Memorial Day Weekend

Friday night to get the most out of the long Memorial Day weekend, we drove to downtown Aguadilla for dinner.  We hadn't been to the downtown area yet, so we were happy to finally make it.  

View of the homes in downtown Aguadilla

Courtyard between the two restaurants

We ate at Boca Loca, a restaurant we had heard a lot about from people at work.  It had a really hip atmosphere, and we enjoyed the food.  

Peruvian rice and sweet plantains

Grouper with rice and beans

After dinner,  we walked across the street to the beach.  There were a few boats around, and people playing volleyball and in the water.  

Baby palm tree

Saturday we drove to Old San Juan since KC had always wanted to check out the forts, but hadn't had time yet.  She enjoyed learning some of the history behind the forts, and we both enjoyed the amazing views!

 Castillo de San Cristobal

Drawings from an imprisoned captain (from a LONG time ago)

View of Old San Juan from Castillo de San Cristobal

Castillo San Felipe del Morro

There's a trolley that goes all around Old San Juan.  Unfortunately, we didn't know where the stops were ahead of time.  So, we got off at the entrance to Castillo San Felipe del Morro, and then watched the trolley continue driving right to the front of the fort.  So, we had this "short" walk to the gate.

On the way back, we also didn't know if there was a trolley schedule.  The worker said it would pick us up right in front of the fort.  He didn't mention how long the wait would be.  We both got fried waiting 40 minutes for the next trolley to come...  At least we had good conversations with some tourists from Texas during our wait.

After the fort, we grabbed lunch and did some shopping.  We found a set of dominoes, and a magnet for our fridge.

Street view in Old San Juan

On the drive back, we indulged in treats from Krispy Kreme!  This is a place we never went to in the states, but we enjoy their frozen coolers.  So good- better than Caribou! :)

Sunday we relaxed and played games on the balcony.  We put those new dominoes to good use!

Monday was spent at the beach and pool.  The beach was busier than usual, but was nearly empty down by our complex.  

Coast guard flying by

We ended our weekend with one of our new favorite recipes- stuffed peppers, thanks Alice!

Arecibo and Adjuntas

On Saturday we started off the day at the Arecibo Observatory.  The engineer had missed this experience while KC's family was here, and wanted to see it- so KC saw it a second time...

This time it was a lot busier, since it was on the weekend.  There was a school group there, and while KC was in the bathroom some teenage boys shut the lights off because there were some girls in there.  When KC walked out, she went into teacher mode and said, "Which one of you guys shut off the lights in there?"  To which they pretended to not understand English, and were saved by an employee walking behind us, or KC would have yelled at them a little more...

The radioscope moved a lot on this visit!

Then, we headed to Sandra Farms Coffee in Adjuntas.  Adjuntas is up in the mountains, and we had a very long, windy one lane road trip up, up, and up...  

Carmelo met us when we arrived at Sandra Farms.  He was warm, and funny- and made us feel right at home.  The farm was about 220 acres of green!  All around us we could see plants, trees, and bushes growing.  

First, Carmelo showed us different varieties of coffee, and taught us how you can tell when coffee is ripe.  At Sandra Farms they use arabica beans in their coffee.

Unripe coffee

Ripe coffee

Next, we learned how coffee is picked, and saw the coffee fields on the side of the steep hills.  Their coffee is handpicked, and they have a high standard for which beans they use.  They pay their pickers extra so they only harvest the ripe beans.  A good picker can pick over 200 pounds a day.

Picking demonstration

Equipment to remove the shell and dry the beans

After the beans are dry, they are hand sorted by women who separate the good from the bad.  

At Sandra Farms, they roast their coffee beans in small batches to preserve the freshness and taste.  All of these details are what makes their coffee special.

Coffee roaster

Besides coffee, on our tour we saw so many other things growing.  In Isabela, there isn't much farming or agriculture, so we really enjoyed seeing it here.  KC wanted to see bananas growing somewhere, and we not only saw that- but pineapples, cocoa pods, oranges, lemongrass and more!

Cocoa

Bananas!

Birds of paradise

A new fruit we tried, and can't remember the name of...

Oranges

Pineapple!

After the tour, Carmelo took us to the owner's home.  They have a huge porch where their visitors are invited to sit and enjoy some coffee and chocolate.  The view is amazing!!  Anyway you look you see green lush plants and vegetation.

The owner, Israel was there and chatted with us for a bit.  Then, Carmelo brewed some coffee for us in a stainless steel french press.  Jake loves coffee, and KC NEVER drinks it (thanks Dad!).  KC tried a little bit with some honey, and was able to drink it.  Sandra Farms coffee is smooth, and doesn't have the bitter taste that KC doesn't like.  (It was the first and only cup of coffee in her life.)  The chocolates were delicious too!

Don't get used to KC drinking coffee...

While we were on the porch, we saw the clouds roll in.  It was a new experience for us- one minute you could see the mountains, and the next they were slowly covered.  This was one of our highlights of being in Puerto Rico so far!  We'd both love to live here!

We bought coffee and chocolates to take home.  Jake bought a grinder and is waiting for it to be delivered!  Besides these items, we also brought a lot of mosquito bites home with us...  The mosquitos were intense, and our bites are still itching days later.  Small price to pay for such a fun day! :)

Our spoils

On Sunday we went to the beach, and tried eating the unnamed new fruit.  The inside texture was squishy, and the seeds were too much to try and eat.  So, we took a few bites, and called it good.