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Puerto Rico Isle of Enchantment 20 June-2 July 2002

Map of Puerto Rico - showing our approximate route around the island

Kathleen, Marlene,  and I vacationed in Puerto Rico in June 2002.  We had decided to see as much of the island as we could comfortably see, leaving  the San Juan area until we had a feel for this Isle of Enchantment.

We flew from Cleveland, Ohio to Chicago, Illinois to San Juan, PR.  Picked up a rental car and headed west.  One of the first things we noticed on the freeway was that the speed limit was in Miles per hour, and the distances were in Kilometers.

Note the following underlined Links.  Please follow these links to read our impressions of the places we visited.   Also see pictures of the sights and of us.

Our first hotel was  the Posada El Palomar in Camuy.  This was about 3/4 of the way across Puerto Rico.

We stayed there one night and the next day went to the Caverns del Rio Camuy and the Radar telescope.  The drive on the very narrow, curvy hilly roads with few highway signs was interesting.

We spent to next night near Isabela in NW PR.  The Ocean Front  Hotel was right on the Atlantic Ocean.  We ate dinner at a table looking directly at the ocean waves.

We drove the next day down the west coast, stopping at Rincon to see a restored lighthouse and a nice beach.  We ended the day at a guest house in La Parguera.  While in that area we visited the Phosphorescent Sea and enjoyed a local festival.  The next day we visited Cana Gorda State Park with a fine swimming beach used almost exclusively by local residents.  We also visited the Guanica Dry Forest.  We spent the night at the Melia Hotel in Ponce.

After we left Ponce we stopped at the Thermal Baths near Coamo and bathed in the pool fully clothed.   After that we drove to Fajardo. we spent three nights here, but not at the same hotel all three nights.  While here we went to Vieques Island, the El Yunque Rain Forest,  and saw the sights in the area.

The last five days we were in San Juan in two different hotels.  There we were joined by our daughter Susan and her husband Ram and their three children, Rajan, Maya, and Jay.

Marlene, Kay and I took almost 200 pictures.  Only a small portion of these are in the narative.  This link will contain some of the other pictures.  Please click on a thumbnail to see the full size picture.

There were many interesting things to see.  Beaches, caves, rain forest, dry forest, Phosphorescent Sea, island of Vieques, light house, pretty countryside, radar telescope and of course San Juan and more.  But what remains most vivid in our thoughts is the friendliness and helpfulness of the people we met.  Many went out of their way to make us feel welcome.

On 2 July we headed home reversing our flights to Puerto Rico.
 
 

Last revised: 6 August 2002
Pictures by Marlene, Kathleen and Richard