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Avenida Ashford. Transcaribeña |
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La Concha |
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Laguna |
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San Pedro coffee |
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San Jose, Old San Juan |
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Carlitos Colon |
When in San Juan...just let it be. This is not Rome and certainly, this is NOT New York, but this city is the love of my life, this is home. Every other weekend I come here and I make an effort to "decompress" from the big city. But even if I've done this for about a year or so, I still feel the adjustment bureau kicking in. I have to repeat myself,
You're not in Kansas anymore--more than once.
But then you see the beach, that amazing beach- and that's it, you're in love, again.
When I'm here, I'm a completely different person. It's not that I work more or less, because I'm a workaholic- but to start with, I wear flip flops most of the time and if I don't watch what I eat, I can easily gain 30 pounds in a heartbeat, because let me tell you, these Puerto Ricans eat, like seriously.
Not salads like New Yorkers, no, our thing is rice and beans and the whole nine yards...
So, how do I survive the trip? Well, over the weekends, I start with a homemade apple-ginger-carrot juice, then I hit Hacienda San Pedro for my single shot latte (an embarrassment, an insult for these heavy coffee maniacs but I don't care) and finally I run to my new passion, spinning in Cardio Zone.
I hate spinning but I love that they play Ricky Martin and Chayanne!
If the sun is on my side, I go to the beach of course, which is
(ejem) 2 blocks away from my place.
For lunch, there's Pure & Natural, Kasalta and Pelayo. If you're watching carbs, stay away from Kasalta.
Every afternoon I walk around the lagoon and Santurce. I love spotting new cafes, old houses and urban graffiti. Actually, this past week I discovered, Carlitos (
Atangana) Colón, the wrestler champion
on display. This is why I now have an Iphone!
Cause I don't wanna miss a thing!
In the evenings, we all gather at La Placita de Santurce for a beer
(or three), eat at José Enrique (if you're lucky) and dance salsa. Otherwise, there's always Old San Juan. I can't get enough of it's beauty.
I've seen it probably 10,000 times but is just so gorgeous.
But the best thing here is hanging with your friends just to make fun of the politicians that run the country. True, we don't agree on many things but on that, we're all on the same page.
XOXO La Gerente