February 10, 2017 by coloradotravelingducks

It was a Great Vacation for Humans and Colorado Traveling Ducks

So many things to do and so many new places to explore, we don’t want to forget anything. We chatted about our experiences on the flights back to Denver. The first day we ducks met our new friend, Chip, from Hilton Doubletree hotels.

Colorado Traveling Ducks met Chip, Doubletree Hotel’s chocolate chip cookie.

On our cruise ship, Carnival Fascination, Zeb surveys his kingdom.

From ping pong area looking at main pool

Then in St. Thomas, Bucket and his parents ride underwater scooters.

Underwater motor scooters

Barbados provided the shopping highlight.

Maybe this bag is new traveling bag for ducks. Humans get the emeralds.

Also Barbados was where Bucket and his parents snorkeled and saw an underwater wreck.

What you can see snorkeling in Barbados

St. Kitts had us all in mini speedboats.

Ready to drive mini speed boat

Bucket and his parents almost ready to head out. Then Soapy’s mom discovered a monkey and the monkey’s owner discovered Soapy’s mom.

Soapy’s mom and monkey owner

Was fun for everybody here. St. Lucia almost ended the Colorado Traveling Ducks.

Are we swimming alone? Mom!!

Out to sea we went, but Bucket’s mom saved us! In St. Maarten, Bucket, the daredevil that he is, went swimming alone.

Soapy come back here

He said he had fun and needed to get away from all of us. Bucket’s mom saved him, too. Bucket’s mom plays and get ready to do some fancy jumping into the water.

Ready to jump

Puerto Rico displayed the really small house.

Really small house

Narrow streets were fun to explore in Old San Juan.

Narrow streets of Old San Juan. Let’s go down this street.

Of course we visited many beaches, but this one, Isla Verde in Puerto Rico was the last.

Isla Verde Beach, Puerto Rico

Every night we were blessed with beautiful sunsets.

Sun setting on our family vacation

This was a vacation to remember. We saw and did many things, and we were all together. We hope you enjoy family vacations also.

February 8, 2017 by coloradotravelingducks

Puerto Rico’s Isla Verde Beach with the Colorado Traveling Ducks

We are going to the beach! We ducks love all the activities and exploring in old towns, but the beach is our favorite. Isla Verde Beach is our place today. First we rent beach lounge chairs and umbrellas. We have never seen this. We pick our spot on the beach and the gentleman uses a drill with a wide, long attachment to dig a hole to secure our umbrella in the sand. Now the umbrella is firmly anchored in the sand, but extra ropes are needed to protect our umbrella from the wind.

Attaching lines to secure umbrella

Since we needed two umbrellas and four chairs, how did he carry them to our favorite spot? On this lounge chair, adapted with large sand wheels.

Tools of the trade

You can also see the drill and long attachment behind the carrying chair. This man really knows what he is doing. The chairs are arranged, water bottles available, and we are ready for a day of sun, sand, water and fun.

Chairs and umbrellas ready

Sitting on the beach, we enjoy the soft sand.

We love the sand and water

Time to rent jet skis now. Jet skis are so much fun. Each human gets a separate jet ski. It is more fun to drive. Here is Bucket’s dad driving his jet ski.

Bucket’s dad on a jet ski

Warm sun and beach activities do make humans and duck hungry and thirsty. Not to worry. A food stand is right behind us on the beach.

Food and drinks are near

We have a lot of food now, so Bucket’s mom is sharing with some new friends.

Bucket’s mom sharing with birds

There are many water activities available at the beach. These are kite boards.

Kite boarders here

The kites are so colorful and look great sailing above the water. We did not try them today. Maybe another time. You can see there are many people enjoying Isla Verde Beach today, but it really is not crowded.

Nice wide sandy beach

This is a big beach. This is our last day in Puerto Rico so we are all happy to spend it at the beach. But we are getting hungry again. Let’s try some real Puerto Rican food for our last evening. Nearby at Los Platos restaurant, we order mofongos.

Mofongos

These are green mashed plantains. One has chicken inside and one has beef inside. We have a choice of white garlic sauce or Puerto Rican creole. We tried each sauce. Three of us had mofongos and one had a delicious fish dinner. This meal was very tasty and a great way to end our Puerto Rican vacation.

February 6, 2017 by coloradotravelingducks

Wandering Old San Juan, Puerto Rico with the Colorado Traveling Ducks

Who are these people? What are they doing?

Ponce de Leon

Here, in the Plaza de Colon in Old San Juan we found Ponce de Leon, the first governor of Puerto Rico. Searching for the Fountain of Youth, in Puerto Rico and in the American state of Florida, today he is promoting benefits of drinking clean water. It must work, he was born in 1474 and he looks pretty good. A short walk took us to the Franciscan Chapel, built by the Third Order of Saint Francis.

Franciscan chapel

This is not the most popular church, so it was almost empty.

Inside chapel

But so beautiful and made humans and ducks feel at peace. On the walls, the Stations of the Cross, were intricately carved.

Station of the Cross XI

This is number 11, the nailing of Jesus to the cross. Much of Old San Juan features restaurants and tourist shops. But, it is part of the city and many people live here. From the 1500s, the cobblestone streets are quite narrow.

Narrow Street

The humans just wanted to wander down these streets, not wanting to eat or shop now. On the main, wider streets, tourist buses take people between the two Spanish Castillos that we previously showed you. Also taking humans to the cruise port. Yes, the cruise ships leave from this area also. Look at the decorations on this bus.

Very colorful bus

From the bus, we saw the government building for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, flying the flag of the United States of America.

Puerto Rico Government building

Some people in the world are trying to reduce their life, their possessions, and reduce their carbon footprints. This house does that. This little house is only 5 feet wide.

Little house is only 5 feet wide

That really is little. Not everybody wants to live in a space that small though. On this narrow street, the apartments are fairly small, but the curved balconies seem wonderful.

Great balconies

And, no buses on this street. You could spend several days exploring Old San Juan, but we were only here for one day. We loved it, but we wanted to go to the beach. We will take you there next time.

February 1, 2017 by coloradotravelingducks

Castillo San Cristobal, San Juan, Puerto Rico with the Colorado Traveling Ducks

We are loving our time in Puerto Rico. Last time we showed you Castillo San Felipe del Morro, the Spanish defense from sea attacks. Now we will show you Castillo San Cristobal, the Spanish defense from land attacks. This was the biggest European fortification in the Americas.

Castillo San Cristobal

Canons were once housed here, to defend the Spanish claim to Puerto Rico.

Canon was inside

Let’s walk up this incline and enter the fortress.

Let’s go up

Looking to the sea, this fortress offered an advantageous view of the sea and the land.

View of Atlantic. Love the colors of the water

As we enter Castillo San Cristobal, we notice we will be climbing more inclines.

Entering the fortress

This Castillo has three levels. We are on level 1, sitting on the window of the Troops Quarters.

Troops Quarters

Remember that ships sailing from Europe, 4,000 miles to the east, sailed down the coast of Africa where they used the winds and currents to reach Puerto Rico, and then on to the rest of the New World. We are now on the top level, and it is windy here.

View and three flags

These three flags flew over Puerto Rico. The bottom is the Burgundy Cross. This was the Spanish military flag that flew here during most of the Spanish colonial period. It was adopted in 1506 by Philip the Handsome, King of Castile, to honor his mother, Mary Duchess of Burgundy. The middle is the flag of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. And the top flag is that of the United States of America. Here is the bell.

Bell

We love the old bells. From here, you would be able to see any approaching threat, by sea or land.

View to the east

We like this panorama of the coast between the two Castillos.

Panorama with markings on building roofs

This is a favorite photo from Bucket’s dad. Looking toward Castillo San Felipe del Morro, again we admire the strategic location of these fortresses.

View to the west and Castillo San Felipe del Morro

We, the Colorado Traveling Ducks, and humans enjoyed exploring and learning about our history and the Spanish defenses to protect Puerto Rico. We think you would enjoy wandering through this part of Old San Juan, also.

January 30, 2017 by coloradotravelingducks

Castillo San Felipe del Morro in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico with Colorado Traveling Ducks

This is our first full day in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Our cab took us to Old San Juan, the original walled city of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Christopher Columbus arrived in San Juan in 1493 on his second voyage to the New World. For Spain, he claimed all the riches of what is now called Puerto Rico. This included gold, silver, gems, and spices, in addition to the first deep water port between Europe and the New World. Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States and Old San Juan Historic Site is under the protection of the U.S. National Park Service. There are two old fortresses, built by the Spanish, here. The Castillo San Felipe del Morro was to defend against attacks from the sea. The Castillo San Cristobal, about a 30 minute walk away, was built to defend against attacks from land. We, the Colorado Traveling Ducks, will show you Castillo San Felipe del Morro today.

Here is the sign. Where is Castillo San Felipe del Morro?

We can see the lighthouse in the background, and realize we have a long walk ahead of us. This cemetery was conveniently located on the coast near the Castillo.

Cemetery by the sea

The city, like many old cities, was protected by a wall.

Looking through the wall

Today we have a peaceful view through that wall. The grass here was incredibly soft in places.

Keep walking ducks

This was once a golf course, but we still must keep walking. We think this building, built partially underground is interesting.

We like this building

Let’s go inside Castillo San Felipe del Morro.

Entrance to Castillo San Felipe del Morro

Bucket claimed this chair and seems to be enjoying a short rest.

Chair fit for a king. King Bucket?

This space, once the living quarters for the commander of El Morro, but later, a place of punishment.

In jail. Looking through bars to the sea

Zeb and Soapy enjoy the view, through the bars, of the sea. Bucket found another prison cell.

Bucket and Chip–don’t go inside that prison cell.

Don’t go inside there, Bucket and Chip. We found this canon, now inside a room.

Canon. No longer in use

But it was not always inside this room. This path takes us to the former home of the canon.

Where the canons used to be

The canon was pointed through this lookout.

Canon pointed out this space

We ducks wanted to sit on the ledge, but the humans said it was too windy for us. But we love to watch the water. Castillo San Felipe del Morro has six levels and we found the bell on the 6th level.

Bell

This lighthouse looks pretty new, doesn’t it?

Fourth and newest lighthouse

It is the fourth lighthouse built here. This one is 51 feet above the 6th level of El Morro. The lamp is 182 feet above sea level and this lighthouse and lamp still serve ships every night. This lighthouse was built in 1908. Originally made of bricks, it was restored in the 1990s. We ducks are impressed by this castle. But we are also impressed and a little frightened by the wind here. We like the sea, but we don’t want to be blown into it and lost forever. The humans kept us safe. More about Old San Juan next time.

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