San Juan, Puerto Rico

Hola amigos! Greetings from Puerto Rico! I got to San Juan on Friday but it already feels like I've been here a week. We've been doing the touristy thing all weekend but now we both have to get some work done. Which isn't all bad, the views make the work a lot easier to tackle!

On Saturday we cruised through old San Juan and checked out the fort. San Juan is a pretty cool city. It has a very old Europe vibe...it reminds me of Barcelona, Sorrento and Burano all at once. And the streets! Oh don't get me started on the streets...most of the streets in the older part of the city are paved in glazed blue bricks! I swoon! I've been kicking at ones that look loose hoping I'll get lucky and find one that wants to come home with me...

 

I'm in love with all the differently colored building fronts here! Every store front and home is painted a different bright color! It's pretty amazing. If I didn't sunburn so easily, I'd post up on every sidewalk all day and just watercolor all these buildings. I've found a couple tiled fronts too...they're pretty gorgeous. These first doors may be my favorite. I would love to have my house decorated with this color scheme one day...

We also stumbled into the smallest, most crowded antique shop I've ever seen! We found the widest assortment of random things...everything from outdated travel guides of Europe, Vietnam protest buttons, Elvis postcards and a pretty extensive collection of 80's vinyl. 

So far, I'm loving Puerto Rico. I wasn't sure what to expect of this place. It's an odd country to visit since it is a combination of a lot of things. It has an old world vibe to it and a lot of history, plus a tropical island getaway feel but it's also a US territory so it's very American and familiar here too. I swear, I've seen more Subways and Starbucks within a couple miles around the hotel than I have in all of Santa Barbara! It's strange... I feel like a tourist with the language barrier but then on every block there's all the convenience and familiarity of living in California. Very strange...

We spent Sunday exploring the El Yunque National Forest, something very new for me! Hiking in the rain forest was incredible! I'll post those photos soon. It's time get to work on some wine label and photo album commissions. But here's one last photo...I can't get enough of these doors!