Celebrating Puerto Rican Style

There was an amazing twist of events in our life earlier this year. In February I was asked -- yes, asked-- to take a teaching position. (It was not something I had applied for or was searching for at the time. I believe it was totally arranged by God. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will be returning in the fall.) But not long after taking the position I was told that there would be a conference in the summer that I should attend. Okay, where is it? Oh, well......Puerto Rico! No way! I tried not to be too excited. But I said I would consider it. Ha, ha.

It just so happened that Joel and I were looking to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary somewhere special. So........ I left on a Tuesday with 7 other adults and 11 teenagers for Fajardo, Puerto Rico to stay at the El ConQuistador Resort, part of the Waldorf Astoria chain. We had a great time for four days and then they left for home on Friday morning and Joel joined me that afternoon for another five days! Time to CELEBRATE!
This resort is magnificently perched on a 300 foot cliff and is divided into 5 different villages. I attempted to photograph the entire property at once but it doesn't do it justice. Anyways, I took this one coming back from the private island that the resort owns. All of the buildings you see are part of the El ConQuistador.

Looking down from the top of the cliff, you can see another level of pools, suites and restaurants and then the marina and suites at the bottom.

LaMarina Village was where we stayed and our suite was in the building in this picture. The last balcony on the left was ours. The ocean to our right and the marina in front of us.And this was our view every morning when we woke up. Aahhhhhh...

Not far from our building was the Coqui Water Park, the newest addition to the property. It's plush, luxurious and, of course, exclusive to the resort.
It has a tube slide, a body slide, a speed slide, an 8,000 square foot lazy river, bar and grille, a children's pool and an infinity pool. The infinity pool looks like it goes right out into the ocean. Isn't that beautiful?
Here we are right up at the edge so you can see where it stops and where the ocean starts. (look at my redneck hubby! Too much time on the golf course, I think)

This is the speed slide - it's a heart stopper! You climb 100 feet up and then push yourself out of a tube where you can't even see the slide. You literally go back under where you are sitting and straight down. It's a love-hate thing. You end up loving the rush you get from it but you hate those initial heart stopping seconds. Yeah! The picture doesn't do it justice!
The resort also owns a private island, named Palamino Island. They take you over on a ferry boat like this one and you can stay all day or come back when you want.
On the island there is a restaurant, horseback riding, jet skis, shops, scuba and old-fashioned sunbathing!! Look at the water!We took some time to explore around the other side of the island - I just kept taking pictures because the landscape was so unique. It was tropical and beachy but yet rugged and craggy.

I just loved this lone palm tree.

What an amazing place to spend our 10th anniversary.

With over 20 places to eat on this resort we knew we could find a special restaurant to celebrate our anniversary. We chose the Strip House - no it's not a strip club, it's the famed Manhattan steak restaurant! Here's how they describe: the décor of the restaurant is that of a saucy mélange of sultry silks with vintage Studio Manasse images adorning the walls. The seductive atmosphere and innovative menu excite all the senses. Yep, that's perfect for celebrating!
The meal was absolutely outstanding. The best either of us has had and we've tried some pretty "highly acclaimed" places. We loved our waiter, as you can see - and he loved us. He didn't serve any other table but ours, it was truly personal service. The best part of it all was the dessert. We decided to split something and he recommended the 24 layer chocolate cake since Joel told him that I LOVE dark chocolate. We really didn't think it would be 24 layers but....

it WAS! The cake alone was $16.
After we shared some of it we took it with us
back to our room. I ate on it for the next 3 nights
and even threw some away when we left - now that's a cake!
(good thing I had free access to the gym everyday)

It was finally time to leave and return to reality. Joel was anxious to get back to work and to buy a lunch for less than $50. But we still cherished the alone time to relax, talk without being interrupted and reflect on 10 years under our belts.

Hmmm....what could we do for our 20th, Honey?