SORRY, WE'RE CLOSED

Isabella, Puerto Rico - Old San Juan, Puerto Rico

(July 26th, 2011)

We woke up on our last day in Isabela, me waking up much earlier than everyone else again, and headed straight to the beach to get in a little more snorkeling before we had to check out. We were hoping that, with the tide being out, the water would be calmer and more fish would be swimming about. We were right. 

Last time down at the beach

It was still early enough in the morning that the beach was pretty much deserted, and we were the only people swimming out to the reef. It was a much easier swim this morning than it had been the afternoon prior. And, because the water was so much calmer, we were able to really get up close to the reef and explore it. It was even more amazing than the day before.

We discovered that the glass of our goggles made things appear closer than they really were, and when we wanted to swim over the reef to explore other caves in the middle of it, we were initially scared we were too close to the reef, but as we watched each other we realized there was a good three feet between us and the reef below us, so off we went! (Seriously, at one point I almost panicked because it looked as though I was about to scrape the top of the reef, but Laura assured me I had a lot of room to move. Silly goggles.)

Once in the middle of the reef we found really deep caverns and alcoves that we could swim into, surrounded only by the waving plants and the dozens of fish swimming with us. The colors seemed to explode around us-- purples, bright blues, yellows, deep reds. Everything had so much color. We saw little black fish with neon blue spots, fish with  bright yellow and sky blue stripes, tiny fish that resembled bumblebees with their black and yellow stripes, and dark red sea urchins. We even saw small swordfish swimming by! That was out of this world! At one point we were noticing very tiny, clear things floating around us, and when we finally stopped to focus on them, we realized they were baby shrimp! They were probably no bigger than my pinky fingernail and completely see-through (or sea-through, for a fun play on words?). There were also these psychedelic looking sea caterpillars crawling along the reef that were really long and brightly colored with greens and pinks and yellows. They looked as though they were under a black-light, they were so bright.

As we started heading back and got into the sandy part of the ocean floor where we could officially stand up and touch bottom, we kept our goggles on, following little sand crabs as they scuttled around on the ocean floor. I began playing with them, following them with my fingers along the bottom until they would quickly burrow themselves under the sand. It was fascinating to watch. We also found small, sand-colored flatfish, fish that look to be swimming sideways along the ocean floor and have both eyes on one side of their heads. They camouflaged themselves perfectly with the sand, and if I hadn’t seen one swimming along the ocean floor before settling down into the sand I never would have known they were there.

Once back at the beach, we grabbed a couple beach chairs and relaxed until we were dry before heading back up to the villa to pack up. Since I had woken up before everyone else that morning, I had already taken the liberty to pack most of my things, so I headed out to take some photos of the grounds.

Once the car was packed up, we checked out and headed over to Wal-mart in the hopes of trading in the unused kids’ snorkeling gear for adult gear for our camping trip the following day to the island of Culebra. We wanted good snorkeling gear and underwater cameras for the giant reef we would be venturing to.

Miriam and Laura were able to exchange the two unused packs for adult-sized fins (the kids’ goggles from the other two packs fit them fine), which was a lovely, even exchange. Rick, Sara, and I picked up our own adult-sized gear and loaded up on bug spray, water, and other camping essentials we were going to need.

Then we were on the road back to San Juan. We decided to drive right into Old San Juan, so we could do a quick foot-trek around the area before heading to Laura’s house for dinner with her family. Starving from the drive, we parked the car in Old San Juan and took a respite for appetizers and drinks at a restaurant in Plaza de San José.

Once revived we set out on foot, noting right off the bat the beautiful blue cobblestones exclusive to Puerto Rico. Usually cobblestones are tinted grey or red, but these blue cobblestones were brought over as ballast in Spanish galleons and can still be seen and walked upon today, although the current governor has replaced large portions of this historical cobblestone with pavement, much to my chagrin.

We immediately stopped at a cute store selling lots of fun musical instruments, hand-painted ceramics, and other bric-a-brac. Since this was my only official shopping day, my goal was to buy all my souvenirs and gifts while we traipsed around Old San Juan. I decided to hold off on making any purchases right away since we were at the beginning of our trek, knowing I could always come back to this shop since it was right near the car. I asked the girl working there for a card, and she also told me about their sister location, Poet’s Passage, mentioning they were having a poetry reading at that location around 7pm, if we wanted to stop by.

Laura led us into the square we had driven through a few nights prior, giving us a day view of the area and the convent-turned-hotel that would be Rick and Sara’s next stay once we returned from Culebra. From there, we ventured down what I like to call “El Gato” street in honor of all the cats that seemed to own it. They were everywhere! Lounging on cars, walking on hoods, climbing trees, laying on balconies, eating food left out by considerate neighbors…you get the idea. I loved it! I’m sure the rest of the neighborhood hated it, though, considering there was an official sign at the end of the block stating it was illegal to feed the cats. You go right on feeding them, neighbors!

At the end of the block was an official piragua stand, where the guy had a large block of ice and was scraping it into cups and dousing them with syrup. I had an unofficial piragua on our road trip to Isabela a few days prior (he cheated and used a blender to crush the ice instead of scraping it by hand), but this time I was going to have the real deal! I decided not to go all fancy on the flavor this go around and chose raspberry. It was tasty and refreshing.

Some of the beautiful colors

We then walked through the giant gate leading outside the city walls to get a spectacular view of the ocean and the sun beginning to set on the walls. We could have walked along the wide path outside the walls to get more of a view, but the actively used gates getting back into the city are few and far between, so we headed back through the gate we had just used and walked over to La Fortaleza, Puerto Rico’s version of the White House for the governor. It was a lovely light blue color, surrounded by many other colorful buildings and beautiful wrought iron gates.

Not far from La Fortaleza was the Capilla del Cristo, marking the entrance to the Parque de las Palomas (Pigeon Park). The Capilla del Cristo, a small chapel at the very end of the street, is surrounded by much folklore. Some say a young horseman got carried away during festivities in honor of St. John the Baptist and raced his horse to the end of the street but couldn’t stop in time, plunging over the steep ledge. Another version states that the horse stopped right at the edge. Some say the chapel was built in the man’s honor because he survived, others because he perished in the fall, and still others say it was built so that a tragedy such as this would not befall another person (i.e. they wanted a road block).

Capillo del Cristo

The pigeon coops

After snapping a few photos of the chapel we entered Pigeon Park, aptly named for the hundreds of pigeons that live there. The pigeons are so embraced here that there are even pigeon coops built into the walls. The park overlooks a beautiful view of the Bahia de San Juan (San Juan bay), and while I was standing under a tree taking a photo of my friends looking out over the bay, Laura looked up into said tree and started exclaiming over the gigantic caterpillar hanging over my head. I looked up and saw not one, not two, but about 50 gigantic caterpillars hanging over my head, all black with bright neon yellow stripes and orange legs. They were really neat to look at but completely unsettling to think about while being underneath their tree. I quickly moved.

And, side note here, what is with all the giant caterpillars today?? The morning started  with giant sea caterpillars and ended with giant tree caterpillars!

Caterpillars!

View from Pigeon Park

At this point it was getting to be early evening so we started making our way to Miriam’s favorite shop, as she’d been talking it up all afternoon and I was really looking forward to checking it out. Unfortunately, as we arrived they were locking the door. Sadness! They saw us standing outside and decided to let us in as they closed up. The shop had a lot of great jewelry and beautiful woodworkings, and I really wanted to take the time to look around, but I was feeling guilty for staying in their shop after closing so I rushed through and grabbed a few hand-carved magnets to bring home. I’ll have to come back to this store on a future visit and spend some quality time perusing the merchandise.

On we went up the steep hill to Castillo de San Cristóbal, a large, clifftop fortress overlooking the oceanside of the island. I had been greatly looking forward to seeing the  Castillo up close, as I was fascinated by the sentry boxes hanging out over the edges of the cliff. I got a couple great shots of one of the sentry boxes right outside the walls, and then we climbed the big ramp up into the Castillo, only to discover that it was closing in twenty minutes...sadness, again.

Sentry box

So we gave up that idea and headed to the city of the dead and Fortaleza San Felipe del Morro, a fortress sitting at the farthest corner of the island. We made it to the city of the dead, which was an above ground cemetery on the edge of the island, overlooking the ocean. It was a beautiful and serene area, made even more so by the setting sun sending purples, oranges, and reds cascading through the park.

The city of the dead with El Morro off in the distance

El Morro

Laura really wanted us to walk all the way to El Morro, but I heard the clock tower chimes ringing in seven o’clock, the time Laura originally planned to head back to her parents’ house for dinner, and I hadn’t bought any souvenirs yet! We ix-nayed the walk to El Morro (have to save that one, too, for another trip...) and headed back for the car. Laura sent us on ahead to the souvenir store we had stopped in at the beginning of our trek while she got the car, and just for fun it started to rain.

We raced on ahead to the store only to find it locked up tight and completely dark inside. What?! The store was supposed to be open until eight o’clock! I had made sure to check before we left that afternoon. Beyond sadness!

At this point I was upset, as I hadn’t gotten any of the souvenirs I wanted, and I knew we had to get back for dinner. As we waited for Laura to come get us I ducked into a corner store to buy a couple postcards so I would at least have those. When Laura picked us up and found out the shop was closed, she insisted on finding the sister location and called her mother to say we were running late. She wasn’t going to let me leave Puerto Rico without goodies.

We fought lots of traffic but eventually found the shop, and lo-and-behold, there was the girl from the other shop, running the poetry reading! No wonder the shop shut down early. Luckily, Poet’s Passage had the same products as the other store, so I went hog-wild in my shopping, buying handmade Christmas ornaments, musical instruments (maracas, a güiro, and a small flute), dominoes, and pretty much anything else Puerto Rican I could get my hands on. My night was made.

We finally made it back to Laura’s house where her mother had prepared a delicious meal for us, and then it was time to pack up and get to bed for our early departure to Culebra in the morning. 

The fun part of the evening was fitting all five of us into one bedroom (where the air conditioning was). Rick and Sara shared the mattress on the floor, while I squeezed into the queen bed with Miriam and Laura. I felt sorry for Miriam in the middle. It was not going to be an easy night for the three of us! But hopefully our trek to Culebra would make up for it...fingers crossed...

Goodnight from Old San Juan