Old posts from my very first travel website and my first backpacking trip (a year in 2000-2001)!

We have landed in the lap, and bed, of luxury. Gran Melia sign me up! We upgraded to Royal Service so we have access to the exclusive adult only pool that has FREE bali beds and our own bar! We also get free breakfast, our own lounge with internet, and free drinks from 6-9!! Since we are only paying $129 for all 4 nights, we figured the upgrade was worth the splurge.Add to the "Puerto Rico has it all" list: pool/beach beds, swim-up bar, and partially submerged pool chaises complete with chair-side table for your drink! There are iguanas all over the grounds, hammocks to use, beautiful lighting. Mom & Steve are actually staying in the time share section so they also have their own pool with free bali beds and they have a full kitchen. They were so awesome and got a ride into town to do all the grocery shopping!

We are a bit isolated out here and the car rental is over $100/day!! Shit. Oh well, we certainly don't mind being "stuck" here!! Might be sick of it in a few days, but right now we're in heaven. :)

Love Being Spoiled

Ah, how do the little people do it? The lagoon pool is dirty and full of screaming kids. We much prefer lounging in the bali beds with hand rolled towels at our feet, only about 10 people at the pool, and the room manager even buying the expensive drinks we ordered ($12 for a Caipirinha?!). We have also enjoyed chocolate martinis, gran marnier, mojitos, and coffee orgasms at our free happy hour.So many "heavy sigh" moments here. The bed, oh the bed, is so comfy, and the pillows are like clouds from heaven. Some days we decide lay in bed rather than go to the pool just because it's SO comfy!!Watched some belly dancers (entertainment?) that were fair, watched the most incredible hand shadow guy ever (definitely entertainment!), and had our drink on and danced with some locals (still can't quite get the salsa thang down). Checked out the casino - not bad but not in the mood.

Man, did it ever come down the other afternoon!! It rained SO hard. Even our supplied umbrella couldn't hold up to it. Perfect timing that we had to go to our timeshare meeting. The meeting was not bad - definitely worth the good deal we got to stay there. But really, do the numbers - timeshare was not a good deal even though they had a pretty cool package.Rained all night with thunder that seemed to go on forever. Seems that we're not going to do the rainforest. Too hard to rent a car, and now with the rain I don't think the paths are hikeable. Since we've been at the resort, neither of us are very motivated to do much else. Our first 6 days in PR we did so much! Well, good to have a bit of both worlds. Ready to move on.

This has been an incredible trip!! Thanks everyone for joining us and making my birthday so special!! :)