Well, The Amazing Ms. D and I have come to the end of our time in Puerto Rico. We had a great time here. We spent a lot of time with family and explored the San Juan area more than we had in our recent trips.
But the end of a trip always brings sadness to me. Yes I am happy to be heading home. However the end of a trip brings thoughts of all of the things that i didn't get to do. I start questioning my choices.
Should I have gone to the Museum of Contemporary Art, instead of the Museo del las Americas? Should we have gone to Ponce?
At the same time I am mourning the end of an adventure. I love traveling. I love finding someplace new. Seeing something I haven't seen before. Heading home means the journey is over. It changes me from traveler to homebody. From explorer to native.
Anyway, tomorrow it's back to NYC.
This blog is the personal musings about travel from someone who has already spent 50+ years on this planet and is looking forward to the 2nd and 3rd halves of their life. My opinions are mine. I only link to articles I find interesting.
Monday, December 30, 2013
Sunday, December 29, 2013
Museo de las Americas is a must see
Museo
de las Americas
One of the highlights of visiting the Museo de las
Americas (web site) in Old San Juan is the “Indian in America” which is a permanent
exhibit. This is recognition of over 20 tribes from around the Americas. What
makes this exhibit special is the statuary produced by Filipe Lettersten.
Felipe Lettersten (1957-2003) was a Peruvian born child
of Swedish parents. He was an amazing artist who made it his life’s work to pay
tribute to the many native tribes in existence throughout the Americas.See video here He used
a method of making full body casts of members of a tribe, and then using that
cast to create full size bronze casts. He would often travel up and down the
Amazon and other South American rivers on a boat that contained his portable
workshop. He would introduce himself to the tribe and show examples of his
previous work. He would spend several days getting to know the members and
leaders of the tribe. When he convinced the tribal leaders to agree he would
choose a subject and spend several hours creating a full body cast of them out
of a quick hardening foam. This process included completely covering the face
of his subject (except for breathing holes) for about 10-15 minutes. Eventually he would return with a fiberglass
copy of his statue as a thank you to the tribe.
Lettersten took on this life work upon realization that
these tribe were disappearing. They were (and are) being assimilated. The 1992
500th anniversary of Columbus’ first arrival in the America’s
brought to his work to the worlds notice. He felt that he should try to salvage some memory of
the tribes by honoring them in statue. See the NY Times article here
The Museo de las Americas has one of his statues for each
of the 20+ tribes in the exhibit along with a 15 minute video about Lettersten
and his work.
Another permanent exhibit at the Museo de las Americas is
“our African Heritage.” This is actually an incorporation of another museum
that used to be in San Juan. This exhibit covers the history of slavery in
Puerto Rico and discusses the on-going influence of the African diaspora in
today’s culture, music and food.
After
the museum
The Museo de las Americas will take about 1.5 hours to see
completely. That leaves a lot of time to
see other sights of Old San Juan. Nearby are El Morro, the National Gallery and
Museo de San Juan.
Also nearby is the Quincentenial Plaza with an
interactive fountain for children to play in and piragua vendors (flavored ice
cones). There are many good restaurants on Calle San Sebastian.
La Puerta del San juan |
Finally, I would suggest walking down Calle Santo Cristo
to the Plaza del Convento. Turn right here and stay to the left of the Museo
del Ninos. This will take you down to La Puerta Del San Juan. This was
originally the main entrance to city. You can see and feel just how strong the walls
of the city are.
Garita and Puerto del San Juan |
Una Garita |
On La Princesa |
Make a left and walk down the promenade along the water. Above
you are garitas, lookouts and guard stations.
When you get to the Raices fountain
turn left onto Paseo de la Princesa. La
Princesa was the main prison in colonial times. It is now the home to the
Puerto Rican Tourism Company. This promenade is home to many artisans selling
their goods. This will lead you back to the waterfront where you can pick up
the trolley or walk back to the bus depot.
Paseo La Princesa |
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Don't expect things to work like home.
BxTeacher in Old San Juan |
Today was a day of changing plans and crowd avoidance. We
had planned to go to Museo de lasAmericas in Old San Juan. This is a new museum in the building of the InstitutoCultura puertoriqueno near El Morro. Things were looking good. We caught
the T5 bus not 2 minutes after we got to the stop in Isla Verde. The weather
was beautiful. There was no traffic and we breezed right into the bus terminal
in 30 min.
Then we encountered our first problem. 3 cruise ships
were in dock. That meant that almost
8000 people were being discharged where we
were at the same time. We just missed the trolley to El Morro, so we waited,
and we waited, and we waited. After 45 minutes it finally showed up again,
completely full with people who had boarded at the stop before ours, near the
ships. No room for anyone to get on. Now, some people might complain about
there not being enough trolleys to service the crowd, but one must remember
when travelling that things are NOT dine the same way as home. It is Christmas week.
I don’t know the holiday schedule for drivers or what it would have taken to
change it.
A busy day in San Juan port |
Cafe El Punto |
Instead of complaining a traveler goes with the flow. The
trolley to the center of Old San Juan came by empty, so we jumped in. We went
to Plaza de las Armas which is where the city hall is and our earlier discovery The Poet's Passage. From there we walked around Old San Juan. We had lunch at Cafe El Punto on Calle Forteleza. This was a wonderful find. It is in an old
house. Some of the rooms are tallers
for artists, some are the dining rooms and the kitchen is in what was the
courtyard of the house. He alcapurias
were good and the beef empanada was
excellent.
We walked into some of the souvenir shops, looking for
better quality and avoiding the tourist traps.
One good shop is Mi Pequeno San Juan, owned by the
same artists that own The Poet’s Passage. I also picked up 2 pounds of artisanal
Puerto Rican coffee to have when I get back home. We also stopped by plaza de las palomas and took some pictures. By that time it had started to rain in OSJ so we
changed our plans and headed home, adding time to visit with family to our
evening.
Truth in advertising |
The point is – you can be tourist, make a schedule and
stick to it come hell or high water. I have found that this leads to
frustration and fights with The Amazing Ms. D leaving no one
happy. Or, you can be a traveler and take what the day gives you. Will you see
everything that you planned to? Probably not. Will you discover new things that
you didn’t know were there? Most likely. Will you be more relaxed and have a
more enjoyable vacation? Definitely!
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
When large chain stores take over something good is lost.
There is a trend that I have noticed on my past few trips to
Puerto Rico, which has become even more obvious this trip, maybe because it is
Christmas time. It is that shopping here is identical to shopping anywhere else
in the United States. Now you might ask “why is that a problem?” Well, I feel
that there has been something lost by this homogenization of America, and the
world.
I first really noticed this 8 years ago when I traveled to
Moscow. One of the things I had been looking forward to was seeing the G.U.M.
department store. For years I had heard about the “largest department store in
the world. It was even in the Guinness Book of World records. Well, I obviously
had not kept up with post-soviet changes. I walked into G.U.M. and found a
modern mall, complete with all the biggest European and American chains. Bath
and body Works, Nike, Addidas, Gap. All were represented. Right outside of Red
Square, another, underground mall with more big name stores.
I have also seen this here in Puerto Rico. The malls used to
be full of local stores and chains. Puerto Rican malls had a Puerto Rican
flavor. Stores sold local merchandise. Just before Christmas we went to Plaza
Las Americas, the biggest mall on the island. The three anchor stores – Macy’s,
JCP and Sears. Inside – Gap, Foot Locker, Clarkes, Victoria’s Secret, etc, etc,
etc. In all we counted 3 locally owned stores (not counting the barber shop,
nail salon or other service shops). I wrote before about how Old San Juan was
becoming just another cruise town. Well that is because the same thing is
happening there. Marshall’s, Walgreens, Wendy’s, Subway, Senor Frog’s.
Now I am not just being nostalgic for what used to be. Nor
am I a tourist who feels that locals should forego good shopping so that I can
get an “authentic experience.” But something is lost when every place looks the
same. That is true in the U.S. and outside of it. If shopping in Butte MT is
the same as it is in San Juan, which is the same as it is in Palisade’ Mall,
then the differences between culture and experience have been papered over, not
for what is best for the people, but for what makes the most profit for the
large mega-companies that own these chains.
There used to be a company called Los Bohios. I made the high quality ceramic pottery that was sold
in almost every hotel. But they couldn’t compete with cheap imports. There used
to be many locally owned places to guayaberas
I could only find 2 places in Old San Juan and only Sears in Plaza Las
Americas.
All I am saying is that something has been lost.
Monday, December 23, 2013
Why Isla Verde is the best place to stay in Puerto Rico
Most of the Caribbean Islands that I have visited give
you two basic choices of accommodations (if you are lucky) – The big fancy resort
or the small funky guest house. Puerto Rico has other options and the Isla
Verde area (see map) is a great place to find the kind of stay you want. Isla Verde is
right next to the airport between the beach and lagoon. It is a tourist center,
but it also has many Puerto Rican amenities.
Let’s start with the feel of Isla Verde. It is a tourist
area. However it is also the place that many locals come to go to the beach. So
the area has shops and restaurants for both groups of people. It gives Isla
Verde a down home feeling that Condado (the other San Juan resort area) doesn’t
have. There are restaurants for all income groups including many that serve criollo cooking. I strongly recommend MiCasita Restaurant for inexpensive down-home cooking. It is also served by 2
supermarkets and 2 Walgreens drug stores
Isla Verde is also well served by the San Juan public
transportation system. It is a 40 min bus ride from the Old San Juan bus
terminal (near the port) and the new convention center. This means that you don’t
NEED a car, especially if you are here to just sit on the beach. On the other
hand there are 3 local car rental agencies in the area. Isla Verde sits on
route 26, on the main highways into San Juan. This route connects with the
other main highways (autopistas) so
getting from here to other parts of the island is easy, as long as you don’t
hit traffic (here called tapon).
Isla Verde has many high end, beach-front hotels. The El
San Juan Hotel and Casino (here)
and the Intercontinental (here)
are two old fashioned resort hotels on the beach. There are others. The area
also has its share of funky guest houses.
But what makes this area our favorite are these factors.
Isla Verde has a long history of condominium development.
Not time shares, but full owned condos. That means that there are a lot of
condo owners who are looking to rent their apartments. This trip we rented a 2
bedroom over-looking the beach for $2500 for the month. There are other condos
and prices will range based on amenities and distance from the beach. Many of
the condos come with parking included (a perk that hotel don’t offer). But the
main reason we love Isla Verde is this:
To the east |
To the west |
This is the view from our apartment. One of the nicest
beaches on the island. We can walk the beach in the morning. Sit under a tree and
watch the water. There are places to rent ski-doos, banana boat rides, and
paragliding.
All of these things together make Isla Verde our home
away from home whenever we come to Puerto Rico.
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