You really can’t judge a city by its Old Town. Old Town is where the tourists flock. It’s typically a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which means it has to be kept in good repair and all the buildings’ paint colors have to be chosen from the UNESCO-approved pallet. Security is typically better than elsewhere in the community. It’s in everyone’s interest to keep things in tip-top shape.

Having said that, Viejo San Juan is a fine example of a nice old town. The streets were clean(ish), the buildings in good repair, people seemed friendly and, as the photos will show, typical Caribbean/South American color schemes predominate. The city proper, seen in the distance, and the route to the airport supported the idea of a fine city.

Of course, San Juan and Puerto Rico are not without lots of issues: problems with the economy, poverty and failing infrastructure, all exacerbated by hurricane damage. Puerto Rico’s future political status is always a question mark. Independence from the USA? Statehood? Status quo?

Whatever, Judy and I thoroughly enjoyed our day in Viejo San Juan.

The Hotel Decanter proved to be a winner. It’s old, but modernized, and right across the street from the cathedral, which we could see from our second floor room’s balcony. We walked a block to the recommended restaurant for breakfast (9:30 AM; lazy) but opted instead for a kiosk in a plaza across the street that served pastries and iced coffee. The guy who waited on us was born in San Juan but grew up in Worcester, MA. He has lived in San Juan for four years and loves it. He’s bilingual and speaks English with a perfect Worcesterian accent.

We peeked into the cathedral to observe the Sunday Mass that was in progress. It’s a pretty typical Spanish cathedral but in apparent need for repair. Old big building, weak economy and ebbing attendance is the curse of many religious establishments everywhere these days.

It was a 20 minute walk or so the Castillo san Felipe del Morro – El Morro. It’s history spans more than 400 years, starting in 1539 when Spain established a military presence at San Juan, the first significant land reached when sailing to the New World. It therefore became a control point for the Caribbean and South America region. England’s Queen Elizabeth I tried twice to wrest control of the island, failing both times. Sir Francis Drake was defeated outright. Later George Clifford succeeded in defeating the Spanish defenders but was driven off after a few days by dysentery. The Dutch faired no better in their attempt in 1625. Each attempt spurred the Spanish to improve and expand the fortifications, bringing El Morro up to state-of-the-art design and making it even more impenetrable.

It wasn’t until the end of the Spanish world empire in the late 19^th century that the U.S., winning the Spanish-American War, finally dislodged Spain for good. The U.S., while promising to lift the yoke of military occupation imposed by Spain, operated the island as a military base through WWI and WWII. In 1961 El Morro became a National Park facility.

We clambered up and down El Morro and then, for good measure, hiked 30 minutes up hill to the other fortress, Castillo San Cristóbal, that the Spanish built to defend against land invasion from the rear. Judy wins the Suffering Spouse award for putting up with my single-minded determination to see it all.

But a two minute walk from there brought us to the Luna Café restaurant where Judy had a beef stew recommended by the helpful waiter and I had a whole red snapper. That means the head was still attached and the poor thing looked at me with a disapproving eye for the entire meal. But its ultimate sacrifice was not made in vain. Rice and beans and sweet fried plantain sides plus a three-milk cake and mojitos completed the meal.

From there, another 15 minutes brought us back to the Decanter. We retrieved our bags, ordered a taxi and, after dodging heavy traffic in Old Town, made it to the airport. We had to clear not only TSA but USDA inspection. Apparently there’s something about Puerto Rican pigs that’s a no-go on the mainland. Our bags went through a huge machine that must, I presume, listen for tell-tale oinks if someone tries to smuggle un cerdo in their luggage.

So that’s it for this trip. We’re an hour into our three-hour trip to Tampa. We’ll be home by 1 AM. It’ll be “home” for only another 9 days, with doctors’ appointments and four dinner outings, including a Cinco de Mayo party at our house. Maybe a round of golf; who knows? Then we’ll be on the road to Melrose, stopping at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC for two nights.

Our next trip is in early July when we’ll travel with our twelve-year-old granddaughter, Esme, to Hawaii for surfing and snorkeling. It’s a Road Scholar trip for grandkids and grandparents, similar to what we’ve done with Reagan and Carter. That’ll leave only  Griffin, who turns 10 in September. After his trip we’ll be plumb out of grandkids.

Thanks for coming along on this trip. See you again in July!

 

Judy has put together her thoughts on this trip. Here you go:

Sailing trip

I had a wonderful time on this trip with Captain Jeff, Carter and Jon.  Some of the highlights for me:

Having Jeff as our Captain. He is an excellent sailor, very patient teacher, and encouraging manager of his inexperienced crew!  

I learned a lot about sailing and was able to handle the winches and keep the wheel on course by the end of the week

Being with Carter is always a pleasure.  We played some cribbage during our sailing and we played swoop, bridge and skyjo during the evenings with all of us.  

Carter took very good care of me as I got on and off the boat and dinghy.  When snorkeling he also made sure I was all right and helped me when I needed help.

Carter is a wonderful dinghy driver! He did all of the driving and always found the best places for me to get on and off the dinghy. I really appreciated that.

Jon made us French toast and pancake breakfasts.

Jeff arranged for dinners at many wonderful restaurants.  They were all interesting and each different so I was not at all bored by the food or atmosphere.

British Virgin Islands are beautiful and compact so we could travel from one island to another easily.  There were many opportunities to snorkel and we had a nice hike to Bubbling Pool, which was fun.

The catamaran was wonderful, just perfect for the four of us.

This was definitely a wonderful vacation!  It was very different from any other trip we have had.  One the the reasons it was so special was that we were traveling with Jeff and Carter and having Jeff as our captain!  He is very competent sailor!