By Jessica Rosen
I have been out of the office for a week and as I sat down today to scroll through my 1,000+ emails, I couldn’t help tuning out and thinking about my last few nights in Puerto Rico. This was the first time my boyfriend and I flew together. As we took off, his hand in mine, (I MUST hold hands with SOMEONE, ANYONE, on all take-offs; Jennifer Baum can attest to this as I grabbed her wrist while she was working on her crossword puzzle earlier in the week on a flight to Las Vegas) I began to wonder what kind of traveler he was. I knew he wasn’t a lay at the beach type (despite us traveling to Long Beach every summer weekend for the last two summers) and I knew he wasn’t a “planner” as we hadn’t really planned anything…so what to expect?
The one thing we did plan for/take with us was a list of food recommendations given to me by various travel/food writers. This is when being a publicist comes in handy! Here are some of the places we “dined” at:
- Upon landing, we took a cab to Pinoñes, which is home to several food stalls serving local and cheap (really cheap) Puerto Rican fare that line Carolina Beach. We dined on pinchos, fried everything and beer for a measly $14.
- The next day we rented a car and drove to Old San Juan. Once we parked, we walked over to Caficultura (thank you Kathy Squires) for a cup of Puerto Rican coffee. We both like our coffee black but apparently needed to specify here as our cups were served with milk. We were about to ask for another two cups, this time black, when my boyfriend pointed to an article that included a photo of our barista. Apparently he won a “world’s best barista” award and so we took our coffee and left. Not surprisingly, it was excellent and we each wanted another cup soon after we had downed our first.
- For lunch, we hit up El Jibarito on Calle del Sol (thanks Marie Elana Martinez), a minimal cafeteria-style restaurant serving Puerto Rican food. If you go, get the chicken breast, pork ribs and the mashed Mofongo comprised of fried green plantains, yellow plantains and yucca.
- We so desperately wanted to eat at La Estacion in Fajardo before embarking on our nighttime kayak ride in Bio Bay. Unfortunately, we got a little lost (apparently Android’s GPS shuts down once you leave the mainland) and didn’t have enough time. (Side note, Bio Bay contains millions of micro-organisms, called “dinoflagellates” that glow in the dark for a second when agitated. I recommend checking it out.) Rows of restaurant stands lined Las Croabas Passive Park, adjacent to the bay, and we waited an hour for fried snapper and coconut shrimp. We didn’t have time to eat before leaving on our kayaking adventure and so wound up munching on cold fish at 11pm. Even cold it was still pretty good.
- The following day we purchased ripe mangos and spicy peppers from the Plaza del Mercado in Santurce (about half a mile south of Condado) and wrapped up with dinner at Miro Seafood. Four words: Eat outside & fried cod.
Overall, our first “trip with a plane ride” (yes I am the type of person to document and categorize all of our “firsts”) was a success and I can’t wait to plan the next one!
What I am Reading: Steve Jobs’ Biography
Eating: Latkes
Watching: The season finale of Homeland
Listening to: Exile on Main Street
Drinking: Coffee (black)