No 5 bus Isle Verde

[orquidia]

:mad::mad: Chasm4u: before replying to your plea I went into the web site for Charlie - and was surprised to see that the "compact" car that friend and I rented for one day for $19 now would cost us $29! Guess we were fortunate....I know that several on this site mentioned that they also rented cars from Charlie for about $19/day - that's why I sent there. There is a car rental agency right across from ES....but I can't remember what it was (national agency).

 

 

fillmore: it made for an interesting ride back to SJ! It was unnerving to say the least getting out of the car at fast food restaurants to ask directions - only to be told "no English"....but when we finally spoke to a gal with a car full of children at a gas station, she very easily told us how to get back to SJ while a couple cars also refueling (guys) also said "no English"! It was pretty expensive since we passed thru the same toll booths several times - and the attendents tried to give us directions - but would not allow us to turn around! And another thing: the road signage was in Spanish. I'm surprised how little English is spoken by folks in a US territory....and really surprised at the lack of English translations on the roadways - now I understand and can appreciate the main land US doing most everything in English and Spanish

 

We arrived at the marina for the Bio Bay excursion about 4:00. Were told to be there no later than 4:30. The marina was very nice - and was gated. By the time they took our dinner orders and ran our charge cards, we were probably on the high speed catamaran by 5:15. It was a 45 minutes ride over to Vieques - fun all the way - great crew. We were taken by vans to their restaurant for dinner - then to the Bay. I believe in their ads they indicate that if they pick you up from your hotel ($21 more pp), you'll be back by 11:00 or 11:30 P. (think they said the drive to Farjdo is about 45 min....hard for me gage since we also drove around the Rain Forrest and stopped at the beach). This was a GREAT excursion and one that will probably eventually be "disallowed" for eco reasons - swimming in the Bay.

 

The 53 bus was probably about 40 min. or so - depending on the number of stops - it just went thru a better area, IMHO.

 

$19 dollars? that is a real bargain. I have never heard of such low rate for a rental car company in San Juan, usually is over $25 during high season which begins in November and it ends in March or April. You were truly lucky to find such low rate.

 

fact: the language of Puerto Ricans is spanish (it's been like that for over 500 years like the rest of Latin America, from Mexico to Chile), there is no practical need for road sign translations when 99.99% of the population speaks spanish, remember PR is not a US state, it is not a bunch of inmigrant residents lacking a common history or culture, culturally it is a latin american country and it has autonomy under the present status, Puerto Rico even has it's own olympic team and competes against USA, has also 5 Ms. Universe crowns (competed as Ms. Puerto Rico.

the US Virgin Islands (St Thomas, St Croix and St John) are a different story since they are an english speaking group of islands, different history since they were never part of the spanish caribbean like Cuba & Puerto Rico, and culturally do not belong to Latin America, you will find road signs and everything in english over there just like you would in the US, but their english accent has a twist and is similar to the jamaican or bahamian accent.

I know that rental car companies in PR do have maps with spanish-english translations of road signs, they are easy to use but some rental car agents are lazy and forget to hand out those guides. the most important ones are salida = exit, ceda = yield, pare = stop, no estacione = no parking, oeste = west. the other ones you can figure it out because they sound similar, for example: este = east, sur = south, norte = north, no entre = do not enter

 

bus 53 goes thru tourist zones, while T5 skips most of the tourist zones and goes into Santurce, which is a district next to the tourist zones

[pooh1bear43113]

I, too, was really surprised that there were no upcharges on the car we rented.....I fully expected it to be more than what we ended up paying....I was very pleased.

 

Re signage: I understand that PR is not a State....but a territory. And that their language is Spanish. I also recognize that in the U.S. the official language is English.....but the U.S. does a pretty good job of providing info in Spanish as well as English. According to locals we met, many could not exist without Medicaid and other assistance by the U.S. That came as a very huge surprise to me. As for the signage - I was able to figure it out (and my co-pilot brought her translation book) - but was still surprised that many residents did not speak English and that the signage was not split - I've traveled a good deal and many countries do post signage, etc. in two languages....what struck me in PR was that as a territory of the U.S., I thought it would be a little easier to navigate menus, signs, etc.

 

The people we came into contact with in PR were wonderfully helpful and we got along fine - there was always someone available to offer assistance when they recognized our "duh" looks.

 

Would love to be able to spend more time on the island in the future.:)