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You travel at all?
Actually the title was accurate for P.R. It is a shithole. I've been there either 3 or 4 times,
You've said you're retired, so interested in all the travel you've completed.
Any insight on some cool places to go?
WookieMan saysYou travel at all?
Did you forget this?
MrMagic saysActually the title was accurate for P.R. It is a shithole. I've been there either 3 or 4 times,
WookieMan saysYou've said you're retired, so interested in all the travel you've completed.
People only travel in retirement? They don't travel before they retire?
WookieMan saysAny insight on some cool places to go?
Looking for cool, how about the Arctic Circle?
WookieMan saysYou travel at all?
Did you forget this?
MrMagic saysActually the title was accurate for P.R. It is a shithole. I've been there either 3 or 4 times,
Not sure why my question to you would elicit such a negative response.
So was it 3 or 4 times to PR? Where did you stay or go in PR? Any resort, hotel or beach recommendations?
@MrMagic - You travel at all? Any insight on some cool places to go? You've said you're retired, so interested in all the travel you've completed. Looking for new places to go. I've got Cancun in November, Costa Rica in January, Big Sky snowboarding in Feb, Phoenix for Spring Break, Lake Tahoe over the summer, Northern CA up to Seattle after labor day. Need to fill in some of the blanks and am looking for good ideas.\
BIg Sky is a pretty awesome big mountain.
How far afield, for how long, and what interests are you looking for ideas for?
WookieMan saysSo was it 3 or 4 times to PR? Where did you stay or go in PR? Any resort, hotel or beach recommendations?
Does it really matter if it was 3 or 4? Which part of "shithole" don't you understand?
Are you planning on continuing your trolling again tonight? Do you really think you'll get an honest response?
MT Hood is happening no matter what. As a midwesterner, I've been lucky enough to get there twice. Wife and kids haven't been. Too cool not to see, so we're hitting it up. Obviously redwoods will be some part of the trip
Australia & New Zealand are top 5 bucket list locations, but on the back burner. I'm a taller guy though and I dread those flights.
If you get serous about OZ/NZ I lived in both for many years.
I'll hit you up when the time comes. Best, best case we'd maybe be looking at flights in late 2019 or early 2020 and traveling sometime in late 2020.
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Did a house swap with a buddy for the first 2 weeks. Off to sunny Puerto Rico for the first time. Not very impressed. I've been around a good deal of the Caribbean and PR has more money than most caribbean places for sure. Good roads, mostly late model cars, tons of rt 46 in NJ type shopping ala walmart/homedepot/bestbuy. Tons of US fast food too. No beggars and very little sweet vendors. It's not all that attractive an Island. Beaches on the north shore are narrow and usually up against a rocky hill. The south shore is mostly mangrove with no beaches. Drove pretty much all the way around the island and didn't see that much hurricane damage left.
Stayed at his nice apartment in La Parguera in the south west corner. Sleepy to the point of comatose 4 days a week; Insane out of control party spot 3 days a week. If you want to do kitesurfing you have hire someone take you out on a boat to the mangrove islands which is a hassle, but since you are already out on a boat wake boarding is already baked in. PR local food is pretty much Caribbean standard something fried wrapped in fried dough of some type. Mashed fried plantains for a starch unlike Cuba, Jamaica, or DR with rice and beens. Went to see a movie (huge cineplex) and had to sit through 35 minutes of previews and advertising. Really loud advertising. Only once. PR drivers are actually timid. Very strange for a latino country. San Juan is a very pedestrian city. A couple nice hoods, but not many. Not going back to PR.
Back to the states for a week then 3 weeks in Cartagena Columbia. Why Cartagena? Cheap airfare like 320 round trip from Baltimore via Lauderdale on spirit (FWIW customs in Lauderdale sucks, really sucks, much worse than many 3rd would countries. Customs in Columbia was quick and efficient, one of the best I've seen) , cheap lodging like $90 a night for a very nice hi rise 2 bedroom apartment overlooking the water), and most important good sailing at a school recommended by a friend. I finally decided it was time to take a full kitesurfing course and break out of being terminal beginner. Went windsurfing in Lago de Calima in western Columbia 2 years ago, but it was really rural. It was backpackers hostels mostly and the night life consisted of counting stars and listening to crickets unless you wanted to drive an hour to Cali. Wanted just a little more urban environment.
No real expectations beyond typical caribbean experience. Wow, Cartagena was awesome. Loved it. Cosmopolitan, vibrant, clean, young. Beautiful city. Skyline like dubai or miami with a bunch of hi rises. The city is locked in by water in kind of a T shape. The top of the T is the caribbean, to the left is Cartagena bay, and to the right is a huge lake and mangrove swamp. Which means the entire city is pretty much water front. The beaches are packed most days. The T intersection is the old walled city and Getsamani an up and coming yuppie/backpackers area. Left of the T on the peninsula is all the tourism. Right and base of the T are residential. The downside is almost all the beaches are on the other side of a road so there aren't really many beachfront restaurants Took the usual 2-3 days of how the fuck does everything work in this country period to get going.
The old city is amazing. Dating to the 1500's and surrounded by 10 miles of wall that is 10-30 ft high and 10-30ft thick. You can walk on top of the wall almost all the way around. A lot of the wall is overlooking the Caribbean. Think of the old city as a really really big mostly pedestrian shopping mall with 500 year old architecture. Super clean and almost all in excellent shape. Huge number of kids flying kites in the big grounds in front to the wall. Lots and lots of great looking restaurants and interesting shopping. Actually that was true all over the city. Crime is low and no one seemed concerned that I talked to. No beggars, but a good number of street vendors. They are polite and respectful. A simple no is sufficient.
Hot every day high 80's and humid. Since its only 3 degrees north of the equator, 200 miles roughly it's high 80's 365 days a year. It was actually cooler and with the sea breezes it was more comfortable than my area of northern new england was this summer. Weird considering I'm an hour from the canadian border. Pretty dry area of Columbia with somewhat scrubby vegetation. No malaria though. Beaches were ok but not great. The city beaches are mostly pretty firm sand that you could easily drive on with the 100 ft right at the water being softer. Breakwaters every couple hundred yards . In the eastern area's of the city the bus and taxi service runs on the beach. Pretty cool. Sailing was pretty good. The sailing school is about 5 miles east of the city where there are no breakwaters. Good thing for beginner kietsurfers. Just a cement block shack on the beach but excellent equipment and instructors. Yes I got up and going finally. Cartagena actually faces somewhat west as the coast curves south at that point. The wind doesn't always track the coast so 3 days out of 4 is good. A couple hundred miles further east sticks out a lot more and gets stronger and much more consistent trade winds. Serous desert at that point though. Cabo de la Vela is a 2 hour ride through the desert in a jeep, has no electricity or running water (buckets of water are provided to shower), the only accommodations are hammocks yet there are 3 kitesurfing/windsurfing resort/schools there. That's serious wind.
You need rudimentary spanish or a good dictionary and lots of gestures. English is spoken but not extensively. Or take a Spanish speaking spouse like I did since my spanish is limited to bathroom, beer, and used tires. Money is really really confusing. They issued new bills without all the zeros but didn't take the old ones out of circulation. So 50,000 20,000 10,000 5,000 2000 is the same as 50,20,10,5,2 and are all used interchangeably. Not very intuitive standing in line with 10 people behind you. Exchange is 3000 to 1 official 2700 to 1 street. Pretty solid currency. A little disconcerting to get a bill for 300,000 for dinner though. Didn't rent a car. Taxis are everywhere and dirt cheap. 2-4 bucks anywhere in the city. Rented a taxi for 5 hours to go to the Aviario Nacional de Colombia for $75. A good amount of traffic but it moves fine. Never sat n a traffic jam are than a couple minutes at a really major intersection.Typical aggressive latino drivers.
Lots to do. Funny thing is once you get there a lot more shows up on internet searches. I guess google/goduckgo/etc. limit by your location so you don[t see as much in the states. I've found that before with other countries. Food, shopping, casinos, beach, night life (this is a latino city), surfing, windsurfing (right next to our apartment in the middle of the city), boat rides, tour buses, fishing, etc., etc., etc. They love their chiva party buses. It's an open sided bus with a band and a bar that you can jam in with lots of other people and do hop on hop off bar hopping. The spousal unit went for a hot mud bath in the world's smallest active volcano. It's like 30 ft high with a rickety scaffold to get up and inside where there is another ticket scaffold to get into the mud. The Aviario was great. Columbia is ground zero for birds.
Snorkling/diving wasn't happening. The city beaches don't have reefs and the water is a little cloudy with all the wind and wave action. The Islands in the bay have reefs and diving but it seems to be a real hassle to do and there is some bad press about scams. The island tours also lock you in for the whole day and I didn't want to go snorkeling for a couple hours than sit on a beach the rest of the day waiting for my ride home I don't sit on beaches. Beaches are a path to go play in the water.
Lots of variety of food. More interesting restaurants than could be explored in a decade. Obviously fish and seafood was a biggie. Sides usually include a salad which is really nice. Plus fried plantin frequently which is so so as far as i'm concerned. Best fruit I've ever eaten. Almost no fast food. Almost no chain store shopping either. Went to the best supermarket I've ever seen called carulla's. Meats, cheeses, fruits, veggies, fresh baked bread like I've never seen They had a 10x10 rack of hanging cured hams that looked awesome. Amazing. I really wanted one to bring home, but customs would have had a fit.
No pictures, camera died on trip home and I need to get the card read onto a stick.
Well worth a look for anyone looking for a warm vacation with lots of water and a happening city. Direct from Lauderdale and Miami 2.5 hours.