viejo san juan

inner courtyard of Hotel El Convento

Picking up where I left off in San Juan...

We didn't get much exposure to reggaeton in San Juan, but enough to figure out that it's just hip-hop with Spanish lyrics. I like hip-hop, though, and some of the more popular songs are bound to be hits in the States.

As I said before, we stayed in a converted 17th century nunnery. It was charming, yet modern - I recommend trying it if you're ever in San Juan. Nice view from the postage-stamp-sized rooftop pool.

cruise ships beware!

We wandered around the compact old town all day. My favorite part was El Morro, the second of the three main forts in San Juan, built in the early 16th Century to keep out Johnny Depp. Sir Francis Drake attacked (unsuccessfully) in 1595, and got a cannonball in his cabin for his troubles. Three years later, the Duke of Cumberland landed an army behind the fort (all of its defenses faced seaward) and took the fort. After only six weeks, the English retreated, citing dysentery (Ponce de Leon's Revenge?) as the cause. It would remain Spanish for the next 300 years, until 1898, when the gringos conquered Puerto Rico once and for all.

Once the battleground of conquistadors and pirates...
...now a perfect spot to fly a kite.

Dinner was at the Parrot Club, a San Juan institution since the eighties. It's a bit touristy, and lacks the refinement of a top-notch San Francisco eatery. But the nuevo Latino food is tasty, and well worth the price (moderately expensive even for someone from the Bay Area). The skirt steak approaches the stuff served at Nola (the one in Palo Alto - can't say I like Emeril's French Quarter establishment), and the ceviche is the best I've tasted. With the live jazz music you can almost imagine what Havana must've been like back in the days of Prohibition.

The next morning, before we caught our Cessna to Vieques, we took a closer look at the cemetary you can just make out in the bottom left of the last picture. It was a beautiful old cemetary, right on the Atlantic. My sister found an opened grave. We couldn't resist looking in: it seemed to have been looted, and lying right on top was a large bone. Now, I tried to rationalize that it could've been from a cow, but I finally had to agree with my sister: it was a human femur. I tried to get her to take a picture, but there were other people about, and we both chickened out. So you'll just have to make do with the following closeup of an elaborate tombstone. It's crying out for a caption - I'm taking suggestions.

Note: my sister, who shall remain nameless, took most of these pictures