stevenpiziks (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
stevenpiziks) wrote2024-02-21 10:25 am
stevenpiziks) wrote2024-02-21 10:25 am
Puerto Rico, Baby!
I really wanted to Get Out of Michigan for mid-winter break (when the winter blahs really set in), and I investigated Puerto Rico as a possibility. There are many advantages! Since PR is a US territory, it means American citizens don't need passports, custom stops, foreign cell phone plans, or any of the other annoyances that go with travel to a different country. And it's warm! I found a short-term rental in the party district of San Juan, and off Darwin and I went!
So far we've been loving it. The weather has been in the mid-80s in the day and the low 70s at night. We're on the ocean, and get the lovely ocean breezes. We get to wear shorts and t-shirts and sun hats. In February. Incredible!
One thing that's caught my notice is that the sun sets about about 6:30 PM every day. In Michigan, that means it's winter and COLD outside. But down in PR, it's summery. So we have early darkness but warm weather, and I =love= warm summer nights. It's heaven!
We've explored large chunks of San Juan, including El Morro, the fort Spain built after the Dutch almost took the island away from Spain in 1625. Over the next 100 or so years, the fort was expanded and redone until it became a huge stone edifice with a labyrinth of levels and corridors and lookout posts and cannon platforms. So many cannon platforms. And a deep dry moat that would be instant death to any invading soldier that went into it. Nowadays it's a big tourist attraction and World Heritage Site. The land it sits on juts out into the ocean, and there's a long, long, long road leading up to it that crosses a flat expanse of lawn. This is on purpose--if you wanted to invade the fort by land, you'd be exposing yourself to cannon and gun fire for a good half mile. In the Dutch invasion of 1625, the area was covered in thousands of corpses from the battle. Today, people fly kites on it. I think the modern way is much better.
Darwin and I, as we always do, speculated what life for the average person was like at the fort. We saw drawings of soldiers in many-layered woolen uniforms and boots and hats. They must have been miserable most of the time! The food was awful and you had to pay for it, meaning most soldiers had no money at all. You would think that Spain would want well-fed, well-trained soldiers at this place, since it's the gateway to the Caribbean, but...nope!
We also explored the Old City, dissecting the architecture. We poked our heads into the shamefully-shabby cathedral of San Juan. We checked out many shops and strolled along some remains of the original wall that used to surround the city. Always fun.
Yesterday, we went hiking in the rainforest as part of a tour that also took us to an eye-popping rocky series of pools and waterfalls, one of which has a natural waterslide that, at the end, dumps you several feet into deep, cool water. There's also a high-dive rock (yes, I jumped the 30-odd feet downward), and a good old-fashioned rope that lets you swing out over the pool for a breathtaking plunge into it. All this involves a lot of rock and tree climbing, which I absolutely loved. Acrophobic Darwin was content to watch me from the sidelines.
After that, we squished our way to a kayak tour at sunset. The group of us started on the ocean and paddled into a river lined with mangrove trees. At sunset. It was both eerie and romantic, with the trees creating a low tunnel and the coqui frogs calling and giant fish splashing. We emerged at a bay filled with micro-organisms that flare with bio-luminescence when they're disturbed. Usually this means every kayak is surrounded by a soft blue glow and every dip of the paddle creates a little burst of light, but tonight the little critters weren't having any of it, and they only sparked a little. It was still pretty awesome. The evening kayak ride through the mangroves alone was worth the price.
And we've eaten. Darwin has been uncharacteristically daring and has been trying new foods. Wonderful! At a hole-in-the-wall restaurant by El Morro, we tried Sancocha, a stew of simmered beef that originated at El Morro as a way to make the awful dried meat imported from Spain edible. Now it's a national dish, and it's wonderful. So is Mofongo, a base of plantains and garlic with the consistency of cornbread that you stuff or top with a protein (shrimp, pork, or beef) and a luscious sauce. And arroz masteado ("mason rice"?). And much other deliciousness that is new to both of us.
The kayak tour yesterday was tiring, so today so far we're just hanging out on the balcony, enjoying the warm weather. Who knows what trouble we'll get into later!
So far we've been loving it. The weather has been in the mid-80s in the day and the low 70s at night. We're on the ocean, and get the lovely ocean breezes. We get to wear shorts and t-shirts and sun hats. In February. Incredible!
One thing that's caught my notice is that the sun sets about about 6:30 PM every day. In Michigan, that means it's winter and COLD outside. But down in PR, it's summery. So we have early darkness but warm weather, and I =love= warm summer nights. It's heaven!
We've explored large chunks of San Juan, including El Morro, the fort Spain built after the Dutch almost took the island away from Spain in 1625. Over the next 100 or so years, the fort was expanded and redone until it became a huge stone edifice with a labyrinth of levels and corridors and lookout posts and cannon platforms. So many cannon platforms. And a deep dry moat that would be instant death to any invading soldier that went into it. Nowadays it's a big tourist attraction and World Heritage Site. The land it sits on juts out into the ocean, and there's a long, long, long road leading up to it that crosses a flat expanse of lawn. This is on purpose--if you wanted to invade the fort by land, you'd be exposing yourself to cannon and gun fire for a good half mile. In the Dutch invasion of 1625, the area was covered in thousands of corpses from the battle. Today, people fly kites on it. I think the modern way is much better.
Darwin and I, as we always do, speculated what life for the average person was like at the fort. We saw drawings of soldiers in many-layered woolen uniforms and boots and hats. They must have been miserable most of the time! The food was awful and you had to pay for it, meaning most soldiers had no money at all. You would think that Spain would want well-fed, well-trained soldiers at this place, since it's the gateway to the Caribbean, but...nope!
We also explored the Old City, dissecting the architecture. We poked our heads into the shamefully-shabby cathedral of San Juan. We checked out many shops and strolled along some remains of the original wall that used to surround the city. Always fun.
Yesterday, we went hiking in the rainforest as part of a tour that also took us to an eye-popping rocky series of pools and waterfalls, one of which has a natural waterslide that, at the end, dumps you several feet into deep, cool water. There's also a high-dive rock (yes, I jumped the 30-odd feet downward), and a good old-fashioned rope that lets you swing out over the pool for a breathtaking plunge into it. All this involves a lot of rock and tree climbing, which I absolutely loved. Acrophobic Darwin was content to watch me from the sidelines.
After that, we squished our way to a kayak tour at sunset. The group of us started on the ocean and paddled into a river lined with mangrove trees. At sunset. It was both eerie and romantic, with the trees creating a low tunnel and the coqui frogs calling and giant fish splashing. We emerged at a bay filled with micro-organisms that flare with bio-luminescence when they're disturbed. Usually this means every kayak is surrounded by a soft blue glow and every dip of the paddle creates a little burst of light, but tonight the little critters weren't having any of it, and they only sparked a little. It was still pretty awesome. The evening kayak ride through the mangroves alone was worth the price.
And we've eaten. Darwin has been uncharacteristically daring and has been trying new foods. Wonderful! At a hole-in-the-wall restaurant by El Morro, we tried Sancocha, a stew of simmered beef that originated at El Morro as a way to make the awful dried meat imported from Spain edible. Now it's a national dish, and it's wonderful. So is Mofongo, a base of plantains and garlic with the consistency of cornbread that you stuff or top with a protein (shrimp, pork, or beef) and a luscious sauce. And arroz masteado ("mason rice"?). And much other deliciousness that is new to both of us.
The kayak tour yesterday was tiring, so today so far we're just hanging out on the balcony, enjoying the warm weather. Who knows what trouble we'll get into later!
no subject
a lot of tours of the Barcardi facility. grin.