Cruise to the E. Caribbean - Day #5-Puerto Rico (& Video!)

This is a 31 second video that Rob took from the Holland America "Eurodam" cruise ship of the approach to Puerto Rico on Tuesday, February 9.

ARRIVAL IN PUERTO RICO! - Puerto Rico was truly the best place we visited during the cruise. We loved what little we saw, and we want to go back. We arrived at 1 p.m. Atlantic Time.
In the morning, while we were still at sea, we had breakfast as usual at 6:30 a.m., Tom did his daily Sudoku and crossword puzzle while Rob read his book and checked the internet briefly (I learned a Prince George's County Gazette reporter wanted to interview me when we got home!). We also watched the satellite news and saw Washington, DC was under a 2nd blizzard warning! 10-20" more snow on top of the 20" already. The Federal Gov't was closed on Monday and Tuesday, and most likely Wed. and Thursday.
Rob got T-mobile coverage so he called his mom, Tom's folks and Cozy Canine Camp to check on the dogs. Everyone was okay. By 1pm we disembarked in Puerto Rico. We met Carlos, the friendly tour guide who took us by a short bus to the El Yunque' rainforest.
We got to know our new friends Alain and his partner Alain on the bus, as they sat next to us. It made for a fun bus ride to the rainforest. They have a dog named "Micky" so we shared dog stories, too.
The rainforest was beautiful. The views and the foliage were amazing. We even climbed a tower that overlooked the forest and took a couple of photos (shown here). There were also a number of beautiful waterfalls in the National Park, too.





By the time the bus returned us to the pier, it was 5pm, and we had just enough time to walk into Old San Juan and see Columbus Square (the monument pictured here), and grab a nice dinner in a mexican restaurant called "La Madre's." After dinner we walked around the streets a short while, but almost all shops had closed (they closed at 6 p.m.). We were disappointed that we didn't get to explore this beautiful old town and the 2 forts that surround it.

We returned to the ship for dessert. While walking through the hallway, we bumped into the magician's assistant (from the show the night before) and Tom said to her, "tell us how you got out of that box!" (she was in a box on stage one minute and gone from it the next moment). She laughed and said she couldn't say. Then her two poodles came out of their cabin (they were in the show) so we got to play with them briefly.
Afterward, we got a ribbon for our next door neighbors (Merle and Lyle) so they could tie their balloons on their cabin's mailbox (in the hallway) and left a postcard in Alain and Alain's mailbox. We would do that the rest of the trip with each other, back and forth. We came back to the cabin to find a peacock towel animal!