¡Hola Puerto Rico!

So – this was a huge change, arriving in Puerto Rico, a Spanish island but US territory. First of all, we had an interesting trip. The flight from Dominica took us to Antigua, where we had 30 minutes to change airplanes, but it became two hours because of a broken plane. Boarding in Antigua to San Juan, PR, required the normal security check again, as usual, but 50 meters after that check was another one, where women and men had to separate into two lines, remove all carry on luggage which was searched by the officers. Then the officers put on their rubber gloves and checked your body too (outside only…). In all the Caribbean countries we have visited so far all officers have been friendly and smiling, playing with the kids etc., here we met stone faces that didn’t seem to have smiled for ever, and strict messages to “hold the child further away from your body” and “remove your shoes”. The irony is that we discovered afterwards that E had been carrying a juice in her back pack all the way, so they went through all that trouble not even finding what they should have found. Sure, procedures, but it felt uncomfortable and unwelcoming.

The now very experienced (and cute) traveller

Arriving in San Juan at 14.30 not having had lunch, food was on top of the list. We got the luggage and loaded it onto a baggage trolley and hurried to the exit, only to be stopped by a woman saying we could not bring the trolley further than a specific line, which she escorted us to. That line was not close to any food, I’ll tell you. So, loaded like poor camels we carried everything for what seemed kilometers, and luckily, there was food just outside the airport, of course hamburgers. We sat down and moods rose with every French fry swallowed. Then we went to pick up a rental car. Called the company since we couldn’t find the shuttle, shuttle came, loaded all the luggage and finally arrived at the rental company. I had ordered a car for two weeks online for 350 US $. B stood in line for about an hour to reach the rental desk, me trying to entertain the kids the best I could. Then he stood at the desk for 45 minutes before getting the car. Now I was running out of fun-games-in-waiting-area. Finally the price ended up being 700 US $, having added insurance and a child seat…At that point we didn’t care – and set off on the high way (yey!) to our destination Luquillo. Our home for the next two weeks is this:

 

On the 17th floor with AMAZING views, just look at this:

Straight ahead

To the right

To the left

..and down, if you dare

And there is a pool down stairs

We’re still in chock from being thrown from a village lodge in the rain forest to top modern apartment in ultra civilization – and we are sooo excited. To be honest, we have had our fair share of jungle and look forward to some easy-living.