We Invade Puerto Rico

Our family Christmas trip to Puerto Rico, though short, was definitely action packed. You might say the Stabberts stormed Puerto Rico.
In just five days, we managed, as a family or in small to medium groups, to climb, swim, tour, play, kayak, drive around, or eat most of what Puerto Rico has to offer. You have to remember there were 29 of us, so in small groups, we could cover a lot of ground and do a good bit of damage.
I really can’t say enough about the Marriott Stellaris Resort. It was a wonderful place for the entire crew. Great rooms, great beach, great pools, a casino, and they didn’t mind if you walked into the lobby without shoes, which turned out to be really fortunate as our trip progressed.
Several groups went to tour the rainforest “El Yunque”, which is in the mountains of the island. While there are bugs, there are no monkeys in the rain forest. Though I did not partake of this tour, those who did said it was great.
And then there was the great shopping in Old San Juan. If you have been to any other islands in the Caribbean, you may have experienced the narrow-streets lined with shops where the shopkeepers try to physically pull you into their shops. Thank goodness, we experienced none of that in Puerto Rico. My sisters and I were able to find some great, very reasonably priced jewelry in the little shops in the picturesque city.
Many of us took the time to go to El Morro, the old fort of San Juan, now a National Park. The park rangers are very informative, giving a quick history of the island and the impressive fort, built in 1539, which sits high on a blustery bluff guarding the city once known as “Puerto Rico” (the rich port). In the early days, the island was known as San Juan, until city and island swapped names.
And Mom and Dad wanted to go back to Dorado Beach, a vacation spot they had visited in the mid-70’s with their good friends, Jack and Ethel Bennett. We drove them out there on Sunday, finding our way with the help of a sketchy “tourist” map and my husband’s cartographical skills. We sweet-talked the gatekeeper and drove down to the golf club, where they were getting ready for someone’s wedding. I was driving and dropped off my mom, dad, sister and husband. Two little children came up to them, the boy shaking my father’s hand, and the little girl giving my sister a kiss on both cheeks, as she handed my mother a small gift. Sadly, we weren’t there for the wedding, but went upstairs to have a look around and a libation to celebrate Mom and Dad’s return to Dorado Beach.
That evening, as we enjoyed our dinner at Miro, a Catallan-inspired seafood restaurant across the street from the Marriott, we had no idea the adventure that would await the few, the brave, the BioBay Dozen.
We Lucky Twelve were about to enter our own “Amazing Race”, complete with fruit bats, kayaks, map-reading skills, shrimp, soggy shorts, and let us not forget, the lost shoes…