San Juan and Vieques Puerto Rico . March 2013
Where one door closes another one opens, so true.
Winters apartment produces one hurdle after another which is all to do with the Banks inability to get anything right. This leaves us with resulting problem of what are we going to do over the 2 week school Spring break.
Winter has a second job where he is teaching Math on line for the Vieques teachers and students and is asked to go to the island for a few days for face to face teaching. He will be paid and assistance is given with his travel and accommodation.
I head over to Puerto Rico a few days early whilst he is still working and stay in a hotel called El Convento. Gorgeous place which as the name implies had a history as a convent amongst other things. It is situated in the heart of old San Juan and close to El Morro, one of the 2 fortresses that guarded the city from the marauders and pirates. These fortresses are found in most of the Caribbean Island and Caribbean South American coastal towns.
The streets are reminiscent of all the other old towns I have visited, narrow, cobbled and wonderful old architecture of centuries gone by. Beautifully restored and because a lot of cruise ships stop overnight or depart from San Juan, there are plenty of upmarket shops and restaurants. Also houses MANY souvenir shops and bars!!
We eat the first night at an Italian restaurant connected to the hotel and that is very good. I spend my one full day as a tourist visiting the El Morro, the plazas, check out the shops with restraint and find a great cafe called Saint Germaine on Calle del Sol and close to the 2nd fortress St Christobel. Highly recommended to me and I pass that tip on! Fantastic coffee called Quatro Sombras (4 shades). Sadly couldn't find any to bring home.
That night we ate at a traditional Puerto Rican restaurant where I had churassco ( not only found in Argentina) and Winter ate Mofongo which is fried plantain and pork cracking broken down in a bowl into a cup shape and then filled with a meat of your selection, the most common being pork. Didn't excite me but the margarita did!
We set out for our drive to the ferry Thursday morning. An hour away from San Juan. The cargo ferry takes either an hour or 90 minutes depending on the seas and which ferry you take. An easy trip.
We are met by the house caretaker Mishael who guides us to the house in a barrio called Monte Santo, which Winter found to rent. I am getting very anxious as we are climbing up a hill away from the beach. We JUST manage to get the car up the steep driveway and are met by a charming, extremely clean and well presented little house with incredible views across the barrio and to the Caribbean. We have everything we need there and as we bought provisions from the mainland for the 5 days, we are set.
We spend the next 3 days exploring, visiting beaches and generally lazing around the place taking in the views! My favorite being Sun Bay and the little town of Esparenza where the little Malecon ( promenade along the sea wall) is located amongst a few restaurants and bars mostly owned by Gringos and offering gringo fare! We are happy to just have an ice cream and cook for our selves! I am hooked on tostones which are plantain fritters, crunchy outside and soft inside and Winter cooks these so well! Fantastic with guacamole of which we have become experts and believe we have located the perfect recipe but more of that to come!
There are 2 main towns on Vieques. Isabella Segunda known as Isabella II, where the ferry comes in and Esperanza where most of the Americans hang out. The Island appears on the surface to be pretty simple and humble but one of the resorts is owned by the W and hence a lot of wealthy Americans and Puerto Ricans stay here or own property here. The roads are terrible and the drivers are lunatics with no regard to road rules. When you enter a beach reserve you are meant to pay a $2 toll per car but that depends if somebody can be bothered being there to take your money or if they close the booth and leave for lunch!
I think that we have selected well to be staying on the hill in the middle of the island as everything is in reach!
The beaches are idyllic, soft silver sand with coco palms offering shade and turquoise waters gently rolling in. In some areas the water is warm and others much cooler but no complaints from me! The island is a series of one small bay and beach after another. It has a very Interesting history of one invasion after another, piracy and then eventually used by the USA as a base for armed forces training and bombing where no care was taken of the flora or environment. It wasn't until about 20 years ago after many problems that the island was passed back to the people and the army left. Of course leaving a mess in their wake which is slowly being cleared up but a lot of the island is off limits due to unexploded ordinance.
On the days Winter worked I had my first practice sessions of driving on the right hand side of the road avoiding horses and big iguanas who play chicken with the drivers and many of them loose out so a lot of squashed lizards!
The horses have the misnomer of being called wild. They are apparently not. The owners often let them roam wild and steal each others animals which then causes uproar. There have been many accidents involving horses and vehicles and this is when the owners don't come forward. For the most part they look skinny and under nourished. They have been cross bred in the past for particular purposes, military duty, farming and a means of transport. This breed has very hardy hooves which don't require shoes and their back structure and the way they walk means a different way of riding them with little bounces up and down, looks quite funny! They are found everywhere! By the side of the road, along the beach, in town!!!
So I manage to get up and down the drive way, find my way to the beach and to the bakery! There are very few street signs and we had no idea of our address and only found our way by the small highway kilometer counting sign. Turn at 5.3, take left, a left a right then a left! The beach was at 7.8!! the stupid thing is that because of the Spanish influence in days gone by the speed is in miles, the gas in liters and the road signs in kilometers!!
We had 5 nights on the island and really didn't see as much as we should have as there are museums and historical places of interest but I just loved the beaches!
The only concern for us was the lack of telephone communication and Internet as the house had no reception and this mucked up my plans to write and Winters lesson planning. We have all become so tech reliant!!!
We returned to Puerto Rico on the Tuesday evening, stayed there one night with the plan being to return to Miami for the remainder of the school holidays as Winter has some visits to make to the education department and needs to get his resume sorted for his return to The USA mid year. Proving difficult as it is spring break here which is the equivalent of schoolies and there is no available accommodation unless you want to pay a fortune! There is also the big schoolies concert so Miami is bursting at the seams.
Hence one night in Miami and onto the Bahamas for 4 nights!
Winters head is spinning with all the English and I am getting some relief from the Spanish!
This time it's see you all soon and next epistle will be from the Bahamas!
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