Ep 95: Four Days in Puerto Rico

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Transcript

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Welcome back to another episode of the dare to dream physician travel podcast. I'm so excited. You're joining us today. So this episode is, part three of the series. that I did about my recent four-day trip to Puerto Rico. two weeks ago, I talked about The travel perks that I enjoy during this trip to help you become a smarter traveler. last week I shared four lessons that I learned during my four days in Puerto Rico. to also help you. learn from my mistakes and be a smarter traveler. And this week I'm actually going to talk about what we did and what we saw and our impressions, our experiences, during our short time in Puerto Rico. And whether a four day trip was a crazy idea or not for a family, especially with kids. my youngest kid is only six years old. so she can get impatient with the car and flight travel. Technically, like I said, we really have three full days of sightseeing. because the first day was mostly traveling and we got into the airport at 9:00 PM. And then the last day, we flew out at one 30, but you have to get to the airport about two hours before and where we were staying in the Southwest part of Puerto Rico. It was a two and a half hour drive, to get to the airport. So really, the first and the last day were spent, traveling. So we really had three days and I actually was surprised how much we could pack into three days. What I love about Puerto Rico, and this was very apparent, even when I was researching places that we could go, Is just how diverse the landscape is. We flew into San Juan airport, which is probably where most people would fly in if they're coming from the continental us. On the first day we just stayed the highest place by Amman. It's about 20 minutes from the airport. And like I said, we just, I just picked that hotel because I booked it, for only 8,000 points. It was basically a really great deal. And they were able to keep all five buses in one room, which was both convenient and, economic. so how, and so then where do we go for the next three days? so I had decided that we were gonna, We're going to pick a hotel for one night near the airport, and then we would just pick one place to stay. For the next three days. And then we were going to leave Sunday morning, just drive from where we were staying to the airport, because our flight was later in the day. So we picked his date in Cabo ROHO, which is in the south west part of the island. So Cabo is, Spanish rotate and roll hole is, red. So when you get to Cabo, ROHO, you'll see why it's called that. It's the dry part of the island. You can see cactus. the. There is grass, but it's dryer and everything looks more like the desert landscape. and, the dirt is a reddish color. That's where it got its name. We stayed in an Airbnb because my husband likes to stay in off the beaten path places. He likes to live in. quiet, secluded. Places. So I just picked this, cabin. that's a little bit off the beaten path. which is very quiet. I don't think we saw one neighbor. So the other thing is, when we're traveling as a family, I think it's very important to take into account everyone's interest including the kids, no matter how old they are. So my kids are safe. Nine and 13. And they all have different interests. So my six year old daughter loves water. She could be in a pool or the beach or the ocean all day long and she would be very, very happy she could run on the beach, play with the waves, she loves snorkeling. anything water. So I knew that we had to do a water activity, unfortunately. I am also like my daughter and that I love being in the water and I love snorkeling. And my goal is always to try to if, if I'm going to a place, and I recently became certified in scuba diving. And so, if I'm going to travel. To a place that offered scuba diving. it will be a priority for me to get a chance to do that. to keep up my skills, um, And then my nine-year-old, is our kid who it became a converted traveler. He, did not originally want to travel at all. He was kicking and screaming and, resistant to the idea of travel. The idea of leaving home. He did not want to get on a plane. He did not want. to live in a house that was not his own. and, he's grown a lot since. now he wants to go. but. His obsession is, firetrucks, police cars, ambulances, and all the first responders. So my friend, who I interviewed. On the podcast. several months ago, Dr. Sarah Buddha. She lives in Puerto Rico. And I asked her if she had any ideas on what I can do so that my, my son could meet a firefighter in Puerto Rico. And she told me about a firefighter museum. That's important say, which is in the middle part south of the island. so that was, I knew I was going to do a stop there. And then lastly, my oldest son. Is an avid birder. he loves birdwatching. He walks around with this really large zoom lens and loves photographing birds. so whenever I tell them about a travel destination idea, the first thing he wants to know, the first thing he looks up is what kind of birds is he going to see there? So of course I would have to, plan. To go to places where he could. Check off his bird list. fortunately, my husband is pretty easy going. he just likes being outside and he likes nature. a lot of, the birdwatching and the forest and, the water activities also check off his list. I'm glad there's one person and the family that is pretty easy to please. so on day one. Our first, full day in Puerto Rico, what we did is we went to the mountains. the Boesky. Stuttle. Dario Ababil, which is the state forest of the real bajo, the real about host state forest. we try to look for birds there. Apparently the Puerto Rican parrot. Is, in that forest, but when we got there, first of all, no one else was there. So that was a sign because, a lot of people would love to see the Puerto Rican parrot. and then the other sign literally signs that we saw when we got close to where the parents were, were all these no, no enter signs. So we were not allowed to go to see where these parents are because they're endangered. so that was a big bummer, but I did flag down a vehicle that was coming out of the road that said do not enter and ask them more. How did you guys get in. And, they told us that, they are actually government workers. They're contractors that work with. the construction that's in that area. And so that's how they got in. And then I asked if they saw the Puerto Rican parrot. And they did and they show me their picture of it. At the picture that's it took on their phone. So that was the closest we got to see the Puerto Rican parrot. it was a really fun visit though. It was a, just an off the beaten path road. there were no tourists around. we were just driving through like side roads and. and neighborhoods that felt like the real rural Puerto Rican, neighborhoods with, chickens and, Guinea fowl and other animals running around. it was just a lot of fun and people were really friendly. as we drove by, we would wave to them and everyone would wave back. And And by the way, speaking of waving and greeting. One of the things, why it's good to download Google translate and download the language of the place where you're going to is even though. We know that. English is a very widely spoken language, especially in Puerto Rico. and it feels weird for me to speak Spanish because I haven't done it in a long time. But it's part of the fun of traveling. to immerse yourself in that culture and the language. And whatever capacity that you can. And I, even though I could say hi to everybody, I, I would practice my Spanish, say Allah. And by the end of the trip, my kids. knew a few words of Spanish, just for me saying it out loud. So often to try to practice. So then we drove through this really cool part of Puerto Rico called and a junk. these were mountain roads. And the one thing that really struck my husband and I was how great the infrastructure was. The roads were aside from a few potholes, way less than we wouldn't count her in Vermont. all the roads were in really good shape. And this is probably because they recently had to rebuild a lot from the hurricane. it was really easy to drive people and in general, people were very polite drivers. there's one or two cars that might not have been that way. But in general, it was easy to drive. especially if you're used to driving, more country roads, one lane roads, but the actual condition of the road and the drivers were really great. So no complaints there, even near the city, even near the capital San Juan. I really was not in an intimidating driving experience at all. And okay. So then, so then we went to Ponce, which is where they have the party, the Bombas, the firefighters museum. it's such a cool museum. it's an open museum. so the building, is from the 18 hundreds and it's the first virus station. in the Caribbean. And, it's beautiful. It's red and it has these really cool exhibits. but what was even cooler for my nine-year-old son, who's obsessed with firefighters was when we showed up. There were all these seats and people that were gathering around this museum. And I thought. That's interesting, what are they doing? And so I asked the, the guy who worked at the museum and I said, what, all, what's what's going on today. And he explained that this is the one day a year where they, have a celebration of firefighters. And, it was so cool. so literally my nine-year-old son's dream came true. and I didn't even have to plan it. we literally showed up. without knowing that that was going to be a festival in a parade. and even musical performances by firefighters, it was really amazing. so what my nine-year-old got was just beyond what I could have planned. Because I actually tried to look up on the website and I didn't even see, I didn't even see that event there. So I'm part of it may be that, it was only in Spanish and it didn't show up in my search, but I still couldn't find out what the name of this event was, but, it was just so amazing that we caught it. And when we got there, there were, there was this band. equipment that was set up and a bunch of firefighters standing near there. And so after looking through the exhibits, I, I asked my nine-year-old son. I said, do you want to try to get a, get a picture with a firefighter? And, and he said, can we do that? And they said, let's try it. Let's ask them. And so we went up to a man that was dressed in uniform. And I asked him, hola. Are you, are you a firefighter? And he said yes. And I said, oh, this is my son. And he loves firefighters. Firefighters are his heroes. and, would it be okay if he gets a picture with you and the guys that of course. And so my son got a picture with this firefighter. that was just happened to be standing around at the fire station, waiting for the festivities to start. and it turned out later that evening when they were doing the festivities, that he was the lead singer of the firefighters band. and so he did a whole performance in front of everybody and it was really good. you had a great voice and, and my son got, got that the picture beforehand with the star of the night. So just such an unforgettable experience, for my son and even my two other kids who are not nearly as much into firefighting, but they only share the excitement because they know how much their brother loves it. they had a blast too. It was just fun to travel somewhere and just see how, they do their parades and everybody it's like everybody, it felt like everybody in Ponce was there. And, I don't even know how they have so many firefighters. I don't know if it's like firefighters from other cities. but they had a March with, the retired firefighters and the current firefighters. And then they had a parade of the different firetrucks and. ambulance and police cars. it was just unforgettable. It was amazing. so we stayed there actually a little bit longer than we had planned. But, we had to, because it was just so, so cool. and we ended that night. Oh, by the way, when we were walking to this fire station, we saw that the towns that the city square and Ponce and just the architecture is beautiful. It's just. Beautiful historic buildings. there's this city square, there's a huge water fountain to the side of the fire. Fedor museum and the cathedral, which we didn't even have a chance to check out. So we'd love to go back there. And we ended, so we still had to drive. a little bit over an hour to our Airbnb. but we stopped by a food truck called, and last Papa's, I was going to ask people where they recommended, but, I was able to find something on Google. We found this food truck that's right near the city square. It was really good. We had. we all ordered which is a base of bash maintains and sweet potatoes. And they top it with different veggies and meat like chicken. and it was just really delicious. And also we were so hungry at this time that it tasted even better. So that night was interesting because we got a, off the beaten path. Airbnb, it ended up having these very elaborate. check-in instructions going to a bar to get a key, and then I'm going to a bar to access a key box. after, putting the code into the key box, we got the key to go to the gate. and then the gate. After opening the gate, we drove another, probably half of a mile To the actual house. and, everything was dark. And when we got there, we found the house, we think, cause everything was dark at this point. we parked right in front of the house. And when we were about to drop the car underneath the deck of the house, I saw a pair of eyes, reflect. Reflect against the headlights. and so I saw a dog and I knew that, the owners then lived nearby and I didn't know that the property came with a dog. So I texted the owner and asked him. And it turns out they were wild pups. There were feral dogs. and he says that this was, uh, wildlife reserve actually, where this house. was located and he says, yeah, in the bulkhead on, national wildlife refuge, this is their home they're just wild pups there. So it was a nice. nice little bonus. And because there were a while they didn't really bother us, they would be curious, and stood up when we were going in to the house, but they didn't try to follow us into the house or jump on us or, and we purposely didn't feed them food because we wanted to keep them wild. Yeah, that was our adventure on day one. And on day two, we had a full day packed because this was a day that we were going to go to LA Pegida up a get-to. It is about 30 minutes from Cabo roll hole. And, and remember how I said that I love scuba diving. so I signed up for, a dive in the morning, and they were able to take me. I couldn't go on the. The dive their most popular dive, which is the wall dive because I'm only certified to 60 feet for scuba diving. I don't have the advance diving certificate yet. And the wall died would have gone to a hundred, 120 feet. so they didn't let me do that, but I went on a shallow. reef dive on the, Enrique reef. the visibility was not that great. but a fantastic, fantastic crew. a great dive instructor. It was just me and him. he took me out. I did see the, even though the physically wasn't great. I did see stuff I saw a lot of lobsters, a couple of Southern sting rays, a large green sea turtle. That was really awesome. I never get sick of seeing those, and, a bunch of reef fish. I, the reef definitely wasn't as healthy as, what I've seen in the Virgin islands I think out of all the places that I've dived, the Virgin islands, I don't know if it was just because it was the first time I've ever seen it. or. so I had some first time bias, but it was, I still think that was the best diving. the visibility was maybe about 25 feet. As a comparison in The Bahamas, it was probably 80 feet on a regular day. And the Virgin islands, it was probably like 60 feet or more. yeah. And on the same boat, my kids and husband were there and they got to go snorkeling. They also had two guys, To take'em to, take them around to the reef to snorkel. So we were on a boat from maybe seven minutes and then we got to, where the reef was. And so I went on my dive, with a separate instructor and then the kids and my husband went on. when I went to snorkel and that time. And, so that was great. I would say that if there was, if I was, Trying to be economical. That probably, I could probably have skipped that because, it was certainly better than anything that we could see in Vermont because there are no reefs in Vermont. But, that probably cost. Let me see that. That part. Cost, maybe like 400.$50 or like close to$500. because, the dive was$105 plus tip, and the shallow reef snorkel. for the four people was, about$300 plus tip. so yeah, when we added all of that, it ended up being close to$500 and. And it was fine. we can't do that in Vermont, but, if we were really trying to keep a tighter budget, we probably would have skipped that part. But what is cool about the town love Pugach. Data is actually what happens at night. So this is. The town where you can access the bio bay. One of the three bio bays in Puerto Rico. One of the few places in the world. Where you can see. these microorganisms they're called dyno Flint jellies, and they admit the short burst of light. So it's like they light up in the dark and now they're lighting up all the time, but you can see it when it's day time. So you can only see in a dark. And they light up when they're going to get agitated. It's a stress response that they have. So if you stir the water, if you have, if you were kayaking, moving the water with the paddle, or have your swimming, moving your legs and moving your arms, that will cause them to admit that the burst of lights. So I actually didn't even know about LA. Data. I knew about which is a separate island. That's harder to get to them would have been harder to do in four days. but, we just happen to have rented. The Airbnb, right near LA Paqueta. And when. When I saw that they had this available, that's, when I knew to sign up. but it was ended up being awesome because it's the only bay that you can swim in. It's the only bio bay in Puerto Rico where you can swim in. and I think there's just something magical about actually swimming in the water. it was really warm. so that was also a snorkeling trip. No fins though. We don't really need Fens. Cause there's so many peoples snorkeling in the same place. so we got on the boat, like maybe at, six o'clock or six 30 and they took us out maybe 10 minutes to an area to watch the sunset. And you could swim in the water there too. the water was really warm. I don't know the exact temperature, but I think it was like in the mid eighties. and then after the sunset and now it's dark. Then they, take us to the actual bio bay and they give us a debrief on what to expect, what to do. And they let us jump in the water. And I think we were probably in the water for 30 minutes. It felt shorter than that because I was trying to, help my kids. While trying to enjoy this, oh, it was so cool. It was just amazing. First of all, I was a little bit scared. I think we all were, never, I never swam in the ocean in the dark. and it happened to be the night of the full moon. Thankfully the clouds were mostly covering the moon most of the time. the darker, it was outside the better to see the bioluminescence. So when we jumped in the water, I was afraid of, what might be in the water waiting for us to start. You can't really see. And then how cold was this water going to be? Because, I didn't wear my wetsuit, and ended up being, the water being really warm, like warmer than it was during the day. I think it just, maybe it's just the bay, the bio bay, maybe it's the warm temperature too. That helps these microorganisms grow. but it was really warm. It felt, I didn't, again, I couldn't really see my watch that has the temperature sensor, but it was probably, it felt like it was in the. mid or high eighties. and I just didn't get cold. even though I just had a swimming suit, and. And it was just really amazing. I try to capture it with my camera and failed miserably. next time, if I were to do this again, or if I were to try to, videotape or take pictures of a bowel bay, I would definitely turn off all the screens. because once the screen is on, it's too bright and you can't see the bioluminescence. But, anyway, I had to put away my camera because was a futile effort. And just enjoy the moment in the water, waving my hands and seeing the water. Just looked like glitter. It just lit up like little pieces of glitter lighting up in the water. it looked like glow in the dark glitter, and it was just really magical. and. My daughter, especially loved it. she thought it was like the coolest thing. It's just like doing magic mom. and, we just, we really enjoyed it. It was all worth it. it was definitely a bucket list. Item checked off. I would, of course do it again. I like to go back. maybe when it's not the full moon, so it's could be a little bit brighter. or, go to the one MBA haze. mosquito bay, EMEA, here's where you kayak, you can't swim there, but you can kayak. yeah. And so that was the end of day two. It was really wonderful. And what I love about Puerto Rico. At is how lively it is. And, back in the states, when you went, when you think of who goes out at night, it's mostly young people, right? It's like people who are clubbing, people, in their teens or twenties and maybe, even in their thirties, but. but when I walked out around at night in Puerto Rico, like everybody was out, like they, young people were out, kids around families were out. like even like the, the elderly people are out and everyone was just happy and it was just, it was just really, a lively and positive environment. So we got out of the boat, we got off the boat, maybe around eight o'clock. so everything was dark and we got into town when we realized, wow, this town is way more lively at eight o'clock or eight 30. and compared to 11 o'clock in the morning, when, many jobs were closed. so that was really cool to watch. Day three. So on our last full day of sightseeing and activities, which is day three, we spent in Cabo, robo, where we were staying. So I had done some research, mostly listening to podcasts, and learned that this is where Puerto Rican's like to vacation. it's a little bit off the beaten path. It's not like Or, or it's not, there are no resorts here. it sounded like the perfect place for us. And it's on the Southwest part of Puerto Rico. Like I said, the dry part of the island. and we spent the day. So this time is for my older son who loves the bird watching. So we went to Cabo robot national wildlife sanctuary, has a nice little park with trails. just really, great. Hiking. Easy hiking. The trails led to a lookout tower where we climbed, very sturdy lookout tower. And we were able to see the views of the coast and the salt flats and the farmland that was around. and then we went to the salt flats, last Selena's, which is so cool. it's basically, a large, a large area where the seawater. about rates and you get the soul and that comes in different colors. There's some pink salt. there's, you know why, if it's just like this large expanse, assault, and there is another tower even higher. Tower to climb there to get a really great look. And from the tower, you could see all sorts of cool birds. and, actually it wasn't the sole flats that my son got a lot of the birds that he wanted to see on his bird list and got lots of great pictures. So that was a day. And then we wanted to go to Playa Susya. Which is, translates to dirty beach, but it's actually one of the most popular beaches in Cabo, ROHO like the locals love to go there and it has use beautiful views and, it's got, the turquoise water And it's not developed, so there's not like a large strip of hotel or, sh stores. It's just, just the natural landscape. so great place to hang out with the beach. unfortunately it has limited parking and then it's also close to, the Los Marios like house. So by the time we had. We visited the soul flats and checked off our other sites that we wanted to see. we didn't realize this, but, the police had blocked off the road. and we, and he didn't seem really conversational. so we didn't really ask him why, but our guess was, it was just full and at capacity. So we didn't get to check out, that parts of Cabo ROHO. we'll definitely have to check it out next time. Just a very peaceful and off the beaten path part. Puerto Rico. but what I learned, I know. so much fun. so what we did was we just went, we checked out with different beach. And we were the only ones on the beach though. So that was a great thing. I'm definitely not as picturesque as Playa Sukhija, but it was special for us nonetheless, because the next day we're heading back to Vermont, heading back home. so it was really a wonderful three days, as I'm talking about it, would I do it again? Absolutely. I would do it again. Ideally though I might take off more time from work. but. As you guys know as physicians, we don't always have that luxury. I'm also trying to push the limits of how much we can travel. And so it was an experiment I wanted to see, whether we could do this. And what the experience would be like. And I think overall it was a great success. one of the things that I. Knew that we weren't going to do was see all the Puerto Rico, We probably could have attempted to do it. especially all the highly rated touristy stuff, going through. Which is the tropical rainforest in the north Eastern part of Puerto Rico. but we knew that this was not going to be our only trip to Puerto Rico, that this, we were just here to get a taste. To get a little feel on the island and, of course, get signed and enjoyment out of this. And we were really successful in all of them. And it was a completely magical experience for our kids. especially, things that we couldn't plan. that's what I love about traveling is that. Although. there can be challenges and, unexpected things that come up and we have to, adjust, we have to, troubleshoot on the spot and adjust our plans and be flexible. But it also happens that, unexpected cool things pop up, bringing your kid to a fire. Fighter museum and seeing hundreds of firefighters. in a parade and getting a picture with the. firefighter. Who's also a senior. And, that's what makes us special. And what I love is, even and the four days that we're in Puerto Rico in three days, really where we could. get out and walk around and sight. See, we were able to get a sense of the place, the culture, the food. and it was just so special. we left our whole family left with a special place in our heart for the people, for the island, or Puerto Rico. And. And we hope to be back and, And is four days of travel worth it. I think the answer is yes, but just plan to be a little bit tired. because we certainly could have slept a little bit more. All right. Thank you. Thank you for listening. I. appreciate you listeners. And, if you're a physician on Facebook, I would love for you to join our Facebook group because. It's a community that I've created, where I want us to share our travel dreams or travel ideas. Give our trip reports. And this episode, I described the trip, but I'm going to be sharing photos, um, in the group, and give my trip report. Have a good week. And stay tuned for next week's episode.