Island-Bound!!

In my previous post, I wrote about our travel issues getting out of Denver.  While waiting for our redeye flight out, I had to do some land travel rearranging.  We were going to rent a car at the airport and drive to Fajardo for the ferry to Vieques.  A one-way rental for just a couple hours.  When I contacted Enterprise to let them know we would be picking up the car several hours later than the original reservation, I was told the cost is over $60 more!!!  I am looking at my email AND at my reservation online while talking with the representative....somehow, she is NOT seeing what I am seeing!  So rather than about $56 for the one-way, we are looking at $120!  Uh....No!  I scramble and do some searching on the internet for other options.  I knew there were taxis with a cost near $100 (not per person, but for about 5-7 people...so this is a very good option if you have a group as you can split the cost).  I stumbled into a forum that began back in 2008 and read many of the posts over the years, with the most recent being in 2013, if I am correct.  Someone mentioned a guy named Henry or Henri or Enrique (Enri) and said he was great and charged about $80.  I figured I would give him a call to see if he is still running his service.  To my delight, he answered the phone and said it would be $70!  I got online and cancelled our one-way rental car!  When I called to let him know we had arrived at SJU, he let me know that he wasn't feeling well and sent someone in his place.  During that same phone call, I asked if he could pick us up from the ferry on Thursday and drive us to Old San Juan, to which he agreed and said it would be $80.  (When I next got a chance, I cancelled the other rental car reservation.)  He gave me the driver's name and told me that the white van would have it's lights flashing.  We easily found Victor when he arrived and off we went to Fajardo. 

 

Let me say, NOT getting a rental car was a great decision!  Our messed up travel plans, while taking away 7 hours of our vacation, did keep us from driving in the crazy traffic, along a route that, at times, is not well marked!  Also, after such a frazzling trip of flights, waiting hours in two airports and only getting snippets of sleep here & there, we know that trying to navigate the highways and byways from San Juan to Fajardo would have left us rattled. Letting someone else take the wheel was needed at this stage of our travels.  The costs were very comparable, too:  Enterprise ~ $56 + gas and $109 + gas on the original reservations tho I suspect they would have thrown a bunch of other fees at us and forced us to pay them (to include the $60 drop-off fee for the one-way); Henry ~ $70 + tip and $80; Taxi to the airport ~ $25 with tip.  I am happy to give you Henry's contact information.  He also lived in New York and is a US veteran!!

 

Victor dropped us off at the ferry dock, let us know where we needed to go to purchase our tickets (I got round trip) and pointed us in the direction of some food & drink.  We paid him and he was on his way...maybe for another roundtrip to the airport and back. 

 

Having a bit over 2 hours to kill before the next ferry arrived at 4:45, we did a quick freshening up in the ferry terminal bathroom and drug ourselves to the bar, where we enjoyed cervezas while sitting on the patio under the shade of a tiki-style umbrella, looking at the water.  Into our second cervezas, a couple locals sat next to us.  One of them, William, was born in Puerto Rico, but went to the States as a young boy, growing up there and getting a degree, then coming back to the main island about a year and a half prior.  He was fun to chat with about many things, to include the UFC!  As we parted he said it had been a pleasure for him because he got to speak English with us!! 

 

We got to the ferry station and noticed two roped off areas, one looked to be filled with darker-skinned locals, the other with pasty non-residents like myself!  We got in line and as we got closer to boarding the ship, we were told to wait as we were not residents....who are given preference for boarding, which means tourists may not get on the ferry they hope to catch.  We acted as if we were going to follow her instruction, but when she turned, we got on the boat.  There was no way in hell we weren't getting on this ferry!  The next one did not leave until 8:15!!!  And it is an hour & a half trip...to go 8 freakin' miles!  We should have been on the 1PM ferry, but now we were on the evening one with so many Viequens headed back from the main island.  It was rather noisy with lots of kids who had played sports games that Saturday afternoon.  That said, Chris napped for most of the trip and I for a bit (those 2 beers, while thirst-quenching, weren't sitting all that great in my empty stomach on this choppy ride).  Unfortunately, you cannot be outside the boat to enjoy the sun and sea air; however, inside is air-conditioned.

 

Once off the ferry, a publico driver asked, in Spanish, if we needed a ride to Esperanza.  I asked how much (Cuantos?) and agreed (Si!) when he said $3 each.  This publico was what we use in the States as shuttles to/from airports.  Once he had about another 7-9 people on board (gotta make the money!!), we headed south to Esperanza.  We were almost ~finally~ at our accommodations!!  In Spanish, I told him where we were staying and, also in Spanish, we found it together!  (I didn't recall the house being called Coco Loco, so when the driver said it as we were having a hard time finding the house number, it didn't click with me.  I called our host's number and the voicemail said "Coco Loco"!!  I informed the driver that, "Si, Si, es Coco Loco!!")

 

During our drive from the airport to the ferry, we were able to look around and take in much of Puerto Rico.  Our first impression:  Third World.  Our drive from Isabel Segunda, the town on Vieques, to Esperanza, the southern area where we were staying, we maintained the same impression.  We have only been to Mexico, back in 2006, so we don't have many other countries with which to make a comparison. 

 

One of our hosts, Joe, greeted us at his gate and took us right back to the casita, the once former shed that had been converted into a small efficiency, where we would spend the next several nites.  He gave us a quick rundown of things and let us be.  We did a bit of freshening up and headed down to the Malecon, in search of food!  We walked the stretch to see what was offered and made our way back almost to the beginning to share a chicken skewer meal at Belly Buttons.  Picnic tables, fresh air, cooked-to-order food, nice staff and the sea just steps away...we would eat 3 of our 4 breakfasts here and another dinner. 

 

I will share more details about how we spent our days in upcoming posts.  I am also going to start a separate travel blog to give more general information mixed with our impressions.  I will post a link here when I get the new site created and post my first blog entry.  I hope you visit me here and there!