Near the end of March, Robert had a two week training trip in Puerto Rico. Originally I didn't think that I would be able to join him, but Mom and Dad Jones extended their visit and came early just so that they could watch the kids for me while I flew off to join Robert. I'm so lucky to have such wonderful family!
So I just packed up and jumped on a plan. It was late at night when I got there, but I woke up to this view out of the hotel room.
This also was my view...equally nice.
Yeah...I knew this was going to be an awesome trip. And it was.
I had been pretty stressed out before I left. Since Christmastime, Robert had been traveling 60% of the time and I was worn out. I never knew how much I would love a joining Rob on a work trip. We ate breakfast together and off he went.
Here he is all ready for work. Doesn't he look like he has it tough?
After he left, I drifted from my room, to the beach and to to pool. It was a little piece of heaven not having to be anywhere or feed anyone or fix anything. I went from taking care of everybody all the time to just taking care of myself. I can't remember the last time I was able to relax like that.
In the evenings, Robert would get home and we'd go off to dinner (that someone else had cooked)
A couple mornings we went on walks before Robert left to work.
I think nearly every morning we were up for the sunrise. It was just too beautiful to miss! The clouds were coming in during the week and it made the sunrises spectacular.
A few mornings I hung out at the hotel while Robert worked.
It wasn't a bad life to live. Except, actually living there isn't really awesome for most of the people in Puerto Rico. The beach was so beautiful, but the city itself was still trying hard to recover from the Hurricanes. It was in pretty bad shape before the Irma even came.
Here is the view from behind the hotel.
It is a busy and crowded city. The infrastructure was already old and falling apart. Even though its nearly been a year since Irma hit, hotels are still trying to get put back together. And the hotels is where the money is at. For the average Puerto Rican, things haven't been coming back together so quickly. We talked to a waitress and she told us there were a lot of mountain villages that still didn't have power. She said her grandma's neighbor's mother died the day the hurricane came through, but they were stuck in their house for three days before any help came. There is so much poverty around and I felt guilty for staying in such a nice place while so many around us on the island were living in terrible conditions. I was thankful to share in the beauty of their island, however.
After a few days of vegging, I decided to take a trip to Old Town Puerto Rico. I stopped first at Castillo del San Cristobal. It was so interesting being a tourist by myself. I got to look at the things I wanted to. I took my time in some places and passed up other places. It was fun. However, the pictures are not so interesting. I realize the only real interesting thing in pictures is usually the people in them. Ah, well. I took them anyway and now I'll post them.
Here is the way to the dungeon.
And this is the dungeon. You can't tell, but the tunnel is vey steep. It was dark and smelled awful, which made you realize how terrible it would have been to have been put there.
Prisoners drew these pictures on the walls ...dreaming of escaping, I'm sure.
I liked this picture, even though it is hard to tell, but standing in one place you see the ocean on one side and land on the other.
Some kind tourist took this picture for me.
Walking up to old town, you saw places like this.
And you passed dilapidated homes and stores like these. Robert told me that this area near old town was too unsafe for me to walk down to.
Next I walked to the next point of the island. Here is Castillo del Morro
When I was done seeing the castillos, I walked through Old Town and walked into as many little art galleries as I could find. I never get to do that, usually. At the end of my visit, I met up with Robert and we headed back to the hotel.
By our last day, the wind and waves had picked up considerably. We walked along the ocean in the morning, but the tide was up and the water was too strong to go into.
See it slamming against this building? The day before, I could walk past that on a good stretch of beach.
You can see the difference from the first day and the last of my visit with these two pictures. This is the same cove and pathway.
Still beautiful.
One of our few pictures together.
I think I just might have to join Robert on a few more work trips.
Yeah. I could definitely handle that.
