Jul 12, 2010

Puerto Rico: San Juan

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Valentine's Day, 2004
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Tom had a business trip to San Juan over Valentine's Day in 2004 so he scooped me up and took me along with him.
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What surprised me most about Puerto Rico was the language. I assumed they would speak a lot of English and I knew no Spanish at all. I was stunned when we arrived, everything was in Spanish. We had a rental car, but I decided not to drive due to language problems. Tom did all the driving and when he was in meetings, I took taxis to get around, and that was pretty difficult. The drivers don't necessarily know a lot of English. Or maybe they were toying with me. The language was often a problem, I'd recommend learning some Spanish before you go.
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I was astounded at their use of beachfront property, as I was years later in Peru. While they did have a couple areas of beach-type living like you might find along the southern Carolina coasts, maybe like Edisto or Beaufort -- tiny, rough beaches -- the beaches weren't big touristy places. Even with our hotel right on the beach, not many people enjoyed the beach. Jet Skis were big, the locals used a lot of jet skis.
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Restaurants and shopping are big in San Juan. Little dumpy joints along the waterfront are great places to get local food and outdoor dining.
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The suburbs of San Juan reminded me of Florida's west coast, without tourist destinations. Cute little neighborhoods.
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There are kiosks set up like a flea market where you can find some souvenirs and local food. They are fairly run down, noisy and dirty, but fun for a visit.
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Another thing we had to sample was a Cock Fight. Cock fighting was pretty popular when we were there so we picked a place at random and checked it out. We hated it. It was interesting to see how it's done, but we didn't enjoy it at all.
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Old San Juan was very interesting. Over 500 years old, Old San Juan was a military stronghold, a 7-square block walled city. The streets are paved with blue cobblestones. The city wall, pictured here, used to be part of El Morro, one of San Juan's forts. Unfortunately, this is the area where the cruise ships dock, too, so it can get crowded fast. And there seems to be some drug trafficking, don't wander off the beaten trail.
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More on Puerto Rico in some upcoming posts.

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