November 20. We're home!

November 20  At home

We awoke yesterday early as we had a 7:00 a.m. (3:00 a.m. Pacific Standard Time) taxi to the airport.   As it was a Monday, I asked our driver why there was no traffic.  He said it was a holiday and people weren't working.  He said that while Puerto Ricans celebrate Oct. 12th as Columbus Day when he arrived in 1492, they also celebrate when he discovered San Juan (the original name he gave the island) on November 19, 1493.

The driver said that, including Thanksgiving, every day this week was a holiday of some sort.  He said that Puerto Ricans celebrate everything and there is a festival of some sort nearly everyday.  He said in his hometown, they even have a Crops Festival.  He went on to say that Puerto Ricans are a fun-loving people and will celebrate any and all people's holidays.  He said that Puerto Ricans are a "Happy People."

We spent a couple of hours at the airport before taking off on a 3.5 hour flight to Atlanta.  Then we had a 5.5 hour layover before a 5 hr. 15 min. flight to Seattle.  Before we left Atlanta, though, there was a problem on the plane.  Apparently the concession cart that Food Services sent to our Boeing 767 didn't fit and they couldn't secure it.  It took over a half hour to get the right cart into our Delta plane.

Then we had very rough air coming over the Rockies and an  extremely bouncy ride down into Seattle.  Jeanine picked us up, as well as Chelsea who flew in from Scripps College 15 minutes after us.

Going home, we had a wait for road work on highway 522, making us even later getting home at midnight (4:00 a.m. on Puerto Rican time).

Today, our only day at home before going to Canada tomorrow, was very busy with Thanksgiving shopping, laundry, etc.  We are planning to leave early tomorrow.

It has been a great trip, 3.5 weeks.  We really enjoyed Puerto Rico and recommend a visit there to all.  We have been to the majority of  islands in the Caribbean and just love this part of the world.

I am sorry to end this blog...but they'll always be another one.  There are still so many places in the world to visit.

Adios.

November 18. Old San Juan

November 18

After little sleep last night, we had a lazy morning, only stressed by Delta Airlines problems with its webpage as we were trying to check in online for tomorrow.

We went for a walk around Old Town and I took a photo through a locked gate at one of the beautiful inner gardens.  You know, when I used to read about these inner courtyards in novels about New Orleans and the Old South, I never realized how the outsides of the homes  could be so very plain and unassuming, while the insides could be fabulous.

We stopped at a music store to purchase a CD of typical Puerto Rican music before heading to the Plaza de Armas to catch one of the free trolleys.  We waited and waited, while Jim took photos of the pigeons in the plaza, who were everywhere now after yesterday's rain.  He even asked me if it was my friend, Marian, who would not like this situation.

We piled into the bus along with a multitude of others.  Jim gave up his seat to an older woman.  Even if you are a senior citizen yourself, there are always even older senior citizens.  I kind of like being on the bottom end of the category.

I did not like the crowded conditions on the trolley or the inability to communicate with Jim about where we wanted to go.  We finally got off, walked for a bit, and headed to the Old Harbor Brewery to cool off and have a bite to eat.  There. we listened to music while sampling Puerto Ricon food and local beer,

Refreshed, we walked by the high wall that surrounds the Old Town to protect it from pirates and other invading countries.

We walked along the Paseo de la Princesa where we remembered from two years ago that there was music, dancing, local artisans, and lots of fun on Sunday afternoons.

We watched a local artisan, painting on feathers.  She did very detailed and beautiful work.  She said that the blue feathers were from macaws and the green feathers were from parrots.  I bought a coqui on a blue feather.

Where the Paseo de la Princesa meets the Bay, there is an intriguing statue, with a very lengthy explanation about all the figures.  When I put this trip online on my webpage and also when I make a DVD of it after we return, I will fully explain this statue.

We walked along the malecon outside the wall and could easily see how it would stop invaders.

El Morro (the fort) is on the left.  The photo shows the outside of the wall which is above the malecon where people are walking.  The town is behind it.

Jim is befriending a local kitty.

Jim called these "Pokers for the Wall" as they were on the outside of the wall around the Old City.  Actually, my friend, Marian, translated a plaque in the midst of these obelisks.   While we had thought it would describe what they were, actually it was more of a positive or spiritual message that seemed to be meant to be uplifting (as the statues were, of course).

One of the Guard Towers on the Wall

Here you can see the wall on both the side and back, with the town safely behind it.

We stopped at the massive banyon tree outside an entrance through the wall.

This is the San Juan Gate.  If  you were a dignitary arriving from Spain in the 1500s through the 1800s, you would enter the city through this gate.  Access to and from the city was tightly controlled through five gates.  As the formal entrance, San Juan Gate meant protection and relief for weary travelers.  Through its doors passed the documents, money, and people to carry out the Crown's will in this colony.

An entrance to this city probably existed here in some form as early as 1540.  The San Juan Gate as seen today was built in 1635.  Notice how thick the walls are.

Through the gate, we passed the historic hotel, El Convento, where some sort of demonstration was taking place.  While interesting, I suppose, when they supposedly lit the cannon, it sounded like a weak firecracker.

We stopped by the hotel to check it out as it is so well-known, and Vicki took a short rest break before heading back to the Casablanca.

After resting a bit, we went to our favorte restaurant, Parila's on Forteleza St, less than a 1/2 block from our hotel, the Casablanca.  I again had Empanadalittas Argentina and Jim had pizza this time.  The food was out-of-this-world and the wait staff was extrordinary.  We cannot recommend it enough.

November 17 San Juan

November 17

Because we didn't have flight connections to make, we elected to leave the ship on one of the later departures and just stay in bed.  That didn't work out too well, as there was a limited time for breakfast service.  However, we felt no rush and were able to quickly walk off the ship, go through immigrations and customs, and be on our way.

Our hotel had moved us to the third floor (no elevator) because there was no hot water on the second floor.  The view from our balcony is interesting, looking down on the narrow street below.  There is a wire that is attached to various buildings haphazardly, and held up in the middle by a wire across the street from one building to another.  We aren't sure what it is for, but Jim thinks it might be for cable television..

We went for a long walk on streets unknown to us in Old Town and it was very interesting, but hot!  We stopped for a cold drink in an air-conditioned restaurant, that looked like a "hole in the wall"from the outside.  The buildings and streets looked much like New Orleans' French Quarter, and like those homes, there were beautiful and green courtyards just inside the gates.

Castillo San Cristobal

The cobblestones in Old San Juan were brought over as ballast on the ships from Spain and are now being replaced by bricks.  

Plaza de Cristobal Colon

We entered the greatest shop, A Poet's Corner, were original art and poetry was displayed.  They even have poetry readings every Tuesday evening.  While in there, the beautiful sunny day turned into the fury of a rainstorm.  It was impossible to walk in it.  Birds hovered under the gazebo in the plaza or under trees.  Water poured down the sidewalks and streets towards the Bahia de San Juan.  We waited and waited, probably 15 minutes, before we could venture out again.

We walked some more and finally stopped for tapas, Empanadittos Argentina (small, meat-filled turnovers).

Returning to our room, it was siesta time untile we were ready to go out to dinner.

We walked to a restaurant we had seen before, featuring a Moroccan dancer on the steps.  This time it was Spanish Flamenco dancers and we were entertained for well over an hour.  They weren't really very good, but they certainly were enthusiastic.

I'm sorry this photo isn't very clear.  It is due to the low lighting and I didn't want to use a flash.

Back to the room for a great night of sleep.  NO! Our balcony is over the street and about 10:00, it got VERY noisy.  Probably at least 50 people were congregated in the street below our window, shouting, singing, laughing, drinking, and ALL talking at once.  Apparently, they couldn't fit any more people into the bars around.  Loud music came from the bars, and glass was occasionally broken in the street.
This went on until 4:00 a.m, although I think the music stopped about 3:30 a.m.  The glass breaking grew louder as it sounded as if people were throwing their glasses against a wall.  Finally, it seemed quieter as they all left, but by 4:30 a.m., street cleaners started cleaning up the broken glass, making a larger racket than the breaking of it in the first place.

Sunday morning....

By 7:00 a.m., we now had the church-goers shouting at each other in the street as Old Town woke up.
Who could have gone to bed at all?

November 16 St. Croix

November 16  St. Croix

When we arrived back in our stateroom last night, a monkey was hanging from our ceiling!

We have arrived in St. Croix at about 4:30 a.m., but could not dock until 8:00 a.m.  While the capital, Christiansted, is on the other side of the island, we docked at Frederiksted, the only town on the island with a deep water port.   St. Croix is the largest of the three main islands that make up the U.S. Virgin Islands, along with St. Thomas and St. John.

Like the other islands we visited, St. Croix has had a colorful history.  After the Arawak from Venezuela first came to the islands, another South American tribe attacked and overpowered them.  This group came to be known as the Carib Indians.  This name came about after Christopher Columbus’s visit in 1493.  The Indians frightened the sailors and they called them “caribal”, meaning cannibal, from which the word Caribbean is derived.   So now, we know that the Caribbean Islands are really the Cannibal Islands.

The island changed hands many times throughout its history, from Spanish to English to Dutch to French to Danish to American.  In the 1730s, the island began to prosper using African slave labor to grow sugarcane and export sugar, molasses and rum, much as many of the islands did.

After a leisurely breakfast in the main dining room, we wandered down the dock to this colonial town.  There was lots of color, music, and two dancers on stilts.

We were interested in the buildings which all had wooden shutters to protect from hurricanes.

One man had a truckload of coconuts and he was slicing off the top with a machete, inserting a straw, and selling coconut milk for $2. 

We bought one as I had never tasted fresh coconut milk before.  It didn’t have a memorable taste and it was warm.  I didn’t dislike it, but I didn’t like it much either.

The vendors set up their canopies all along the waterfront and the town square.  We wandered around a bit, but didn’t buy anything.

This is the beach walk which led to a beautiful sandy beach.  Above it was an old fort to protect the town in earlier times.

After about an hour or so, we headed back to our ship.

There, we donned swimsuits and headed to the “Adults Only” Solarium.  This pool area is covered and air-conditioned, and is a very pleasant way to spend an afternoon.  However, one man from Ohio loudly complained that the hot tub was too cold and had been too cold all week.  He became obnoxious in his demands that they turn up the heat.  They finally did so, but the term “Ugly American” came to mind.

Our last evening onboard is tough.  We have to pack and put our suitcases outside our door before 11:00 p.m.  We are tired, though, and unmotivated to do anything.

November 15 Antigua

November 15 Antigua

Today was our most active day by far.  On docking at St. John, the capital city, we found that there were actually three mega-cruise ships here.  Our ship, Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Sea, Royal Caribbean’s Adventure of the Sea (sharing our dock) and Cunard’s Mediterranea.

We started off in a bus, crossing the island to the north side, still on the Caribbean Sea.  We then went on open air boats, holding about 12 people.  After the bus, we loved the fresh air on our faces as we were hot.  Temperatures were in the upper 80s, and the sun was shining today.

We arrived at a platform where many kayaks were tied together. 

We then rolled off the dock (quite literally) into the sea kayaks.  Now the fun began!  It was hard work, paddling on both sides for about an hour (Jim said we were on them for a month!)  While I was super-tired, I kept thinking what good exercise this was for my arms.  No, really, I thought, “I’m tired.  You paddle!”  Jim was behind me, though, so I never knew when he was just resting.

The sun was beating down on us, and while I had on sunscreen, I knew I was getting sunburnt.

We paddled back to the boat and they took us to a nice beach, one of the 15 islands on this side of Antigua that belong to it.  We didn’t stay there, but donned snorkel equipment and immediately headed out towards the reef.  I was very leery of this as I am afraid of deep water and waves.  I love snorkeling in a lagoon, or protected water, where I can touch bottom.  I am not a good swimmer, partly because I nearly drowned when I was a child.  Everyone was jumping off the boat into the water and I couldn’t do it.  I made Jim get off with our underwater camera, and I timidly had the driver help me down, as no way could I jump off in 10 foot water.  It didn’t work and I had to get back onboard.  After I calmed down and waited until I found my courage again, I climbed down the ladder and was just fine.  I was comfortable and excited to see the fish in the water as I was snorkeling.  I wish I didn’t have such fear.

Brain Coral

Back on shore, we went for a hike to the top of the island.  From there, we could see not only the Caribbean Sea in these islands, but the Atlantic Ocean, a deeper blue instead of the turquoise of the Caribbean.

It was quite a long trip back by boat to where we started, but rum punch awaited us in the shade of a beautiful beach home.

Back onboard our ship, we again rested before getting ready for another formal night’s dinner. 

November 14 Guadeloupe

November 14

I’m sorry about the title on the last blog.  Because internet is so expensive on the ship, I need to wait until I get AT&T back to try to figure out how to fix it.

This photo is at the entrance to one of the elevators.  When we arrived, it said Saturday, and has been changed everyday, although it is hard to see how it can be removed.  We were riding up with a woman and discussing it when she said, “Now I get it.  I thought that there was an elevator named Sunday, one named Monday.  It was so you couldn’t get lost.”  Oh, dear!

We got up early on the island of Guadaloupe (pronounced Guadeloupe as in French and not four syllables as in Spanish)  and skipped breakfast as we had an excursion this morning.  We were going in an air-conditioned bus to Carbet Falls and a Hindu Temple.  Unfortunately, it was raining again this morning and we had little protection.

Much of the island has seen sugar cane plantations and rum distilleries.  We passed quite a number of both banana and sugar cane fields.

Throughout the islands, we have seen many breadfruit trees.  This fruit is much like a potato and is a main staple of the islander’s diet.

This island has had an interesting history, as had most Caribbean islands.  Archaeologists believe that this island was settled as long ago as 3000 BC.  The peaceful Arawak Indians from Venezuela settled many of these islands in the Antilles about 1100 AD.  Later the Carib Indians, also from South America, anniliated or pushed out the Arawak.  Christopher Columbus landed here in 1493, leaving because he found no gold. During the Age of Discovery, most of the islands were the scene of bloody battles between the Dutch, English, Spanish and French for possession.  The French took control and established a colony, mostly to make money on cash crops.  Because they needed workers, Guadeloupe joined the slave trade, acquiring Africans to use as slaves and sending the rum they made to France.  When the slaves across the islands revolted and left, France was desperate for workers on their prosperous island.  At the time France had colonies in Southern India, and so imported many Indians, thus creating a Hindu culture here, in addition to Native Americans, French, and Africans.

The road through the rainforest to Carbet Falls was treacherous, very narrow, sometimes only stones for the road itself.  There was room for one vehicle at a time, so cars had to back down from our bus as it couldn’t back away so easily.

Our first view of Carbet Falls was in the rain and we were just drenched.  It truly is beautiful.  This is the middle falls of three, and it is 330 feet high.

The rainforest trail, wet, and rocky, was very dangerous and some couldn’t make it.  It was probably a moderately strenuous trail, but was not identified properly.

Look at the size of the plants!

Our guide was pointing out a gum tree.  When you scratch the bark, its scent is like incense, and is used in it.  Notice, she has on a rain parka, unlike any of our fellow hikers.

We finally reached the Carbet Falls and were delighted with the view…and the fact that we actually made it there.

Returning to the dock, we were fascinated by all the beautiful colors, gorgeous fabrics, different wares, and fragrant spices.

Spices, including nutmeg,  cinnamon and vanilla bean

We saw cacao growing on the trees...the unwrapped rolls smelled like a strong chocolate

Traditional Dress

I find it interesting that while others go and hang out at the pool or the lounges, I really have a strong desire to made decisions about the hundreds of photos Jim and I took each day and get some ready to upload.  Then I want to write a journal/bog immediately before I forget what I have seen.  I think I learned to do this when I went to China with the Fulbright and I have done it ever since.  I have found that if I wait much time at all, I forget all the stories and the impressions.  I’d rather do this than sit around a pool and drink.

Having said that, it probably is time to go to the Solarium for awhile before getting ready for dinner.