Snapshots of San Juan & Bonaire

Here are few photographic snapshots of our Caribbean holiday 2008....

In Old San Juan, Puerto Rico:

David with sea food paella at the restaurant in our hotel, the El Convento. It was very delicious, if filling...

Great sangria at a restaurant recommended by the hotel -- the place serves Puerto Rican food and boasts that the Pina Colada was invented there.

David makes a funny face while sipping his Pina Colada...


Near the rain forest park....
On top of a tower overlooking the rain forest...

Flora in the rain forest...


And fauna in the rain forest... these snails were seen all over the rain forest trees...



David takes a dip in the waterfall at the rain forest park...


Getting coconuts hacked up for drinking the juice...

A lunch of coconut water and arroz con pollo (chicken and rice)

In Old San Juan...

We visited the Bacardi factory in San Juan... in the end we feel we prefer Barbadian rum...

In BONAIRE!
A pelican grooms itself...

Iguana, up close and personal...

Bonaire flora...

David approaches iguanas who hang out in the beach restaurant where hotel breakfast is served...


"Downtown" Bonaire...

Meeting a wild donkey...

Flamingo at one of the many flamingo sanctuaries...



Very colorful and fearless lizard (the lizards had a habit of approaching people and their cars, so that breaking for lizards became a common observance...)

Fajitas on the beach...

At a Spanish tapas restaurant by the harbour...


On "Pink Beach"... which the guide book claimed would turn "pink" at sunset... it was more a "dusty rose" if any pink at all, but it was pretty and peaceful.

We had a marvelous holiday... and feel Bonaire is a place we'd love to go back!

In Bonaire

David and I have been in Bonaire since Tuesday night... and we are loving our time here so far!

We enjoyed Puerto Rico, too. We had a great trip to the rain forest, an interesting experience at the beach (the beach was really dirty with garbage from the weekend partying... but the water itself was okay), good sea food and Puerto Rican food, and the most special of all -- an evening kayaking in a "bioluminescent" bay (the water glows in the dark!). We enjoyed where we were in Old San Juan, even managed to salsa dance a bit and visit the Bacardi rum factory. But coming to the quiet island of Bonaire, we realize that this is really what we were after... peace and quiet, drives around the island (in a pick-up truck, no less!), lots of snorkeling, all accompanied by plenty of rum-based drinks on the beach!

We'll post photos when we can... I hope to have some good flora/fauna pics from this trip!

Fa la la la HOLIDAY!

David and I have just finalized and booked our holiday getaway -- this July, we'll go to Puerto Rico for 2 nights, and then onto Bonaire for 6 nights!

Puerto Rico will be the "cultural" and "historical" part of our holiday -- which means we hope to go salsa dancing, learn about Puerto Rican rum and cuisine..... oh, and of course, check out Old San Juan and its historic sites, where we will be staying. When we have any time off for a holiday, we've tended to do beach-only trips involving very little to no tourist-ing. We travel so much with work, traveling and having to think on our vacation has not been our inclination. This year, however, we thought we'd vary it up a little. Since there is no way to get to Bonaire without going through Puerto Rico or Curcao, we chose Puerto Rico, give our Spanish language skills a little test drive. Of course, the beach is never too far away in Puerto Rico, but we will get a little urban flavor, too, and we are looking forward to it.

Bonaire reputedly has fantastic snorkeling and diving, as well as bird watching. We have aspirations to learn to dive this year -- time permitting, since it'd be best to get the dive schooling out of the way right here in New York before we get to Bonaire, so we don't waste precious time in the water. We are now pouring into guidebooks and learning about our chosen destinations.

This stretch of time when we will be in Puerto Rico/Bonaire is truly the only time we are able to go anywhere non-work related... so we shall make the best of it! It will be busy busy until then, hopping between NYC, London and Toronto, but at least the flights and accommodations are booked, we have this getaway to look forward to.

Woohoo!