2025 Ledgers
January
JANUARY
January 26th, 2024 — Puerto Rico: Lovely Island
What follows is a brief recap of my 5 days in beautiful San Juan, Puerto Rico a few weeks ago. Enjoy!
DAY 1: FRIDAY, JANUARY 10TH
After finishing all 50 states last summer, I thought it was time to start on the US Territories! Though, really, the trip solidified itself after a Google Flight search in October for the start of January presented a $250 round trip flight (though it ended up being $50 more for my carry-on bag on the way back with Frontier) and I thought — it’s warm, let’s do it! And, FYI, it was warm — 80 degrees and sunny the whole time!
My flight out was Delta on JFK, so I was able to watch 2 movies, both of which were good, and I would highly recommend them both: “The Wild Robot” and “Thelma”.
I reached Puerto Rico by 5PM, which felt like 4PM b/c PR is an hour ahead in the wintertime b/c they (rightly) don’t have Daylight Saving Time.
My AirBnb host suggested that I take an Uber to the location, which just shows you how little she knew me (which makes sense b/c she’s a stranger). Instead, I saw on GoogleMaps that the bus in PR was only 75 cents! How could I turn that down? In fact, it seems that the bus isn’t EVEN 75 cents b/c both time I rode it, it was FREE. Why anyone would pay for an Uber when there is a free bus, is beyond me, but multiple people at the airport seemed to not know where the bus stop was. So I will tell you: it’s on the upper level and it’s by Terminal 3 Departures! And did I mention it was FREE? So, I took the bus for about an hour to the terminal at Viejo San Juan (or for those of you (including me) who don’t speak Spanish: OLD San Juan (and of course the J is pronounced like an H if you’re attempting the Spanish!).
Old San Juan is very small, so it was only about 10 minutes from the terminal to my AirBnb, which was an incredibly affordable studio apartment right on the ground floor. It was a bit noisy since there was street noise, and a bar and a cafe on the same block… but being from NYC, it didn’t phase me one bit, and besides I always sleep with a blindfold and earplugs on vacation!
After dropping my stuff off, I took a walk around town to get my feel of the land. It was very much a grid layout, so it was easy to navigate. I was so very happy to see there were dozens of stray cats around town! I took photos of all of them, and they were mostly super friendly.
At 7:30PM, I went to Triana Tapes & Flamenco Restaurant for a flamenco guitarist and dance show. The guitarist, Juan Carlos is 84 and has been doing this show for decades. It kind of gave me a glimpse into my future… His playing was incredible, and the dancers were great. He mentioned being on the Ed Sullivan show when he was in his 20s, and he knew Marilyn Maye who is at Don’t Tell Mama a lot and has come to a few of my shows. Just like me, he was hocking CDs after the show, so I was happy to pay $10 for one since I don’t want to be a hypocrite.
I had dinner while I watched the show — chicken fettuccine Alfredo, which was okay. At this dinner, I also learned that sales tax in PR is 11.5%, which is even more than NYC!
After dinner, I strolled around town, it was crowded and noisy on a Friday night, which I appreciated. I hung out by the bay and the ocean, enjoying the 76 degree weather and the water… and I met even more cats!
I was pooped from getting up early to travel, so I managed to go to bed by 1am.
DAY 2: SATURDAY, JANUARY 11TH
Saturday I had a free walking tour at 10am. It was 2.5 hours and filled with history. My guide was really great, I tipped her well, and she also airdropped a great list of recommendations for restaurants.
We saw some churches, some architecture, walked around the wall, through the San Juan Gate, the Jardin de la Princesa, saw the outside of the world’s smallest house, saw some fountains, the water, lots of steps, and ended up by the castle. Oh, and also we saw a lots of cats!
Being on vacation, I didn’t take copious notes on the tour, but I did write down a few tidbits… Old San Juan was built on a hill, so there’s really good ventilation in the alleys. When the British attacked, they managed to take over the city, but freed all the caged animals without realizing they were caged b/c when they were free, the infected the water with their feces, so the British all got diarrhea and the Spanish were able to oust them. All the pretty pastel colors are government mandated, and you can change the color of your house, but it has to be one of the approved shades, and they will even provide the paint. That is how the whole city is the same color scheme — a really bright one, which I appreciated. There were some Art Deco buildings, including the tallest building in Old San Juan and some surrealist sculptures. PR became a US Territory during the Spanish-American War in 1898. The Americans realized that they couldn’t take Old San Juan, so they came from the other end of the island. PR is in a very important strategic position being the closest island to Europe, which is why so many people fought over it.
Sadly, they were setting up a lot of stages and vender tables; it seems there was a huge festival starting up a few days after I left, so I was sad to miss that b/c it probably would’ve been a lot of free music. Though, the flight and housing would also probably have been more, and it would’ve been so ridiculously crowded, so it’s probably for the best I went the week before.
The tour ended right at the Museo de las Americas (Museum of the Americas) which was on the second floor of El Cuartel Ballaja. It was only $6, and even though I lingered on a bench, the whole thing probably would’ve taken less than an hour. There were 6 rooms of exhibits, some smaller than others, including a room on history featuring artifacts from PR’s past, and some contemporary art, and a room dedicated to the Three Wise Men, of which I am not one, even though I consider myself wise b/c I still have my wisdom teeth!
Next up was the free Museo de San Juan which featured two rooms. The first was Sala Campeche and featured some painters from PR in the 18th Century. The second was a room for special exhibits, and they had a Picasso exhibit featuring his lithographic portfolios that he used during his Blue Period. (I’m not sure if he was super sad, or just really into the color.)
Then I went to Museo Casa Blanca (and saw more cats on the way!) which was where “legendary explorer” (sorry I didn’t wait for it!) Ponce de Leon’s descendants lived before the state took it over. Ponce gave to PR in 1508. It was basically an old house where people lived once, and there were also cats napping everywhere. It was only $5. Afterwards, I explored the idyllic gardens around the house (and saw even more cats!).
I was running pretty early since most of the museums didn’t take very long, so I thought I would squeeze in the Casa del Libro (House of the Book) which was on my schedule for Tuesday; however, it was closed… and spoiler alert: it just was closed the whole time I was there, which is a Google fail! I ended up sitting for a bit overlooking the bay in the Parque de las Palomas which was very, very, very filled with pigeons; they even had their own cubbyholes to take naps in. Lots of pigeons, but sadly no cats, which is weird b/c you’d think cats would like to chase or eat pigeons?
I decided to have a popsicle since it was on the list of things to try in PR, so I had a mango one from Señor Paleta.
My final museum for Saturday was the Arsenal de la Marina, which… was also closed the entire time I was there. Shame on Google. Shame, shame!
On my way to dinner, I saw more cats… and also chickens and roosters… and pigeons… I went to eat at La Madre, which was a Mexican restaurant that was on the tour guide’s recommendation list. It was delicious, and incredibly affordable. I had a salad (to be healthy) and a burrito (yum).
After dinner, since I had already had dessert, I sat by the ocean for a bit. I was going to try to get closer to the ocean by going down below the wall to see where some locals live, but as I was descending a really nice guy warned me by telling me there were no cops down there, and that tourists should not really walk around down there close to dark. Not wanting to be mugged or killed, I stayed up where all the tourists were, and just enjoyed a relaxing view of the Atlantic Ocean with the full moon.
For lack of anything to do at night since I don’t really drink, especially not alone, I just walked around in a giant circle, pausing at a few benches overlooking parks and waters, reading and taking in live music where I found it.
DAY 3: SUNDAY, JANUARY 12TH
On Sunday, I woke up for a 10am pick up at Plaza Colon, which was a really nice park 5 minutes from my AirBnB, and clearly the easiest pick up spot from Old San Juan.
This day trip was to Yunque Rainforest and Luquillo Beach. I would’ve loved to hike more through the rainforest, but they don’t offer group tours to do that, just private ones. This one was more like, dipping one’s toe (or really oneself) in a natural water slide and pond right on the edge of the park. The path down was treacherous and muddy; I slipped one time, but at least I met a cat on the way. It turns out there is a proper path to take, but that is maintained by the park and would have required the tour company use part of the money we paid them to buy us actual tickets for it.
Anyway, it was super fun to go down the water slide; I did it twice. The first time I ended up completely submerged in the water on the way down, but the second time I got the hang of it. Part of the tour was taking photos in the rainforest, and then we climbed over a lot of rocks to get to a calm pool, which some of us went swimming in for a bit.
Next up, the van drove us to Luquillo Beach for 2 hours. I had lunch at Perruño, where I had chicken mofongo with chicken (pollo). Mofongo was highly recommended by all my guides, and it was very delicious and super filling. It is made partially from plantains.
After lunch, I went to the beach and swam in the warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean, and pocketed some pretty shells.
Oh, I forgot to mention, the reason I was able to do water things is that I invested in a waterproof pouch! I would’ve had too much anxiety leaving my wallet, phone & watch with a stranger, or even worse, just having them sit there alone and unwatched with my shoes and shorts. This way, I was able to put them into the pouch and strap it to my waist! I’m happy to say the pouch was indeed waterproof, as advertised.
I really enjoyed the people I met on the tour, and ended up with 4 new Instagram followers: 3 from Miami and 1 from Atlanta!
Since I already had a big lunch, I wasn’t super hungry, but I did try a delicious arepa from a street truck.
I was planning on going to gelato, but the line was terribly long, so instead I went to Himalaya Ice Co. for some home made ice cream rolls. I got the Chocolate Overload: Brownie & Oreo Cookie withChocolate Drizzle. Very yummy!
Again there wasn’t much to do at night for someone who isn’t a drinker, so I basically visited the same 4 areas as the night before, sitting and watching the water. There were still people out til around 10pm, when I went home to read.
DAY 4: MONDAY, JANUARY 13TH
Monday I had a very lax schedule, and I must say the day ended up supremely inefficient, but I don’t feel like I really missed out on anything, so it’s just as well.
I slept in and took my time getting out, which was a relief after 2 days in a row of having to be somewhere by 10am.
First up was Castillo San Cristóbal. I walked around the main levels of the fort for a few hours, examining every nook and cranny. I saw a 12 minute video about its history on the lower level, saw some great views of the Atlantic Ocean and the Capitol building on the upper level, went down some tunnels and saw some ancient art on the walls. Oh, and I saw an iguana… and a few cats!
So, I was planning on going to the Maritime Museum, but when I went I saw a sign that they took luggage. On Tuesday, my checkout was 11am, and my flight wasn’t til 9:30PM, so I had been considering where to leave my bags, and since this museum was right by my AirBnB, I thought great! I inquired about the bag holding and it was $5 per bag, but if I left bags, I could go to the $5 museum included, so I decided to wait on the museum till Tuesday.
I didn’t quite know what to do with that hour, so I tried the Museo de Felisa Rincon de Gautier, which was closed, even though Google said it was open. And I tried the House of the Book again… still closed… by the time I went around in a giant circle again, I figured it was time for lunch.
I ate lunch at another guide recommendation: Deaverdura, which was Puerto Rican food. It was actually pretty crowded, and there was a queue, but being a single traveler has perks… and I skipped the line and just sat at the bar! I had Pollo Frito (fried chicken) and a side of vegetables (to be healthy). Those and a bottled water only came to $13! What a steal!
I went back to change into my bathing suit and at 3:30PM I went back to Plaza Colon to be picked up for my Kayak Bioluminescence Tour. The van was a bit late, but eventually came, and I snapped a photo of the Holocaust Memorial by the Capitol Building on my way out of Old San Juan. It took awhile to pick everyone up, but we finally arrived at Kayak Village.
It was a gorgeous night as we kayaked a mile through a rambling path to the lake where we were to see the bioluminescence. Because of the full moon, we ended up huddling under some tarps. We dangled our fingers in the water, and bioluminescence shot out of our fingers! I think being a pianist helped me create so much. It felt kind of magical, like we were shooting electricity from our fingers!
Afterwards, they had some snacks and water for us (I had Dorito’s) and it took about 90 minutes to get back to Old San Juan, which was the last stop.
Monday at 9pm, not much was open, but it will surprise no one that I got ice cream — it was soft serve vanilla/chocolate swirl in an orange cone from Sweet Haley’s.
DAY 5: TUESDAY, JANUARY 14TH
On my final day, I thankfully ended up waking up before my alarm b/c I woke up to no power! My first thought was OMG THIS MIGHT AFFECT MY FLIGHT (Spoiler Alert: it thankfully didn’t!) and I had to uncover and unlatch the window to get a little bit of light in to get ready and finish packing.
The neighbor didn’t really speak English, but said that there was power out everywhere, which wasn’t great for my anxiety, but then I saw some tourists and they said their hotel had power, so I realized it wasn’t the entire island after all.
I walked down the street and saw that Café Cupido at La Terraza de San Juan hotel had power, and had breakfast serving till 11. Since I was starving and up early, I ran to get my bags, then came back and had a Venezuelan Breakfast with eggs, rice, beans arepas, etc, and also an orange juice.
With a full stomach, I set out to drop my bags off at the Maritime Museum only to find that they had no power and were not accepting bags! And I had decided to forgoing seeing the museum on Monday, too. Ah, me! Thankfully, I had already done research and I knew that the restaurant Barrachina had free storage. Hoping they had power, I walked the 10 minutes across town with my bags. Hallelujah, there was power… and a huge queue. Barrachina is wear the Pinã Colada was invented, so it’s a popular tourist spot. I was happy to hear that they still offered free storage (though tips were encouraged) and felt a wave of relief to be bagless!
I headed to my main event for the day: Castillo San Felipe del Morro where I spent a good 90 minutes on 6 different levels exploring the castle grounds and enjoying the ocean views.
Afterwards, I meandered through the cat park to see, yet more cats; there are places like this park where people put out cat food, so that’s why all the cats seemed to be in decent health.
I circled back to the free Museo de Felisa Rincon de Gautier, which was open on Tuesday. This is a small museum dedicated to the first woman mayor, Felisa Rincon, who served from 1946-1968. There were many portraits, awards, collectibles, and dolls of her in 4 or so rooms. It was a cute stop for 10 minutes.
I was happy to see that Anita Gelato had power and no line, so I decided to get gelato for lunch. I had a cup of banana split, white chocolate and pistachio cream, and cookie man, opting for a cup b/c in the hot sun, it would be harder to eat a cone; though, they packed it in, so I had to eat the perimeter really quickly so it didn’t get all over my fingers. I sat at the pigeon park and watched the bay while enjoying my dessert.
By this point, I noticed that places that had been closed before were open, so it seemed to me that power had been restored, and I was right. After triple checking the House of the Book was still closed (it was – I only checked again b/c it’s right next to the pigeon park), I went back to the other side of town to finally go to the Museo del Mar (Museum of the Sea AKA Maritime Museum). Since I didn’t leave my luggage there, I spent $5 and it took about 20 minutes to see the various items they had from boats, like bells and a steering wheel. It was hands on, so it was kind of fun!
I had plenty of time to kill, so I walked around one last time, and stopped by a handcrafted souvenir store where I got a cute cat (duh) and also a porcelain frog that was reading a book about butterflies. I was trying to pick which to get, and then I realized that I might as well just get both!
I went back to Barrachina, picked up my bags (left a tip), walked back across town to the bus terminal, got on the free bus to the airport, then since I was flying Frontier and knew I would eventually be hungry, I had a turkey sandwich at the sandwich place before going through the gate to my terminal, where I spent hours waiting for my phone to charge at the charging station.
The flight was an uneventful 4 hours; I spent the whole time continuing to read the book I brought for vacation: “A Court of Mist and Fury” which is the second book in the series. It’s pretty easy fantasy reading, and exactly what is required on a relaxing vacation!
CONCLUSIONS
Well, I hope that was short enough for you! It felt like a pretty lax trip; in truth, I could’ve easily squeezed my whole itinerary from 5 days into 4. I tried to take time to relax, and even though that’s super hard, I think I did a good enough job because I came home ready to get back to work!
Speaking of, I know no one cares, but I am apologetic that it took me an extra week and a half to get this out. It’s a very busy time of year for me while I’m sorting 100 or so singers into spring showcases. Lots of exciting things coming up this spring, though, so it’s good to get the cabarets settled!
I still cannot announce all the “Malka” news, BUT I can announce that I will be at the Chattanooga Jewish Federation on Wednesday, April 23rd, screening the film and doing a Q&A afterwards. For those of you in NJ, we are setting up a screening at a JCC there in April, so make sure you follow me on social media, or respond and I will tell you the details when I have them!
We are also actively seeking out a spot for our NYC premiere, and it looks like we will be on Long Island, too. And hopefully lots of other states when we hear back from more festivals!
If you know a Jewish organization that might want to screen “Malka”, please let me know.
As always, please respond to let me know what is up for YOU for 2025.
Always,
Seth