New Year, New Adventure - Part 1 of 5

When the hectic days of the Christmas and New Year holidays subsided, and the temperatures made it back above zero, The Captain and I got our chance to break away for a week. The destination was Puerto Rico, the objective was to relax, recharge, and maybe see something different.

I don’t care to ride in the back, unless the airplane is headed somewhere I want to go.

Going feet wet near Charleston, SC.

Why Puerto Rico? I’d been there on a five week work assignment way back in 2003, and wanted to go back ever since. It’s tropical. It’s big enough to have lots of things to see and do. There’s no border crossing, and it has lots of flights, everyday, going to and from a large number of airports in the continental United States. After our struggle to get home from Yellowstone last summer, predictable transport is now top of mind when planning.

The baggage claim.

Except for Grace the Dog giving us a dose of pouting and foot dragging, our departure from Columbus, OH was uneventful. We rode down to Charlotte, NC without incident, and from there to San Juan the flight was as advertised. ‘No excitement’ might be the best way to start a vacation. The only hiccup was the baggage claim. We stood around with several other plane loads of people waiting, and waiting some more, but no bags showed up on the carousel. After a little more waiting, I said to The Captain, “We should get our rental car and then come back. Once all these folks have their bags, a lot of them are going to the rental car counters.” She agreed and we wandered off to get our ride. Twenty minutes later, we returned to the baggage claim and waited another twenty minutes. When the bags finally showed up and we got our stuff, we walked past the newly formed cue at the rental car desk, and directly to our little silver Hyundai Accent. No big deal, but we called it a vacation win.

Tropical cumulous clouds and palm trees are a good start.

Home base was a big hotel in the Condado neighborhood of San Juan. A balcony view of the Atlantic Ocean is a pretty sweet way to start and end the day. After getting settled in, our first sortie from home base was finding dinner. There are lots of places to eat in Condado, and we chose a little Italian mom and pop joint a few minutes walk down the street called Via Appia. It did the job and the folks were friendly. The best part of the evening was strolling without a coat, hat and gloves.

Our trip coincided with the Feast of the Epiphany, and that’s a big deal on PR.

Our activity plan was pretty loose, and we left it to the weather forecast to make the schedule. Frequent showers were expected for our first full day on the island, so we decided to stay in the city and visit Old San Juan. It was a short drive from Condado over to a parking garage under the Plaza del Quinto Centenario. From there we walked out to Castillo San Felipe del Morro, commonly referred to as El Morro.

Old San Juan is a history buff’s dream. Since 1508, when Juan Ponce del León came on the scene, the town was the administrative center of Spain’s position in the New World. It didn’t take long for the local Taíno tribes and rivals like Britain, France and the Netherlands to threaten the location, so fortification began in 1537, ultimately leading to the entire town being walled in. The defenses were updated periodically until the end of World War Two. A portion of the town’s wall was taken down in 1897, but there is still more than can be explored in a couple of days.

The San Juan situation in the late 1700s.

Looking towards the El Morro fortress and light house. The rain shower just off shore wandered over the fort and harbor channel about the time we arrive at the gate.

A tanker makes its way up the channel in the rain. El Morro clearly controls the entrance to the harbor.

Looking back towards the town. The next rain shower is coming from the northeast.

Old San Juan has a cat “thing.”

After walking up and down a lot of steps, and treading carefully on rain slick stones, we wandered back into the town in search of lunch. We found a little bistro called La Tortuga, just as the next big shower started. It turned out to be a great place to get a cold beverage and some local food while waiting out the downpour. We broke out the guide book and lined up some things to see as we worked down hill towards the harbor. When the rain stopped, we strolled down the colorful streets taking in the historic squares and buildings along the way. After crossing Plaza de Armas, we ducked into the Marshalls department store to avoid the next rain shower. Walking through a "familiar” store in a place like Puerto Rico will resemble the experience you might have in a generic midwest strip mall, but it will have some offerings specific the tastes of the local customer. The Captain and I were strongly reminded of the K-Mart way back during our time on Guam.

A good lunch stop.

Looking south, downhill, on Calle San José.

When the rain abated, we made our way down to the Paseo de la Princesa. It is a street and park along the bottom of the south wall of the town. Just a couple of days before the big weekend celebrations for the Feast of the Epiphany, tents and booths were being set up along its length. Working west, we followed the path along the shore and re-entered the walled town at Puerta de San Juan. The big red gate through the wall dates back to the 1630s and was the entrance for folks arriving on ships from Spain. It is not surprising then that the cathedral is located a couple blocks straight up the hill from the gate.

The path from Paseo de la Princesa led around the west side of the wall to the red San Juan Gate. This cove was often a sailor or passenger’s first resting point after crossing the North Atlantic.

It is a short walk up Caleta de San Juan from the gate to the Cathedral.

Inside the Catedral Basilica Menor de San Juan Bautista. It dates to 1540 and is the final resting place of Juan Ponce de León.

The final jaunt for the day was up Calle del Cristo. We tried to dodge a shower with a stop for some gelato about half way up the hill, but a group of kids had the solo scooper working double-time, so we kept moving once the rain let up. We visited Plaza de San José and Iglesia de San José at the top of the hill before returning to the car in the underground garage. We agreed that was enough wandering for the day and retreated to the hotel pool.

The Iglesia de San José was recently renovated after major structural issues were revealed by falling chunks of plaster. The church was founded by the Dominicans in 1532, making it the second oldest in the western hemisphere. After fixing the structural issues, the interior was re-plastered in white while leaving areas of the original stone or brick exposed.

Much of the old interior fresco was lost to the structural renovation process, but parts were preserved where possible.

The preservation effort was monumental and done as tastefully as possible. The church, once thought lost to the destructive forces of the tropics and time, still displays the stone family crest of Juan Ponce de León.