DAY 2 IN PUERTO RICO: STILL AT EL CONQUISTADOR IN FAJARDO, PR

Since we went to bed SUPER early for us (10:30am), I was bright eyed and bushy haired at 7:30am. I headed out to the balcony to just take it all in. It was super weird knowing that I just spent the night in a hotel, we had already done an excursion, and we were NOT boarding a ship today. I felt like this was a regular land vacation...and actually it was.

As I sat on the balcony, my phone started ringing...IT WAS MY WORK!!! Seriously? Come on. You know I'm on vacation. Why are you bothering me? What do you think I could possibly do from here? ignore Then I started hearing this "UGH, UMPF, UGH, UMPF" over and over. It reminded me of someone getting punched in the stomach and it taking their breath away. I got up and looked down...there were two guys playing tennis. One of the guys made this sound with each strike of the tennis ball....FOR.HOURS.ON.END. Seriously. These guys were out there playing before I got up at 7:30am and was still there after the family got up, we went to breakfast and came back to grab our things for the day at the beach around 10:30. Wow, I wish I had his energy, just not his grunts.

The family woke up around 8:40am and "my" time was up. Everyone got dressed and we decided we would just stay at the hotel and find breakfast. There are so many choices at this place. There were a lot of people eating outside, just above the pool area, but it was already hot out and we were just wanting to sit in a restaurant with air.

We headed to Cafe Carib.

The hubby immediately ordered his coffee and then I was allowed to speak to him. His shirt (angry bird) depicts him well until he's had his coffee.

Once again, the size of "drinks" in Puerto Rico continued to amaze me. This coffee cup is not your "normal" coffee cup you find in the states. Sakari ordered a kids cup and even it's bigger than this. But would you look at the size of my pop above? SCORE!!

Taking a look at the menu:

I went with the egg omelette, but I'm in Puerto Rico, so I thought I just needed to try something that said Puerto Rico in it to make myself feel better. I ordered the Puerto-Rican Home Fries.

The omelette was yummy and hit the spot.

The home fries...oh em gee...yep, they were GOOD! I even made the hubby try them and he liked them.

Sakari had her pancakes and cleaned the plate.

With our bellies full and the hubby loaded with coffee, we headed back to the room to get our bathing suits on. The hubby and Sakari had no idea what we are doing and as always, they just roll with the flow with momma duck being in charge.

We changed, packed our beach bags, and headed out.

It was a bit of a walk around the hotel, down by the outside shops, and then up the glass elevator with a view.

It was a gorgeous day outside and I was so happy about that.

We got to the end and found the rail car (I guess that's what you call it). This rail car (2 of them) would take us down the "mountain" of the resort and to the marina area.

There's a nice view from the rail car too as we descended down the hill.

I caught the other rail car coming back up and snapped a picture.

Down we go...

Now knowing how many pictures I take, people must think I'm just crazy and wondering why I take all these pictures. There wasn't but one other person that took a (singular) picture as we were going down. I must have taken a good 20 or more. I just felt like saying "You have no idea who I am and my responsibilities and if you do anything "different" I will take a picture of you too and it will be in my review". (Just kidding of course...or am I?) But I do get some weird looks (especially when I take pictures of menus or food or drinks).

This was our goal...to make it to the marina.

We made it!

We kinda wandered around wondering where to go.

This was an entirely different world down here as well (also part of the resort, with a hotel mid-way on the rail car and also below). There was more shopping and bars as well. Now there is a water park here at this resort (but you must pay extra) and you had to take the rail car down here to get to it. I had wanted to go there for maybe a half a day, but the hours did not coincide with what I had planned and we had to skip the water park. Maybe another time.

WE ARE GOING TO PALOMINO ISLAND!!!!!! It's a private island for the hotel and I couldn't wait to experience it. I had seen a few pictures prior to going and searched around on the web, but I really didn't realize what was in store for us other than a nice looking beach.

Click the tab to see our day at beautiful Palomino Island!

So that was our day at Palomino Island. It was wonderful. I could and would go there again in a heartbeat. It was really beautiful there with so much to do.

But...the day wasn't over yet.

Once we got back up toward the hotel grounds where we were staying, it was time for a little bit of pool fun. (Like if we haven't had enough water for the day). We went to the closest pool to us.

Once again, daddy in the water (I think this is a new record for him since he usually sets things out and leaves the swimming to me and Sakari).

It was starting to get a little cloudy out.

The mermaid sprung into action

I let daddy borrow my goggles so that he could play in the water with Sakari. Well, actually they are his goggles that I put claim on after my goggles broke a few cruises ago.

While they were off "playing" I wanted to take a walk and see what the other pool had to offer and off I went.

They had these little areas around this pool.

This caught my eye and I had to go explore.

I would follow these steps up to snoop around up there as well.

It was a wide open area up there with columns that reminded me of the perfect place to have a wedding.

There was a beautiful view of the wonderful island we had visited today.

I stopped at the point where I was at the Village. I thought I had wandered off a bit far and didn't want to keep walking.

I made my way back to the pool area and knew that my hubby would wonder what happened to me. I would let him know that there's some really neat things to see, but he would have to wait until we got home and I uploaded the pictures. LOL

Back to the pool to join the family playing in the pool. The sky continued to get a little more gloomy and I knew we were about to get a downpour.

Then it hit us...the rain started and the hubby ran for cover under the umbrella.

He would learn really quick that the rain felt very cold and the water was extremely warm. We were already wet, so why not...

The rain got harder. But it was ok. Well, at least with Sakari and I.

HA! I actually caught a bit of a double under/over picture. If you look close enough, you'll also see the rain drop(s) that I also miraculously captured in mid air.

As we were in the pool, one of the pool attendants came around and was closing the umbrellas. Well, our pool bags, towels, cell phones and all were sitting on the chair under it. She CLOSED IT and all the rain on top of the umbrella poured on top of our things as if someone had collected a bucket of water and dumped it. Then of course the rain on top of that. WHY WOULD THEY DO THIS? Especially seeing that there were things in the chairs directly under the umbrella and we were standing in the pool about 3 feet away from it. We are not the only one's that they did this to. Several people beside us had the water and rain poured on their things too. They were a little upset as well.

Thank goodness that there is a pool towel hut and we could change out our wet pool towels as often as we wanted.

The rain did stop eventually. So, we decided to head back to our room and take a shower and get ready for the night (at 7:30pm, yes it was a full day). I had originally told Sakari that we might come back to the pool later (since all of the pools are open 24/7), but we would decide that we were just too worn out to return again (even with Sakari still begging for more pool time).

After taking a shower, yes more water, us girls were getting ready in our HUGE bathroom and decided to take a selfie and send to my oldest daughter...rubbing in our new dark tan.

I remember seeing someone carrying 3 pizza's down by the pool earlier in the day. I mentioned this to the hubby. He said he knew exactly where they got it from (the outdoor restaurant/bar area above the pool).

We ordered a pizza and just kind of hung out in the area (me taking pictures of course) until it was done. I believe the pizza was $15.

We brought it back to the room to eat because the hubby had to do some work.

But of course, like anything else, it was expensive for what you get. It was a pretty small pizza and very thin (which I like thin, but when you are hungry, it's not as filling and we are sharing between 3 people).

Sakari had 4 pieces, which only left us 2 pieces, which wasn't about to fill us.

After awhile, the hubby and I decided that we would go food hunting for us this time. We felt as though we had only had a snack at this point. Sakari, of course, was full. I did mention just getting another pizza and splitting it, but he said he was all "pizza-ed out". I had forgotten that he also had pizza for lunch at the island. Oops.

We walked all over the place and the hubby talked me into the Asian restaurant. They ask if we would like the sit down restaurant or where they cook in front of you. We decided on the restaurant since the hibachi grill area was about double the price.

We were the only one's in the restaurant and there was a family at the grill. Not busy at all.

I immediately told the server that our daughter was not going to be eating and that she had already had her dinner. He sorted smirked and still handed her the menu. Now they do have signs posted up that if you "share" a plate, they will charge you (I think it was) $25.00. Geesh.

Of course she said "I'm not hungry mommy". I explained to her that it was ok and she didn't have to order anything.

We ordered our drinks and they gave us our menu.

NOW LET THE FUN BEGIN....

I had wanted to order the chicken garlic meal for $20.50, but he stated that it came with white rice. Well, I didn't want (or like) white rice and ask about fried rice. He said I would have to buy it separate... for $14.50. Um...no thanks. I'll find something else. Then I also ask about the crispy honey chicken. He kinda rolled his eyes and said...well, if you want chicken nuggets and white rice. Wait, what? Chicken nuggets? He said yep, that's what we use. Um...you are going to charge me $20.50 for some chicken nuggets with white rice? Are you serious? Once again he suggested purchasing the fried rice. He was really trying to make a sell...at least that's what it seemed like. So, I'm getting aggravated and said "Now why would I buy a dish of chicken nuggets for $20.50 that I'm going to waste the white rice and purchase the rice I really want for another $14.50? Does it really make sense that I would spend $35.00 just to get the two things I wanted? (The hubby was in the same dilemma not wanting white rice).

We told him we would have to continue to look at the menu and give us some time. He acted as if we were putting him off and wasting his time. I really did not like his attitude at this point.

At one point I inquired about the Lo Mein noodles, but of course it didn't come with any rice. He did mention that we should get the fried rice and he could bring out 2 bowls and we could share it with our meal. After saying we would just do that he said "ok, so one crispy chicken with white rice meal, one chicken garlic with white rice, and one fried rice side dish to split". Um no...I don't want the other meal with the white rice, like I said, I'm not paying $20.50 for chicken nuggets. He sighed and said "well the fried rice is a side dish". I said "then just give us two of them if it's that small and we'll just have to have rice for dinner with no chicken".

He kept pushing the issues of getting another dish with chicken and stated "You can easily get the fried rice and split it because it's a big portion" Wait...you just told me it was too small to split and we should get our own. MAKE UP YOUR MIND DUDE...I DON'T LIKE YOU NOW! This guy was so inconsistent with his stories and totally had me ticked off. At this point I just said "Ok, give us 2 fried rice side dishes and it will have to do. I'm tired of this back and forth."

He ask what our daughter wanted. I told him "As I said when we were first seated AND after you still handed her a menu, she has already had dinner and is not hungry". He snatched her menu and walked away.

When he returned to our table, he gathered up all of the plates and napkins and brought out 3 other plates, placing one in front of Sakari. This guy just doesn't give up. I did read the sign saying that if you share, they charge you $25. You are not about to try to insist that she "shared" because she highly insisted on not eating anything.

When they brought our food out, I swear it still looked like white rice. There was barely any "brown" to it. The hubby is like "for real?" I flagged him down to ask if this was supposed to be the fried rice and he replied yes. I ask for some soy sauce. This was the most bland meal I think I have ever had at an Asian restaurant. I loaded my meal with soy sauce and it was still bland...or started to taste like straight soy sauce for dinner.

What do you know...it had chicken in it. But, this chicken tasted just like they had put it on the stove top and just boiled it. It was chewy and just nasty.

We honestly ate about 5 bites and were done. I was so disgusted, upset, ticked off, and mentally worn out by this experience.

He came by once asking if everything was ok. I actually spoke up (which is totally not me) and told him "No, actually it's not. It doesn't taste good at all." So what do you think he said/did? He said "are you finished then?" and removed our plates. There was no I'm sorry, would you like to try something else, no nothing.

A few minutes later a lady came over and I thought maybe she was going to talk to us about it. She ask how things were as she collected the silverware, napkins and other things off our table. I also let her know our thoughts. She didn't say one word after that either. Not one word!

We waited and waited and waited...then he finally brought us our bill. $40+ for a meal we absolutely hated and had to endure quite a bit of rudeness and only ate 5 bites of. The bowls on the table they brought it out in was still completely full and so were our plates. But it was over with and we were ready to get out of there.

We headed back to our room both mentally and physically exhausted. I think Sakari knew I just wasn't myself and she ask if I wanted a foot and back massage. :eek: Well of course my child. Bring it on...and she did for almost an hour!!! She is amazing!

Soon after, we headed to bed (early for us).

And just for your listening pleasure...if you've never heard the Puerto Rican tree frogs, it is crazy sounding:

Off to bed I go...no sooner than I lay down, someone is blowing up my phone.

"MOM, MOM, OMG, MOM!!!" <---texting. It's Kendra.

"What?? I'm trying to get to sleep"

She shows me this...

Mom, there's a room available!!! What should I do??? (She had been looking to come on this cruise for about 2 weeks or so before we left and it was completely sold out. She checked every single day while I scolded her for waiting so long (truth is, she applied for the SW card and was waiting for her 50,000 bonus points to hit the card so she can start flying free like us).

I ask her if she was really serious about going and if her finance was ok with it and did she have the "cash" for the actual things we'd do on the island...OMG, the things we do on the island...I had things booked and would need to book her too. Geesh. I thought I was going to bed early tonight.

So a little back and forth and I discover that she put the room on hold. It was asking for her payment, she was trying to figure things out as we text back and forth.

I don't know what she did but somehow she booked, put 2 people in and then only her info came up and not any of my grandsons info (Brayden). I told her to just stop going back and forth with me and call them directly...so she did and got things straightened out.

...and then there were none (rooms left). She managed to snatch it up just in time. She was now going on the cruise too!

Now she had to figure out air flight at the last minute and I was busy emailing the vendors about bringing her along too. I finally got her booked and payments reserved for her to join us at places on the islands and she was busy with her plane tickets. It looked like she was going to be flying in THE DAY OF THE CRUISE...which is normally a no-no, but since the ship wasn't leaving until 10pm, I had hoped that everything would go ok. But we all know Kendra...late to everything possible. Her flight was coming in around 12:30pm and that's the time we would actually be back at the airport to drop off our rental car before heading to the ship. This should work out.

Ok, I was up for hours listening to her excitement and answering all of her crazy questions about what to do and sending her email after email of reservations she would need to print out. THEN, I finally got to go to bed!

NOW...we are done with this days events.