Cruise day 5, PUERTO RICO!

"This is how it goes down in Puerto Rico"...

Pretty soon we would be walking those Despacito lyrics, but first we had to get there!

It was an afternoon port stop.

Why not pass the time with ice cream and swimming.

and animal balloons on the boardwalk.

 I went back to the room to get ready to leave when I saw land approaching!

It was jaw dropping gorgeous.

Pretty soon we would be standing right in the middle of it all!

This port was mass chaos.

I grabbed Lindi's hand and told her to never let go.

There were people screaming at you in every direction
trying to get you to buy their excursion package.
We quickly knew that we could not all stick together. 

We teamed up with Jesse and Kristen, struck a deal with a guy and were
quickly ushered into his sprinter van!

WITH blasting AC, awe sooo nice.

I felt bad for the others who decided to stay on foot the whole day.

It was also nice because we were clueless at where to go, and what to do.

He knew the island like the back of his hand. 

He drove us to this convention center to get a picture in front of 

I heart Puerto Rico!

Tourism at its finest:)

He pointed out some wild fruit trees they have everywhere.

I can't remember the name.
I asked what they tasted like.
All of a sudden he pulled over, hopped out, picked a handful.

Got a bottle of water and washed some fruit for us to try!

He wanted us to see what real Puerto Rico was like.

He drove us to some project areas.
In fact, weeks later there was national news of a big murder.
We were RIGHT where it happened.

He showed us neighborhoods impacted by hurricane Maria.
A whole month without water or electricity.
They were still doing construction on most of the buildings.

 And also where they film movies.

Puerto Rico is a big country for movie making.

I guess cheaper taxes because its a Caribbean country run by the USA?

Plus its absolutely beautiful there.
Fast and the Furious was a big one.
He is used to seeing lots of movie stars.

So glad we had our guide, he was awesome!

This was a popular beach.
Next door was a 5 star resort.

I think I shoved my way off the van first. haha.

Move it or lose it!

My shoes were off in half a second and I was running into that water!

If only we could stay and swim!!!

The warm water was so inviting.

Sand as soft as brown sugar.

We had so much more to see and do.

We made our way to old town San Juan.

 In front of the capital building.

Down the street was Castillo San Felipe del Morro.

GORGEOUS spot. 

In fact, they filmed a bunch of Pirates of the Caribbean,
 and the Count of Monte Cresto right here.
This spot is the view from the picture I posted from our room deck.
The light house "castle" is to the left.

It was built to guard the entrance to the San Juan Bay and defend

the Spanish colonial port of San Juan from seaborne enemies.

Santa Maria Magdalena de Pazzis cemetery.

Our driver then drove us down the road to Castillo San Cristobal.
We bid our thanks for a great tour.

I guess this is a huge tourist attraction to San Juan.

It is a fortress build by Spain to protect against land based attacks on the city of San Juan.
It covers 27 acres of land.

To say this place was huge and amazing is an understatement.

 Real forts?

The boys were stoked.

We couldn't get passed the lobby!

After coming out of the many tunnels. 

Its like we were on top of the world!

And not going to lie, it was borderline dangerous. 

You know, teenage boys walking to the edge of rock cliffs.

My heart was pumping.

Scratch that, BEATING out of my chest!

Looking out of a cannon barrel hole.

This view took my breath away.

I have never seen anything so amazing.

And on that shore line you can see colorful buildings.

A zoomed in look.

That, right in front of our eyes, is where Justin Bieber himself
shot the music video for Despacito.

Our driver made sure to warn us not to go there.

It is a dangerous hood.

Other side of the cannon hole.

Unbelievable. 

I vowed right then and there to make it to more parts of the world.
To take in its beauty and wonder!
I've always been a wanderlust.
Something about birthing/raising kids and money...

One day I'll roam the earth!

Our cruise ship in the background. 

Walking the cobblestone streets in search for
the restaurant who invented the pina colada!

We found it!
10 pina coladas, stat!
 If you want to know how amazing they were,
Casey to this day still talks about them.

They were unreal.

The best frozen drinks that have ever touched our lips.

 We went back out to the cobblestone streets to walk 20 feet only to find rolled ice cream.
No brainer there.

I'm glad Jesse and Kristen's family likes food just as much as we do!
YOLO!

Such a quaint town.

It was dark and time to head back to the ship.

We missed our dining time, so off to the Windjammer (buffet) for dinner.

Why not have a crepe to top off the rest of our sugar meals that day!

That night the performer was a riot!

He was a singing entertainer with a LOT of energy!
We got groovy dancing to all the hit songs from different genre's and decades.

He would talk and tell funny stories in between.

It was a blast!

We went from one party to the next!

On the Promanade they had a stage with people demonstrating
 line dance moves with music blaring.

My heart was so happy!

Conga line, yes please!

A flying pig welcomed us home.

I was surprised at how much I loved Puerto Rico.

I could go back in a heart beat.

We barely scratched the surface.

Puerto Rico is muy bonito!