A view of Cupecoy Beach The cove on Cupecoy Beach where Judi and I lay out last Sunday The cute "jeep" isn't really a jeep -- it's a Toyota Rav 4 I included this picture only because I usually photograph horribly (I can't pretend to smile), but I thought I looked good in this one (photo: Judi) Checkout time at the resort was 10:00 am. They are serious about checkout time here. If you're late, they charge you $100 an hour. As we hauled our luggage out our front door at 9:45, we could hear dozens of apartment doors, car doors, and trunks slamming in all directions. From the resort we drove to Cupecoy Beach. Judi wanted to see if we could get pictures of the beach from the top of the ledge. I found there is a walking path along the top with vantage points over the beach. It was beautiful. I took tons of pictures. The next order of business was lunch. That was our last meal on SXM, and, you know, we never once ate under air conditioning, despite temperatures in the nineties. But we were never uncomfortable. The return of the rental car is a good moment for me to recommend the half-ragtop jeep-like vehicle. It was a lot of fun. But I most certainly do not recommend the Tropicana rental company. We paid more than everyone else we talked to (who rented from other companies) , the vehicles (we had two at different times) had problems, and the people were rude. Waiting in the terminal at the airport, we saw the Pop Tart Girls again. They were subdued, though. No chattering -- they didn't exchange a dozen words. They just read, or looked vacantly around the waiting area. I wondered if maybe they hadn't wandered accidentally onto the south end of Orient Beach, and that had left them sobered. :) After landing in San Juan, our plane stopped on taxiway. The pilot announced, "Sorry folks. We'll be on our way again in a few seconds, but there's a huge iguana crossing the taxiway in front of us, and he doesn't seem to be intimidated by this airplane, so we're going to wait for him to get across." Everyone crowded to the windows to see the iguana that held up our arrival at the terminal. Going through Immigration and Customs in San Juan is difficult enough without having to go through Security again. What's the point in that? We already went through security in SXM. San Juan was an ordeal. Welcome back to the States, where nothing makes sense and everything is an ordeal. Sing along with me: Red, red wine.... Lunch Our intention had been to eat at Turtle Pier, which was highly recommended by several Web sites, but we had all our stuff loaded in the jeep, and we couldn't close it up, and from Turtle Pier we couldn't keep an eye on it in the parking lot. So we left there and Judi picked a place called Hot Tomatoes, solely because we happened to drive by it and it looked like we could keep an eye on our car. To begin with, the restaurant was esthetically pleasant -- high ceilings with fans, wooden walls, tile floors, a covered deck overlooking Simpson Lagoon, heavy wooden tables. A breeze blew through. It was nice. We started with the "Hot Tomatoes" appetizer -- I mean, they named the place after it, didn't they? These were tomatoes that were halved, scooped out, and filled with a mixture of roasted jalapenos and cream cheese. And maybe some other stuff. They were heavenly. We also split a bowl of curried conch chowder. Oh, man! That was my single favorite thing. The curry was just enough to give it flavor, but not enough to make it hot. The broth was light. There were peppers, corn, and chunks of potatoes. The potatoes were cooked so perfectly they melted in your mouth. And the conch... it wasn't tough at all. They must have tenderized it somehow, because it had the consistency of chicken. And there was a lot of it. For our main course, I had beef brisket and cheese on french bread. It was excellent, not just the beef, but the cheese and the crusty bread, too. It came with "fries" -- actually potato wedges that had been tossed in a coating before being deep fried. They just disintegrated in your mouth as you bit into them -- they were that flaky. Judi had the bonzai grilled chicken. It was spiced and grilled very well, though I thought it was a tad dry. It was served with a side of that peanut sauce -- why does everything grilled come with peanut sauce? Luckily it was on the side. Her chicken came with a side of what looked like plain white rice, but had been subtly flavored in some way that made it delicious. And then there were the salads -- well, not the salads, but the salad dressing. It was amazing. We asked for an extra bowl of it. The waitress said it was their special recipe, and they were known for it. The best way I can describe it is that it was somehow tropical, but without being fruity. In fact, I'd describe the whole meal that way: Somehow tropical, without being fruity.