Puerto Rico

My mom and I went to Puerto Rico last month. It was so fun. At first I wondered what we got ourselves into. First of all, the traffic was horrible! Well, not actually the traffic but the driving! In Puerto Rico the street signs are just decoration. When we got to Old San Juan, where our hotel was, the streets were so narrow. Mom decided that driving in San Juan was not going to work and I agreed. It was so crazy. Now remember, we drive in Phoenix and I don't mind driving in California so you know the driving there had to be pretty bad. We returned the rental car the next day and decided that we would stick to Taxi's. After surviving the drive to our hotel that night, we go to check in and part of the electricity and lights were out. Somewhere there was a breaker that exploded. When we got to our room the lights were very dim. We opened the patio door and the front door to try to get a breeze. Then the lights go out completely. We were talking to people in the hall when a hotel person said that they would try to get flashlights for us. We were told that things should be back to normal in a couple of hours. While mom is talking to the people outside our room, a cat comes running past her. It was in our room. We are pretty sure it came from the patio and ran through. The room didn't smell like cat nor were there any other signs of cats in the room. The room was very clean. We went to dinner and by the time we got back to the room the lights were on. I could go on and on about our trip but wont bore you with every detail. Just know that after that first night, the rest of the trip was a blast!

Some of the buildings:
This is the apartment that I lived in 40 years ago. It is now 100 years old. It was so neat to be able to find this (which is another story! Ask me about it sometime).

Our hotel:

Animals:
There are pigeons everywhere. They even have a park called Pigeon Park where people go to feed hundreds of pigeons. The birds land on the people. Personally I think it's disgusting.

Not only are there pigeons everywhere but cats too! While walking we saw random bowls of food, water and little houses set out for the cats. It's pretty clear that cats are respected in San Juan (at least in Old San Juan). They even have cat statues around the town. Hmmm, cats and birds all over the place....I'll never get Patrick to go visit.










Beach #1:


We went to two different beaches. This is La Conchea Beach. I liked this beach the best. We saw a few crabs on the rocks. The water was so nice. Not cold at all but not too warm.

Beach #2:

Isle Verde Beach. We found some seashells and pieces of sand dollars here. We also got up close and personal with a crab. A couple next to us saw a huge iguana by the pool area when they were walking down to the beach. They showed us the pictures of it. Seeing the pictures was enough for me!

I took hundreds of pictures. Wish I could post them all. I'll close with a few misc. picts...

There are so many statues in San Juan. Some made from the old cannon's used at El Morrow Fort.





A light house at the fort (El Morrow)




I was fascinated with this cemetery. It was so old. There were graves there from the 18oo's.




The narrow blue cobblestone streets in old San Juan.




This was the cat that ran out of our room. He came back a couple nights later. We called him our guard cat. He wasn't a very good guard cat because a big lizard got into our room.

Fort El Morrow

El Castillo San Felipe del Morro, usually referred to as "El Morro", dates back to 1539 when a small, turret-like tower was built by the Spanish settlers to defend the bay of San Juan. Over the next two centuries, the fort grew until it reached the present form towards the end of the 18th century. El Morro was attacked several times during the course of its history and was at the centre of battles against the likes of Sir Francis Drake, George Clifford and Ralph Abercromby. It was also involved in the two World Wars, when the American army made some slight modifications to convert El Morro into a military base and to watch for possible German attacks. In 1961, El Morro was finally opened to the public and the fort's sentry boxes, or "garitas", have since become a national symbol that can be found on license plates as well as most souvenirs.