Arrival in Puerto Rico
Jan. 2nd, 2012 07:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
urbpanWe got to Puerto Rico just as the sun was setting on the day after Xmas. It took a long time for the shuttle to arrive to take us to the car rental place, and that was our first real discomfort--not really knowing where to go, wearing our Boston clothes in the 80 degree night. Then a quick course in driving in San Juan in the dark; I brought my GPS, which was helpful but there were a lot of roads that are parallel to one another, so I had to make good guesses about which ones I should be turning onto. We actually managed it relatively smoothly, and ended up in the resort area, pulling up to what was probably the cheapest and nastiest hotel available.
To be fair, the man who checked us in was friendly (the first of many to immediately sense I was over my head trying to speak Spanish), and the room was clean but very small. I had lingering nervousness from things a friend told me years ago--he said San Juan was "like New York but with more crime," and that he was mugged by a couple on a date. Fortunately lots of other people had told me that the North American worries about crime on the island were way overblown. We were on a side street which felt a little dangerous, but after a while we went out to explore. I love to go shopping for regular stuff on my vacations--it's fascinating to me to see what's different and what's the same about, say, Walgreens. What's different: local music played at what I now realize is a very modest volume, and lots of booze for sale. I foudn myself somewhat fascinated by xmas stuff--I feel like if you have a tropical climate, you really don't need to have a winter holiday. I bought traveler's kits of toiletries, and we went looking for a place to eat.
The streets were crowded with American tourists, a few beggars, and tons of cops. It didn't feel dangerous at all. We lucked into a restaurant selling local cuisine (I had goat stew) and began our project of depleting the island of all rum. We wandered up and down the main drag, stopping at various kinds of bars which all had different ambiance but all seemed to have giant TVs with NFL games on. I also noticed that I could hear the calls of the coqui frogs coming from the street trees and landscaping. I had imagined that urban conditions of San Juan would be too harsh for most amphibians, but at least one species (of 13-16 on the island) was heard over the traffic noise. Dad suggested we go look at the beach, so we walked about two city blocks with the hotels behind us on soft sand. According to the tourist guide we consulted later, that was the most dangerous thing we did, as apparently the beach is where drug deals take place. We only saw other tourists. I walked in the water a bit, which was delightfully warm for December 26th. The city lights were pretty, and there were holiday decorations everywhere.
To be fair, the man who checked us in was friendly (the first of many to immediately sense I was over my head trying to speak Spanish), and the room was clean but very small. I had lingering nervousness from things a friend told me years ago--he said San Juan was "like New York but with more crime," and that he was mugged by a couple on a date. Fortunately lots of other people had told me that the North American worries about crime on the island were way overblown. We were on a side street which felt a little dangerous, but after a while we went out to explore. I love to go shopping for regular stuff on my vacations--it's fascinating to me to see what's different and what's the same about, say, Walgreens. What's different: local music played at what I now realize is a very modest volume, and lots of booze for sale. I foudn myself somewhat fascinated by xmas stuff--I feel like if you have a tropical climate, you really don't need to have a winter holiday. I bought traveler's kits of toiletries, and we went looking for a place to eat.
The streets were crowded with American tourists, a few beggars, and tons of cops. It didn't feel dangerous at all. We lucked into a restaurant selling local cuisine (I had goat stew) and began our project of depleting the island of all rum. We wandered up and down the main drag, stopping at various kinds of bars which all had different ambiance but all seemed to have giant TVs with NFL games on. I also noticed that I could hear the calls of the coqui frogs coming from the street trees and landscaping. I had imagined that urban conditions of San Juan would be too harsh for most amphibians, but at least one species (of 13-16 on the island) was heard over the traffic noise. Dad suggested we go look at the beach, so we walked about two city blocks with the hotels behind us on soft sand. According to the tourist guide we consulted later, that was the most dangerous thing we did, as apparently the beach is where drug deals take place. We only saw other tourists. I walked in the water a bit, which was delightfully warm for December 26th. The city lights were pretty, and there were holiday decorations everywhere.
