If there’s anything close to New York City down here, it is San Juan… and I mean that in a positive way! We had thought St Martin was a huge, bustling metropolis, but San Juan blows everything else away. It is a massive sprawling city, and the purpose for the multitude of power plants on the southern coast clearly made sense now!
We rented a car for two days and, with my Dad and June, drove from Ponce into the San Juan area. It was reassuring to know that Karen had not lost her New York driving skills, as she blasted us down the expressway, honking at anyone going too slow in the fast lane – clearly her inner child was coming out!
We eased into the San Juan experience by first stopping at the El Yunque rain forest just east of the city. We had seen several rain forests so far on this trip, but the custodian of this one was, yes, the National Park Service again. It was evident they had put a lot of thought into their welcome center and exhibits on the attributes of a rain forest and the history behind El Yunque.
El Yunque is home to the Puerto Rican Parrot, nearly extinct years ago, but being nurtured slowly off of the endangered species list through the care of the El Yunque staff. El Yunque, with several peaks jutted into the cloud layer, is a much needed source of fresh water to the island. We experienced the joy of this water by visiting the La Mina falls for a refreshing break from the heat.
Back on the road into San Juan, driving 10 times as fast as Thalia takes us, we entered the city and settled down for the night at the Best Western Pierre Hotel. What a treat it was to open the hotel room door and find two nice double beds, a TV and a full sized shower and bathroom! And, if I had brought our laptop, I could have cruised the internet until I was blue in the face… aw, the trappings of civilization!
Among the hotel’s amenities were an outdoor chess set which captured the immediate attention of the kids. If Zack wasn’t so good at chess, he wouldn’t have had to take on our youngest and the freely flowing advice of three adults – myself, Karen, and a friendly Puerto Rican man. I may regret this as I wait forever for the upload to complete, but here’s a movie of the chess-advising session!
But, chess, as fun as it looked to play, was not why we came to San Juan. It was to visit Viejo San Juan, or Old San Juan. This is the site of the original settlement, strategically situated on a point of land at the harbor’s entrance.
The main attraction in Old San Juan are two forts and the buttresses that at one point encircled the entire island. Begun by Spanish troops in the 16th century, the fortification of Old San Juan was key to the protection of Spain’s delivery of riches from the New World. At that time, the Caribbean Sea was a dangerous maze of islands with few harbors of refuge. Spain claimed the Caribbean as its exclusive territory by right of conquest, but its authority was constantly being challenged by pirates and traditional European enemies – England, France and Holland
Here’s the view from the first fort we visited, San Cristobal. Note the modern day use of the moot!
And the lone sentry towers…
Walking along the shore line, we soon encountered the second fort, El Morro, prominently positioned at the point of the harbor entrance. Here, we found massive stone buttresses, with walls some 20-30 feet thick, and layers and layers of batteries, provided what they called defense-in-depth. I took so many pictures of this fort, I can’t possibly figure out which to include, but here goes!
On the second of our two day blitzkrieg of San Juan, we had to keep moving on from the forts. The city streets in Old San Juan are narrow, sometimes cobblestoned affairs, with copious amounts of pastel colors on the walls.
If you ever get a chance to visit Old San Juan, set aside at least a few days for the occasion – it won’t disappoint you!
We bid adieu to my Dad and June, who were staying on in San Juan to catch a flight home, and we fought rush hour traffic out of the city. In an attempt to avoid the stop and go traffic, something so foreign to us sailors, we made a dangerous stop at the Plaza las Americas, a shopping mall like none-other in the Caribbean. Heck, there was even a traffic jam getting in and out of the 6 storied parking plaza! Four hours and many shopping bags later, we found our way back on the highway and returned to Ponce, to the calm and peacefulness of a late evening aboard Thalia. San Juan and El Yunque had been a pleasure to experience – we only wished we had more time!
We will continue to head south along the coast of Puerto Rico and get ready for a 325 mile non-stop leg to the Turks and Caicos.