Beach culture, Friendly faces and Amazing Food Courtesy of Puerto Rico
Part I
Back in February between the multiple blizzards we experienced here in New York, I had decided that I needed the beach AND I needed the heat, as quickly as possible. My beach experience had to meet the following criteria: must be in or associated with the US, no passport necessary, no language barrier, no currency exchange, minimal flying time. The reason why I had such stringent criteria is because I happen to travel quite frequently for work and the above usually has me equating my travel experience with a work experience & my ultimate goal here was relaxation. My desire for warm weather was not one that I alone shared. I recently read some travel statistics that cited 2010/11 as having the largest number of tourists to the Caribbean from the North East! YES, everyone was sick of the snow this year. So I booked my trip to Puerto Rico the soonest I could manage. 7 days in the heat and sun & amazing food- THIS is what I needed. Jeff & I arrived in Puerto Rico on a Sunday; we were staying in the Isla Verde/Carolina area, which luckily for us was about 5 minutes away from the airport. Our hotel was on a long stretch of beautiful beach that was PACKED with people, for good reason, the sun was blazing and it was about 93 degrees, ahhhhh! After settling in and unpacking our goal was simple, fill our bellies. Several recommendations took us to a small unassuming casual place called Mi Casita (My Little House). Every suggestion came with the following advice “Eat the Mofongo”, hell’s yes. Mofongo is not pretty to look at, it’s a blend of ground plantains (green bananas) combined with chicharron (crispy pig’s skin), spices and garlic and shaped into a mound & served with or without meat or fish inside. This particular variety was just straight up plantains served with a side of broth. I got my mofongo at Mi Casita with grilled pork & it was UNBELIEVABLE. This meal set the pace for the whole trip.
The other culinary goals I had set for myself on the trip: alcapurrias, piononos, bacalaitos & pasteles! So we did all the obligatory tourist things, we hiked through el Yunque rainforest, visited the vast underground Camuy cave system, wandered through old San Juan, walked through El Morro AND San Cristobal forts, deposited way too much money at the local casinos and ate our way across the island.
At one point we took a tour at the Bacardi rum factory, which turned out to be extremely disappointing, unfortunately. Years ago, the tour used to take you through the actual distillery, where the rum was fermenting. You could smell the rum in the air & they prohibited photography because of the high alcohol content of the rum in its various stages. NOW, the tour takes you through staged sets, much like Epcot Center, completely separate of the factory, fakey, manufactured & boring. The “guides” force-feed you corporate messaging & give you a hard sell on which Bacardi variety to buy at the gift shop. They also show you a produced corporate video complete with terrible Bacardi commercials from the 80’s; at least it was good for a laugh! Terrible tour aside, we did leave with two bottles of Bacardi rum- a new Dragon Berry flavor and Big Apple each about $11, which is great. The tour included some free samples at the bar, which allowed us to try some new flavored rum we normally wouldn’t have considered. I’ve already muddled myself a Dragon Berry mojito and the Big Apple rum tastes great with just tonic & a some lime juice, really refreshing and light.
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