that on one of visits many years ago that I’d left a champagne flute for management to add to the museum that is in the basement. Never saw it displayed, but when I mentioned it, he sent me a picture of it – IT’S IN HIS OFFICE!

That is pretty much the logo that is on the poster that is in this post.

Lemons, lemonade.

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