San Juan - Puerto Rico
Seaduced
John & Jane Craven
Fri 3 Feb 2012 20:13
| The four of us set off to spend two days on a city break having tied the boats up safely in Fajardo marina. Driving through Puerto Rico is a very strange experience. All along the main roads, which are two or three lanes wide on each side, are huge strip malls full of American fast food joints such as Wendy's burgers, Church's Chicken, Taco Maker and off course Burger King! As well as those, there are also local restaurants, supermarkets and cash & carry food stores everywhere - they certainly seem to enjoy eating!! One shop which made us smile was the 'Kinky Condom Shop'. This was the first of many that we saw whilst driving around - the Puerto Ricans are said to be amongst the happiest in the world and, with various shops selling nothing but condoms, this might help to explain why!! On arriving in San Juan, having found the hotel and checked in, we went exploring but didn't get far however before our first coffee stop in Plaza Colon. Having been revitalised, we went to look at the two forts which have been used as defences for the city over the years against various foes including the Brits. Between the two forts there is a large ghetto area known as La Perla, which the guidebooks all describe as very much a 'no go' area. The houses are very densely packed and from our vantage point looking down into La Perla, there were lots of burnt out cars and wrecked, empty buildings. Previously, during 'Operation Bootstrap', all the peasant farmers were brought into the town from the country and this demand for housing led to the formation of these densely populated areas which have slowly turned into dangerous ghettos. One thing that was striking was the amount of green, there was a huge area of grass in front of the fort which in any other city would have been prime building land. Post lunch we had some rather more serious business to attend to - shopping!! After searching for years, John eventually found the perfect panama hat. Once he had chosen the hat, he had to choose the colour of the band and it was then fitted to the hat. The shop was an eclectic mix of hats in all shapes and sizes, together with various antiques such as morse code machines, and some very unusual paintings. The boys soon got bored of shopping though, and us girls having far better stamina, left them in heaven - a cigar lounge. There are several cigar shops here, none selling Cuban cigars though, and some have small lounges at the back with a bar and sofas so that you can sit and enjoy a cigar whilst sipping a nice local rum. That evening, we had been given a recommendation for a tapas bar in town. We had the most fantastic night, when we arrived we got the last table inside and they had really good live music. Everyone else in the bar was local, giving the place a great vibe - a very good time was had by all!! After sleeping soundly all night in a bed that didn't move and without having to leap up and close windows when the rain started (there actually weren't any windows in the room)!!, we had another day to explore. We spent the morning doing the cultural bit, visiting the National Gallery, the Cathedral, and the Pablo Casals museum - he was a famous Puerto Rican cellist who won various awards in his lifetime and set up an annual festival which continues to this day. A bit more shopping led to the purchase of a traditional Puerto Rican mask. This was used centuries ago to convince the Indian inhabitants of the island, the Tainos, to convert to Catholicism. They are said to have been used to frighten them into attending church as they warded off evil spirits. They are all painted in bright colours and have horns. We are hoping to avoid all evil spirits on our boat from now on - the lady in the shop assured us that they worked well. After a spot of lunch we set off to visit the new town. One of the highlights was a trip to a shopping mall! This was just like the Trafford Centre, with a huge 3 storey Macy's department store to explore. The girls were allowed 2 whole hours shopping time - shopping like this is a long forgotten treat now! Tonight we head back to the boat for a night at home prior to setting off again into the mountains tomorrow. |