Run Away! Go Ahead!

We did it!  We ran away from home!

Around Labor Day 2019 we arrived in San Juan Puerto Rico.  Arrived is the word!  We hopped onto the midnight flight from Miami and it landed about 3am PR time.  At that time of year at least, landing in San Juan before dawn is a "thing".   I found tons of posts about it in different places online.  random blogs, fb groups, travel advice columns.  So, there are lots of people that i.d. areas of San Juan that are "open 24/7" because there's an issue of killing time between when you arrive and when you can check into a hotel (or whatever).

We learned that in the area of Condado, near the hotel we were staying at our first week, there was an intersection with (2) 24-hr drug stores. on the block north of that intersection were about a half dozen restaurants variously described as open all night. And there is also a casino in the Marriot hotel that's open 24hours.  It all sounded really good.  I pictured a cross between Las Vegas, Times Square and a 24hr grocery store. With Puerto Rican sabor!  Well, no.  

Hello La Isla del Encanto!  If I had to give myself advice on how to run the day differently it would go like this:

first, practice your Spanish with as many Puerto Rican people as you can find before you come to the island.  i'm not sure there's even a good reason to call this language Spanish.  it is a very unique dialect.  much different than Mexican Spanish.  unintelligible to many European Spanish speakers.

2nd, take your luggage to the Stellaris Marriot if your hotel isn't ready for you

refer to the San Juan Marriot Resort and Stellar Casino as the "Stellaris Marriot" and more people will know what you are talking about.  go there 

The Stellaris Casino, in the Marriot Resort on Ashford Ave in "Condado" is open 24 hours.  we really dont like to gamble, but i thought we might be able to kill some time there.  but no.  it's small, has only about 26 table games and no real lounge areas.  they are in the hotel proper.  they gave my husband no grief when he sat in the lobby and charged his phone for about 2 hours while i prowled the area.   the hotel front desk did let me "check in" our luggage for a small fee.  In other words, they kept it secure until we could check it in at our hotel. 

We went to the Poblado for NewYear's dinner, which was nice.  Here's a picture of us with the Sunset in the background.

Jan 1 is what I call our 30th Anniversary.  It was the 25th Anniversary of our legal marriage, but the 30th anniversary of the start of our relationship.

So, what's to whine about?  I just realized that besides the cranky old joints acting up from crossing 4 time zones it really has to do with these things:

1. I found costly letters from the IRS in the mail at our stateside house.  I thought I was still in appeals, but apparently they've turned the old business over to a collection agency.    
2.  I'm coming back to a dispute with a properety manager who sent me a utility bill from before we moved into Casita Anchovy.  When I pointed out the date error, she sent me 2 older invoices.  WTF?
3. I want to not worry about my kids, but I worry.  I wanted to stop spending so much on them, but then I DS keeps reminding me of the realities of their risk of becoming homeless...

Yeah.  Let's go ahead and drink.  Put dinner on a charge card.  We can start the New Year's Resolutions Tomorrow.