Travels in the 2nd half

When I walk around a city I am always fascinated by the doors I see. To me doors are more than just entrances and exits. They represent the spirit of the house. Doors tell you if they home is rich or poor. They can tell you if the owner is attentive to detail. Doors are also secret keepers. Nobody knows what is behind them, but they invite you to try and enter to find out what is happening. Here are some of the doors I found walking around Old San Juan.

El Torre - University of Puerto Rico  Lots of people talk about the difference between being a tourist and being a traveler. An important aspect is the desire to spend time exploring the places and ways in which local people live. In Puerto Rico I escaped from the more touristy Isla Verde and Old San Juan and took a tour of the municipality of Río Piedras, about ten miles southeast of Old San Juan. The tour was given by the Puerto Rico Historical Building Drawing Society, a non-profit dedicated to the preservation of the architectural history of Puerto Rico (you can read my blog about them here ). This was my second trip to Río Piedras. The Amazing Ms. D’s aunt had given my parents and me a tour of the area fifteen years ago and I wanted to see how things had changed. The town of Río Piedras was founded in 1714. For most of its history Rio Piedras was the agricultural center for San Juan. It became the commercial center for the working people in the area who spent t...

 The architecture and design of Old San Juan have many unique characteristics. Founded in 1523, the houses of Old San Juan are some of the oldest on the Americas. That is one of the reasons that I love walking around this neighborhood, I discover something new every time I explore its streets. One unique design feature of the buildings in Old San Juan is the soles trunco . This is a decorative feature placed above doorways to allow air to circulate into and out of rooms and houses. Semi-circular in shape, soles truncos are comprised of individual pieces of carved wood that fit together forming a shape similar to a fan. Its role in interior design is to allow the flow of air and help maintain a cooler temperature in houses. In the era before air conditioners houses stayed cool by using fans and natural air movement to bring cool air into rooms and send warm air out. Many buildings had walls that did not go up to the ceiling. Where that was not practical...