First days in San Juan

I arrived at Amy’s apartment, a gorgeous 2 bedroom situated inside a closed urbanisation. Her apartment is gorgeous and she had lit all these aromatic candles everywhere. Her Pets Oso and Carmela were my welcoming committee, and a good job they did, because I felt right at home. She showed me my room, and the bathroom, and I felt like I was in a 5 star hotel. It was definitely the nicest accommodation I had had since I started my travels. My room had a big double bed, and was spacious and light, with big windows, a desk, chairs and a table, and scented candles

She told me she would be working the next day, so she told me how to get around, and we chatted for a little while until she headed to bed. This lovely girl is training for the marathon in January and therefore gets up at 4:30 in the morning most days to go for a run before work. I headed for my luxury room, and spent some time writing my blog, before the sandman threw some sleeping dust on me and into the world of slumber and dreams I went.

The next day I arose early as I had previously made plans with another CS member to meet up and look around San Juan, so at 9 o ‘clock sharp I waited outside the Rio Piedras metro stop for my guide of the day Erick. A few minutes late only which surprised me still being in the Caribbean, Erick picked me up in his car. Firstly he was kind enough to take me back to the apartment as silly me had forgotten my camera, which is of vital importance when one is travelling and sightseeing! After that we headed off to Old San Juan (Viejo San Juan) for the day.

Our first order of the day was breakfast, so Erick took me to a café called La Bombonera. It was a Spanish style café with much variety in both food and drink. We ordered a typical Puerto Rican breakfast, which consisted of pancakes, egg and bacon, and freshly squeezed juice. After a heavy and not so healthy breakfast we headed off to see the sights.

First on our list was El Paseo del Morro, which is a path on the outside of the El Morro fortress. Along the paths there are various posters giving information about the fort. It was a beautiful walk, although a little warm, as we walked in the blazing sun. Conversation between me and Erick was flowing, as we got to know each other a little. He is from Puerto Rico but has studied in Spain before. He is just such an easy going guy, and very mature despite his 21 years only. He is just another great example of the people who join CS!

After walking on the outside of the fortress we headed beyond the walls and into the heart of the old city. It is hard to describe in words its beauty of the colonial style buildings oozing with history. I guess you will have to look at the photos to get an idea. We were walking up alongside the fortress walls when I stopped under a tree grabbing for my camera to get a snapshot. I suddenly felt something warm fall on my skin, and without understanding what could be falling from above. I looked up and more warm, smelly goo hit my face, my neck, by bag, my camera and not to mention my white shorts.

Erick had stepped away by this time and was searching the tree for solutions….. The offender was sitting there on a branch in all its glory, not even realising it had just pooped all over a tourist. The worst of it is that Erick did not grab my camera and take a photo of me all covered in Iguana poo. Instead he found some leaves for me to try to get the worst of it off me. As I am standing there smelly as hell, I can not resist breaking into laughter. Erick joins me and also gives his dad a call to tell him the story, as he had never seen anything like it apparently. He had never even heard of anyone being pooed on by an Iguana before, so that just proved my friend Murphy (as in Murphy’s Law) had not abandoned me quite yet. We laughed so hard whilst walking to the nearest bar/café to wash off the remains of a very smelly moment in time. I have never felt so dirty in my life! We ran into the first bar we saw and I headed for the bathroom, thankfully I got most of it off. Erick and I decided the Iguana ordeal had definitely been bad enough to deserve a drink, even if it was still early afternoon. A drink has never felt better I tell you, but neither has soap and water ;)

Next stop was El Morro fortress; just walking up to it you noticed its grandeur. It is a spectacular building from the outside, and even more spectacular from the inside. This city has so much culture and history, and it fortunately enough takes care of it, and seems to understands the value of its past. Erick and I both paid to get inn, and we wondered around making sure we had seen every corner of it, leaving no stone unturned so to speak. Even when the skies opened and the rain fell, we carried on exploring. We ran from room to room, reading all the information, and taking pictures, and even taking time to talk in between.

As the evening closed in on us, we listened to our begging stomachs, and went on the hunt for food. After food we headed for some much needed shopping for food, and books. Erick was so nice to spend his whole day and night with me. When I arrived back at the apartment, Amy was just arriving back as well, and before hopping to bed we took a walk up to the local political party which is for Puerto Rico becoming the 51st sate of the US. It was crazy up there with people doing exactly what they wanted in cars or anything else. The police just stand there as on lookers, but they do not interfere, as it seems this is the one day in the country when anything goes!

After seeing politics here, which has been nicknamed the national sport, and I can understand why. I have never seen people so actively involved in politics in my life, and it is not just the adults, they take along the kids, pets and grandparents. After a little while poor Carmela got fed up with the noise so we headed for a quieter place; home! Once home we agreed that we would get up early the next day and I would come to the beach for a walk with Carmela, whilst Amy did her daily run.

The next morning we awoke at 5:30 and headed for the beach. We started our exercise by 6 o’clock!!!!! It was so great to see the sun come up, and see all the people in the local park and on the beach being so active so early, it was ALMOST inspirational ;)

I was leaving Amy’s house this day to go and stay at another couch surfer’s called Doel, who is a friend of Amy’s, so I showered, packed and got ready to move to my next “home” Levittown in Toa Baja.

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