We’re taking you along on our 6 day trip to Puerto Rico for every mojito, empanada, and beach. We share our honest opinions about Puerto Rico’s vibrant culture, beautiful architecture, and local beaches. We cover where to stay, what to eat, driving tips, how much the trip cost, our experience at the Puerto Rico Wine & Food Festival, and plenty of recommendations to help you plan your own Caribbean getaway without needing a passport.

You can download our ⁠5-day Puerto Rico itinerary⁠ and take this exact same trip.

Episode Highlights:

• How to get to Puerto Rico as a U.S. traveler
• Transportation, driving, parking, and money saving travel tips
• Where to stay in San Juan and what made our resort experience special
• Exploring Old San Juan, El Morro, La Perla, and colorful colonial streets
• Visiting the Puerto Rico Wine & Food Festival
• Boat excursion to Culebra Island and relaxing at Flamenco Beach
• Luquillo Beach, Playa Buyé, Domes Beach, Crash Boat Beach, and Ponce
• Our favorite Puerto Rican food, cocktails, and restaurants from the trip

Hotels in Puerto Rico we recommend:

• La Concha Resort – Where we stayed here. The location is great with plenty of bars and restaurants in walking distance, just 15 minutes from the airport, Condado Beach is stunning and the resort has many great amenities.
• The Royal Sonesta – Swim up bar!
• Caribe Hilton – Huge pool and big balconies overlooking the ocean.

Check out our Puerto Rico tours and things to do in our Viator shop.

Find a great flight deal to San Juan with Thrifty Traveler Premium’s flight deals. Use our promo code TSP to get $20 off your first year subscription.

If you love the Caribbean as much as we do, check out our other Caribbean episodes for more travel inspiration!

5 Days in Puerto Rico – Episode Transcript

0:35

Welcome to this week’s episode of the Travel Squad Podcast. Today we are taking you to beautiful Puerto Rico.

I’m really excited to get into this episode because we followed your stories, Kim, but we really haven’t talked about your time in Puerto Rico.

0:57

And it’s been on our list too.

It’s come up more recently because I’ve seen some really cool videos of the rainforest hikes, waterfalls, and that all seems really intriguing.

And, and then of course, the beautiful beaches that are in Puerto Rico as well.

And I know you’re a beach person, so I can’t wait for you to tell us all of the best spots so we can eventually do this trip.

1:18

And hopefully our squaddies can do a similar trip like this in the future as well.

Yeah, I’m really interested to hear what you have to say about it, Kim, because one, it looked like you had a great time.

Britney’s been talking about going to Puerto Rico, and I’m not necessarily against it, but I don’t know if I really want to invest a lot of time there.

1:34

I told her I’m interested in Puerto Rico, maybe when we go there, like on a cruise just to hit another US territory because we’re almost done completing all 50 states for me and Brittany, right?

But I think it might need a little bit more time than just a cruise port spot.

But at the same time, I really don’t know how much time I want to invest.

1:52

So I’m interested and excited to hear what you have to say to really inspire me to spend a little bit more time in Puerto Rico because it seems just so great.

I want to address some of the things you said, Jamal, but first, I want to let the squaddies know just a little bit about Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico is a Caribbean island.

2:09

It is part of Latin America, but it is also part of the United States.

So as AUS citizen, you do not need a passport to go there, which makes it a lot easier and in some cases a lot more affordable to get down there.

The capital city is San Juan, so that’s where you’ll fly into.

2:24

I don’t know where the cruise ships will bring you, but if it’s anywhere near just San Juan, you will not get a good feel for the island itself.

So definitely look into that.

But Puerto Rico is known for, yes, it’s amazing beaches.

It does have wonderful rainforests and hikes out there.

2:41

It has a beautiful old San Juan, colorful colonial buildings, the bioluminescent bays.

But most of all, it has a very vibrant culture.

Bad Bunny is from here, and if you know that kind of music, that is the vibe of Puerto Rico.

2:56

People are very friendly, very musical, They love to dance, they’re open.

They are just the spirit of the island and really make it what it is.

I love the people here.

In fact, my very first moment of getting into Puerto Rico, I checked into the hotel and then I was heading up the elevator to go to my room to put my stuff down.

3:17

And some man comes over and he says, I know you’re not dressed up, but you are the most fly looking person here.

And that just set the trip off right.

And that was amazing.

Jamal, you mentioned you don’t know if you want to spend the money to come out here or you don’t know how much time to invest.

3:34

It’s not necessarily the money, it’s just me and Brittany want to go so many different places, of course.

And then Puerto Rico is rather far, I would imagine, to do in a weekend trip.

And I’ve been really wanting to go on a cruise.

So it’s like I can hit Puerto Rico off with the cruise.

3:50

How much time do I really need?

Yes, I know there’s hikes in the rainforest and beaches and I know it’s spending a day at port as a good example.

Won’t really give me a good feel of the island, the people, the culture, but it may be enough.

It’s just a thought that I had.

4:06

So that’s why I’m interested.

Because you went all over the island, did lots of different things.

So you’ll give a really good perspective on.

It what I would maybe more recommend is go to Puerto Rico then take a cruise from there.

Oh, that’s a good idea.

Spend a couple days, maybe 3.

4:21

But again, as we get further in this episode, you could let us know exactly how much time you need to do depending on what it is you want to do.

So really excited to dive right into this.

When I first heard about Puerto Rico, where it came on my radar was completely random.

4:37

I was not planning to go to Puerto Rico at all.

I’d always heard about it.

Everyone raves about it it, but it wasn’t on my list to do this year at all.

I was working in March and a girl I was working with that told me that she just went to Puerto Rico for five days with her daughter and that it was a really, really cheap flight from Austin.

4:56

Like 150 bucks she said.

And I was like, no way.

So I immediately looked at it and I was like, Oh my God, flights are so cheap from Austin.

Holy shit, I have to go.

And I literally bought a flight the next day.

Little impulse buy.

Sometimes those are the best vacations and trips to take are those random impulse ones or where you’re not necessarily expecting much and then it just wows you and you would love it.

5:17

And when you told me how cheap it was, then I had to see how cheap it was from San Diego.

And I want to say the flights were about $300 each way.

But from coming from San Diego, I don’t feel like that’s terrible.

And I didn’t realize that Southwest flies there.

Yes.

Yeah.

So like, that completely surprised me on its own because it wasn’t even on my radar.

5:36

I feel like we travel with Southwest so much, and this is not an ad for them, of course, but there’s a great base of flights that leave out of San Diego.

So I was like, oh wow, that actually makes it an option for us as well.

There are direct flights from Austin, so the times were like March, April, May were the best prices.

5:52

As you got farther into the summer, the prices did go up, even doubled as much.

So I think that’s a perfect time to go that March, April, May time frame because it’s not as humid, it’s not as hot, but it’s still warm enough where you’re going to get sunburned.

So just be aware of that.

But my flight said it was 250 round trip.

6:08

I used points so I paid $11.00 for my round trip flight.

Can’t beat that.

Yes Sir, it was amazing.

Now I splurged a little bit more in the hotel and we’ll get into that a little bit.

Actually, let’s just get into it now.

Let’s just break the ice here.

So where I stayed was the La Concha hotel on Con Dara beach.

6:26

Very beautiful place, just 15 ish minutes from the airport.

I would say one of the most beautiful beaches that I saw the entire island that I was there and semi private.

I mean, it’s open to the public, but right outside of the hotel is beach, beach beds.

I love a beach bed right outside the hotel.

6:43

It’s like one of my favorite things to do.

Gorgeous hotel.

There’s a nightclub there.

The Puerto Rican Food and Wine Festival was happening on that property.

My hotel stay came with free tickets to it.

We’re going to get more into that as well.

Beautiful hotel and all, but there’s a couple things I just wanted to say #1 Squatty’s.

7:01

I would recommend you stay here.

It was a bit of a splurge.

It was like 2 grand for four nights, which is what I did. 5 days, four nights.

I think I should have spent more time, but that’s what I had loved everything about the hotel except for a couple things.

Can you imagine what I’m going to say right now?

I can’t imagine what you’re going to.

7:17

Say something about a robe.

So they had robes, they had a really grateful length mirror.

Some downsides to it was I booked a room that was ocean facing and it did not have any opening to it.

No windows, no balcony.

I could not actually open to the fresh air.

7:32

Some of the rooms did have a little ledge balcony and you could open the sliding glass door.

Mine did not.

So that was a point off my appreciation for it.

Second thing was I had this really great welcome note with a bottle of wine and it was the Puerto Rican Food and Wine Festival like promo.

7:47

So they said you would have a special treat.

And I thought, OK, the wine is the special treat.

But then they had a note that talked about these baked good delicacies that are from Puerto Rico.

They’re so good you have to try them, but they didn’t give them to me.

I was like, OK, thank you for letting me know.

8:03

That wasn’t even that bad.

I was going to say, I think the second one, of course, is a legitimate mark against it if they said they were going to give you something and didn’t.

They gave me wine though, so I I forgave them.

That’s true but the first one in fairness air on you, especially if they do have like balconies or little areas where you can go sit.

8:21

Some rooms have it, yours just apparently didn’t.

But I would assume same as you though however that if you had something with like an ocean view and a place like that, ideally you would have a balcony but it just seems like all the rooms didn’t.

Have and.

They don’t specify on the booking which ones do and don’t.

8:38

It’s just whatever they give you.

Interesting.

OK, so in fairness that is maybe their fault.

Kind of annoying the cleaning service.

Now this is where I’m really going to get into it.

They did come in and clean the room every day as far as making the bed goes, putting new towels out, but they never took away like The Dirty wine glasses or stuff like that that was left like glasses.

8:57

I was like OK that’s weird but this is saving the worst for last here.

Now remember, I still would recommend you stay here, but for the first time ever I had something stolen from my room.

Oh, what was stolen.

I know it really pains me to say this because I do use the safe, but I don’t always use it.

9:16

Like I never put my laptop in there.

I had cash in my wallet, in my backpack on the ground, not in the safe, which is on me.

I know I of course should be using the safe now, I will, but I never, I just maybe I had just had too much faith in people and trust in that they wouldn’t do that.

9:33

You’re at a nice hotel.

And I didn’t realize this until after I came home and I was unpacking, but I had taken out 200 cash.

It’s usually what I do for trips just in case.

Hardly ever end up using it anymore, but I did take 60 bucks out when we went to Old San Juan and left the rest of my wallet and then when I came home I realized that $140 was not there.

9:53

That’s a lot.

I mean, it’s not like worst case scenario because Jamal and I do travel with like a bit of cash too.

But that’s really unfortunate.

And then that would put a little bit of a bitter taste in my mouth as well.

But good reminder to use the safe and keep your valuables locked up.

10:10

Yeah.

So maybe you choose to stay here, maybe you don’t.

It was beautiful outside of that one mark on there.

But how about we shift gears and talk about tips for traveling to Puerto Rico?

My very first tip for you squaties is that like I mentioned before, it is hot.

10:27

It is a Caribbean island.

Definitely wear sunscreen.

We did get sunburnt multiple times.

So bring your sunscreen or you can buy it there.

They have all the amenities.

There’s like a Walgreens on every corner here.

So you’ll be just fine.

It is an American place after all, so that you have all those amenities there.

10:43

When you go into Old San Juan, I would recommend coming in very early in the morning or just Uber in.

Don’t do not drive because when we went in, parking was so hard to find around 1:00 PM that we spent at least an hour looking for parking.

10:59

And it’s really confusing because the big garages where they typically say to park can be quote UN quote full or there’s a sign out there that says full and then you’ll drive around and then the sign will be gone and floods of people will be coming in.

There’s some weird things like that.

11:15

I found Puerto Rico had those weird things like you find in foreign countries and it also had the modern amenities that you find find in any other American place.

So a little bit of both.

The street signs is another one of those things that you typically find in in foreign destinations, but very limited St. signage.

11:33

The driving can be very confusing.

The highways can be very confusing.

If you miss one turn, boom, another 10 minutes added on just like that.

The signs don’t always match up with what the GPS is saying, if there are signs at all.

So just know that’s what you’re going to be going into.

But I did not think that it was crazy driving.

11:51

I thought coming in to Puerto Rico, what I’d heard is other driving is crazy.

No, no, no, no, no.

If you’ve been on the roads in Mexico, Georgia, Lebanon, Egypt, like these are places where driving is insane.

I wouldn’t even recommend renting a car, but in Puerto Rico I think I could have even drove.

12:08

Wow, that’s impressive, because you don’t even like driving windy roads in the US and here you’re going to drive in Puerto Rico.

Yeah.

Especially with the little tip that you gave about the street sides not being good.

It’s just one of those things.

Know it going in, but it’s manageable.

And obviously don’t drive into Old San Juan.

12:25

Yeah, it’s not like it’s crazy, like people passing you on the highway and not respecting lanes.

It’s not like that.

It’s just not very well marked.

It is a Spanish and English speaking island, so most people it’s Spanish first, but literally every single person I talked to spoke English to.

12:44

So if you don’t speak Spanish, you’d probably be just fine.

Spanish.

Also, they speak really, really fast and they have a little bit of a different colloquial.

So if you are used to say Mexican Spanish, being in California for example, it will be different than what you’re used to.

13:00

And because it is a part of the US, it does take U.S. dollars.

That is the currency that people use there.

Didn’t see any other currency.

Most places also take tap to pay.

Some places only took tap to pay.

And then I think there was one place that I saw that said cash or Venmo only.

13:18

So let’s get further into it.

Kim, you gave us the tips.

You gave us the preface of the hotel.

Let’s start off with your trip.

When you arrived, what you did everything.

OK, so it’s five days, four nights.

Got in on a Thursday, checked into the hotel.

The Puerto Rican Food and Wine Festival was happening at this hotel.

13:34

It’s a multi day, multi event festival that is all about food and wine and music and it’s very loud.

So the first night here is a White Party.

Everyone’s dressed in white, everyone’s drinking, eating.

By the time I got in it was a little bit late, so although it was 5 days, it was really only three full days and then this was a night and then my day leaving was just a warning.

13:57

So three days, 3 1/2 ish days.

Checked in around 11 PMI booked the La Concha Resort with Marriott Direct.

It came with free tickets to tomorrow night’s event for the Food and Wine Festival, but not this White Party.

White Party was already over, so I went into the room.

14:14

In addition to the wine and the note about the tree that weren’t included, there was also a really nice tote welcome bag and it had two cups that were like thermal cups.

You can put your drinks in there and take them out with you had a visor and a hat and a bowl of fruit.

14:30

So that was nice.

It also did come with a voucher for two for a sunset bite and drink.

We didn’t end up using that because we weren’t there.

And when I say we actually, I went on this trip by myself, but it just so happens that my friend Louise from our hometown of Woodland that we’re all from.

14:52

Represent.

Representing Woodland, CA, he had reached out like many of you squaddies do.

He reached out and said, hey, I just booked this trip to Puerto Rico, do you have any tips?

And I was like, wow, what a coincidence, no way, I just booked a trip to Puerto Rico.

Turns out we were going to be staying at the same hotel and was like, OK, this is perfect.

15:10

We’re just going to pretty much do Puerto Rico together.

This is awesome.

So he was at the hotel after I put my stuff down.

We went down to the lobby, got MO coquitos because in the Caribbean, rum rules mojitos.

You have pina coladas, you have rum and cokes.

15:26

That’s just what you do here.

And I had pretty much drank my weight in mojitos on this trip.

I love me some mojitos.

The only thing I don’t like about mojitos is just how sugary they are, and by that they’re not necessarily sweet, but there is a lot of sugar in it.

But funny enough, I was just telling Brittany yesterday that summer’s around the corner.

15:44

We have our white rum, we need to make some mojitos because we bought rum last year to make them.

We never did.

But I’m glad to see you drink your weight in mojitos like you said, Kim, because when you’re on an island, perfect thing to do.

I love Misa mojitos.

So refreshing.

Yeah, and one thing you’ll see about Puerto Rico is every single place you go, every beach you go to on the streets of Puerto Rico, there are mojitos.

16:07

If there’s not a stand with a mojito, then there’s a guy with a mojito cart, or there’s a guy with a line that says mojitos and he’ll go get one and run it back to.

You.

So had a lobby drink there.

Probably the most expensive drink the entire trip.

Was like 20 bucks for a mojito here at the lobby bar.

16:24

But the vibes were good.

They also have a casino at this hotel.

They give you $10.00 of free play every day.

Did not use it, but that’s there if you want it.

So I hadn’t had anything to eat.

We’re like let’s go walk down the street and see if we can get something to eat.

And this streets very busy where the La Concha resort is in Condado Beach, very popular street and there are a lot of late night spots here.

16:47

It’s not like they’re clubs, it’s like they’re restaurants and people out on the streets really.

I didn’t see any like clubs necessarily.

But just a block away is a restaurant called Julius Restaurant.

Classic Puerto Rican food sat down, had my first empanadas.

17:02

So good.

And a Rosie pollo.

And more mojitos.

When you say empanadas, of course I’m sure they have all different types like cheese, meat, whether it be beef, chicken, pork, whatever.

What did you snack on?

This one was beef and so that one’s usually a ground beef and they have this like basically a spicy Mayo is their sauce of choice.

17:25

So that was good.

They also, as I find out more and more on this trip, they really like their pizza empanadas.

Pizza empanadas.

Basically a pizza hot pocket.

I was.

Going to say like with pepperoni and cheese and a tomato sauce or something.

Like their version of a calzone almost.

But Mini, Yeah.

17:41

OK, that sounds good actually.

It was good.

So that basically concluded that night we had, you know, big full day coming up, so went to sleep.

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17:58

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Day 2, Friday, we wanted to check out Old San Juan.

18:15

Old San Juan has to be on everyone’s list of things to visit.

When you go to Puerto Rico, you’re going to fly into San Juan, so check it out.

It’s got beautiful, colorful, historic buildings all around and it’s worth just walking around immersing yourself.

18:31

There’s some shops that you can go in and out of.

There’s different photo opportunities that you can pop into, and it is just a really pretty part of the city to be in.

We didn’t do any kind of walking tour.

If I do go, or just say when I go back to Puerto Rico, I would love to do a historical food and walking tour here where you get to go into places and taste food, but also learn more about this area because I’m sure it does have a lot of history.

18:57

Puerto Rico is very much a military base for the United States.

There’s military stuff everywhere.

So there’s a lot of history of that kind here that we just didn’t really get to learn much about it walking around independently.

How long would you say you need to spend in Old San Juan if you were to do this trip?

19:14

I would at least spend half the day because you’re not just walking around.

So I’ll get to a little bit more of what you can do.

But there are some really fun bars in this area.

So if you’re going to come for nightlife, which I did not get to do, but this is a great nightlife destination as well.

19:30

There’s a place called El Capitan.

My friend told me about this spot.

She went here on her Bachelorette party because it’s a fun spot for big mojitos.

But they have really hot, muscular men who work here, and when it gets busy inside, they all take their shirt off and flex their muscles and they pour shots down your mouth.

19:49

And you didn’t go.

No, I did.

I went.

I did twice but it.

Wasn’t as busy for them to like get on the bar and pull their shirts off, but they were flexing their muscles for me so it was pretty nice.

Jamal would really enjoy that too.

And now you got to go there for the experience.

20:05

It sounds like a female version of a coyote ugly type bar or something like that, you know?

Yes, but with hot Puerto Rican men and like Puerto Rican men are hot.

They really have a swag to them and they are muscular and they’re just are hot.

So that’s a good spot you got to go to.

20:22

They also have this shot here called Coquito.

It’s a coconut shot of some kind with rum in it.

Rum, coconut, cinnamon.

Apparently it’s something that they make more around Christmas.

It’s kind of like an eggnog situation but with booze in it.

It’s not common to find it this time of year, but they did have homemade cookito.

20:41

So we took some shots of that and it was really, really good.

So if you go to Puerto Rico, try to find Coquito.

That sounds really good.

I love rum and coconut.

Anything so with the cinnamon sounds festive but very delicious.

Yes, And then two of the streets that you’ll definitely as you’re walking around Old San Juan, you will hit them.

20:58

I mapped here, but you really don’t need to map here.

You will come across them as Kaya Fortaleza and Kaya San Sebastian.

Those are beautiful streets with beautiful colorful buildings, stuff hanging above the walkways and the the driveways.

But you will come across them.

So don’t worry necessarily about hitting them on the map.

21:16

You will come across it.

Now, you asked how much time to spend in Old San Juan.

If you are just doing that, you really don’t need that much time, right?

But right outside of Old San Juan, technically still a part of it is El Morro.

It’s this very large military Fort that’s still very much intact, multiple stories underground, Overground, right along the coast.

21:36

Takes a long time to walk into it.

This beautiful lawn and pathway leads you in.

Now.

I’d seen it online.

I was like, if we make it, cool, if we don’t, whatever.

But I do highly suggest you go to it.

I think it’s very underrated.

21:51

I don’t think it gets the press that it deserves.

It’s 10 bucks to go in.

And I was like, this is always my motto when I’m on vacation.

Like your guys is fuck it, we’re on vacation.

Mine is I’ve spent $10 on worse things or I’ve spent $200 on worse things.

22:07

But you said it was underrated, so it sounds like it’s worth the money.

Sounds like a bargain at 10 bucks. 10 bucks go in.

It’s actually really, really cool.

It’s huge once you’re in there and there’s all these cool windows you can look at and balconies you can go out onto and it’s really pretty.

So I know you guys had a car.

22:23

Did you guys have to drive here or was this walkable from downtown Old San Juan?

Yes, where we parked was quite a ways outside of like the thick of Old San Juan.

But it only takes, I don’t know, 30 minutes to walk in from where we were.

You’re going to be walking.

You’re not going to move your car once you park it.

22:39

I was going to say, if you’re in a place like this, it’s conducive for walking.

So maybe you parked a little further, but everything that you need to see, you’re going to work your way to this area regardless.

Yes, and there’s really no parking in the thick of Old San Juan.

It’s very narrow roads.

If there is a parking lot, it’s like for eight cars and they fill up.

22:57

So definitely go check out El Morro.

And then just outside of El Morro, as you’re walking back in the old San Juan, there is a neighborhood below the Fort walls, It’s called La Perla.

I hadn’t really heard about it, but Luis had said he’d heard that it has a bad reputation for being dangerous or it’s a local spot.

23:16

You don’t want to go there, especially not at night.

You don’t want to go down to those bars and party there.

So we walked, you know, below the Fort walls, went in there.

Honestly, that’s not the vibe that we got.

It was a lot less touristy, I think just because there are of these Fort walls, you might not even realize it’s there if you don’t know where you’re going.

23:36

But we went down there, We went to a restaurant called La Garita and we had mini empanadas and Mafungo, which I’ll get back to right on the window seats.

So we’re out looking to the ocean.

Over to the side, you can see all these beautiful, colorful homes and buildings, and you could see homes that were really nice and you could see ones that were completely gutted, likely from storm surges, big waves, maybe even hurricanes.

24:04

It’s literally right on the water.

So I’m sure they get hit with that kind of stuff often.

But it was just interesting to see, like really nice and then completely gutted.

I would say, like any neighborhood, be respectful.

Come in, you know, respect the locals and be careful.

24:20

But I didn’t get bad vibes at all.

When you were talking about the Purlins, people say not to go there or you were told that.

I just kind of Googled it and one of the first things that came up was saying that, I mean, it’s historically an impoverished area, but lately has actually opened up for tourism.

24:36

So I think it’s an area that’s possibly being gentrified.

But of course, just still exercise caution if it’s mainly really for locals or still may have some sort of crime.

But I think there’s danger and safety precautions to be taken regardless of where you go when you travel, right?

24:52

So just air on side of caution.

But if you felt comfortable enough in there, then like you said, just be respectful to the locals and surroundings.

Just be ignorant to the danger because that’s how I and I was just fine.

There you go.

It was one of the most beautiful views I had while having a meal, just looking out to the ocean like that.

25:09

And Lagarita sits up high.

So you really have like an aerial view of this stuff and it’s really pretty Mafongo.

Now, I do want to talk about Mafongo.

When anyone tells you what to eat in Puerto Rico, you will hear Mafongo.

Have you ever heard of it?

You 2.

25:24

No, I’ve never heard of it.

I have heard of it.

You haven’t heard.

Like when we watch cooking shows, people make Mafongo all the time, especially if they’re trying to do like a Caribbean in style thing.

Oh really?

Well, you just don’t pay much attention when we’re watching.

Myself, you’re the chef.

That’s true.

That makes sense.

So mafungo is a mashed up plantain and rice dish, which doesn’t sound like it would be great, like rice and plantains.

25:46

But do you remember that dish that we had in Egypt and our tour guide was describing it and it was like beans and pasta and vermicilli?

Yeah.

It was like the Kushri.

Yeah, we were like, that can’t be good.

That sounds weird, but it was so good.

Yeah, that’s exactly what Mafungo’s like it.

It doesn’t feel like plantains and rice mashed up together would be good, but it’s so good.

26:05

And then there’s all these different toppings that you can put on it.

The one that I got was like a shredded fajita style beef with like Peppers and onions.

Oh my God, was so good.

Does sound really delicious.

But you can get it with all different types of meats or seafoods on top.

And I don’t know what this was like, I never got a chance to ask, but they have Muffungo, Bifungo and Trifungo DVD on.

26:27

What?

Those other two are squaddies?

If you know, let us know in the comments on Spot Notify.

You can actually leave comments on specific episodes.

So what is Bifungo and Trifungo?

Hopefully we find out soon.

And all the reason, if no one comments on that, you can go back him or we can go and try it.

26:43

That’s right.

But we didn’t want to fill up too much because this is the night that we have tickets for the Puerto Rican Food and Wine Festival.

And I have a really cute outfit I’m putting on and I’m coming to party because I heard the party last night.

We’re talking DJ, we’re talking dancing, we’re talking late nights, people dressed to the nines, people everywhere, free flowing wine, food.

27:02

I believe it started at 8:00 or 9:00 PM to 2:00 AM was the official timing of it.

And then of course, there’s a nightclub here.

So got dressed, went back down there, there’s this line to get in and then they have this like red carpet moment where you can like take pictures in front of the beautiful wall.

27:18

And then we just go wine tasting and drink.

There’s other drinks there.

There’s tons of little foods.

I don’t want to go too deep into it because I want to do a breakout mini episode on it because it was such a fun event.

But I will just say one thing.

The best thing that I ate the entire time there randomly was a white bean and truffle soup.

27:41

Sounds delicious.

I’m surprised you like truffles because they’re like so close to the mushroom family.

Yeah, I know they’re in the mushroom family, but they’re a little different.

And I don’t like eating big pieces of truffle, but I like the flavor.

The flavor, yeah, yes.

I got hammered.

27:57

I’ll just say that I got really hammered at this Puerto Rican food and wine festival.

Well, it’s a food and wine festival, you should catch a little buzz I would imagine so Nevertheless, at least you had a good time and for that many you could dive into it.

Looking forward more to hearing all about it, and I’m sure the squatties are too.

28:13

Had to go see what the nightclub was all about and there were people in there and that was dancing but didn’t stay too long because the very next morning was going to be very early so definitely needed to call it a night.

Squatty’s If you’re feeling inspired already by this Puerto Rico episode, check out our Puerto Rico itinerary includes all the recommendations on where to stay, things to do, restaurant, beaches and a day by day plan.

28:40

And it’s just going to make your trip planning so much easier.

And you can get this itinerary in the show notes, but also on shoptravelsquad.com, where you can find all of our other itineraries as well.

So the next morning we were doing a boat tour that goes out to Flamenco Beach on Colbera Island, one of the most beautiful beaches in Puerto Rico.

29:01

And one thing I didn’t know about Puerto Rico is it’s not just the one Big Island.

There’s actually a couple of other smaller islands that make up Puerto Rico.

I didn’t know that either.

No, Yeah.

Viequis is another one and Colbert Island is one of them.

They may have more, I’m not sure, but definitely those 3.

29:18

So we had to be there at 7:00 AM and it’s an hour drive from Condado Beach.

So that means 6:00 AM leave time.

That means like 5:30 AM wake up time.

So I told Louise come wake me up and thank God he did because I don’t think I could have woken up that easily.

29:35

I think I didn’t go to bed till like 3 in the morning anyway.

Typical Kim I’d.

Given him one of the bracelets that unlocked the door and he came in and woke me up.

I literally screamed my head off because I was just woke up and a man was there and I was like Oh my God.

29:52

So that was a fun way to start the morning.

Well, good thing he woke you up so you didn’t miss your tour.

Yeah, he woke me up and he also drove and he had a coffee.

So he is a winner.

OK, so Flamenco Beach did book this through Viator and we will link that in the show notes for you.

30:10

Squatty’s if you want to book the same one.

The Tour Company was Pure Adventure through Viator.

Really great Tour Company.

We actually were going to do this the next day and because we knew we were going to be at this Puerto Rican Point Wine Festival or like don’t want to go too crazy, but they had called the day before and said we don’t have enough people to go out on Sunday.

30:29

Do you want to do the Saturday tour instead?

So we’re like, OK, we’ll just change it to Saturday.

We needed to have at least 10 people on there and I think we had about that on this this tour.

So took the very long drive out there.

And once then you get there, it’s also an hour and a half boat ride to get to the island and you’re like speeding.

30:48

It’s not like a leisurely boat ride.

You are going and this is a yacht.

It’s a two-story yacht, actually three story because they had the bed in the bathroom down below.

Huge boat and we are hauling ass to the Mango beach by the time we get there, it’s probably at this point 9:00 AM.

31:06

So we get to get off the boat, go snorkeling, swim around, there’s floaties, go take a walk on the beach and one of our boat guys, our captains was like you know you guys can go walk over there.

There there is a shop we had they have like maybe empanadas.

They don’t have much, but you can check it out if you want.

31:23

It’s a beautiful walk like gorgeous white sand beach, turquoise waters, like one of the most beautiful beaches.

It’s not one of those beaches that has beach beds and service beachside.

It’s not fancy like that.

Actually, none of the beaches were like that except Condado where the hotel was, which I was.

31:40

I don’t know if I was expecting that everywhere.

I was expecting it to see it a little bit, but I really didn’t see it at all.

I think maybe it’s because they’re a little bit more laid back culture and obviously, yes, you have tourists, but I’m looking at photos of Flamenco Beach, really beautiful.

I mean, it’s like Crescent shaped bays, really turquoise waters like you’re saying.

31:59

But of course, none of the photos I am seeing those beach chairs or anything that looks like it’s really conducive for you need your towel and you’re laying out.

So that’s the type of vibes that you’re going to get out here, it seems like.

Also, every single beach we went to there were tons of locals there.

32:14

Like way more locals than tourists.

I don’t think a lot of tourists come to Puerto Rico, but the locals are very much out and about in these beaches, which is great.

Did you have to bring your own beach towels here?

No.

That’s nice that they provided them for you.

Yes, but actually they didn’t.

Now that I think about it, we did not have towels, but we did not need them because.

32:32

It’s hot and you dry off or you didn’t go swim.

Well, no, you did swim because you snorkeled, you said.

We did swim, yeah.

I didn’t bring a towel.

I forgot one.

Yeah.

They might have had towels.

I didn’t ask.

They didn’t say anything about them.

So I’m not.

I can’t answer that for sure.

But we went on this walk down the beach and when we got to the area where all the people were, where you said there might be empanadas, but not much.

32:53

There was so much over there.

There was like a seafood spot, empanada spot, pina coladas.

They had so many different little shops.

There’s cats all over the place.

It was really cute.

We got huge pina coladas.

We actually did not get any empanadas this time, but they were looking real good and we should have.

33:10

What they did have though, once we walked back, they had two massage beds set up giving massages on the beach.

Did you get 1?

I did get one.

We both got one.

It was 25 bucks for 15 minutes or it would have been 40 for 30 minutes, but we did 15 minutes.

33:26

It was fine.

I have never felt cupping before and they used cupping during the massage.

It feels good.

Did you have any bruises leftover from it?

No, I don’t know.

I did not have any bruises but they kind of like cupped and then pulled it down.

OK, Yeah.

Yeah, it was amazing, all oiled up on the beach.

33:43

That’s definitely your vibe, a massage on the beach.

You’re just missing that pina colada in your hand.

I had the pina colada as well.

Yeah, she needed a little hair of the dog in her from the the night before to recuperate.

Yeah, yes, I did.

Actually.

I very much did the thing.

You don’t get seasick because that could have been a disaster, you know.

34:00

So every boat tour does this, but they said around 11:30 they were going to bring out the lunch.

Lunch is included.

It was wraps, fruit, chips and drinks, all inclusive beer, margaritas, rum and Coke, whatever you want.

34:15

So I start drinking my margaritas and then at this point it’s like boat tours.

They just kind of don’t stop the drink.

It’s like for some reason they wait until maybe you get a little snorkeling in, but then once you’re done it’s just drinks all the way.

Well, we’ve experienced that one time before when we were in the Caribbean on a tour and I believe it was actually in the Virgin Islands, but we were snorkeling with sea turtles.

34:38

And then of course afterwards it was drinks free flowing.

And I think it’s probably a thing to just make sure people aren’t inebriated when they’re actually swimming for the danger.

But once that’s done, if they include drinks, it’s usually gung ho.

Well, once the drinks came out, we were still in the water, some people went back in and were snorkeling, so I don’t think that’s it.

34:57

But then it’s crazy because we were there for about 3 hours and then we start heading back.

He did kind of pull out a little bit and then let people go up to the very top and jump off into the water.

So that was fun.

Then we start heading back and he just keeps refilling our drinks like we’re sitting at the very top of the yacht.

35:14

He’ll come up the ladder and be like anyone need a refill?

Anyone need another beer?

And we’re, and he even gave us one as we got back into the car to drive home.

Me of course, not the driver, but that was fun.

And he did point out on the drive home, hey, look at that little island right there, that Saint Thomas, OH.

35:33

Wow.

See it from there.

Really.

Yes, yes, we could.

It was really funny on the boat ride back.

We’re sitting at the very top level.

There’s seven of us up there.

And one of these guys, I don’t know if he was tired or the sun got to him or maybe he had too many margaritas, but he had kind of looped his arms back behind him around the railing.

35:53

So that was holding him up.

And he was slunched over a little bit, head bobbing as we’re going on the waves.

And he was sleeping like that for like an hour.

And we could just see him bobbing, bobbing.

We’re like, Oh my gosh, it’s impressive that he can hold himself up.

So how long was the tour start to finish because I know you had like the boat ride out there.

36:12

You were there for about 3 hours and the boat ride back.

Yes.

All of that was about 6, maybe 6 1/2 hours with check in and then the drive there and back adds another two hours, 8 1/2 hours.

It’s a full day if you’re going to go out here and do this, They do not as far as I saw when I was really going to be there alone, at least I thought I was.

36:31

I was looking to see if there were any tours that would pick me up from my hotel near San Juan and I did not find any.

So if you don’t have a rental car, it’d be very difficult to get out here and it would be really difficult to get back because the meeting point is like not in a city center.

So once you got back, did you guys head back to San Juan or did you have something else planned for this day We.

36:51

Didn’t have anything else planned, but we thought, well, there’s an hour drive back and we’re not going to be on this side of the island anymore.

The east side, I guess it was, but there was a beach between that meeting spot and San Juan called Lokiyo Beach.

37:06

We’re like hey, we’re going to pass that, might as well go check it out.

And I’m really glad that we did.

We didn’t necessarily go swim in the ocean, kind of got enough of that already.

But there was a place called House of Mojitos.

Big spot.

I would call it a shack, but that doesn’t do it justice.

It was bigger than that.

37:22

They had frozen mojitos.

Yum.

Massive.

Like you need 2 hands to hold it.

Frozen mojito and they were really good.

They have tons of benches, tables and chairs.

They did have beach chairs here you can rent, but at 5:00 it’s done.

37:38

And so we were actually getting there around like 430.

And so we didn’t obviously rent a beach chair, but this is the one beach where I actually saw you could rent them.

We also got from the House of mojitos arepas. 1 was stuffed with this seasoned chicken that was really good and the other one was stuffed with this pork that was like a pulled pork, not BBQ like a Carnita style.

37:59

Oh my God, it was so good.

I feel like you’re not really a pork person, so for you to say that, that says a lot about it.

Yeah, the chicken 1 was good, but the pork one, we were both like, Oh my God, this is so amazing.

I know one of you, Squatty said, said that you didn’t love Puerto Rico, you didn’t think the beaches were that great and you thought all the food was fried.

38:19

You know, I did kind of see the fried aspect of things, like the arepas were a little fried that obviously the empanadas were, but I love empanadas so much that every empanada I wanted to eat, so I wasn’t unhappy with that.

But there was like mufungos not fried.

The arrozi pollo was not fried.

38:35

I thought every food I ate there was really good.

And the kyo beach was awesome.

That’s why.

Do you need to do another trip?

How long did you guys stay at Lokiyo Beach?

Probably like.

Two hours we watched the sunset here.

They had really pretty lifeguard towers and they had a really weird bathroom situation.

And so, you know, we wouldn’t be the travel squad podcast if we didn’t talk about the bathrooms.

38:56

So most places have public restrooms.

Most of them did not charge.

There was no bathroom attendant.

Most of them had toilet paper, some of them did not.

But this little Creole beach bathroom was a little bit weird.

So they apparently had public restrooms for men and women, but then they also had a private bathroom section where for $2.00 per person you can go in, they’ll put a bracelet on you and they have showers and they have lockers.

39:20

And I don’t know why I, I guess for the locker and shower you would choose that over just the regular bathroom.

But anyway, I didn’t realize there was public bathrooms too.

I thought it was just this private 1.

So Louise had gone in and and I had to go and then he’s like here, just take my bracelet and go in.

39:36

I was like, OK, cool.

So I take his bracelet.

I walk in and the lady’s like, ma’am, miss, what are you doing?

I was like, I’m just using the bathroom and she literally came over and ripped off my bracelet and was like, no, you didn’t buy this.

I was going to say, you couldn’t cop out the $2.00 to do it.

39:54

Well, I, I would have, but then she pointed me over here and she’s like, no bathroom there.

And I was like, oh, there’s a bathroom right there.

So I’m like, well, why would I pay the $2.00 to go in here?

I, I don’t understand.

But I guess if you’re using a shower and lockers, that’s what it makes dollars is for.

Just FYI, because the bathrooms were perfectly fine in the public restroom.

40:12

They were nice.

But while we’re on the subject of bathrooms and toilets, how were they across the island?

Completely normal like you would find in America.

OK, no situations.

No situations, no good to hear, pleasantly surprised.

Yes, Sunday is going to be another big beach day.

40:30

So on the boat the day before, I got extremely sunburnt.

Every part of my body was like a lobster.

My tan lines were popping.

Was it as bad as when we were in New River Gorge and we got scorched or not as bad?

40:45

No, it actually wasn’t that bad.

So that one I needed to paint myself in aloe Vera all night long.

This one I I didn’t need to do that luckily, but it wasn’t a comfortable sleep still.

But nevertheless, Sunday was planned to be a day of Beach Rd. tripping.

So I’m like, shit, we’re going to be out in the sun on the beach all day long and I am going to be I’m already sunburned so bad.

41:08

So my plan, you know, for this day, I wanted to enjoy the beach layout, go swimming.

I actually did not go swimming in any of the beaches when I was in Puerto Rico.

I went in up to like my knees and legs and stuff, but I actually did not swim in any ocean.

But oh wait, hold on, sorry, I take.

41:23

That for the day before, right?

The the boat day, the boat day, yes, yes, sorry, because I jumped off the boat and all of that.

But this is different because Sunday we went to several different beaches.

We started off very early.

The goal was to see the sunrise over the ocean and the sunset over the ocean in the same exact day.

41:41

Because Puerto Rico’s an island, depending on which side of the island you’re on, you could see both.

Just really cool.

You can’t do that everywhere and want to see it.

So woke up super early.

Luis is really a trooper because he was down watching the sunrise beat in the water.

I’m still up in the room at my ocean view room watching the sunrise from the comfort of my robe.

42:01

I could see him down below, but I’m like, you know what?

I could see the sunrise from here.

Why do I need to go down?

Sometimes the comfort of the room is nice, especially if you got the ocean view.

Yes, so I did see it rise over the ocean.

Then for some reason his booking came with the free breakfast buffet.

42:19

Mine did not.

So we use that free breakfast buffet at the Aqua restaurant, which if you had to pay the 30 ish dollars that they were charging for it, I would not recommend it.

It was like any other hotel buffet.

Yeah, they had the egg station, they had pastries, they had juice.

42:35

But honestly?

Not worth 30 bucks.

It’s better food on the street.

Yes, better to go out to a Puerto Rican restaurant and get breakfast somewhere else.

We decided to start farthest away and drive back the farthest Dr. was about two hours.

We went through the island rather than going around it.

42:51

We literally went through it.

So all of these rainforests, we didn’t actually go to the rainforest.

There wasn’t enough time with this many days, which is why I would have liked to have more time because once I saw the mountains, I Oh my God, I’m really glad I got to at least see that part of Puerto Rico because you think beaches, but no, it’s like sprawling mountains everywhere you look with these gorgeous trees all over.

43:14

And it’s just really, really beautiful scenery that would have liked to see more of.

Which is funny because you really focus this trip on beaches.

But like, my Instagram algorithm of Puerto Rico is all about the mountains, the rainforests.

And so like when we go, I feel like that’s what we’d be doing a lot of.

43:32

Well, I’m looking at the beach places that Kim is talking about as she is and Googling them and like, I’m really stoked to go to Puerto Rico now and go to the beaches.

Not to say that I won’t want to go inland and do the hike, especially if Kim was captivated by it too.

Because of course I do want to go see that side of the island.

43:47

But feel like I need a little bit longer than you spent now.

And clearly cruise is not enough and just really enjoy the island because we spent what, like 5-6 days when we went to the Virgin Islands and I didn’t necessarily get tired of that.

44:02

Same with when we were in Kauai.

And I feel like now that I’m hearing about Puerto Rico, looking at photos of it really conducive for like a five to seven day or.

Yeah, definitely.

Absolutely.

So the first place we stopped was Ponce.

This was just a random stop to break up the drive as we were getting closer.

I wouldn’t recommend going to Ponce.

44:19

It was fine.

It was kind of more like a lake style, park style spot.

They did have kind of what they call a boardwalk with vendors and food and stuff, but it was 9:30 in the morning so nothing was open.

So that was just a quick stop.

But you know, maybe later in the day if it hits your route, hit it up.

44:36

The 1st place that we’re really going to was Playa Bouye.

We did pay $10 to park in a parking lot right by the beach.

There was a lot of street parking where all the locals were probably could find parking here, but we just didn’t know the rules of like parking on the street so didn’t want to risk it.

44:52

And this place has a really nice spot called Sunset Bar with a huge deck that looks out to the ocean.

Empanadas, some of the best empanadas we had in the whole trip.

Ground beef, stewie chicken, my God, it was so good.

Of course we’re getting margaritas and ketos.

45:08

And then we also tried gasolina.

You know what that is?

No.

What is it?

Have you ever heard that in the song?

Yeah.

Gasolina, I know it’s about a dream, but I’m not too sure what it is.

Yeah.

It’s basically like a sangria.

OK, sounds good.

Apparently they like sangria out there and it is really good.

45:24

They said it was really strong, but I don’t know, wasn’t that strong to me.

So we sat here and we had drinks and while we were sitting here, I just want to tell a story about one of the locals because this just sums up the way Puerto Ricans are and I love them to death.

45:39

So we’re sitting there on the deck on these high chairs on the very edge of it looking under the ocean.

There’s a kids birthday party going on.

They have a karaoke machine going on, so there’s a lady singing.

They’re blasting great music like Daddy Yankee and Bad Bunny and all this other beautiful kind of music.

45:55

Everyone’s having a great time.

This 50 ish year old man and his wife roll up man’s suave hairs, nice Gray hair, big gold watch, big gold chain on his neck and his bracelet.

He’s got a Speedo on and Crocs we’ve.

Got a whole vibe.

46:13

He’s a whole vibe.

He’s tan, his wife’s cool.

He’s pulling a wagon with two little coolers in it and he pulls up.

He like they know everybody.

They’re kissing cheeks, everyone’s saying hi to everyone like they’re clearly locals and they know like everyone.

They come here all the time, see him pull out his cool, He pulls out two wine glasses and chilled white wine for him and his wife.

46:33

And then he starts dancing.

He’s vibing with the karaoke lady.

He’s kissing everyone, greeting everybody.

He kind of like says hi to us.

We’re chilling.

So that’s what the vibe is here, right?

And we’re just like thinking like if we stayed here long enough or if we wouldn’t talk to them, they would welcome us in with open arms because that’s just the type of people that it felt like.

46:53

But we walked way down the beach to kind of feel out everything else.

There’s jet skis here that you can rent.

You can rent not beach beds, but like camping chair type things here, you’d rent jet skis.

You can do some other stuff like rental wise on the water here.

We didn’t do any of that.

47:08

We just kind of sat, you know, in the shade because we were sunburned, didn’t want to go in the water in the sun too much, hung out, drink a little bit, walked back.

And by the time we walked back, the guy in the Speedo is now singing karaoke at the top of his lungs, vibing.

47:23

Now he has red wine in his glass instead of white wine.

Maybe a gasolina, I don’t know.

And as we were walking past him, he’s looking at us.

He’s like, I love you.

I love you to us.

Very friendly, very friendly locals.

47:39

Yes, yes.

And this was like 10:30 in the morning.

So we decided to move on to the next one.

And this one was Domes Beach in the Rincon area of Puerto Rico.

There’s probably some accents in there that I’m not getting it right.

Excuse me, but this is where we have gone.

47:56

So Domes Beach is really cool.

It’s called the Domes Beach because there’s literally a giant Dome that pops out from the forest and the palm trees and everything right on the edge of the beach.

It used to be, I think a nuclear plant or power plant of some sort no longer in use, but it’s kind of a cool little Dome that pops up.

48:15

It almost looks like the Las Vegas sphere, but it’s all white.

And the beach is really pretty here.

You can literally pull your car up right to the edge of the beach where the parking is and walk 1020 feet down to the water.

It wasn’t overrun with people.

There was plenty of places to park.

48:32

And then that was kind of down below where the beach is.

There’s no beach beds here.

There’s no rentals here.

It’s very calm.

And then up above on on the hill, there is a lighthouse that you can go look at.

There’s also a big cafe where there’s outdoor seating, mojitos and a lot of people, locals hanging out, families are there and we spent some time there because of how it’s perched up higher.

49:01

You have this really beautiful view of all the surfers in the water below, the gorgeous beach below you, and it’s just like a very peaceful, serene place to hang out for a while.

Did you go up to the lighthouse at all?

We did.

We went and checked out the lighthouse, yes.

Is it open for people to go in?

I know some lighthouses are, some aren’t.

49:17

No, it’s not like that.

And like the lighthouse was almost like a very cylinder, very tall cylinder esque lighthouse.

So it’s more just like a piece of the scenery.

And how long do you guys stay at Domes Beach?

Maybe an hour had a mojito, got to try them all.

You know, each one is just as good as the last.

49:36

So then the last place that we definitely wanted to hit up was crash Boat beach.

Everybody talks about crash Boat Beach about it’s so beautiful.

You have to go.

It’s about two hours from San Juan and I there were more places that I wanted to hit in between this and San Juan, but it’s getting late and we’re just not going to make it back.

49:56

So even though we hit all these beaches, there’s a lot of driving in between and you just can’t see it all in one day.

And these were in the optimal route too.

I, I mapped this out.

So there’s a lot of beaches to explore here in Puerto Rico.

Anyway, Crash boat beach is extremely beautiful.

50:11

By the time we got there, it was 5 because the bathrooms had just closed and the mojito guy was like, hey, you guys want a mojito?

And we’re like, yeah, we do, but we have to use the bathroom.

And he’s like, the bathrooms are closed here.

They close at 5:00 but you can use the locals bathroom which.

Is the beach in the ocean?

50:28

He said that or you can go behind the bathroom into the trees and go pee in there.

And so that’s what I did.

And when I came out, there was a local who was waiting.

Louise was guarding for me.

And he told Louise like, oh, is there someone in the bathroom?

Like they know that that’s the new public bathroom.

50:47

Once the bathrooms close at 5:00, you know, I’m looking at photos of crash boat Beach and the pier that they have there.

The pier itself isn’t necessarily impressive, but the photos I’m seeing 1 water really clear.

But it seems like lots of other places where fish will use the Pete you’re almost like as coral and their habitat and they’re all like in that area.

51:08

So that looks like a really great spot.

Like if you had a snorkel or goggles to just swim right there.

Yeah, it’s not like your typical pier you think of.

You walk out, it’s this big tall pier.

It’s actually very low to the water.

And there’s all these areas where boats could come in and park.

51:25

It’s more like a dock, but in the shape of a pier and all these almost like a tree with branches.

So you can branch out in different areas.

It’s not just one straight pier.

Yeah, lots of coral stuff.

People are jumping off the pier constantly and they’re young kids and stuff.

That was kind of fun to see.

Every single beach had turquoise blue clear water.

51:44

There wasn’t a single bad beach here.

There were different sand types and different sizes of the sand, but every beach was just crystal clear and beautiful.

Crash boat beach though the sunset from Crash Boat Beach was absolutely gorgeous.

51:59

One of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve ever seen.

That’s saying a lot.

Most beautiful sunsets you’ve ever seen, huh?

Yeah, it was just vibrant orange.

It took a really long time for the sun to go down, so got to really enjoy a lot of it.

And yeah, I really, really, I really liked it.

It was really pretty.

52:15

It’s two hours away from San Juan, so if you’re not renting a car, for example, there are tours that go out to Crash Boat Beach that will take you out there and bring you back.

There are tours that will take you to a couple different beaches, maybe some lesser known ones.

On top of that, we’ll link some in the show notes for viators so you can access those.

52:31

Because if I didn’t have a friend there with a car, that’s what I would have done.

But for someone planning this for the first time, would you recommend getting the car or would you say to mostly do tours?

I mean, if you’re going to do that boat trip to go beach, you really do need a car.

Yeah.

So, yeah, I mean, I would recommend getting a car.

52:48

Yeah.

If you’re going to be there for four or five days or more, I think a car helps your trip.

There was a lot of parking at Crash Boat Beach along the big long drive that you take to get down.

We got there at 5.

Like I said, all the cars were clearing out, but there were people walking so far up to park that, you know, if we would have got there early, that entire thing would have been full of people.

53:10

So you’re going to be walking pretty far when you go to Crash Boat Beach.

Then we drove back.

So we wanted to pretty much go straight back to the hotel after the sunset because we wanted to have one nice dinner.

We wanted to go to Lala.

Lala is the restaurant that Bad Bunny opened, beautiful fine dining restaurant in San Juan.

53:29

We had a reservation that was going to be I think 9:15 and we like pretty much weren’t going to make it.

So we called and we’re like, oh, we’re going to be late.

They said no worries, the kitchen closes at 10:30, you’ll be fine.

So we get there at 9:50 and it’s a Sunday and they say Sundays.

53:46

Our kitchen closes at 9:30, not 1030.

Oh no, they gave you wrong information over the phone.

He did.

I’d be really upset about that.

It’s like, how did they not know that it’s Sunday and it closes?

But nevertheless good for other people to know if you’re going to do that.

But I’m sure you guys found a pivot.

54:02

So what did you guys?

Well, I was very disappointed and I was trying not to let it get to me too much, but it’s like we’ve been eating empanadas the whole time.

Other than the food and Wine festival, like we really haven’t had like a nice dinner, right?

We both really wanted to eat here.

So the bar was still open.

We had an espresso martini here.

54:19

You need a little pick you up, but that’s for sure.

And then there’s not a lot of late night restaurants in Puerto Rico and like it’s 10:00.

It’s not that late, but it’s not a late night place like you might think It is.

A lot of places like in America close at 9:00, ten o’clock, whatever.

54:34

Even on the weekends like that busy St. that we’re on, it kind of shuts down early.

So anyway, we do go back to the hotel because our bartender at Lala had said there’s this place in Candado Beach right where we’re staying called Taizan that stays open till 3:00 AM.

So it’s sushi and Chinese food spot.

54:51

We had walked right by it because the restaurant we ate at the first night was right across the street from here and it was poppin when we went.

We waited a little bit to be sat down and honestly the food was so good here.

What did you get?

We got broccoli beef which was really good, fried rice, miso soup he got.

55:08

I think he got sushi but I did not eat his sushi.

I got this other sushi that had chicken, avocado, cream cheese, a crunchy outside, and tons of really good sauces.

It was one of the best sushis I’ve ever had as someone who does not eat seafood.

Well, of course, because it was chicken based.

55:25

You never ever see.

I’ve only had one place that does chicken sushi and that was Jinju Sushi in Woodland, CA, California.

Nowhere else have I ever seen it, so I always get veggie sushi.

How ironic.

You’re with the one person from Woodland, CA and here you are eating some chicken sushi in Puerto Rico together.

55:44

I know it’s really funny.

And then a lychee marching, that was really, really good too.

It was kind of a nice way to end the night.

We did have a little bit more time the next morning, but this is kind of closing out our trip here in Puerto Rico.

The final day in Puerto Rico was Monday, flying back around 2 PMI believe the flight was.

56:03

So I tried to get up as early as I could, had a quiet beach morning, just kind of had a little bit of solo time to like lay out on the beach bed.

There were three pools at the Lancaja Resort.

One of them was this small Infinity pool that overlooked the ocean, very private.

56:19

There was another pool that was like a little more social, also Infinity pool, and then another one more into the resort.

You couldn’t see the ocean from there.

Huge beds everywhere.

Really didn’t get to use the pools at all except for this morning, which is why I would have liked a little bit more time to actually just be at the resort.

56:35

Be at the beach at a resort, but got to spend a couple hours here at least to read my book.

Go swimming in the pool.

We did go have a little bit of breakfast buffet at Aqua again, that was nice.

Got a couple souvenirs, brought some coffee home and then that was pretty much it.

56:52

But Squatty’s, if you were still here an hour into this episode, so you are a loyal squaddy.

I am going to share a travel hack with you that we do with Southwest.

Actually, Brittany taught me this one.

So Southwest has different pricing tiers.

The first one is the cheapest 1 you on all of them you can change your flight, but on the first one you have to upgrade to another tier in order to change your flight.

57:15

It doesn’t cost you money to change it, but you do have to pay the flight cost different.

The second one might cost a little bit more, but you can change your flight same day for free.

So that means the day of your flight you can change it to a different time for free.

So I like to use this hack, buying that second tier when my desired time is more expensive than lowest price one in the second tier.

57:39

So I’ll buy the cheapest one in the second tier and then on the day of my flight, change it same day to my desired departure time or whatever time I’m leaving, right?

Don’t have to pay the more expensive price, do it same day usually get it everything works out.

That’s a good tip in general.

Of course, we do utilize that just as as well.

57:57

But of course, a lot of times if you really are in a time constraint, you are hoping that there will still be availability.

So it’s just like, if you’re going to do that, of course.

That’s a little bit of a risk.

I’ve done it twice now and it worked out for me and on this one I think I saved like 8000 points.

That’s not bad.

That can get you somewhere pretty good with that amount of points.

58:14

So yes.

That was half my points that I spent on this flight.

So you saved 8000 points and you got to do a free same day change for your last.

Day, what?

I was going to have to leave at 6:00 in the morning, ended up leaving at 2:00 PM Perfect.

58:30

There you go, Squatty’s.

Try that out with Southwest and use it while you can because these airlines like to change their promos to screw us over once the word gets out.

So enjoy it while you can.

Now I just want to close this out by saying there’s some things in Puerto Rico I still want to do.

I really want to go back.

58:45

I loved it there.

I had so much fun.

It was 3 full days +2 travel days.

I would like to have 5 full days plus the two travel days, so a full week.

This is a total solo travel destination.

You can do this solo easily.

I’m glad I had a friend, but I could easily go back and do a solo trip here.

59:01

I would love to go out to Vieques Island, other beautiful islands in the Colbert sort of region.

I would love to do a tour at the Bacardi Distillery, Old San Juan food and walking tour.

Go to La Casita Blanca which is Bad Bunny’s favorite restaurant.

Cafe.

59:17

I want to go to La La finally want to have that day just to chill the resort pool, maybe even workout at the hotel.

There was the Hilton La Caribe that had a swim up bar.

So if I do go back, I think I’m going to stay there.

There you go, Hilton swim up bar.

You can’t go wrong with a swimming bar, especially if one of your goals is to actually just stay and enjoy the hotel for a day.

59:37

That’s a great amenity to.

Have absolutely Squatty’s thank you so much for tuning in to our Puerto Rico episode.

I really hope that we’ve inspired you to go, answered your question, settled any fears you might have had because it’s a beautiful destination.

Make sure to follow us on all the socials at Travel Squad Podcast.

59:53

We’ll be posting more about Puerto Rico there.

And if you have any questions of the week, go ahead and send them in.

We’re now working them into the episode.

We’re not actually adding a segment at the end, so if you do send a question in, listen for it.

If you found the information, this episode would be useful, or if you thought we were just plain funny, please be sure to share with a friend that would enjoy it too.

1:00:12

And as always, please subscribe, rate and review our podcast and TuneIn every Travel Tuesday and Fridays for new episodes.

Stay tuned for next week’s episode.

We have some more amazing adventures and tips in store for you.