December 26, 1997: El Yunque, Louqillo Beach, Fajardo

Charlene and I got up quite early and walked down to the car rental place.  We were the first in line and to our luck, we got the last rental car and the last map.   Charlene drove and we stopped at a Kmart to get a few items.   The people in Puerto Rico are slow paced.    We drove up to the tropical rain forest, 'El Yunque.'  There were several winding roads up there.   We stopped at the visitors center and made it in time for the film.  We learned that the Puerto Rican parrot was becoming an endangered specie.    There were 44 parrots found in this forest.  Charlene and I walked up to Mt. Britton.  It was quite a walk.   It took about 45 minutes each way.  

Continued on the highway to Louqillo Beach.   It was a beautiful beach.   The entrance to the beach had palm trees on each side.   We hung out on the beach for about an hour.  Then, I took over the driving and we went to this absolutely gorgeous hotel, 'El Conquistador' in Fajardo.    We've never seen such a beautiful hotel like this in our lives.   It overlooked the Atlantic Ocean.   On our way out, the singing group 'Temptations' pulled up in a limousine at the entrance.   They were giving a concert tomorrow.    We had dinner at 'Pollo de sandwich' restaurant.   The menu was all in Spanish.   Charlene and I couldn't remember the word for butter even after Grandma Thomas had always told us her little Spanish, 'Pase la matequilla, por favor.', which meant 'Please pass the butter'.   

I drove us back to San Juan which was about a 45 minute ride.    The Puerto Ricans drove like maniacs.  They didn't put on their blinkers and drove in the median on the right side of the road.   I can't believe we got back to our hotel with no problems.   We had a hard time finding how to get back to the car rental place.    First, I took a wrong turn and we ended up on this highway. Then, when we'd get off to get onto a side street, we'd get onto another highway. We kept getting further and further away from the Condado section of Puerto Rico. Finally, we stopped at a 7-11 and I tried to get directions back.   The worker couldn't speak English and I couldn't speak much Spanish, so it was frustrating.  Charlene said the look on my face was priceless.    Both of us were using hand signals to communicate.   I don't know how I figured out the directions, but we went down 5 traffic lights and turned left and ended up where we had to bring the car back.