Prior to being dropped off at the site, we were instructed where to go once we reached the end of th

Disembarkation is never a fun experience on cruise ships. There s the packing the day before, the hoping you find your bag where it is supposed to appear, customs, waiting national car rental locations vancouver around for things to happen after customs in terms of getting out of the port, all that. It typically sucks. Depending on how it is done, it can suck more or less. The first time my wife and I took NCL, we were pulled out of a chaotic national car rental locations vancouver line by our concierge national car rental locations vancouver and ended up second off the ship. That was nice. Other times we end up waiting in public rooms forever waiting for our number or color to get called, and watch people act a fool (Carnival Legend, 2010). This time, we sat and waited some, but there was no stupid people tricks or anything like that. We were led down as a group, grabbed our bags, went through customs with ease, and moseyed over to our coach to take us on our pre-flight tour.
Our coach was filled with the infirm and aged. Okay, that s not really true. There was a solid mix of people among the 24 (or was it 26? the tour guide had a tough time with that too) on board the small, 1970s era-but-still-looking-fresh looking bus. The drive to El Yunque, our destination for the day, took about 45 minutes. The tour guide spoke for a good chunk of the first 20 minutes of the drive and then we went to a relaxed, quiet drive. It was a quiet bus, period. We weren t up for talk, I guess? The transition in scenery is pretty fantastic in San Juan and its surrounding suburbs, there s high rises, condos, apartments, commercial developments, suburban sprawl, and then, slowly, it receeds, eventually leading to jungle and little practical development.
As we closed in on the mountains, the dark clouds national car rental locations vancouver hanging over them were obvious. Our tour guide asked if we had all brought ponchos. My wife and I had packed perfectly good rainproof jackets national car rental locations vancouver for this trip. Unfortunately, citing our dislike of how they didn t breathe that well, we chose to leave them in our checked baggage. Apparently we had forgotten the rain in rainforest . That wasn t wise of us. Our first course of action national car rental locations vancouver then was to get something to cover us by any means necessary.
When we arrived at the visitor center and were given a good 20 minutes to browse on own own accord, Meredith headed to the bathroom while I went to the gift shop. $7+ for a poncho is kinda high but I m guessing they don t make em on the island themselves. I also managed to get a National Parks Passport stamp while I was in there. Time well spent. The visitor center itself is airy, well laid out, and actually has a pretty substantial number of things national car rental locations vancouver to see, along with food to buy and a very nice gift shop. Unfortunately, with only 20 minutes of free to us time to look, we didn t get to see as much as we would have wanted. There s also a very well done movie about the park narrated by Benicio national car rental locations vancouver Del Toro and shot/projected in High-Def, which we saw as a group.
Following the film and waiting a couple minutes for two people to return to the bus with ponchos, we moved on and up into the mountain roads. Our first stop was a visit at Yokahu Observation Tower. The tower itself is roughly seven stories and takes about 90 steps to reach the top. Once up there, you get an elevated view above the tree tops of the jungle below, seeing national car rental locations vancouver all the way out to the beach several miles away, or up to the forest national car rental locations vancouver s highest point (El Toro). looking south.
There were a few people that couldn t handle the menial climb, but most seemed physically fit enough to do it. From that vantage point, there was some quality bid watching opportunities, and the natural beauty of the area could really be appreciated. Another huge plus was that while we had ponchos, there was sunlight shining for the most part. Towards the conclusion of our time, the darker clouds began to roll in, and they d be present the rest of the way.
Our next stop kept us closer to ground level we d visit the pool El Bano Grande , which was constructed back in the 30s by the Civilian Conservation Corp for recreation or whatever. It hasn t been used in many years and basically just looks good now. There s a couple of trails that lead away from this into the jungle. The one we went on is maybe half a mile at most long and gives you a taste of the fauna. Leading away from that trail are a number of much longer, more substantive trails into the jungle that look frankly kinda awesome. This is a package tour though, and you stick to the package tour plans.
With rain coming down pretty hard at times, it wasn t conducive for great photography (at least with the camera I had) and we were well under prepared clothing-wise. Still, we were in better shape than most when it came to this. I had bought us ponchos, after all there were some people just taking it and getting soaking wet. There were several shelters along the way built with corrugated aluminum. Something about rain on that surface just gets me all fired up and happy. We took advantage of one or two and watched people filter by.
Prior to being dropped off at the site, we were instructed where to go once we reached the end of the trail. We arrived to see a number of people just standing there, openly debating where to go. Enough of our group had just come to a dead stop that they basically were blockading national car rental locations vancouver the exit. I pushed us through and indicated that my wife and I were headed back to the bus, taking a few adventurous souls with us down the hillside to where the tour guide indicated it would be. Others were less trusting that we had heard words spoken in the English language, threw their hands up, and waited in the rain.
To the surprise of neither my wife or myself, immediately after rounding the corner in the road, the bus was present and waiting in a parking lot not a 1000 feet from where those folks were standing and debating going back up the hill in the opposing direction. After waiting roughly 15 minutes or so for them to show up, we headed back up for them. The first to enter; Geez, where were you? He had been standing there since we pushed right by him. Instructions, people: listen to them. Please.
national car rental locations vancouver The final stop for our tour was at La Coca Falls, located right by the roadside. national car rental locations vancouver There s not a tremendous amount to say about it. It is water falling down a rock face some 80 feet. It is quite spectacular to see, even if there s a lot of people standing around staring at it. If you want to be intrepid, you can take some shots as the water heads down the waterfall. national car rental locations vancouver One guy started to push his way through from a different national car rental locations vancouver group and almost got hit with the walking stick of his guide for maneuvering his way near poison ivy. That guide seemed a bit ornery. At least he wasn t ours.
On the way back to the airport, we skipped Interstate national car rental locations vancouver PR-3 and took regular old PR-3. It isn t an expressway and toll road like the road we took earlier in the trip, which means our drive back took much longer. Seemed like it must have been over an hour at minimum. There wasn t a lot to see. There were occasionally signs and small parks on the side of the road. One thing I picked up on and want to go back and dine on; lechon. Lots and lots of roadside places serving roast pig. At this point, that sounded really good too, because it had been awhile since our continental breakfast on the ship. About the biggest thing I can remember passing by was Roberto Clemente Stadium, which has been home to MLB games for the Expos prior to their move to DC and a number of important sporting events over the years.
At the airport, we met our bags and put them through USDA inspection prior to checking them what seemed to us a strange and ill-conceived process on US Airways. We grabbed snacks from a bakery stand in the airport as well as snacks at a restaurant located over in the B Terminal (US Air uses the spartan D terminal for its flights) to get our nourishment up for the flights home. We had a long time to think about things too just a smidge over 3 hours. Luis Munoz International looks like the airport national car rental locations vancouver time forgot in most of the main terminals. Short ceilings, not a terrific amount of seating space, retail and restaurants that are mighty shallow and can t take in a lot of people, decor left over from the late 1970s. At this point, they should change nothing. It will all be retro-fabulous soon.
US Air wasn t a horrible airline to fly, but they felt very, very basic. We had sandwiches on board that we paid for, but there really wasn t any on board entertainment of any sort on the way to Charlotte, and we certainly didn t expect nor get any on the way to Detroit. The experience is really interchangeable with any other airline, except that US Air has so few hubs and so few real international flights that they kinda are useless to us 99% of the time.  Their hub in Charlotte is a very nice airport. It has a lot of the issues older terminal buildings have in terms of space, windows, perceived cramping, etc but the large public national car rental locations vancouver areas are grandly decorated and there s a lot of options for dining. We were certainly national car rental locations vancouver fed and happy before national car rental locations vancouver boarding on our way to Detroit.
The trip ended much like it began; at the Sheraton Airport Detroit. Our flight landed at nearly midnight and we weren t even in our car till well after 12:30PM. I had the feeling that after waking up early to catch our excursion/transfer that I d be in no mood to drive 90 minutes back to East Lansing, and boy I was right. We slept for much of our flights and I was still needing more by the time we checked in. This time we got a balcony room, and I was able to get some pictures of the inside thanks to them actually bothering to turn on the lights. Christmas decor went up between our stays there as well.
I m always sad when a trip this long in the planning ends. Great, great cruise, great destinations, and I d like to go to all of them again. Puerto Rico was the big surprise. I knew about the variety of geography and locales but until you re there seeing it, it is hard to believe national car rental locations vancouver there s a big tropical rainforest that you can