November 21 - San Juan, Puerto Rico

Hello from San Juan, the capital city of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. We arrived around 10 AM and made our way past the fort of El Morro on the promontory at the harbor entrance.  I’ve written about El  Morro before but here’s a little refresher.  The fortress was built by the Spanish in the 16th century.  The island was first settled by the Spanish on Columbus’ second voyage in November 1493.  What would become San Juan was founded by Juan Ponce de Leon, famous for  being the person who looked for the fountain of youth.  Ponce de Leon is buried in the cathedral here in San Juan.

El Morro

Old San Juan from the harbor - the bright white building on the left is a prison

I’ve been here many times before and we even stayed in hotels a couple of times on vacations.  I can’t remember exactly but I think the first time we came was close to 45 years ago.  I can tell you that new San Juan has really grown.  Old San Juan looks much the same as it did the first time I came except there are so many empty store fronts.  The island has suffered tremendously from the pandemic shutdowns and the lack of tourism.

When I got off the ship and left the terminal I did what I’ve done many times in the last few cruises;  I found a taxi driver and we negotiated a price for a tour around town.  I wasn’t up for a hike up the hill in the heat and humidity.  So on to my trip.  My driver was an older gentleman who said his name was Johnny.  I asked if he was really Juan and he said his friends called him Juanito, so that’s what I called him.  I sat in the front with him and we had a nice trip around town.  To most visitors there are two San Juans, the old colonial one with cobblestone streets and buildings with wrought iron balconies and colonial architecture, and then there is the modern one with high rise buildings.  There are really three cities though.  There is a highway that runs out from the harbor area past the modern area with condos, hotels, and some luxury stores.  On the other side of the highway there is the place where ordinary, working class Puerto Ricans live.  We drove through some narrow streets in that part of town past a local market that was about to close.  There were little cafés which were closed but which Juanito told me would be busy in the evening. 

A building across from the market in the working class part of San Juan

We drove under the highway and found a different world. The main street is lined with modern condo buildings and hotels, all painted a brilliant white. One building we passed Juanito pointed out was where Ricky Martin has a condo. I only know that that singer sang “Living la vida Loca” and I think Katie and Stan went to a concert of his one year in Boston. (Katie likes salsa music.) I don’t know if he was accurate but Juanito told me that the prices of the condos have dropped in the last couple of years and he said one can now buy a pretty decent one for $75 K.  That sounds pretty inexpensive, but I’m not in the market anyway.  That area is called the Condado area and they have lovely beaches facing the Atlantic since this is the north side of the island.

A little beach in Condado

We drove back into old San Juan and passed a lot of places I remember going when I came here with Al years ago.  We stopped briefly at the two forts, San Cristobal and El Morro.  On one of the streets we passed a restaurant, El Patio de Sam, which I went to many years ago.  If it had been open I would have asked Juanito to park so we could go in and have a drink and a snack, but sadly it only opens in the evening. We stopped briefly at the cathedral but I didn’t go in.  Strung across all the streets were Christmas lights and we passed multiple big signs wishing people Feliz Navidad (Merry Christmas) and Feliz dia de los Reyes (Three Kings Day).  They are definitely gearing up for Christmas.

Casa de España, a club for people of pure Spanish descent

A street in old San Juan. If you look you can see the Christmas lights strung from the wrought iron brackets

Another street in old San Juan. I think they have a traffic problem!

If you've ever enjoyed a piña colada, this is where the drink was born

I asked Juanito if the island has recovered from Hurricane Maria which hit a few years ago and he said they haven’t on some parts of the island.  He told me that a lot of the aid that came was side-tracked by a very corrupt government; in fact one governor had to resign because of corruption.  Just a month or so ago another hurricane hit and there are still parts of the island that don’t have power.  It’s very sad, especially since billions of dollars were spent to modernize the electric grid.  In fact I remember that Dominion Energy from Virginia sent some crews to help with that.

We eventually got back to the dock and I said good-bye.  Juanito gave me his card and said if I come again to call him in advance and he’ll meet me at the pier and take me home to meet his wife and have lunch. He was a nice man and I had a lovely trip around the city. I have to say that I’ve been a very lucky person to find the delightful people I’ve encountered to take me around.

Back on the ship after a salad for lunch we had a third session of trivia and we tied for first place again.  Three days in a row we’ve won.  We would have won outright, but the majority overruled the answer I and another lady said.  Here’s the question.  What two things did the 700 third class passengers on the Titanic share?  Yesterday’s answers were Bermuda is the country with a shipwreck on its flag and the Danube flows through four capitals (Bratislava, Vienna, Budapest and Belgrade).  Aren’t you glad I’m sharing some probably useless information with you?

We sailed away shortly after trivia and I sat out on deck with a nice couple from Sweden and we talked for a while. Dinner was at the cruise director’s table tonight and I sat between my new friend from Mississippi and a lovely lady from England.  The latter and I found we had a lot in common.  Her husband is an accountant as was Al and while they have two children, they had their first after they’d been married as long as we were and they’ve been married as many years as we would have been. I hope I encounter some of these people on future cruises because it’s great fun learning about different styles and customs of living.  Once again I’ve very fortunate to encounter such a diverse and pleasant bunch of people.

Well, it’s late and I’ve rambled on a lot but it’s been such a good day.  So for now nighty-night..