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Published: January 25th 2007
Old San Juan
Pastel colors that make everybody pondering to imitate."So, you’re going upstairs later on?" Ricardo, my Hard Rock Café waiter asked me while delivering my second refill of cold Mt. Dew to my table. Meanwhile, I was struggling with my whole chicken, fried plantains and Spanish rice.
"What’s upstairs?" I blinked. Surely he wasn’t talking about the deserted second floor of Hard Rock Café?
"What?! You don’t know what’s going on? Why do you think people are packing up the streets of San Juan this weekend?"
"Err …
Fiestas de la Calle San Sebastián?" Ah, of course. I put two and two together. He was talking about the biggest event of Puerto Rico, and
Calle San Sebastián is relatively ‘upstairs’ from
Calle Recinto Sur, where the HRC is located by the ferry docks.
"Yeah, man. Go check it out. I will be there after work and will be partying for about six in the morning". His Latin eyes were twinkling with passions for celebration, as 4 millions other puertoricans this weekend.
St. Sebastian, who was a Roman martyr of the early Christian movement, is the patron saint of young adults and athletes. One
Querites along the fortification wall
Puerto Rico's landmark and symbol: sentry boxes. of the narrow coble stone streets in Old San Juan is named after him, and although there is no correlation between the saint and drinking our sins away, San Juan’s biggest excuse to get together and being drunk is happening on this weekend at the very street. A typical Latin American culture of linking religious celebrations with drinking event, I thought.
I flashed back on what have been going on in the past couple hours. Boarding the morning flight from gray and cold Charlotte, North Carolina, I was reading the January 2007 edition of US Airways magazine when the pilot announced a wonderful news from the overhead speakers:
‘Ladies and gentlemen, we will be landing shortly. Welcome to San Juan, Puerto Rico!’ That sounds like a warm breeze in my winter ears. I don’t think there is anything wrong with being an adventurous snowbird, escaping to the Caribbean for the first time.
As soon as I landed in San Juan’s
Aeropuerto Internacional de Luis Muñoz Marín, my first instinct was to grab my passport with a minimum validity of six months, having the pre-filled immigration form ready to be inspected, and forming a line behind the
Figure of eight
One of the most essential tool to do some zip linings across a high waterwall cliff. yellow line, waiting for Custom to clear. After all, it felt like arriving in a foreign land: Spanish signs, Latin faces, warm weather, different smell. Nope, I thought, this is a trick, and I convinced myself to embrace the new place. With a big grin on my face, I found myself walking out from the airport to warm, sunny and colorful San Juan.
Puerto Rico is considered as a U.S. Soil with a
status quo (i.e. Commonwealth Status), officially since 1952. It has been part of the United States since American victory over the American-Spanish War in 1898 when bitter Spaniards were forced to surrender Puerto Rico, along with Guam, Cuba and the Philippines, to the newly-born super power of United States of America. The U.S. citizenship was offered to Puerto Ricans soon after in 1917, and today they are statutory U.S. Citizens, with some exceptions. They don’t participate in the presidential election voting, as they don’t have any representative in the U.S. Congress (but they do vote on a non-voting representative in the U.S. Congress as a Puerto Rico delegate). Puerto Ricans don’t have to pay federal income taxes, which must be nice, but they still need to
Calle San Sebastián
Calle de San Sebastian is where the focus of this weekend's activities. An excuse to celebrate something - and to party your arse off. pay for federal payroll taxes of Medicare or Social Security.
As U.S. Citizens, they may enlist in the U.S. Military, and they have been participating in all modern U.S. Wars since WWI.
I was mildly surprise that not many Americans (let alone their international counterparts) know where Puerto Rico’s exact location in the Caribbean. It is part of the Greater Antilles, starting from the left (no pun intended) of big Cuba, then the second biggest island of Hispaniola which is shared by Haiti and Dominican Republic, and finally Puerto Rico as the trail of the group. Continue on to the southeast are US/British Virgin Islands and the rest of the Lesser Antilles, Antigua and Barbuda, down to finally Trinidad and Tobago before the South America’s Venezuela.
Zori, my host in San Juan from Couchsurfing.net, is a warm-welcoming lady. Her house is located in business district of Hato Rey, a couple blocks away from Domenech Tren Urbano stop. Thanks to her, I feel a warm welcome from
sanjuaneros to stay in this population metropolis.
Puerto Rico is not a banana republic, it crowns as the highest life standard in the Caribbean, thus becomes an ultimate destination for
Fiestas de la Calle San Sebastián 1
An excellent excuse for sanjuaneros to get together and be drunk. visitors mainly
norteamericano. Although it is the highest per capita income in the Caribbean (and Latin America), its US$6,000 is only half of the poorest state in the Union, Mississippi.
Puerto Ricans are considered to be a population with one of the highest car-people ratio in the world; almost two people in Puerto Rico share one car. Imagine on how this small island, packed with around 3 million cars, which more than 70%!a(MISSING)re in tiny San Juan. Despite a US soil, San Juan is a chaotic place, just like its counterpart to the south continent. Stop signs are merely a suggestion for
sanjuaneros, while red lights, if not a more stringent one, is also optional. Police cars and motorcycles are spotted everywhere, flashing their lights although they are not in an emergency call. Meanwhile, pedestrians are ducking around sidewalk, where most of cars are parked within one or two inches apart.
Back to the
Fiestas de la Calle San Sebastián. I imagine this what Bourbon Street would have been like during Mardi Gras, with a latino twist. Narrow, cobbled stone street with pastel colors colonial structures, is filled with two stories bar and drinkers are everywhere. Occasionally,
Fiestas de la Calle San Sebastián 2
I never been in the Bourbon Street in New Orleans, but I would imagine this what it would've been like during Mardi Gras. With a latin twist. marching bands or bomba dancers are trying to pass through the crowded street, which is visually impossible, but somehow manage to make their way through, miraculously.
It is definitely an excuse for
sanjuaneros to drink and to party, ending the month long Christmas festivities. By nine o’clock, the street is packed shoulder to shoulder with party goers, and trying to get out to an emptier space is a challenge by itself. Meanwhile, Tren Urbano and
público are sending in more people into the congested street. After having a couple of drinks, including the national drink of
Medalla and some Jägerbomb, now I understand why Ricky Martin would refer it as ‘Livin’ La Vida Loca’.
Saturday, January 20, 2007 - Base of Rainforest El Yunque, Puerto Rico Aventuras in Puerto Rico (www.aventuraspr.com) is definitely a thing to check out during a visit in the island. I signed up the Canyoning adventure a couple months a couple of months prior to this weekend to reserve a spot, and it is all worthed to wake up very early in the morning to catch the bus ride from Plaza San Patricio by 5:45 am. There were total of eleven of
Fiestas de la Calle San Sebastián 3
I never been in the Bourbon Street in New Orleans, but I would imagine this what it would've been like during Mardi Gras. With a latin twist. us, all from the States (Utah, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Georgia - moi!) and four crew members, which are very entertaining despite our early morning hour, trying to ‘sober up’. Rosario is the owner and motivational speaker of this trip, and he inspired us to know others and eventually become a team through courses of hiking, repelling, zip lining, swimming, and climbing waterfalls/cliff to name a few.
The location chosen was base of El Yunque, the only rainforest within the US National Park Service in the U.S. soils. Up above us were rainforest canopy, with occasion drips of dew to the muddy ground we had to walk on. After gearing up with appropriate harness, helmet and floaters, we were huffing and puffing, get very hot in the upper 80s, clinging along a 150ft cliff. At the end of the cliff was a zip line that brought us all the way to the base of a waterfall in a cold, murky fainforest river.
I am glad that I wrapped everything in hermetic sealed bags, including of my digital camera, my
jamón lunch and some snacks. We learn pretty fast on how to click our carabiners safely to a rope,
Calle San Sebastián
St. Sebastian is a patron of young adults and athlete, and this street is named after him. how to repel a cliff and how to jump off a 50ft height cliff to the cold water below. Aventuras was featured during the first MTV’s Real World/Road Rules challenge, where a set of activities were organized by the company, a couple years back.
At the end, our group becomes a team, and everybody is swapping our email addresses for further contacts.
I approached
Viejo San Juan from a ferry originated in
Cataño, after my Bacardi Rum distillation plant visit cancellation.
El Morro, short from
Castillo de San Felipe del Morro, or Castle of St. Phillip the Headland, is what most people would think of Old San Juan. It is the best preserved Spanish fortification castle in the New World, and declared as the UNESCO World Heritage Site. The foundation started in 1539, and for the next six centuries, the construction was on-going until what it is now. Overlooking the Atlantic Ocean down,
La Perla (the Pearl) is no doubt the prettiest slum neighborhood in the world. Unfortunately crime rules the street of
La Perla, as the
favelas in Rio, or
barrios in Mexico City.
A pastime of
sanjuaneros has to be kites, as hundreds of them
Hard Rock Cafe San Juan
Well here we go again. My HRC routine, and glad to do it here in San Juan, Puerto Rico. litter the El Morro ground of
Campo del Morro. It feels like a daydream, watching them flying over us as the Caribbean sun sets for the day, leaving a purplish glowing athmosphere like nothing else in the world. Meanwhile, the sillouhette of palm trees and fortification castle are casting lasting impression of San Juan, as it has been for hundreds of years of its exixtance.
Thanks to Christopher Columbus who introduced sugar cane to Puerto Rico that becomes the main ingridients of
Piña Colada, I’m addicted to the oh-it’s-so-tasty coconut refreshment. Almost every streets in Old San Juan sell
Piña Colada, although there are no alcohol in the drink from street vendors. Try to get them from many bars of San Juan, and they put strong shot of Rum in the drink, wow. They come with plastic cups and one whole cherry, and it is the best way to refresh your day in a hot, sunny Caribbean day.
For the second night in a row, I headed back to
Calle San Sebastián, as I’m more comfortable with
sanjuaneros way of life. Exhausted from a long day, I decide to take it easy and head back to Hato Rey,
San Juan policemen
Lots of police everywhere to secure the festival over the weekend. This is policemen from the Sagrado Corazón Tren Urbano stop. and sit down on my porch, listening to the chirps of famous
Coqui, Puerto Ricans tiny frogs that produce ‘Ko-Kee’ sounds that more like those of a bird’s. Mosquitoes are a little tame around here this time of the year, but unfortunately a bigger flying problem haunts my nights here in Hato Rey: we’re under the direct path of airplane flights to LMM Airport.
Sunday, January 21, 2007 - Hato Rey, San Juan, Puerto Rico The second fort in Old San Juan is the less famous
Castillo de San Cristóbal, or St. Christopher Castle, which is the biggest Spanish fort in the New World, claiming a 27 acres region. Legend has it that Santa Barbara, the Patron Saint of Artillerists, protected San Cristóbal during American-Spanish war in 1898 when a bomb dropped by the U.S. Army didn’t go off when it landed on the small chapel’s roof. Go figure.
UNESCO protects both El Morro and San Cristóbal, along with about a mile of
La Muralla de San Juan, or fortification wall in between, including many
querites, or sentry boxes and the red
Puerta de San Juan. Sentry boxes become a symbol of San Juan, and are
Aventuras - cliff
Jason (from Utah) is clinging over a high cliff in the base of El Yunque rainforest. located strategically along the wall with long slit openings. With the avg height of Spanish soldiers of 5’-0” back then, it is no wonder that they have such a low roof.
There are a lot of American mainland tourists that come from the two gigantic cruise ships of Adventures of the Sea and Royal Caribbean, which are docked in the San Juan Harbor. Tourists are spotted like a sore thumb here, as we’re dressed up differently from
sanjuaneros. Fashion is definitely a statement, more fashionable than the US mainland, but as casual as Europeans. The youngters are mostly wearing t-shirts, jeans and sneakers, and I notice on how much Pumas are everywhere. The ratio is very high, I would say 4 out of 5 guys here are wearing Pumas sneakers. I ran into a Puma outlet in
Calle del Cristo, which is very appealing look with the typical Old San Juan look.
As the day goes on, I realize that I need to start heading to the East, continue on with my adventure. So I abide good-bye to Viejo San Juan, riding my bus and Tren Urbano back to eventually
Rio Piedras to catch a
público that brings
Aventuras geared up!
I am ready for everything we will experience today. me to Fajardo, a city in the east of the Island.
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Carla
non-member comment
Exclamation up-side down!
I am really glad that you are living La vida loca, la vida es una sola y lo mejor es aprovechar cada momento. Now, you translate this. Hey! you are on the way to became "poliglota" that means in spanish a person who speak more tan 3 languages -like you- at least you are trying :o) Muy bien Halef