A weekend in San Juan
San Juan is easily one of my favorite winter escapes: this is the third time I’ve gone in four years, mostly because it’s so reliably sunny and warm and easy. I can get my fill of sweet plantains, fish tacos, sunshine and colorful buildings in 36 hours—just enough to sustain me through a few more months of gloom.
The logistical reasons why I love it: from New York City, there are several direct flights per day and it only takes about three and a half hours. You don’t have to go through customs, change money or worry about speaking another language. The roads are good (unlike some other places, ahem) and it’s relatively safe. American phones work without roaming fees!
This trip was a bit of a belated birthday trip for my boyfriend, so we intentionally decided not to make many plans: all we wanted to do was relax. And relax we did! We flew in Friday night, and spent all day Saturday and Sunday in the sunshine.
We stayed at the San Juan Marriott Resort, right on Condado Beach. You couldn’t beat the view from our room! I loved looking down at all the little figures down on the beach: workers setting up the chaise lounges and joggers along the shore in the early morning, little kids building sand castles and boogie boarding in midday, chairs turning to follow the sun until it finally sunk behind the buildings.
Each morning, I woke up at sunrise and then took a quick walk to pick up some acai bowls (our favorite discovery was the Coco Surf bowl from Crush) and then ate mine while soaking up the sunshine while David slept in. As much as I love the concept of being able to not worry about waking up early to take the pug out, it’s a tough habit to break!
We spent most of our time alternating between the beach and the pool—I tried to follow the sun, while David tried to seek out some shade. I took long walks up and down the beach listening to new podcasts like Code Switch and Science Vs, and then sat along the edge of the shallow pool to finish The Muralist and then read Today Will Be Different (which I managed to finish in fewer than 24 hours).
But the best part of all had to be the WATERSLIDE. I think I’ve probably confessed this before, but I have a very deep love of waterslides—I had a season pass to a water park growing up, and I used to strategize about getting there early enough so that I could be the first one down all my favorite slides and then leave for lunch before it got too busy (honestly, I haven’t changed at all). But I digress. There was a mini waterslide at the resort and I rode it so many times and felt such unbridled joy every. Single. Time.
One of the other things that I really loved (and I’m guessing this is a new thing in all American Marriotts) is the ability to sync up the TV with your Netflix and Hulu account. I’ve been wondering when this would happen, and I’m so glad it finally. We got hooked on This Is Us last week, so it was fun to binge on a few episodes on Saturday night.
We took late afternoon long walks around the neighborhood: up to the local beach for a $3 fresh coconut, through the open-air market, past a street-side bookstore, by the lagoon. 
I especially loved all of the colorful street art!
We also went back to a couple of our favorite places from our last trip—most notably, La Cueva del Mer. The passionfruit mojitos, masitsas de dorado and fish tacos were just as delicious as we remembered! We also tried mofongo and plantains and cheese balls, and basically rolled ourselves back to the hotel.
Overall, it was the perfect sunny escape. We came back to the city so much more relaxed and refreshed, and with the faintest of tans. So glad we decided to make the most of a winter weekend!
Special thanks to the San Juan Marriott Resort for kindly offering us a complimentary stay; however, all opinions are my own.
p.s. another weekend in San Juan and a day in Culebra!
