mrs. sullivan

One week ago, Rick and I stood out on a beach and shared our commitment to each other...and at the end of those 15 minutes, we were introduced as husband and wife. Wow, I can't even believe that it's now just a memory.

We LOVED Puerto Rico. An amazing country with the most gracious, friendly people, and what's a Caribbean destination without fantastic food to boot. The first few days in San Juan were a little bit of a blur and the week itself went by so fast. I'll see if I can remember everything...

Friday, May 15
It's definitely not a quick trip to the Caribbean. With 12 hours of transit and a layover in Atlanta, we arrived in San Juan just before 9 pm, picked up our rental car and headed towards the El San Juan Hotel on Isla Verde Beach. First impressions? Wow, we were definitely in the thick of the nightlife of San Juan. The hotel lobby was teeming with club goers, casino hopefuls, and the casual cocktail drinker. A salsa band rocked in the corner and there was an energy in the air.

We got to our room and were dismayed to see what the "cheapest rate" got you at a swanky hotel like this. I've slept in better campground accommodations. The room was dingy and filthy, with sand all over the floor. The air conditioning vents spewed lint and dust and the room was perfumed with a musty scent. There was no way we were going to sleep in there, and so we marched back to the reception to ask/demand better accommodations. With it being the start of a weekend, they told us the hotel was booked, but there was one renovated room available, however it was next to the elevators. One look at it and we decided renovated and noisy was better than the slum option we were first presented with.

As the new room was considered a "temporary" room, we didn't make any effort to unpack. I was ready for bed, but Rick was on his second wind and headed down to the lobby/social scene to grab a drink. I vaguely remember him coming back to the room at 5 am, telling stories of the people he'd met that evening, even inviting one particular new friend to the wedding. :)

Saturday, May 16
Lazy day. Our first chance to really see the hotel in daylight. Rick was still sleeping, so I went downstairs to check out the hotel and our beach surroundings. We couldn't have picked a more beautiful hotel and location. I walked down the beach, ran my feet through the warm ocean water, and made a loop through the pool area. I went back upstairs to check on Rick and by then it was lunch time. We went down to the beach bar and had a lovely lunch overlooking the ocean, eating our chicken skewers, Mediterranean salad and sipping our mojitos.

After lunch we decided to check out Old San Juan and we walked around Forteleza, the waterfront and even found our Harley Davidson shop. Afterwards, we returned to the hotel to go for a dip in the ocean, followed by the refreshing pool and hot tub. We were anxious to get our room situation resolved and so we checked in with the front desk to get our final room for the duration of our stay -- a long way from any hotel elevator shaft. Room 610 -- that was our home for the remainder of the week. Nevermind we waited 40 minutes for the bell hop to come get our bags. We were starving and wanted to get ready for dinner, so I went to grab our new keys and Rick and I moved our luggage ourselves, only to have the bell hop show up just as we were lugging our things (wedding dress included) into the elevator. But the wait was worth it and we loved our new and final room.

The concierge recommended a small, quaint Puerto Rican restaurant for dinner called Platos. This was the beginning of our love affair with the Mafongo, the Puerto Rican specialty made with mashed plantains and filled with meat of choice.

Sunday, May 17
As our friends Christoph, Janelle and Marc weren't arriving until later on Sunday, we decided to take the rental car out for an adventure and head to Dorado del Mar golf course so Rick could get in a round on the oceanfront, Chi Chi Rodriguez course. We started out the morning in Old San Juan where we got breakfast at Bombonera -- the perfect local dining establishment and highly praised for their Mallorcas (pastry).

To get to Dorado would take some masterful navigation of the map, and fortunately for me, I'd absorbed enough Spanish in my grade school to high school years that I could translate street signs. Several interchanges later, we were on our way to the beach town of Dorado for a 2:50 pm tee time. We got there around 12:30 pm, so we stopped in at the Embassy Suites for a delicious smoothie and then Rick went to warm up at the practice greens. I sat patiently in the golf cart and proceeded to read my latest Ann Rule novel. Along the way we came upon another single golfer and halfway through the course we paired up with him (JP) and his girlfriend (Valerie).

Turns out that JP is from Puerto Rico and is a Pro/Amateur practicing for the invitational at the end of May. He and Rick hit it off and Valerie and I were along for the ride. The golf course was beautiful and I was amazed at the iguanas running around the course. This wouldn't be the only time we'd see iguanas running around.

After a long day of golf, we headed back to the hotel and stopped at Barrachina, another fantastic Puerto Rican restaurant for dinner. Rick sweetly bought me a single rose from a vendor who was walking table to table. Feeling exhausted and way under dressed for such a nice establishment, we were happy to finish up dinner, stop by the grocery store and head back to the hotel.

Monday, May 18
We met up with Christoph and Janelle and headed over to Condado Beach for breakfast. JP (the golfer) had recommended a great, hidden gem called the Hosteria del Mar on Condado Beach. It was a boutique hotel that had a beautiful koi pond at the entrance. The restaurant was a deck where we enjoyed listening and watching the waves crash while we ate our yummy breakfast and caught up with each other and made plans for the day.

Since I was trying to avoid any significant sun exposure, we decided to head to the Barcardi Run factory and take a tour. Fifty cents a person to get on the ferry to Catano. At first I thought we caught the wrong ferry, but it turns out that you have to catch a taxi on the other side to get to the factory. Three dollars per person for that leg, but the biggest surprise was that the tour itself was free and included two complimentary Barcardi drinks.

The tour itself was interesting, but wouldn't say riveting. It was neat to see all of their advertising throughout the years. I must admit they've got a great brand and at the end of the tour, we got a demonstration on mixing a few popular rum-based drinks including the infamous mojito. After perusing the store where we walked away with Barcardi 8 and a couple of hats as souvenirs, we cashed in our tickets for the complimentary drinks. I went for a mojito and a coconut rum with pineapple juice. I think I've found my new cocktail of choice!

With this being the eve of the wedding, we had to get back to the hotel to clean up and get ready for our Rehearsal...er rather....Welcome Dinner with Christoph, Janelle, Marc and his friend Antje. The six of us met up at Koco, upscale dining at the El San Juan Hotel. Again, more fabulous food, drinks and stories.

Tuesday, May 19
Morning of the wedding...I had a nail appointment at the hotel's salon. Rick joined me to see if he (for the third time) could get his haircut to his liking. We both walked away happy with our salon experiences and then with a few hours to kill went outside for a poolside lunch. The weather seemed to be changing and just as we were finishing up our lunch, the skies opened and it POURED. HARD. I'd already washed and dried my hair, so I was trying as best as possible to stay dry.

At 2 pm I headed up to the room while Rick went to pick up Janelle and Christoph. Janelle graciously agreed to do my wedding make up for me. Bonus as she's a make up artist/consultant for MAC. David, the photographer had shown up to the room around 3 pm, at which time I banished Rick to Marc's hotel room to get ready. Lizzie, my hairstylist (who happens to be doing hair & make up for the Johnny Depp movie being filmed in PR) arrived around 3:15 pm and the circus was in full bloom. She was a master with my hair. I'd sent her a picture of what I liked and she was creating her masterpiece while Janelle put the finishing touches on my make up. All the while, David was bustling around the room capturing the memories for us.

A funny moment, when I heard the card key in the hotel room door and realized that Rick was coming back in. Fortunately I didn't have my dress on yet and my back was to the door. I shushed him into the bathroom so he didn't see me. Apparently there was another bride in the hotel lobby who had left, and the hotel staff had told him that it was me. Rick thought it was time to head over to the wedding, so he was quite surprised to find me still in the hotel room.

David, the photographer, took Rick downstairs to get set up for pictures and Janelle helped me get cinched up in my dress. And the fun began....

David is an amazing photographer and I loved his portfolio...artistic, fun and bright. I knew this would be fun, but I didn't realize how fun. I felt like a model at a Vanity Fair photo shoot. The lighting, staging, it was all just so exquisite. We were a little uptight at first with all of the clicking and taking directions, but we both eased into it and had a ball. David showed us some of the pictures as we went along and I can't wait to get the digitals in a few weeks. Other than the Society of Old, Rich, Curmudgeony Ladies who couldn't have cared less about walking through my wedding photos, cursing under their breaths, everything was perfect.

We were a little behind schedule for the ceremony, but hey, it's just me and Rick anyway, so who cares if we're running a little behind. I wanted to make sure we got our photo opps. :) The boys drove over to Cafe La Plage, and Janelle and I took a taxi which I generously paid way too much for in an effort to get out and get to the wedding.

The canopy was set up on the beach and I handed over the video camera and tripod to Antje (dubbed videographer for the ceremony). We had a snafu with the iPod when we realized they didn't have a connection cord for the speakers. Rick ran back to the hotel and back with the cord only to realize it was going to overwrite my music library with their iTunes. In the end we downloaded the Jason Mraz and Aaron Neville songs to the restuarant's PC. Of course the ceremony was stalled until the first song finished downloading, and then to see the guys up at the canopy fumbling around with the camera. Enough, let's get this show on the road.

Marc started the ceremony and midway through his remarks our "recessional" song started playing. And so we yelled inside to get them to stop the music. :) Nothing like a low key wedding. The ceremony itself was beautiful. We were so happy to have Marc there to perform it for us. He added the right mix of fun and levity we'd wanted, including our collective love of music which was manifested in the ceremony with excerpts from Hannah Montana and Menudo songs. Rick and I shared our heartfelt vows, followed by the exchange of our rings, and voila, we were announced Mr. & Mrs. Rick Sullivan. With more prodding, we finally got them to play the "C'est la Vie" song for the end of the ceremony.

More photos on the picturesque beach. The "wedding party" kicked off the celebrations at the bar. Cafe la Plage was closed to the public on Tuesday and so our wedding was their sole purpose. We had the restuarant and bar to ourselves and it was simply amazing. A table was set up on the beach for the six of us and we sat and watched the sunset, listened to the waves crash and the music piped from the bar. The food was again perfect, and we sat there for several hours enjoying the food, company and ambience.

We had a wedding cake for the occassion and Rick and I cut the beach-themed cake and served it up with champagne toasts with our guests. It was the perfect wedding. I couldn't have asked for anything more.

And better yet, because we barely made a dent in the cake, the caterer agreed to package and freeze our whole cake, which we shipped Fed Ex overnight back to our house, where our friend Brie was dogsitting for us. I'm so happy that we'll have the cake for our Seattle party and our 1st anniversary.

Wednesday, May 20
As if the wedding wasn't enough to make us exhausted, I decided to jam in a full day of excursions to make sure we had enough time the rest of the week to see and do what we wanted. And so Wednesday became "on the ocean" day. We were picked up at 8 am to be taken to the Farjado marina. At 9 am we boarded a boat head for Culebra island where we'd spend the day snorkeling at the most amazing spots. Our last stop was on Flamenco beach, and we got to see a sea turtle. We had a water camera, so hoping that we captured some good shots underwater. I tried to stay away from the free flowing drinks to avoid any potential sea sickness.

We arrived back at the Farjado dock at 4 pm, rested for an hour, and got back on the same boat for our evening excursion to Vieques Island (Mosquito Bay) to experience and swim in the bioluminescent waters. It was incredible. We had a marine biologist on board who did a great job of explaining the mangrove ecosystem that made the bioluminescence possible. Rick and I both jumped in the waters to see ourselves glow. And apparently there was a scorpion captured on our boat, which made me pretty leary all the way back home. We arrived back at the hotel around midnight.

Thursday, May 21
On the day we went to Barcardi, we ran out of time to check out El Morro, the fort on the most West point of Old San Juan. We set off in the morning to Old San Juan and proceeded to walk through the town. Made a stop at the Hard Rock to pick up some memorabilia, complementing the Harley Davidson purchases we made the first day in San Juan.

It was so nice to walk around and explore the town. We headed to the northern side near San Juan Cristobal Fort and saw the most amazing views of the ocean and town. From there we walked along the road towards El Morro, checked out the cemetary on the ocean and walked the kids fly their kites in the ocean breeze. Walking up and down the 5 floors of the fort, we exited back towards town and walked back to the marina parking garage. Just before we got to the car, we saw a guy with a bunch of parrots, and for a mere $10, he would take our picture with them. We succumbed to the idea and donned pirate gear and a few parrots. Unfortunately the picture was a crappy printout, no digital, so it didn't really give us the quality photo experience we'd paid for. But it did certainly get us thinking if we would ever consider getting a parrot as a pet one day. :)

Janelle and Christoph had gone out to explore the El Yunque rainforest, and so we were going to meet up with them for dinner. Again, the skies opened up and the hardest rainstorm rolled into San Juan. A text message from Janelle, "Aren't you glad your wedding isn't today?" No kidding...just two days ago at this very same time, we were on the beach, I in my wedding gown.

For dinner, we headed back into Condado to eat at Ajili Mojili, another well-recommended Puerto Rican restuarant. There seemed to be some food festival in the streets of Condado, and so we ventured there after dinne to check out the scene. To be honest, I think the rain put a damper on the scene and so we loaded ourselves back up in the car and headed back to the hotel.

Friday, May 22
In honor of our last day in San Juan, Rick and I had breakfast at the hotel on the Terraza. Expensive to say the least, but ah well. Can you really put a price on the memories? :)

JP had invited Rick out to play a round of golf at the Trump course with some buddies and so with my blessing, Rick spent the day out on a championship golf course while I met up with Janelle and Christoph for another day of sightseeing -- this time further West to see the Cavernas de Camuy. I again got to play navigator and with a quick pit stop in Arecibo, we got back on the road to head to the caves. We were starving and decided to find a place to eat before we took the tour. El Restuarante Taino -- recommended in the guide book and apparently by the guy at the gate as you enter the caves' parking lot. He convinved us that his wife Edna was cooking and waiting for us. We didn't regret it. Again, not a single bad meal while in town.

The cave was impressive, and we were blown away by it. Massive, 17-story cave in the ground which then opened up into a sinkhole where above us we could see the hole in the ground and the sky. Below us, the river.

For our last night in town, Rick called up Cafe la Plage to arrange a special dinner for us. Again with small world stories, the owner of the restuarant where we got married (Michael) is best friends with JP (the golfer). One call to Michael and we had a special table set up on the beach, complete with candlelight. Our server Juan was the same from our wedding reception and he was so attentive. Rick and I ordered a few tapas to share (calamari, pork, and hummus) and enjoyed a few rum punches.

After dinner the plan was to meet up with Christoph and Janelle for drinks at the hotel lobby and possibly do some salsa dancing. First stop was Brava....apparently the hottest nightspot in San Juan. For hotel guests it was free. Thank goodness, otherwise cover charge was $40. I'm definitely not into the whole nightclub scene. We were there for a few hours. Christoph and Janelle had a huge blow up argument. And so I kept Janelle company while Rick talked to Christoph. Janelle and I then migrated back into the lobby to find the boys, where a local older gentleman asked me to dance. Seeing as this would be my only chance at salsa, I happily accepted and waved to Rick as he enjoyed a drink at the lobby bar with Christoph. The boys were deep in discussion over the argument, and so Janelle and I retreated to our room until the boys called it a night. Sadly, this was the demise of Janelle and Christoph's relationship. I really like her though and hope to stay in touch with her.

Saturday, May 23
Finished up the packing for check out at 1 pm. We had a couples spa appointment scheduled at 10 am, courtesy of my boss. Facials and massages. We took one last walk down Isla Verde Beach before heading up to the spa. Simply wonderful and now Rick is starting to understand this wonderful world of pampering.

With just a hour or so to pack, we ordered room service for lunch while we packed. With the new airline rules on baggage, we knew we were going to have to pay an additional fee of $90. No way around it with all of the stuff we bought. At minimum, we needed to make sure we had only one bag that was over the limit and so our focus was to cram as much into Rick's suitcase as possible. We did overpack, noting all of the clothes we both brought that never got worn.

Christoph met up with us at our hotel to ride to the airport at 1 pm, and with that we were on our journey back home, arriving back in Seattle near midnight.

It was a magical week and we fell in love with Puerto Rico. Rick and I will definitely go back there again and again. There was so much of the island we didn't get a chance to see. And since it's now a special place for us, I have no doubt that Puerto Rico will share in many of our future memories together.

So with the story penned, I'll now see about getting the vacation photos uploaded from my camera. It'll be another week or so before I get the wedding photos from the photographer.