Day 24 San Juan, Puerto Rico

Another one of Christopher Columbus’s discoveries was Puerto Rico, one year after discovering USA.  And so it remained in Spanish hands until the 1800s. Spanish has remained as the first language, but English is taught in all schools, so everyone speaks English as well.

Den was feeling a little better this morning and so the four of us ventured out.  It was very hot and so an air conditioned bus tour seemed to be the way to go.  Our first stop was ’The Presidents Walk’ – a row of sculptures of all of the American Presidents who had visited Puerto Rico.  Barak Obama was the most recent addition.  They are meant to be life size.  Obama is 6ft 6in but I felt that the statue was much taller.  Anyway it is a very impressive row of statues.

Our next stop was the Capital Building.  It is made of marble and is quite beautiful on the outside.  Inside it is very colourful and ornate in a tacky way.

Next stop was one of the beaches.  Most people were more interested in taking photos of an iguana.  Poor thing got a bit stressed and shot off into the grass.  The views out onto the water were really nice, but more like a surf beach than somewhere to have a swim.  The sky seemed hazy but it was just mist from the seas crashing waves.

We drove on to the fort.  Parts of the original walls of the city still stand.  Terrace buildings line the streets on the old part of town and our guide told us these homes sold for upwards of $800,000.

From there we went down to the old town area, where the tour ended except for some Italian people who were screaming that they were told they would visit some place we hadn’t heard of.  The tour guide told them that all they could get there was illegal drugs.  I don’t know if they could fully understand what was said but they were adamant that he should take them.  That was the last we saw of the bus and we happily went in search of a drink and somewhere to sit down and rest for a while. 

We chose a quaint coffee shop.  The man serving the drinks was very nice but extremely slow at making our drinks, but they were worth the wait.  He told us he will be 90 next birthday.  He looks after 3 shops that are all sort of together.  While we were enjoying our drinks he went through a doorway into the adjoining shop.  He had a little dance in the hallway that joined the premises – he was pretty good.  It turns out that he ran a dance studio from the age of 19.  He said that he can still out run the young ones that he sees while out jogging.  “Hey Grandpa can you catch me………….that is when I go whoosh and leave them behind.” That was the story he told us, he certainly looked fit enough for it to be true.

Den had run out of puff by then and had started to feel ill again, so we headed back to the ship for a rest before lunch.

Castillo San Cristobal was my destination as I headed off alone.  Den stayed in bed, still not feeling well, and Julee and Lindsay were going to catch a ‘trolley car’ that is like a hop on hop off bus.  It was still hot but not as bad as in the morning and there was a slight breeze.  I got cooled down by accident – a car went charging past through a puddle and I was wet down the back of both legs.  GRRRRR….until I found that the water was clean and I felt much cooler and by the time I climbed to the top of the hill I was dry again.

This area had fantastic views out over the sea and had been part of the original wall.  It was well worth the effort to see it.  There were charming little laneways running off to the sides filled with terrace houses (Spanish style).  Each street (calle) had a ceramic plaque with its name.  A favourite was ‘Calle de la Luna’ with of course a smiling quarter moon.

There were street market stalls selling all sorts of hand crafted jewellery and keepsakes of Puerto Rico.  There was a farmers market also but this was in the new part of town.  The streets are only narrow made for one cart width.  They have been made with bricks brought to Puerto Rico as ballast in the early ships.  They are very unique – they have a ceramic type top which is all shades of blues.  They have survived 200 years and although are slippery to walk on when they are wet they look great.

I went back to the ship via a pharmacy (can’t bring myself to call it a drug store).  It was huge and sold everything and so I got Den some different cold/flu tablets.

By dinner time Den was feeling well enough to attempt sitting at the table.  Our evening dinners are always very enjoyable.  It was organised so that the same people sit at the same table every night and so you enjoy getting together to hear what everyone has been doing that day.  We were very fortunate to have really nice people on our table – 8 of us are from Aust. and one Cuban gentleman who lives in Miami.  He is a serial cruiser.  He has been a wealth of information regarding the ports we have called into – most places he has been to many times.  Tonight we are in dock till 2am so he offered to take us for a walk around San Juan.  Den was still feeling ok so off we went.

It was still warm but with a gentle sea breeze, so it was lovely conditions to walk.  The town was in party mode.  This Jose told us is normal.  Any night of the week the town is out and about.  There were police cars (the black/white USA style ones) and police motor bikes everywhere bright blue lights flashing.  We thought there must have been some trouble but Jose said that is just normal.  The police always are round and always have their lights flashing.  It certainly was normal, blue lights flashing and the police men standing having a friendly chat even sometimes having a coffee or helping a disabled person up stairs.  Tourism is their biggest trade so they don’t want any trouble.

Our walk took us to the far end of San Juan.  Their Christmas decorations were already up and looked beautiful, in a very elegant way.  We could see the old city wall.  It is said to be 18 feet thick.  Jose led us through the old gates.  These were huge, wooden planks with metal studs (just like in Robin Hood movies).  The tunnel we walked through would have been about 18feet long and so we certainly believed it to be the width of the walls.  Outside we could hear the calling of the local frog, Cooki named after the sound the male makes calling to females.  It is a tiny frog – it would easily sit on top of a five cent piece.  Jose told us that the frog cannot survive when taken away from San Juan.  There was quite a male frog chorus as we walked on.

Our next stop was at a very expensive Hotel ‘Convento’.  It was the original convent for Nuns in Puerto Rico.  When it was no longer wanted it was converted into a six star Hotel.  They changed as little as possible inside and the rooms are the nuns cells – didn’t sound very 6 star to me!!!!  But it was really beautiful.

San Juan is quite hilly.  We wandered along some more streets – more terrace homes, three stories high.  We were surprised to see the electric power poles sticking up from the roof of every fourth or fifth building??  Most of the homes were lovely and well kept, but a few didn’t even have a roof and you could see trees growing up from the top floor.

We had come around in a big loop and the nightly festivities were in full swing.  Everyone out and enjoying the evening.  Time to head back to our ship and get to bed.  Den had managed really well but was starting to feel weak again.  Tomorrow hopefully he’ll be back to full health.