Loiza, Luquillo, Fajardo, Oh My!

The East Coast of Puerto Rico..

I retraced the road back to my original starting point in San Juan, near the Howard Johnson and the Coqui Inn. I took Avenue Baldorioty de Castro (Highway 26) out to the east side of the island, past the turn off to El Yunque.

The East Side of the island IS the sailboat capital of PR. If you wanted to buy a boat, any kind of boat, then this is the place to do it… hundreds of them. Some storage yards had boats stacked 3 tall. I did shoot video of the road trip, but that will have to wait until later.

Loiza felt more like I was still in San Juan, most of the communities around San Juan bleed into each other, much like the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. About half the island’s population of 3.8 million live in the Greater San Juan area.

Luquillo was a very quaint, little place. The locals there were very friendly. Just opposite the town square was an old Catholic church and mayor’s office. Both were beautifully restored. This IS the standard layout for most small PR towns. The beach is a stone’s throw from the town square. It was totally deserted at this early hour with the exception of one lone surfer.

Fajardo was the largest of the three towns I visited. I stopped at a Panaderia and scored a couple of cream cheese filled pasteries. At a buck fifty each, they were yummy! The sculpted art and water fountain as you come off the freeway was particularly pretty. The streets were as crowded as those in Old San Juan. Parking was a real pain.. as usual.

The weather had taken a turn for the worse at this point so gray skies became the norm… not great for The Dog’s travel shots.

I preceeded to scout around without much direction until I started seeing several small signs that read: ‘HOTEL’ with a little arrow. I decided to check this out and it eventually lead me to the Fajardo Inn Resort. After enquiring about room availability and cost. I scored a real nice single for $90, total cost. Its more than I really wanted to pay, but I was too tired to keep looking. As it turned out, it was an exceptional choice. It really IS a resort. It has two pools, two resturants, plenty of parking (parking IS a big deal here) and many other services. The room was way bigger and nicer than the one at the Howard Johnson, though it had no mini-fridge.

By the time I settled in, it was raining really hard. A full breakfast was included in the price. The menu featured several hearty choices, I had Eggs Benedict! The morning’s weather was clean and crisp so I headed off as quickly as I could.

The Fajardo Inn Resort-