Tuesday morning it rained… again. We got in the hot tub for a while (the pools were closed… AGAIN). Apparently there was a hot tub incident while I was gone to the bathroom. Timmy was sitting in the hot tub when a group of “youngsters” jumped in and started roughhousing. The Hot Tub Policewoman immediately came over and told them to get out because the hot tub is for adults only. One of them said, “But I’m FOURTEEN!” in a silly British accent. A note to my silly British friends: I heard this boy talking a few days later and he really did have a ridiculous accent. Sounded a bit like David. Anyway.
I got to meet Funship Freddie, or as I kept calling him, Freddie Flipper. The day's drink special was a Blue Margarita.
We arrived in San Juan a little bit early, just as the rain cleared up. As we got off the ship, Hector was there handing out maps of San Juan and saying, “Welcome to Hawaii. Aloha!” We had signed up for the Bacardi Rum Factory tour. Now, before we signed up for ANY excursions I had done some research (thanks to my Frommer’s guide to the Caribbean Ports of Call – a book I highly recommend to anyone planning a cruise). Frommer’s said that the Bacardi tour is something you should see in San Juan – but the tours booked through the cruise lines are much more expensive than just going yourself. However, our ship didn’t get to San Juan until 4 o’clock and the Bacardi factory closes to the public at 4:30. So the only way we’d be able to see it was through the cruise line tour. What the hell, we signed up for it.
The first thing they did was herd us all onto a bus just outside the pier. Then we drove literally AROUND THE BLOCK to where the tour boat was parked – JUST DOWN THE STREET FROM THE PIER!!! It couldn’t have been more than two blocks.
So after our whirlwind tour of downtown San Juan (HA!) we got on the little party boat for our “short ride across the harbor.” There was a guy making a big deal about how much rum he was pouring into the rum punch – “compliments of Bacardi!” That bottle must have been 75% water. We couldn’t even taste any rum in the rum punch. We rode the ferry across the harbor and then got on the little bus that took us to the Bacardi factory. Our bus driver was named Olga. I know, strange name for a Puerto Rican I thought. She was great. She kept saying, “Bueno,” “Listen,” and “Check this.” As in, “bueno, check this – we have all the benefits of the President, but we don’t vote for the President,” and “Listen, check this –two of Puerto Rico’s major exports is the Tylenol and the Viagra.” And one time she even said “Ay carumba” when another driver cut her off. Hee hee!
We got to the Bacardi factory just as it was getting dark. Now, when you take the Bacardi factory tour you don’t actually go through the Bacardi factory. Oh no. You go through a museum that is on the factory grounds. And the tour is “interactive” which means you don’t get a tour guide that tells you how the rum is made – you get a little tape player that looks like a cordless phone. The exhibits around the museum have numbered plaques, and you type in the number you want to hear about. Frankly, it was lame. They do have little “smelling stations” where you can compare how different grades and flavors of rum smell. And there was a brief demonstration where a bartender-type person explained how to make a rum and coke (duh) and a mojito.
After that, a quick ride around the Bacardi grounds to the company store! Timmy bought a bottle of special limited production rum you can only get at that factory. Then we were treated to 2 free Bacardi drinks. Timmy and I had 2 mojitos each. I’d had a mojito once before at a Cuban club in DC, but it must have been some kind of fruity-flavored mojito because I remember it had been almost too sweet to drink. But these were good.
Olga picked us up and took us on a nighttime “tour” of San Juan which included the freeway and a lot of American-chain stores and restaurants. Like Walgreens, Burger King, Toys R Us, Subway, and Chili’s. She also showed us the Capitol building and the statue that appears to be giving the capitol the finger (but he’s really just pointing at it.)
We decided to skip dinner at Senor Frog’s and just went back to the ship. We had dinner at the “Grand Buffet” since it was too late to go the dining room. Back to the room and we found another towel animal – an elephant!!!!
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