Culture

Saturday night was the opening event of the month-long Festival Casals de Puerto Rico.

We were invited to join Dagmar and husband Phillipe for the concert. Originally from France the couple has been in Puerto Rico three years, and Phillipe runs a cigar factory. De Anne first met Dagmar at an afternoon ladies event several weeks ago. Polish composer and conductor, 3 time Grammy winner, Krzysztof Penderecki (yes, I never heard of him either) directed the symphony orchestra, two choirs - adult and children's, plus 6 opera soloists.

 De Anne was thrilled by the performance and I stayed awake, so the evening was a success.

Sunrise

Not all sunrises are equal. the white chairs on the right mark the Ritz Carlton beach area.
 (click to enlarge)

Island tour

Wednesday and Thursday was a road trip to see the rest of the island. Our first driving adventure!

Let's set the stage. Puerto Rico has more cars per square mile than anywhere else in the world. It also has more potholes than anywhere else I have been, but the fun does not stop there - the potholes are deep too. Stop signs are just a suggestion. On mountain roads local drivers use the middle of the road to avoid the crumbling road edges and overhanging trees and bamboo. They will politely veer off about a foot for you. This causes my usually taciturn wife to emit a small shriek adding to my white knuckle condition.

On the south coast the GPS became unreliable. It put me into a school parking lot and at several hair-pin turns announced turns into the brush. Lucky for me I don't fool that easy. Without rhyme or reason small roads led into four lane highways that gave out after a few miles and then back to twisty small roads again.

On the east side of the island some order was restored. We stopped at the largest marina in the Caribbean for a dockside lunch. The marina was huge with very wide fixed concrete docks. It soon became obvious why. Arriving boaters drove their car into one of 15 covered bays(picture below). At each bay was a large two wheel cart. Once you unload your car into the cart a dockboy, driving a golf cart hooks up you cart, then you and crew climb aboard the 4 to 6 passenger golf cart and are whisked out the docks to unload directly on to your boat. How upscale is that?

Thursday was a little better on the major highway on the north side of the island; however at one point I got behind a flat bed truck and was worried about his load. It was a full grown horse balancing on the bed of the truck with no rails or tie downs in sight. Maybe the horse has done this before - it was standing with its legs slightly spread out.

I finally worked up the courage to try mofongo, the unofficial national dish of Puerto Rico. Mashed plantains smothered in a garlicky sauce with pork. I could not finish the huge portion I was given.

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The restaurant had a major added attraction - on a beach with the reef just a 100 yards off the sand. The large Atlantic rollers breaking on the rocks were spectacular.

We now are at peace having seen more of the island, jointly agreeing we could not improve on our current location and vowing to leave the driving to others,

Aquaman

After almost a week overlooking Isla Verde beach we are becoming familiar with our surroundings.

Every day about 7:30 am a man in a wet suit, with a straw hat on, and carrying a kayak paddle, wades out just past the breaking waves and stands in the water for the next 5 or 6 hours. While it is possible there is a valid explanation for this behavior, I can't think of one and so I chalk it up to mental problems. He is peaceful and bothers no one so we just keep an eye out for who we have dubbed as Aquaman.

 Aquaman (click to enlarge)

Just before the storm a rainbow:

Full moon rising:

Tomorrow we rent a car and head to the mountains.

Vertical distance

Our new place is actually farther away from the ocean, but only if you account for the vertical distance. We are now in the top floor of a six floor condo building in a nice 1 bedroom/1 bath unit.

We are paying the electric bill for the month, so (forsaking AC) all windows and doors are wide open to the sea breeze. The only problem with this so far, happened when I was seasoning our steak for dinner. I sprinkled the pepper like always and had not factored in the wind whipping through. The pepper went sideways. It is a cross I will bear.

Our new bedroom, then the view from the bedroom balcony.

plazas

We have not yet tired of touring Old San Juan. Tuesday's trek took us past several plazas.

Across from the Capitol building - St. John the Baptist, and no, that is not his middle finger extended.

Continuing along the water is this military lamb - an odd combination. 

There is even a park for pigeons. Note the cubbyholes in the wall.

The central plaza.

Many streets are paved with blue glazed bricks. This street has naturally occurring speed bumps.

Finally! sustenance at a place named Blue Burger. I will not belabor the obvious, but will note it was excellent!