After leaving Fort Lauderdale, the
first Port on the Africa and Mediterranean Journey is Puerto Rico, which is
still in the realm of the United States of America, but definitely in a much
warmer and subtropical location. Since the time of Christopher Columbus Puerto
Rico has grown from a ‘Rich Port’ of strategic significance for maritime trade
into a favourite tourist destination. The city’s fortifications impress the
visitor with massive walls, intimidating batteries and impenetrable portals,
not to mention the characteristic wall-towers, which adorn almost every
postcard of Puerto Rico.
The ship literally docks ‘downtown’
of Old San Juan. Since my last visit, a park like shore side promenade has
replaced construction fences and cranes, however, work on a new cruise ship
dock is still in progress. Tourism, despite economic downturns in many parts of
the world, is definitely the basis for future economy on this island. The
winter of 2013/2014 was a banner year for the Caribbean as everybody north of Florida
tried to escape a harsh winter with record low temperatures to catch a bit of
sun.
With an old city like Puerto Rico,
repair, maintenance and reconstruction are an ongoing matter. Much of the typical
blue cobble stone pavement is being replaced by newer ‘greyish’ pavement stones
– no cracks, no holes in the road, no grass growing between pavement stones –
progress.
Many formerly decrepit buildings
are now romantic photo-ops and converted into useful edifices, others – the district
of La Perla, a slum, included – are still awaiting repair, restoration or plain
removal.
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| District of La Perla |
Local Handicrafts/Souvenirs,
except for rare finds, seem to be mostly imported from the same sources as
souvenirs are in the rest of the tourist world: same metal plaques, same
magnets, same t-shirts (different imprints), same beach wraps, same Indian
cotton blouses, same wooden beads jewellery.
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| Public art against a cloudy sky |
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| Bishop and Fighting Nuns on the City Walls |
I found some authentic Puerto Rican
product, locally created ‘couture’ in the Parisian sense, but prices were astronomical,
and they remained beyond reach. There are plenty of restaurant, bistros and
cafes offering local and international cuisine, and the local brew is
refreshingly cool and tasty.
Puerto Rico is also a good ‘catch
up’ stop for luggage and supplies, which may have missed the ship’s departure
in Fort Lauderdale. Not an uncommon occurrence –i.e. ship’s band without any
clothes, except the ones they wore during travel to the ship, passengers just
with their hand luggage, arts and crafts instructor without a single piece of
supplies necessary for a 58 day journey.
Well, Puerto Rico proved ‘non-productive’
in that regard, ergo, one hopes for things to turn up in the next and last US
Port, Cruz Bay on the Island of St. John in the US Virgin Islands tomorrow.
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| Puerto in Puerto Rico |
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| One of the hundreds of Feral Cats in Puerto Rico - all fed well |
