La Isla del Encanto
Photography by Enuel Viera Photography and Vanessa Velez Photography
One Thursday afternoon, Jeremy and I were running through the airport. “Oh my God I hope we don’t miss this flight!” I said to Jeremy as we passed by a crowd of people. I had no idea that morning when I woke up that I’d end up in Puerto Rico. My fiancé had convinced me to go on a last minute trip to the island of my people. No one even knew we were going. Later that day we kissed under the sunset next to El Morro – this is where the most romantic adventure began on the enchanted island, La Isla del Encanto.
La Isla del Encanto
Puerto Rico is truly enchanted. The entire island is surrounded by sparkling blue water facing the Caribbean sea. The beaches are so beautiful it all feels so unreal. At night the island begins to sing with the voice of the coquí, a tiny frog that only lives there. We stayed in old San Juan in an Airbnb with a balcony where you could view the city. All the buildings are in colonial Spanish style painted with different colors. The streets are paved with stone surrounded by art shops, restaurants, and old grand churches. The town has castle-like buildings that are called “El Morro” and “San Cristóbal” which were both fortresses built by Spain to protect the island from intruders. They overlook the water, giving it a picturesque view of the sea. Talk about romantic! Also the food is to die for!
El Yunque and the glowing water
The next day of our trip, we wasted no time and decided to see the rainforest (El Yunque) and the bioluminescent water. That morning (after having mimosas on our balcony) we headed out to see the rainforest. The waterfalls were spectacular, and the gardens so lush. We saw hummingbirds and butterflies. My favorite part were the views at the top. You could see the entire island from the top of watch towers built with stone. Mountains lush with greenery, blue water, and white sand you could see on all sides. Later that night, we kayaked in the bioluminescent water. Our paddles splashed bursts of light in the water. When you waved your hand in the water it looked as if you had magic powers. The darker it got the brighter the water glowed. It was magical.
The Magic Door
This trip started two months before with a picture of a door on a vision board. We had wanted to manifest this trip and found a picture of an old door in Old San Juan that we loved and pasted it on the vision board. The third day in San Juan we went in search of it, and we found it! It was so vivid and weathered it looked as if it had withstood the test of time. That night we explored the city’s night life after a romantic dinner under the moonlight. I swear everything I ate there whether it was at a fancy restaurant or a road side food truck the food was to die for. The next day we discovered the city was filled with art. Each shop had beautiful paintings in bright colors, drawings filled the walls of some shops and poetry was on display in shop front windows.
Photography by Enuel Viera Photography and Vanessa Velez Photography