saw lots of on-ship commercials for botox (Fine Lines and wrinkles on the face are horrible, terrible things that must be fiercely combated with Cosmetic Enhancement.)
learned that duty free liquor is cheap! (to bad we don’t drink)
Video of Eagles’ nest hastily taken from Kennedy Center tour bus:
Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition – Museum like exhibit that includes lots of artifacts recovered from the wreckage, a glimpse into the lives of some of the travelers, an explanation of the class system, and an actual piece of the ship. Included in the traveler profiles is Joseph Laroche–the only black man on the Titanic–and his family.
At the end of the exhibition, you see a giant wall with the names of the Titanic passengers–separated by class–that reveals which ones survived. It’s a little jarring to walk into the next room and find yourself in the middle of an ultra tacky Titanic memorabilia store. You can get fake bling–just like some of the rings found in the wreck! Better yet, you can own an actual lump of coal from the ship!
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The CSI Experience – Don’t waste your money or your time on this. If you want an interactive CSI experience–buy the PC Games from Amazon. At a bare minimum, you can get 2 pc games for under $10. In Vegas, you pay $30 for 1 “investigation” that’s just you going from room to room playing match game on computer screens. If you are a die-hard CSI fan, skip the experience and visit the CSI store. For $20, you can get your picture taken in a replica of Grissom’s office.
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The Price Is Right Live Show – Fun, smaller scale version of the actual show where any audience member can get the call to “come on down”. Everyone gets a picture in front of the big wheel delivered via email for “free”. The enjoyment doesn’t really come with the prizes–which were fairly cheap– but the interaction with the crowd. For example, spinning the wheel and getting $1 will only get you $100 in the Vegas edition. The audience cheers like crazy anyway:
Plus, Elvis was in the Price Is Right audience. It doesn’t get better than that.
When the shuttle bus lets you off in Old San Juan in the middle of a scorching hot day, you need to take a second to regroup. Cronopios book store (255 Calle de San Jose) is the perfect place to sit for a minute, whip out your tourist map, and figure out what to do. In the back of the store is a patio like area with tables, a fountain, and powerful fans.
Fajardo is 45 minutes to an hour east of San Juan. We stayed at the El Conquistador Resort and made a pit stop to Old San Juan. The resort is on top of a cliff–but it has a private island, Palomino Island, where guests can go to lay on the beach, ride horses in the sand, etc. Palomino is also home to other animals…who have no problem waiting by your feet for food to drop.
If you want to go for quiet, relaxation, etc – your best bet is to visit El Conquistador Monday – Friday afternoon. Friday night-Sunday, the quiet resort turns into loud, crowded place where you can barely hear yourself think in the lobby.
Fajardo is known for great seafood–and often the restaurants are literally serving the catch of the day.
The view from our room.
Alarm Clock
Early morning
Rain heading our way
Golden and overcast sky.
Water, Island, and Sky
OSJ – Calle del Cristo
OSJ – Calle del Cristo 2
OSJ – Virgin Mary
OSJ – Fort El Morro
OSJ – Protest March
OSJ – Aureola Cafe – Get your nourishment here!
Map of Palomino Island
PI — Are you going to drop some food?
PI – No pictures, please!
PI – Fine, take the damn picture. That will be one fry please.
Theory: The quality of a man’s toupee is inversely related to the size of a man bank account.
AKA: The more money the dude has, the more likely his hair piece resembles a shaggy tribble or a dead raccoon.
I think they do it on purpose as a weird kind of ego booster. “I’ll wear this lint trap on my head but because I’m wealthy all of the other men will be forced to treat me seriously/with respect and young women/men will pretend to find me distinctive and attractive.”
I can imagine Mr. Big Stuff adjusting his toupee, slicking a flattened curl on his forehead (just because), and proudly proclaiming to the mirror, “I’m rich bitch!”
I’m in a place where many people are tanned and face-lifted to within an inch of their lives. I just paid $17 for 2 bottled waters. Okay, the 2 bottles were $14 but the bar included an 18% service charge plus sales tax. I guess that just proves I’m in a swanky place.
