My last vacation was probably abut as close as I can get to going to a foreign country without actually leaving the United States.

I went to Puerto Rico.

As some readers might recall, I like going someplace different on my vacations.

Different from home, anyway. My trips usually involve a beach. At least once a year, I really need to hear the waves crashing, feel sand between my toes and relax in the sun.

Which is not always a good idea for a pale man of Irish descent, but still true.

But I also like going to somewhere that will be “different.” Different from home, and, more often than not, different from the previous places I’ve traveled. So this year when the itch really hit I went to Puerto Rico.

Being a U.S. territory, it was about as “different” as it can get without leaving the country.

And it was eye opening.

First off, I was in San Juan. It’s actually pretty similar to Miami. Maybe not quite so large or cosmopolitan, but the merchants along the beach had some pretty similar concepts to the ones in South Beach, especially the restaurants – pretty girls trying to get you to stop walking and relax inside, food that might be slightly overpriced and drinks that most certainly are.

Gambling is legal in Puerto Rico, so many of the resorts have small, Vegas style casinos attached.

That led to my usual pattern in these situations: I had a set amount of money to gamble. I got up for a while, then down...then down further...and when, after a while, I realized any rational person would walk away, maybe play again later or spend the money on something else.

So I bet the remainder of my gambling fund on one last bet.

And lost. That never works.

And that sums up my first night in San Juan.

You’ll hear lots of Spanish spoken in Puerto Rico, but almost everybody I met also spoke English with little accent. And seeing as I’ve always liked a Spanish accent, it certainly wasn’t a problem.

The city was clean, and, in fact, everywhere I went was clean. I spent most of one day on a trip to the rain forest, and during the drive up there I was struck by how little trash there was on the roads during the drive up there.

Frankly, there are similar roads throughout the U.S. and East Tennessee that have a lot more trash strewn along them. That’s not to say there were no problems. In some spots you could see people sleeping on the sidewalk. The poverty rate in Puerto Rico, according to some estimates, is more than 40 percent.

The forest itself was beautiful, although the hike nearly killed me. I’d like to thank the crew at Ecoquest for keeping me going. I don’t often get the chance to plug anyone, but if you’re going to Puerto Rico look those guys up.

They’ll take you up along a river, repelling at a waterfall if you want (I didn’t) and to a zipline to get down (which beats walking).

Despite my exhaustion, I figure the trip was a good initiation into tropical rain forests. There were hardly any bugs, and there are no major predators prowling the El Yunque rain forest, either.

After coming back, we were treated to one of the best meals of the trip — a homemade dinner at a house near the spot where we left the car.

The highlight for me was green bananas with garlic and onions. Try to imagine the look on my face when they set down bananas, with onions. And garlic.

I thought they might have made a mistake. They didn’t. I’m an adventurous eater — there’s not many foods I won’t try — so I took a very cautious taste. My first thought was what I call the “Jello fruit cocktail rule ” — just because you like the ingredients separately doesn’t mean you’ll like them together.

But in this case, I did. Green bananas have a different taste from the “desert bananas” we’re used to here — or I’m used to, here — and it took me by surprise.

Anyway, after that, it was on to Old San Juan — one of the oldest European settlements in the Americas.

It includes the Castillo San Cristobal, the largest Spanish fort in the New World — and quite a sight in the middle of a bustling town.

Almost all of Old San Juan is actually a historic site; years ago they started some major efforts to get businesses to restore the buildings and the result is a blend of old style European style mixed with new businesses that feels a lot like the French Quarter of New Orleans.

It was worth the walk around, especially since I was alone and not dragged into each shop.

Also, Puerto Rico is proud to be the “rum capital of the world” and home to the Bacardi distillery.

But that’s all I remember about that.

— Jeff Farrell is a reporter for The Mountain Press. Call 428-0748, ext. 216, or e-mail to jfarrell@themountainpress.com.