We arrived in San Juan in the evening after a fun couple of days in Ponce and San German. Our hotel was the Caribe Hilton, and I have to say that it is one of the best beach resorts I have ever visited, despite not being an all-inclusive. The room was great, and the hotel has so many amenities for adults and especially children (it didn’t mean much to us this time, but I can see their value). Most important, there was a swim up pool bar and drinks service on the beach.

The next two days were spent relaxing on the hotels private beach, and enjoying the sun and the ocean. We had a great ocean view room, and between that, the ocean-side daybeds, the hammocks and the beach chairs, our itinerary was mostly set.

We did take some time out to wander off the hotel property and visit Old San Juan. It is a small (deceptively tiring to walk though because of all the uphill streets) area that is chock full of historic sites and buildings. Unfortunately, we underestimated the time it would take to explore it all, and had to skip quite a few things.

We took a walk along Constitution Avenue, which has some really great looking buildings (like the Puerto Rican legislative building), to get to the old walled city. We then took a stroll on the esplanade called Paseo de la Princesa that follows the city walls and the oceanfront. There was a really great photo exhibition called “Earth From Above” that had been set up on it. We also saw some great sculptures and fountains. And, of course, we got to admire the old walls that were once part of the most impregnable fortress in the New World.

Within the walls we came across some great piazzas, historic buildings (including a building that houses the Academy of Music and Art that was originally built as an insane asylum) and statues commemorating events in Puerto Rican history (the funniest was a statue that commemorates a time in 1797 when British soldiers mistook a religious procession for the arrival of Spanish reinforcements and fled).

Dinner was an interesting experience. We met up with all the others in the evening, without an idea of where to eat. We just picked a place called Ostra Cosa near the old Cathedral. The proprietor, Alberto, decided to spice things up by ordering for us instead of letting us pick the dishes. He spent a lot of time initially chatting with us and learning what we liked, and then he just sent out one great dish after another. The ceviche was especially good.

Later, we walked around a little bit to enjoy the night sights. The trend of fantastically lit up buildings continued in Old San Juan as well, the best being City Hall (photo below).

That was it for our journey through Puerto Rico. The trip was way too short, and there was so much more that we wanted to do. We will definitely be making our way back there, once Arav is a little older and can appreciate it. Need to give ourselves enough time to savor the beach, the history and the beauty of the island.

Website Updates: I added photo albums for our Puerto Rico trip and our Napa Valley trip to my website. Both can be found in the Travel Journal section. Keep in mind that the Napa Valley album is actually titled “Wine Country”. Reflects my hope to add more photographs to it when we make our way back there, and when we do a trip up to Sonoma.

After our all-too-short stay in Vieques, we were off to our next destination. Getting on and off Vieques was a real challenge. There are only 3 ferry trips off the island on the weekends. So we found ourselves standing in line to buy ferry tickets at the ungodly hour of 5:30am on a Saturday (the next ferry was to be at 1:30pm). The ferry ride itself was fairly easy (though very full), and so we found ourselves hitting the road at 8 am. 2 hours later, after a nice drive on a sunny morning, we found ourselves pulling into the Hilton resort in Ponce, on the southern coast of PR.

The resort is pretty nice (a bit outdated though), with extensive grounds and a really nice pool area next to the ocean. There is a small beach, but after the gorgeous beach in Vieques, it couldn’t compete. We had a great room on the ground floor with an outdoor patio overlooking the ocean. We spent most of our morning and afternoon in the resort, hanging out with Sonika (Tanu’s cousin) and Manish, who had already arrived there the previous day, and sipping daiquiris.

Late in the afternoon, we headed out to the historic district of Ponce. The city has recently undergone a major restoration project to revitalize the old city and its historic buildings, and it shows. The town square is quite a showcase, and buildings like city hall and the tourist center (a gaudy red and black building that used to be a firehouse, photo below) make it almost feel like an outdoor museum. Especially since the streets were deserted because everything was cordoned off to accommodate a concert that was to take place in the town square later that night. We had a nice time walking the 4 or 5 blocks around the town square and admiring the restored buildings.

The next day, after a morning spent relaxing in the resort with everyone (Sapan and Monica arrived late the previous evening), we headed out to San German. A small town about an hour west of Ponce, it is the 2nd oldest city in PR, and the site of the oldest church in the New World. The Iglesia Porta Coeli is at one end of a cobble-stoned plaza, the Parque de Santo Domingo, that is really quaint and where we had a late tapas lunch that was quite good. Tanu and I both loved the place; it has a very tranquil, old world feel to it.

The town of San German is definitely worth a visit. We would have loved to spend a few more hours there, walking around the cobble-stoned streets and checking out all the historic buildings and town squares. Maybe next time.

That evening we left Ponce for our next (and last) stop, San Juan.

Well, I followed somehow managed to follow up my regular season title in my fantasy league with 3 straight wins to take the championship crown. The win in the Superbowl of our league was even more satisfying because I trounced my cousin Sid in the matchup (134-97). It was my 3rd win over him this season, and I fully intend to milk the bragging rights this will give me for the next 8 months or so.

I couldn’t have won this title on my own, and there are so many people to thank for this win.

I would like to thank Ken Whisenhunt, for deciding that the Cardinals meaningless week 17 game was to be played like a playoff, giving me huge games from Warner and Fitzgerald. And special thanks to Fitzgerald for that fluky 78-yard TD in week 16 that gave me some huge points and pushed me over the top in that matchup.

I would also like to thank John Fox’s play calling. DeAngelo Williams and Steve Smith had huge days, but neither got in the end zone in the high scoring affair with the Saints, which prevented Sid’s team from having the monster game I was anticipating.

Big shout out to Steve Slaton for giving me points consistently every week of my playoffs, and that too against some tough defenses (Tennessee and Chicago). No hint of the rookie wall there.

Honorable mentions go to the Tennessee defense (for a huge game against Pittsburgh last week and decent showing, fantasy points-wise, against Indy this week, despite them resting starters. I had reached my waiver wire pickup limit, so couldn’t swap them out for another team), Peyton Manning (for huge games in week 15 and 16), Dominic Rhodes (week 15) and Cadillac Williams (week 17).

Once again, my thanks to Doritos for their “sponsorship” of my team, playing a key role in changing the tenor of my season. And to Stephen Colbert for making the connection and reminding me that anyone, and I mean anyone, can win a meaningless contest if they put their mind to it.

It was a good fantasy year. Can’t wait for next season. Now back to concentrating on the Giants playoff run. Go Giants! Re-Peat!

The last week or so has been pretty major in our house. It all started during our last few days in Puerto Rico. All of a sudden, something clicked for Arav, and he figured out how to crawl. Up until then, he had spent about a month or so being able to get on his knees, but not figuring out what to do next. His moving around therefore consisted mostly of rolling around till he got to where he was going, or going backwards when he meant to go forward, because his legs kept slipping underneath him.

The amazing thing is that within a few days (literally), he has gotten so adept at crawling, that he is now going full tilt around the room and getting into every corner of the apartment. Nothing is safe now. That whole baby-proofing thing we had been putting off, we need to get that done pronto.

The more impressive thing (to us) is that out of the blue this kid has figured out how to get into a sitting position from whatever position he is in (lying on his front or on his back, or crawling around). It’s not exactly elegant, as it involves raising his butt really high in the air, then doing this wierd yoga-like move where he crosses one leg underneath himself and then lowers himself, letting gravity, physics and biomechanics do the inevitable of sitting him up. But we never saw this coming, because unlike the crawling, he hasn’t been trying to do this and failing for a month now. It just showed up in his repertoire out of nowhere. And now he is completely fluid at it.

Babies are just amazing!

So this one came together rather quickly. For almost a month, Tanu and I were trying to figure out where to go on vacation in December, but we couldn’t decide on a place. And then we talked to Tanu’s cousin Sapan and found out that they were planning to go to Puerto Rico. Well, PR was one of the places on our list, so we decided to tag along and join them. Our first family vacation.

The first stop on the trip was going to be the island of Vieques. So after arriving at the airport outside San Juan, we took our rental car and drove about an hour to the port city of Fajardo, where we could catch a ferry to Vieques. We arrived at the parking lot where we would leave our car just a few minutes after Sapan and his family got there. So we were able to do the 90 minute ferry ride with them.

The former US military base is now an idyllic Caribbean island that is still relatively undiscovered. We stayed in the town of Esperanza on the southern coast of Vieques, and it was one of the sleepiest places we had ever been. There are no major hotels, accommodations being in the form of guest houses. We stayed at the Villa Coral Guesthouse, a comfortable little place run by a lovely woman named Mireya. The room, while small, was tastefully furnished and very comfortable. It had the things that are needed (AC, shower) and none of the things that aren’t (TV, internet access) on an island getaway. The only negative was that it was about a 10 minute walk away from the waterfront and the local strip, all uphill (which is a problem when you are trying to get back and pushing a stroller or carrying a sleeping baby in your arms).

But that was all forgotten the next day, when we went to the Media Luna beach (on Mireya’s recommendation). It was a gorgeous crescent shaped beach of perfect white sand, palm trees and calm waters. And it was almost deserted (there was just one family there when we got there), making it feel like we were going to a private beach. But the fact is that it is a free public beach that is better than the expensive private beaches you find at most resorts in the Caribbean.

After a lovely afternoon spent on the beach, we relaxed in our room before heading out at night for a boat tour of bioluminescent bay (or biobay), one of the main attractions in Vieques. The biobay is a unique bay containing up to 720,000 single-celled organisms called dinoflagellates per gallon of water. These half-plant, half-animal organisms emit a flash of bluish light when agitated at night. So on the tour (an entertaining and informative one run by the guys at Island Adventures), we went out into the bay aboard an electric boat. Everything was dark around us, and there were no lights on the boat, so all we could see was the brilliant starry sky above (I have never seen the sky full with so many stars) and the glow of the organisms in the waves created by the wake of the boat.

But the best part was when they stopped the boat in the middle of the bay, and let us get into the water to swim. It was one of the coolest things I have ever done. Watching the water glow around me (sort of like a halo) when I swam, or moved my arms, or kicked my legs, was just amazing. And for a few brief moments when it rained, the glow at the points where the rain was hitting the water made the water look like a reflection of the starry sky above.

And I would be remiss in not mentioning the bus ride we had to take getting back and forth from the biobay. The bay is in the middle of a nature refuge, so there are no real roads getting there. The bus of the tour company (an old school bus) seemed more like a roller coaster at some times, navigating its way through massive holes in the ground, and driving through low hanging and dense vegetation. It was pretty crazy.

That was the end of our day in Vieques. Some day I will go back there for an extended time, when I need and can better appreciate the slowing down of life on the island. In the meantime, go soon if you can, before the island gets overrun by hotel chains.

As I mentioned in part 1 of my post about our Napa trip, our first day through the valley left us hungry for more. So we decided to head up that way on the following Saturday as well. Our first stop was at Oxbow Market, an elegant marketplace that manages to cater all your dining pleasures with just a few small but good stores. It is a real treat to just walk through the space, savoring the aroma wafting around, a mix of chocolate, wine, cheese and assorted foods.

After that, we headed to Bistro Don Giovanni for lunch. A pretty bistro right on Highway 29, the tasty Italian fare is accompanied by an excellent family feel to the place. The proprietor of the place, Donna, was really taken by Arav. I walked into the place after having parked the car to find him laughing away in her arms. After that she whisked him away to show him off in the kitchen and to various other patrons. Arav finally rejoined us after a good 10 minutes of play time in the bistro’s kitchen, which produced some very good food that we greatly enjoyed.

After that, we drove off to visit a few vineyards. Domaine Carneros looks like a chateau from France, and actually is modeled after a real one over there. Not much to look at, to be honest. The vineyard we really wanted to visit was Schramsberg, with its underground caves used as wine cellars. But they wouldn’t let us take the tour with Arav, so we had to pick another place for a tour.

We decided to go to Sterling Vineyards, which has a self-guided tour, so being with Arav became a non-issue. The dazzling white Mediterranean-style building is set up on a hill, and getting there requires taking an aerial tram (included in the price of the tour). The setting of the building is stunning, overlooking the valley, and the tour is pretty comprehensive, showing all aspects of the wine-making process. We also got to taste 5 pretty good wines, one at the start of the tour, one on the roof, where we could look out at the surrounding hills and the valley, and three in the tasting room at the end of the tour. The 2007 Cellar Club Malvasia Bianca, a muscat-like wine served at the end that our hostess said would go great with spicy curried food, was especially good. All in all, it was a pretty good experience. And we got a good wine recommendation out of it too.

That was all for the trip, as we were ready to hit the road and head back to our hotel at this point – a little tired but pretty happy. The two days in Napa were really fun, and I look forward to returning at some point for a more in-depth and relaxing Napa experience.

The regular season of my fantasy football league just ended and ‘We Did It!”. My team, the Doritos Cheese Warriors, finished first in the league. Which is great because that is the bigger prize than the championship in our league (an attempt to reward a season of excellence as opposed to a few lucky weeks).

As is usual, the win came not because of my studs (who generally perform for all their owners, though LT owners like my cousin Sid would beg to differ), but because of the pickups I made. My Fantasy Hall of Famers were Kurt Warner, Chris Johnson and Steve Slaton, who helped carry me to an 11-3 season. Johnson was my last pick in the draft, and Warner and Slaton were waiver wire pickups.

Looking back at my post at the start of season, I find it really interesting that I was lamenting not being able to retain my keeper players, because they would both have been busts (Addai and Lynch), likely dooming my season. Also interesting is that I never had any players from my beloved New York Giants on my team. More to do with the fact that there are way too many Giants fans in my league than any lack of faith in them on my part.

I should also give my thanks to Stephen Colbert, because I chose to have Doritos “sponsor” my team based on their sponsorship of his historic Presidential campaign. And they clearly brought the right karma to my team. It was especially sweet beating my cousin Sid in both our matchups during the season.

My path in the playoffs is not looking as good, since Gore looks like he’ll miss time and some of my players have tough matchups. Still, these last 3 weeks will be pretty fun no matter what happens now.