"ˇBienvenidos todos vosotros!" a San Juan Travel Page by XanderDone

Here, you will find everything I've kept track of while in the lovely island of Puerto Rico, home to my mother's side of my family. Puerto Rico is such a beautiful island, and there is so much to see that you just can't truly appreciate it in only a week. If you're going to go to enjoy every corner of the island, you should plan on spending at least two weeks here, because even though it is about the size of Connecticut and Rhode Island, the time seems to go by so much quicker. The dominant photo is a picture I took of San Juan from the airplane on the way there.. Oh, the pleasures and benefits of circling a city waiting to land.!

There are not many places I can say that I truly enjoy the presence of other people on the same beach as me, but for some reason, the San Juan beaches provided a great atmosphere and just the energy was enough to enjoy - without even stepping foot in the water! (Which, in March was still warm, by the way) You can meet new people here on the beach, and enjoy bodysurfing on the medium-sized waves with locals. Most of the beaches there are lined by major resorts, but all of them are open to the public, so don't be surprised if you see some natives in the Mariot beach.

Perhaps one of the most enjoyable things you can do is go to Viejo San Juan. Either for shopping (with no sales tax, it's a definate plus), nightlife (since drinking age is 18, it's another definate plus), or the historical culture of the Spanish conquistadors, there is no question one can spend a good two days in this city alone. We stayed in a part of San Juan called Condado, which is a modern center for nightlife, and is right on the beach (it even has it's own lagoon). Here, you'll find overwhelming Spanish influence on the population as you meander through the blue-brick callitas while gazing the brightly colored casitas. In the background, you can see what came to be a surprise to me: they painted la Fortaleza blue; something that's changed since the last time I was here.