Road Trip with my Best Friend

Hey, everyone! It's been a hot minute since I had uploaded anything onto my blog, but I have so much to share with all of you! I wanted to start Summer doing something fun and different, which is why my best friend and I decided to plan a spontaneous Road Trip. I obviously put my Road Trip Tips to the test as we planned this. We only had 2 days and one night to do all of the things we wanted to do, which is why the best thing to do was some "turismo interno" or local tourism as you would say in English.

Our journey began with about two weeks of back and forth of what places we would like to visit on the Island (Puerto Rico), if it would be an overnight activity, and if there were enough places close by that would make the trip not only worthwhile but also bank account friendly. In the end, we decided to visit three cities: Arecibo, Utuado, and Jayuya.

Our Road Trip began on a Sunday which made things a little difficult since not every place is open, and also business hours are different on Sunday's. We began our Road Trip at about 10 am. We had a bag filled with snacks and sandwiches, and we had a cooler filled with soda, juices, and water. We had our bags packed, comfortable clothes, and we were all set to start our adventure.

We began by visiting Cueva Ventana in Arecibo. Cueva Ventana is a guided tour hike through a series of caves until you reach the last cave that has a window-like shape that shows you a beautiful view. Our group was composed of about 25 members and a guide. The guide would stop and explain not only the history and geography of the place, but also he would explain what we saw, talk about the flora and fauna found, and, to give him amazing props, he gave the tour in both Spanish and English due to the variety of people within our group who might not have understood one of the languages. This was my very first experience in any type of hike of this category, but I was incredibly proud of myself. I never fell on my butt (or face for that matter), but I do have to say that I was feeling the hike the next day. The price for this place was around $12 if you have a local license, the price is different if you are just visiting Puerto Rico.

After our hike, we took the opportunity to take a small break and drink water and pump some gas before we began our drive through Utuado and towards Jayuya where we would be spending the night and where the majority of our attractions were located. When going on long drives into uncharted territory, make sure you always listen to your GPS and don't make yourself think you are smarter than it. We might have gotten a little lost at one point because of this. No worries though! If we hadn't gotten lost, we wouldn't  have been able to have witnessed such a beautiful sight right before we u-turned and went the route the GPS had originally instructed us to take.

Since the drive was over an hour long from Arecibo to Jayuya, we decided to go straight to Café Nativo which would be our last stop of the day before relaxing at the hotel. Café Nativo is a coffee shop and restaurants that also offers guided tours on Saturday's. Unfortunately, since we were visiting on a Sunday we were not able to take the tour through their facilities. On the other hand, we were able to enjoy a delicious cup of coffee and a beautiful view. I will definitely talk about the coffee on Let's Talk Coffee Part 3, which is coming out later this week. I will they say that they have a variety of coffee that you can enjoy and also food, especially waffles. 

After Café Nativo, we had another unexpected stop to enjoy the view of the river. These are the moments that Road Trips are all about! Check out that view! On the left corner of the picture, you can see the mountains and the Hot Air Balloon located in Jayuya.

After our little detour, we went straight to Hacienda Gripiñas, which was the small Parador/hotel we had booked for the night. We weren't 100% sure what to expect, although all the pictures and reviews of this place were great when we arrived, but this place is so cute and I will definitely visit it again. It felt like we were in some sort of retreat. It was far enough from civilization but not enough that you felt in the middle of nowhere. It has two pools: one with natural water and a regular pool. They have a restaurant, a shared balcony with hamacas and areas where you can sit and read. The room we had rented for the night was a two queen-bed bedroom with a private balcony. The room was spacious. It had a private bathroom, air conditioning, and cable tv. In the balcony, we had a table with four chairs. Perfect for eating or playing dominos or cards. The place was also spacious and had an amazing view, especially at sunrise. The best part is that it was only $65 a night (with taxes included) for the accommodation we got. I consider that a great win!

We spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the pool and talking away into the night on our balcony. We had some sandwiches and chips for dinner to save some money. Once we had showered, we watched some TV and then were ready for bed.

The next day I made sure to wake up early so I could catch the sunrise, which I do not regret at all! The morning calm is one of my favorite things, and living most of the time in the city I don't always get to enjoy that. After having some more sandwiches for breakfast, we decided to start our day with the rest of our adventure.

At the hotel, they had given us a map of Jayuya that had all their tourist attractions, hotels, and restaurants detailed. This sort of thing should be done for every city in Puerto Rico because it really does help you find new gems you might not have seen online or even see what places are nearby to eat or even shop at. This is how we decided to go to Piedra Escrita or Written Stone. This is a stone located in the river that has hieroglyphs from the indigenous people of Puerto Rico (the taínos) written on it. When you visit it, you arrive at a parking lot and then begin to walk down a wooden pathway. The view is amazing as you're walking down and up through this pathway or Paseo Tablado as we call it in Spanish. Once you arrive at the river you can not only enjoy the sight of the beautiful river but you can also see this big white stone with writings. There were people enjoying a picnic by the river. It was a beautiful and unexpected stop.

After the Written Stone, we decided to head to two museums: Museo Casa Canales and Museo El Cemí. These two are located in the same parking lot of a police station, so make sure you don't pass them by as you drive down the same road where the Written Stone is. Each place is only $1 to visit and enjoy. They both show the history of two different times in Puerto Rico. Museo El Cemí shows you the history of our indigenous people, what artifacts they used, and everything that had to do with their culture. Museo Casa Canales is a placed based on a historically famous family in Jayuya, the Canales. They talk about 3 of their children that were very important in our history for the arts and politics. They were both beautiful places to visit and learn a little more about our history and maybe some facts that we aren't always taught in school. They are both some quick and cheap visits, so make sure you stop by.


Our final stop in Jayuya was Hacienda San Pedro. This place is a coffee estate or farm. They plant, pick, and roast different types of coffee. They also have the Coffee Museum and a Coffee Shop. I will talk about their coffee shop during a post later on this week, but in the museum (which is located on the second floor of the coffee shop) they have artifacts that they have used over the years in the coffee industry. You can also get a glimpse into their coffee factory. This place also offers guided tours of their facilities during Saturday's and Sunday's (during the Summer they also offer them on Friday's), but we weren't able to take the tour this time around. An excuse to go back and continue to explore Jayuyas!

In all of the places we had visited, people kept asking if we were planning on going to the Globo Aerostático, hot air balloon, that was recently installed in Jayuya. It wasn't our plan, but while drinking our coffee we did some research and decided to take a leap of faith and head out. The drive is long because you are literally going to the highest peak of the mountain, but the view is worth it. I am not going to lie, I was terrified since I am not a lover of heights. We didn't get to actually ride the hot air balloon due to the weather conditions and because it was really windy, but for a dollar, a bus takes you to where the balloon is and you can see the views and they also have a bunch of places you can visit there like a gift shop and a restaurant.

On our way back to Arecibo, we drove over Lago Dos Bocas which is a tourist location in Utuado. Unfortunately, we could not go visit it as well as some other places we wanted to visit like Ceremonial Park Caguanas in Utuado, Cueva del Indio, and Estatua de Colón because of the rain that was falling that day. Either way, if it had not been for the rain, we would have probably had time to enjoy all of those if not most of them and take many more pictures. They're saved up for another adventure!

If you want to enjoy some more of the awesome places we visited, here is my Instagram Story from those two days:

If you want to see more videos like this about my day and all the Summer adventures I hope to have, make sure you follow me on Instagram @love_nashi! I'll write to all of you soon!

Love, Nashi