Has it really been less than 12 hours since I woke up? The boat was already docked in San Juan when our requested wake-up call came, but we weren’t due to leave the ship until 9:30 (we got an appointment card the night before) so we got to eat first. It ended up being a “hurry up and wait” situation anyway, as when we got to the theater at 9:15 we were told the customs agents were running behind. When we checked back at 10:00, they were telling everyone to go ahead and leave, probably because the guests staying on for the next cruise were anxious to get out and explore San Juan, which they couldn’t do until all disembarking guests had left. The wait in customs was not long (I forgot to declare the apple I’d gotten at breakfast) and we didn’t have to wait too much for a taxi to our hotel.

The trip to El Canario by the Sea was short, even though we had to stop at the Wyndham Conado first to drop off another couple. We expected to leave our bags at the reception desk and go for a walk, but they switched our room to one that was “almost ready,” so we hung around and then brought our luggage upstairs. We figured we’d just go for a walk, but I was keeping my eyes open for the Puerto Rico Breeze, the islands gay-newspaper. I ended up finding it in a store called Condom World, which also carried delightful adult party supplies like pecker-studded leis and napkins printed with boobs. We decided to go to Old San Juan next, and ate lunch at a Subway restaurant before catching the bus out of Condado.

We walked around Old San Juan for several hours, mostly ducking into shops that looked interesting. I’d found out that paying for a kayak tour in the bioluminescent bay was pointless due to the full moon, so we asked at the Tourist Information Center for the name of a kayak rental shop near our hotel. After more walking, we visited the Catedral San Juan Bautista where A lit a candle for her late grandmother, who was Catholic. On our way out, a homeless man made an interesting plea. He said we didn’t have to give him money - he’d just like a soda from a nearby machine. He said he’d like a regular Coke because he needed the calories, and we bought him one. By this point we’d been walking around a lot and I was ready to rest a bit before dinner. We weren’t sure where to catch a bus, so we began to walk back to where we’d started. We stopped in more shops, and then as we emerged from the very cool Moon Dance I spotted the green trolley we thought we needed to catch.

The trolley was very crowded, and we had to stand for quite a while. We finally got to sit down, but many other people were still standing. Just when we thought we were about to head out of Old San Juan…the trolley turned back into it. I opened the guidebook and realized we were on a loop route. We ended up staying on for another entire trip, then switched over to the bus station to catch the B21. We’d gotten on earlier on a one-way street, so we weren’t sure exactly where to get off, but we figured “this looks close enough” - and happened to get off at exactly the right stop!

After cooling off in our room for a few minutes, I read restaurant options out loud. We selected Cielito Lindo, a Mexican place just a couple of blocks away. It turned out to be a great choice - the service was very fast and the guacamole was great (and I’m not normally a fan!). The total bill, including sodas and dessert, was $25. We decided to skip our planned nighttime stroll on the beach because we’d walked so much during the day, and returned to our room instead. We do get the Sci-Fi channel here, so I am enjoying my customary Monday night Stargate marathon while A browses the guidebook, which she hasn’t had a chance to read until now.