The room at the Intercontinental is nothing special. We purchased the room at Hotwire for $99/night so I wasn't expecting their best room. They did give us an ocean view albeit obstructed by the roof of the Ruth's Chris Steak Restaurant below. The room is clean & decent, two queen beds, a desk & chair, a couple of chairs, tv, small refrigerator, etc. But if I were paying full price -- $250 in the off-season -- for this, I'd feel ripped off. Hopefully they give people who pay that rate better rooms. The pool and beach areas looks nice. It was raining hard when we first got here so we didn't go swimming. After the rain let up we took a walk down the street instead.

I had a heck of a time trying to find out what's within walking distance of the Intercontinental (El San Juan) Hotel before coming and I never found any decent information. So for the record, just a short walk away are: Church's Chicken, Burger King, Subway, Ponderosa, Baskin-Robbins, Long John Silvers, KFC, Dominos Pizza, Pizza Hut, Chinese Restaurant, Mi Casita Puerto Rican Restaurant, Taco Bell, and Wendy's. Fast food heaven. There doesn't appear to be a coin laundry which is what I was searching for.

Right across the street is a small local market called Fresh Food Supermarket. It was dingy and a little sparse but had all the important things ie water & beer. Also fresh plantains and papaya. So we bought some beer, Coke, and water. I figured we'd have to "rough it" with access to this small market. But a few more minutes down the street there was a large Walgreens with just about everything you could imagine. Even more amazing, the prices were not that far off from mainland prices. I figured prices would be about double with this being an island out in the middle of the Caribbean but they weren't any more than I'd expect to pay at a Michigan Walgreens. If we had known that, we might not have packed so heavy. We brought all the baby food, diapers and everything else we'd need.

Dinner today was takeout from Church's Fried Chicken. Ironically, even though we have Church's in Michigan, I've never eaten at one before. Most of them seem to be in or near Detroit, places I generally don't go. So it's funny that my first Church's experience was here. Honestly, it wasn't an experience I'd go out of my way to repeat. The food is basic fried chicken but nothing that I can imagine myself craving. Anway, all this fast food is good news. We won't be trapped in an expensive resort without an all-inclusive plan.

The weather report calls for rain every day but temps in the 80s. Hopefully we can dodge most of the rain but either way, we're on vacation! Yay!