What a contrast to go from the lush, tropical heat of Puerto Rico, La Isla del Encanto (The Enchanted Island) to the frigid Michigan weather! While I deeply love Michigan, this past trip makes me appreciate it more, while deepening my respect for Puerto Rico. In this first of a series of pieces, I hope that you, also, will come away with a similarly deepened respect for the island.

From Detroit to San Juan

We left a week ago today from Detroit-Metro on Southwest Airlines. I have to say that I love, love, love flying Southwest. The way that the employees, from the gate desk before boarding to the flight crew inside of the plane, act, they make it clear that they enjoy what they do and work hard to provide a memorable flying experience. Most importantly, they allow my family and I to board together. This is really important because I have heard stories of parents being separated from their children by staff at other airlines. For these and many other reasons, I can’t recommend them enough.

Our first flight was to Baltimore-Washington International Airport, as Southwest doesn’t fly direct from Detroit. While in Baltimore, we had a brief layover of a little more than an hour.

Our second flight, then, took us from Baltimore to San Juan’s Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport. The Baltimore crew light, easy-going demeanor had me in stitches. For the last flight, which lasted about 4 1/2-5 hrs, they came around twice to offer drinks and snacks (which came in handy for our son). They had a pretty good selection of movies, which was great for keeping him entertained, though he, also, loved looking out the window.

On landing, as soon as we we exited our plane and went into the airport, we were greeted by the savory smells of Puerto Rican food. The airport was painted in absolutely vibrant colors. It was smaller than what I’m used to, which wasn’t a bad thing, as it made it easier to get around. From getting our bag to arriving at the desk to request a taxi to our hotel, it couldn’t have taken more than 15 minutes.

Hotel El Convento

I had a really great chat with our taxi driver on the way to Hotel El Convento in Old San Juan (Viejo San Juan), where we stayed for the first few nights. We talked a little bit about Hurricane Maria and, as far as I understood, there were areas of San Juan that weren’t as severely damaged as other places in Puerto Rico, which was saying a lot. When it came to asking for a food recommendation, he directed us to Restaurante Raices.

El Jibarito

We had a late lunch/early dinner at El Jibarito in Old San Juan, a place that we went to twice the last time that we went to Puerto Rico three years ago. This says a lot about how much we liked the place.

El Jibarito had a good selection of Puerto Rican food. I ended up getting a combination mofongo that included some breadfruit. I had always been intrigued about trying it, since reading about the mutiny on the HMS Bounty. My wife had a plantain mofongo with beef. At the table, we had a squeeze bottle of a buttery garlic sauce that was the perfect complement to our mofongos.

Conclusion

It was incredible how much we were able to pack into such a small amount of time: our MO on this trip. This was something that we realized was needed so that we could pace ourselves to accommodate our son. This was a good thing, as this directed us to prioritize a few experiences each day, which maximized their impact.