Sunday in Puerto Rico 2011

     "Spend the afternoon, you can't take it with you."  Annie Dillard, writer

Sunday morning I woke up and took my time getting ready for the day.  My plan was the beach again, but didn’t need, nor want to be there all day as I had caught plenty of sun under my palm tree on Friday.  I decided to head to one of the restaurants on my map from Emeo and Esteban at Andalucia.  I liked the sounds of “La Boulangerie”.  Emeo said it was a bit of a walk and that was fine by me.  I found it after getting a bit lost (I do now know where the Children’s Hospital is in San Juan), but the walk felt good even if it was getting hot.

“La Boulangerie” was just what it sounds to be.  For those people from my hometown of Milton, think  Newcomb Farm with a French twist.  I was initially seated at a table for 4, and felt guilty as the restaurant was filling to overflowing with waiting guests..I moved outside to a table on the patio, which again, after a long cold winter felt great.  I knew I had chosen well as there were very few “Gringos or Gringas” in the restaurant, and the Spanish language surrounded me.  After enjoying a lovely brunch of Eggs Florentine I headed back to my little Inn.

Beach @ Numero 1 Guest House, photo from their website

Deciding to wait til later in the afternoon to head to the beach, I went up to the shaded roof deck to read for while.  Lovely lazy Sunday.  At around 2 I finally ventured to the Beach, and decided to head to the area in front of Numero 1 Guest House, and take advantage of their invitation after having lunch there Friday.  The scene was a tad different from Friday’s.  It was a Paaartay on this Sunday.  I had read that the Ocean Park Beach was very popular on Sundays with families.  Well, also so with the twenty somethings…It was kind of fun to watch, but not quiet and peaceful, more like Nantasket Beach in a heat wave than Green Harbor. 

It was fascinating watching the kite surfers.  Boy that would be fun.  The air they caught was amazing.  At one point a beautiful young bikinied Lady walked along the beach with a snake wrapped around her neck as a necklace.  The Latin music bleared, the beer was flowing.  (I treated myself to a couple of cups of sangria delivered by a very nice “Cabana Boy”.)  I also witnessed some drama giving full reason to why 18 year olds really can’t handle beer, especially in the heat…All in all an entertaining, if not peaceful afternoon at the beach.  Auntie would have loved the little 4x4 Yamaha dune buggies the Beach Patrol cruised by in every so often.  (Friday they drove pickups, but had more room to maneuver them.)

Sunset @ Uva's again!

At around 5:30, I decided to head to my other place on the beach for sunset.  I headed to Uvva again and my very friendly waitress, Helena, was there to greet me, by name, again.  She was working a private party, so introduced me to her co-worker, Felix, and I enjoyed a lovely couple of glasses of Chardonnay and their “grilled  skewers” appe.  (grilled charetta or beef, chicken, tuna, and shrimp).  Perfect.  Along with the perfect sunset.  Was home again by 7:30, very content.

Caught one of the last seats on my plane again, and then enjoyed a comfortable, if crowded plane ride home which took about the same time as all my MegaBus trips to New York all winter.  I will defintely go back to Puerto Rico again.  Just tapped the surface of that lovely island, and loved it!