So, Envy-us Reader,
It was day 1 of our Christmas present: 3/4 days in San Juan.
It was “only” 82’ with high humidity and clear skies. Sunny. Not something we see in the winter in Gloomsburg, much.
At one point around noon, I thought we were eating our way through San Juan, as all of my pictures were of food. :) Breakfast in the hotel was quite good. For you lefties, here’s the avocado toast.
Then off a the long way to the great fortress — the main structure is known as El Moro. It dates from 1521 (no typo) and is the first such construction in the Americas. San Juan was chosen because it was the first deep water, fresh water port coming from Europe (especially Spain). It was refortified after the Seven Years War, so the current fortress has been like this since 1790.
The views are great to the north across open water (the Caribbean?).
It should be noted that it is not a nothing climb to the top of the hill and the castle. As this shows. Did I say it was mid80s and humid?
After this, we walked back through Old San Juan (which is old, though it doesn’t look like it goes back nearly to 1521 :)) We passed several groups of sheep following someone with a staff with a cruise line name on the sign. 😕
On the way back, we stopped here, at the Catherdal Basilica of San Juan Bautista. It is famous as the restIng place of Ponce de Leon.
After that there was a session for “the girls” in the rooftop tubs — the appeal of the Hotel Casa Blanca (they run the movie downstairs on a loop) — here’s a shot from the top first east towards part of the fortress, then south towards the cruise ships.
Then to dinner. Tonight we went for the best Puerto Rican place in Old Town. EH had been there on her trip here last May (now known as a lookyloo [more later]) and had eaten there. I insert RR’s filled avocado and EH’s ceviche in a plantain.
Then we stopped for popsicles. The best in San Juan (the sign said). No pics. Are popsicles really food porn, even if they are like strawberry with sauce and coconut dribbled on them? NCW. IMHO.
When I came out from doing reservations for tomorrow night old school (they actually had a real book), they were in the nearby park and called me over. The following pic needs no further comment. 🙂
And now for today’s story. (John can stop reading here, if he made it this far 😂). Which is either “funny” or “ironic,” you be the judge: EH & I were sitting in the courtyard of the fortress while RR went to the bathroom and a woman says “Hey, Purdue, woo woo” or words to that affect. I was wearing a Purdue hat. So, she came over and “chatted” (we will need a working definition of chat, but okay). She was a Purdue grad, met her husband at Purdue, AND her father was an entomology professor at Purdue. She grew up in Lafayette. Her son was with her and never really said a word. I kept wondering what was taking RR so long in the bathroom (I realize that maybe I shouldn’t admit this). Suzanne, because I ended up with her card, told all kinds of stories. She went to school with Fletcher Loyer’s mother. And more. I finally had to ask: do you mind telling me when you were there? She said the late 90s (to protect the damaged I won’t be exact) to which EH says “makes you feel old, huh, dad?” Yeah, thanks. I tell her she was barely born when I was there. Which is true, or close enough. I didn’t hang with many entomologists. And she was a PR major, anyway, which came as no surprise. Then RR showed up and I laughed and said now you get to meet the talker. Turns out Suzanne is a travel agent and this was a work trip. As she called it “a lookyloo” for further business. Here her kid piped in “that’s what she calls getting to go on these trips.” We ended up talking about each of us making a prospective trip to Croatia (for her another “lookyloo”) in May. She kept saying “do this…oh, yeah, you don’t do boats.” LOL. No, 2 of us get sick at the sound of the word “ship.” I got her card and we said we would keep in touch, just in case we were to go the same place or something in the future.
After dinner, we are walking down to the ATM and this woman stops me and asks if this is a Virgin Island (no, it wasn’t a setup for a joke). In the end, we talked for so long I went to the ATM and came back and they were still chatting. They were an elderly couple, turns out from New York, though at first I wasn’t sure about their English, and they were on Norwegian cruise and this was their first stop. They go to the Virgin Islands tomorrow. 7 islands in 7 days, but it’s 11 days because it’s 2 days back and forth out of New York harbor. They were nice. Seemed to be surprised by the concept of flying in and staying…wherever we were. 😂
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