Beginning of trip

Puerto Rico is lovely.  In hindsight, I wish I had flown in and out of San Juan and spent a day in the old city.  I was hesitant to do that mostly because I was afraid I would get stuck there.  Not able to take the puddle jump or hire a car.  And, I know there is still damage from the hurricane and I didn't want to take a resource from someone that lives there.  That was the last thing that I wanted to happen.  So, I arranged my travel in and out of Aguadilla.  Monday was an incredibly long day of travel. I left Denver at 10 am and arrived in Newark at 4 pm.  I checked out the airport since I had more than enough time. I was in the United terminal which coincidentally had the best food options of the three terminals.  I read a few posts about how fantastic the selection was.  And, I concur.  My only complaint would be their system of payment.  There are ipads everywhere to start up tabs.  I walked to the first wine bar and was waiting for the bartender to acknowledge me.  She wouldn't.  Not until I swiped my card and made a selection.  Probably ten minutes passed before I received my first glass of wine in 5 days.  At any rate, I thought there could be a better way.  Maybe say hello to customers and offer water.  Explain the system and that if you sit idle, too long, it kicks you out of your check.  I asked the girl to reopen my check so that I could tip in cash (my preferred way always).  She nodded and acted like she would handle it.  I waited another ten minutes before realizing that she was not going to do anything about it.  I had been talking to a fellow traveler about world travel.  Joanne was from Dublin and had just spent the last few weeks in Colombia and Nicaragua.  I love comparing trips to places I have been with other people.
I walked to a ramen spot.  I have definitely been on a kick to enjoy southeastern food and so, again, I swiped my card and tried to order wine and food.  This time, however, the bartender was kind and talkative.  She poured me a smidgeon more wine for having to wait.  Loved her!  I ended up speaking to a gentleman that lived in NY and was flying to Las Vegas to help out an ex-wife.  It was an interesting conversation.  I loved the Ramen, too.

Five hours later I departed for Aguadilla for another three plus hour fight.  My friends' flight was delayed out of Orlando and so I spent time at the airport bar and think we made it to our rental around 3.  I definitely needed sleep!  Tiffany and Dan, graciously, offered to pick us all up from the airport and drove us to the rental they had secured.  They had had a week of reorganizing since the original rental experienced a enormous loss of sand and structure from the storm that hit the east coast last week.  They scrambled to find another lodging to give the owners time to fix the problem.  Thankfully, it worked out well.  But when I think of everything they had to do to walk down the aisle, well, let's just say they were saints!
Tuesday morning we ran a few errands and had lunch at Bamboo.  We did see where we would be staying and what type of sand loss they were dealing with.

They had their work cut out for them.  I think it took three truck loads of sand to fix the structure.  I wanted to add to the solution, not to any more stress.  They made it easy.  They drove us to prearranged dinner spots and returned us home.  I am fortunate to have such accommodating friends. This was the start of my trip.  I was treated to good food and access to cool bars.  Let's just say, I was in heaven!

There is more to post and consider. I am in basketball zone for the next few hours.  I managed yoga, being a voyeur and in charge, lol.  Life is grand!