Our trip to Puerto Rico began like many of our Caribbean adventures: waiting for ages at a mind numbingly inefficient rental car desk. Dollar Car Rental seemed to employ half of the island, and there were only two people in front of us. Yet it took a full hour to get the car we had reserved. We have been through this before. I guess it is just their friendly way of getting visitors used to “island time.” What was new this time around was the baby girl that my wife was trying to soothe while I waited in line. Yup, we were visiting Puerto Rico with an infant.
This was our first mini-vacation packing the kid. We planned the four day trip in order to test the waters of traveling with an infant.
Day One: Arrival
Like most trips the first day was primarily taken up with transit. We kicked off our baby’s first flights early in the morning and arrived in Puerto Rico in the early afternoon.
The Rental Car Experience
San Juan’s airport has a lot of rental car companies. Some are located just outside of the terminal while others are nearby and reached by a free shuttle. When I booked the car several months ago, the agencies which were located off-site were substantially cheaper. Naturally, I went that route and booked with Dollar.
The wait for the shuttle was only about five minutes, and the office was very close to the airport. The time and hassle of getting from the terminal to the office was minimal. Of course, the airport counters may be more efficient at checking people in.
I am usually pretty good about turning down all of the extras that the clerk tries to add on to the car bill, but this time I was weak. It was our first proper trip with baby E, so I wanted to reduce some points of stress.
I paid up front for a half tank of gas so that I wouldn’t need to refill before dropping off the car at the end of the trip. We ended up using about half a tank anyways. I also dropped $15 on toll road coverage. Puerto Rico has a lot of toll roads, and Dollar will charge you $150 per violation if you get on a toll road without pre-paying for the coverage. In hindsight you can get around without a toll road, but I had trouble finding up to date information online about the island’s roads. Better safe than sorry. I did turn down the renter’s insurance since I get coverage through my credit card.
Eventually we got the car, installed the car seat that we had brought with us, and were on our way. It was late afternoon by the time we got to the lodge, thanks to Dollar.
Luquillo: Our Home Base in Puerto Rico
As mentioned in a previous post, we decided to stay in the Luquillo area since it was within 45 minutes of the airport, had affordable lodging options, a nice beach and lacked that package resort feel that I distain. We had originally arranged to rent a private room in a hostel in Luquillo. I have stayed in well over 100 hostels around the world and love the social element. I was excited to try it out with a baby and happy that Sarah was on board. Unfortunately, the hostel canceled our booking a few weeks before the trip. Bummer.
For our plan B, we decided on Del Mar Eco Lodge as an alternative. It is located in Playa Fortuna, a rundown fishing village just up the coast from Luquillo. I won’t go into a full review of the place, but I highly recommend it to anyone interested in a comfortable DIY trip to Puerto Rico. The grounds were beautiful, the owners were friendly, the undeveloped beach was only three minutes away, and we had a kitchen and a pool! It was possible to book using Booking.com, AirBnB and their own website.
Evening Logistics
We unpacked the car, polished off a mostly empty bottle of tequila that we discovered in our kitchen, then took a quick swim in the pool. For dinner we drove into Luquillo and ate at an unassuming restaurant on an unassuming street. Food ain’t cheap in Puerto Rico, and we ended up dropping $50 on two mains with water to drink. At least it tasted great.
We ended the day at Amigos, a grocery store apparently owned by Walmart. For the price of the meal we had just eaten, we bought enough food for our next three breakfasts and two dinners. Oh, and enough beer to get us through the trip.
By the time we got home we were all a bit tired and cranky. I set up the crib that our hosts had provided, and we attempted to get some shuteye.
Day Two: El Yunque National Forest and the Pork Highway
None of us slept particularly well the first night, so we were slow to get moving on Saturday morning. It was my first night sleeping in the same room as baby E, so that may have thrown all of us off. We took our morning coffee down to the beach but retreated quickly. Having a winter baby in Nashville, we didn’t think to prepare proper baby sun protection before setting out.
El Yunque
Our plan had been to spend a few hours exploring El Yunque, the only tropical rainforest in the US National Forest system. We stopped by the park information center, which has been “temporarily” run out of something akin to a strip-mall since Hurricane Maria damaged the actual headquarters in 2017. After looking at the park map, we decided to only hike the closest trail that day due to our late start.
It was baby E’s first rainforest hike, and it was awesome. Beautiful flora, some views of jungle clad mountains and a swimming hole at the end. It took 20 minutes to reach the river. Baby E was getting pretty fussy by the time we got to the swimming hole so Sarah fed her while I went for a swim. My wife always impresses me when it comes to breastfeeding. She’s perfectly fine to nurse in very public places, which is awesome and makes traveling a lot easier.
While at the river, I got spit up on. Sarah got spit up on. I was not wearing a shirt and just jumped back into the river to wash off. Sarah wasn’t so lucky. Sorry babe.
The Pork Highway
With our hike behind us, it was time to head to the center of the island for a pig feast. As a good southern boy, I absolutely love barbecued pork, and I had read that La Ruta del Lechón, or the “Pork Highway” is one of the best places on the island to experience Puerto Rico’s take on the dish. Other people may hear Puerto Rico and start daydreaming about the beach. I hear Puerto Rico and start yearning for some lechón. This was a big reason I wanted to return to the island.
The highway is basically a narrow mountain road near a town called Guavate which is lined with over a dozen eateries called lechoneras. These specialize in lechón, Puerto Rican style BBQ. The area is well established on the carnivore map. Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern have both filmed there.
Introducing our Infant to Puerto Rican BBQ
By the time we had driven to Guavate we were starving. All three of us. That meant stopping at the first place we came to so that Sarah could feed the screaming infant and orchestrate a diaper change in the trunk. It just so happened that we stopped in front of one of the most popular lechoneras, El Mojito. I did a quick walk through and wasn’t too taken with the cafeteria style setup. Sarah suggested walking just down the road to a different place which was actively smoking whole hogs by the road. Hence, “Lechonera de Bruny” became our first stop on the pork highway. We snapped some pictures and split a serving of pork along with a fried plantain. It cost $7.25 and was a healthy serving. Color me pleased.
Naturally, we had not come to the Pork Highway to only try one restaurant, so we continued on to Guavate and a famous joint called “Los Pinos.” Things were lively at our second stop. There was an incredibly loud band, some old people dancing, and a lot more pork. We were a bit concerned about inflicting all the noise on our baby, so we put on her sun hat to block some of it out. It’s crazy how much noise the Puerto Ricans can tolerate. Just outside of the restaurant, locals drove up and down the narrow road blaring similarly obtrusive music from their trucks. Our host back in Luquillo had advised us to come today since Sunday would have even more of a party atmosphere.
At our second stop I opted for a half order of the standard pork and a half order of the ribs. Two beers, no sides thank you. The checkout girl looked at me like I was crazy for only wanting the meat. It was a decent bit of meat. The damage? About $14. I had planned on visiting one more shop but by this point we were both feeling pretty ill. Too much rich pork and nothing to soak it up. I guess the checkout girl was right. It was time to head for home and that pool.
Day 3: El Yunque (again) and the Beach
We went to bed early on Saturday and actually got a solid night’s sleep, so we were able to make the most of our second and final full day in Puerto Rico. The day started out with an early morning hike and then it was beach time.
An Early Start in El Yunque
Due to our late start on Saturday we decided to limit our time in El Yunque and return on Sunday. Luckily, the village where we were staying is only a few minutes down the road from the entrance to El Yunque. The gate opens at 7:30 each morning and apparently the limited parking fills up before 11 on weekends. So we set our alarms and were in the park by about 8AM. I think we were both pleased by how quickly we were able to get out of the door. Everything takes longer with an infant.
There was no traffic and it took about half an hour to drive from the main road up to the top of El Yunque. It has been a year and a half since Hurricane Maria slammed into this side of the island, yet many of the trails and rest areas are still closed. Luckily, the vegetation has mostly grown back and there is still a lot to see. This includes a watch tower and two waterfalls which are located right off of the park road. Our goal was the hike to Mt. Britton at the top of the park, so we drove right past these other sites. When you are traveling with a sleeping infant, even a quick stop can snowball into a 45-minute nursing session. We didn’t want to run the risk.
Climbing to El Yunque’s Mt. Britton Viewing Tower
The parking for the Mt. Britton trail is located around a loop road and is extremely limited. There were only a few cars there when we arrived at about 8:30, but by the time we finished around 10 the parking was all taken, forcing tourists to either drive in an endless loop hoping to get lucky or park in unofficial slots that would not have been advisable in our midsized sedan. Note that there were clean port-a-potties at the base of the trail.
The trail itself was narrow and steep but paved. There were several covered sitting areas on the way up for breaks. Because we started so early, the air was cool and the trail uncrowded. It was beautiful, as the pictures suggest. We were told to expect a climb of between 45 minutes and an hour but even with a baby we knocked it out in just over half an hour.
Surprisingly, we had the tower all to ourselves. Sarah fed the baby while I took advantage of the excellent cell reception (for once) to call my parents. Good things do not last. After 20 minutes other hikers began flooding in, and within no time it started to feel extremely claustrophobic, so we started back down the mountain.
As we drove out of the forest, we noticed large crowds at each stop and a line of cars at the entrance gate. I suspect that the parking had reached capacity, so the rangers were only letting new cars enter as others left. If you are in Puerto Rico you should definitely visit El Yunque, but do it early!
Luquillo Beach and the Kioskos
After returning to our lodging we ditched the car and set off on foot to Luquillo’s public beach. It is located about a ten minute walk down the road. The beach is one of the best in this part of the island and is very popular with folks living in the capital. When we arrived at about noon it was pretty crowded with Puerto Ricans picnicking and partying. Just like on the Pork Highway, this meant some horrendously loud music. We saw one guy pull enough speakers to run a small music festival behind his bicycle, blaring music that could be heard all down the beach. What a saint.
Luquillo Beach has a row of kioskos located right off of the beach. You can think of it as a mix between an open air market and a strip mall with small shops, bars, and restaurants that run the gauntlet from fast food to fine dining. It was lunchtime, so we stopped in one for ceviche and a seafood salad composed of conch, octopus and shrimp. At about $30 with tap water the bill didn’t hurt too much. We then bought two coconuts and walked along the beach, back toward our lodging.
While loud and a bit crowed, there was definitely a family friendly vibe along the beach and a smattering of trees provided some welcome shade. I can imagine it would be a fun place to post up with a cooler of beer and make new friends. We did not stay though, since there is a much quieter beach in Playa Fortuna itself.
Playa Fortuna
Our local beach took a fair bit of damage from Hurricane Maria, and there was a bit of broken glass scattered here and there. With that said, the beach itself is pretty and almost entirely empty. At the far end, there is a small delta where the Rio Mameyes flows into the ocean. On the other side of the small river is another beautiful beach and the Wyndham Grand Río.
We ended up spending a few hours right beside the river and thoroughly enjoyed it. For the most part, we had the area to ourselves, although guests from the Wyndham would occasionally wander over to explore around the river mouth. I am not really a beach person, but the combination of solitude, shade, accessibility, and the freshwater river made this place amazing. I am definitely interested in returning when baby E gets a bit older since I think we can have a lot of fun playing around the riverbank. It’s shallow and slow moving, ideal for little kids.
Around dusk we returned to our lodging, took a quick dip in the pool and then made dinner. I ended up cooking a Salisbury steak style dish using some cheap Nicaraguan beef, onions, peppers and potatoes. A potentially insane yet very friendly woman who I met at the Amigos on our first night suggested the menu. After dinner we went to bed. All around it was an amazingly successful and relaxing day.
Day 4: The Return Home (at least that’s what we thought)
On Monday morning we woke up and cooked a massive egg scramble to use up the last of our veggies and cheese. Then, coffee in hand, we headed for a final stroll along the beach and spent a little more time exploring along the river.
The plan was to drop the car off at Dollar at about noon and start our trip home. After a one-hour layover in Orlando we would arrive in Nashville at about 6 PM and be back in the house unpacking before dark. The car drop went fine, but things unraveled when we got to the airport. A system-wide failure had delayed over one thousand Southwest flights, and we ended up having to overnight in Orlando before getting to Nashville the following afternoon.
Thanks to some travel hacking skills we were able to ride out this unexpected development pretty easily. I discuss how we handled that situation in my next post.
Final Thoughts on Visiting Puerto Rico with an Infant
Our mini-trip to Puerto Rico with baby E went extremely well. It was refreshing to spend a little time together as a new family without all of the distractions of work and household chores. Plus, baby E was a delightful travel companion. She seemed to fuss less on this trip than when we are home. I’m sure that will change as she gets older, but at this point in her development she was extremely easy to pack along.
The destination itself was also a great call. Puerto Rico is very accessible for folks on the east coast and gives you a taste of the Caribbean without the need of a passport. The Luquillo area itself is a short drive from the airport while still feeling at least a little remote. It has some great beaches and acts as a very convenient hub for visiting El Yunque. The lodging that we booked was beautiful in a bare bones sort of way and gave us access to what is now one of my favorite (easily accessible) beaches.
A Breakdown of What We Spent
In total, we spent three nights by the beach in Puerto Rico for a mere $660. Including transportation, that comes out to $110 per adult per night! If you are curious, here is a breakdown of our expenses:
- Ride Share to and from Nashville Airport: $40
- Round Trip Flights:
- Sarah – 20,202 Southwest Rapid Reward Points (earned through a credit card) and $11.20 in taxes
- Tye – $11.20 in taxes (My flight was otherwise free thanks to Sarah’s Southwest Companion Pass)
- Baby E – Free (Sarah called to add her on to the ticket, and it doesn’t seem like we were even charged the $11.20 in taxes)
- Coffee & Snacks at Airport: $20
- Rental Car & Gas: $122
- Three Nights Lodging: $289
- Dining Out (3 meals): $112
- Groceries & Beer (5 meals): $55
As I wrote in a previous post, we had set this trip up as a quick, inexpensive, low risk way to test the waters of traveling with an infant. In the end, it succeeded on all accounts.
Baby E will enjoy reading his one day!