Island of Enchantment

We’d had a full day at sea and were settled in the nicest and largest cruise ship room (on the 12th floor) we had ever stayed in.  It included a 40” flat screen interactive-TV, a lovely balcony with table and chairs, and a butler who served us tea and pastries at 4:00 p.m. each day (Bob dubbed this “folly on a trolley!”).    Through exploration, we had learned where the food and entertainments venues were located and were starting to get used to the glass elevators that overlooked a multi-story atrium…complete with a tree in a large wooden Chinese take-out container hanging in the middle.  Time to hear, “Land, ho!” and we did on Tuesday afternoon.

Before us was San Juan, the smallest of the Greater Antilles (Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica), a tropical island with an average temperature of 82 degrees.  When Columbus landed there on his second voyage in 1493, the island was mostly populated by Taino Indians.  Fifteen years later, a settlement was established by Ponce de Leon, and he became the first governor.  As happened on many islands when the Europeans arrived, the indigenous population was quickly depleted by foreign diseases.  African slaves were imported to work coastal sugarcane fields, and the mountainous interior was left undeveloped.  As a result of the Spanish-American War, Spain ceded Puerto Rico to the U.S. in 1898.  Less than twenty years later, Puerto Ricans became U.S. citizens, and in 1952 the island archipelago became a semi-autonomous commonwealth.

We spent several hot, sweaty hours walking through Old San Juan, originally built as a fortress by the Spaniards in the early 1500s, and now a tourist shopping area.  The streets are “paved” with adoquines, blue-gray rectangular stones that were used for ballast in the Spanish ships.  I thought they were lovely.  We strolled by, and, occasionally went into, elegant jewelry stores, outlets (including Coach and Ralph Lauren), souvenir shops, and shops featuring local artists’ work.

The most unusual shop was called Butterfly People.  Inside we found the walls covered with clear plastic cases of all sizes holding butterflies mounted on clear pegs.  Some cases held a specimen or two, some a swirl of many of the same variety, and some were full of rare butterflies from around the world.  Always, the butterflies seemed to be moving.

Besides stores, there was also a variety of bars and restaurants, and we found a sign declaring that in 1963 the pina colada had originated there.  We licked our lips, as it is our favorite umbrella drink!

We climbed the worn stone steps of the Catedral de San Juan (St. John the Baptist) and marveled at the trompe l’oeil work on the inside of the dome.  It had originally been built in the early 1520s as a thatch-topped structure, but hurricanes soon destroyed it, and it was reconstructed in 1540.  The staircase and vaulted Gothic ceilings are from that time, but most of the other work was done in the 1800s.  Ponce de Leon rests in a marble tomb.

The cathedral was really the only sightseeing we did.  We went back to the ship before dark and missed out on hearing the coquis, tiny local frogs, sing their “legendary sweet lullaby.”  That would be just one reason for a repeat visit!