Old San Juan, Puerto Rico

by Tom Gillespie
(Trinity, N. Carolina, USA)

To walk down the streets of Old San Juan is to walk in Old World Europe. The narrow streets, the cobblestone, the 16th-century forts and the sounds of Spanish permeating the shops all belie the fact that this is the New World and one of the busiest cruise-ship ports in the world.

A stark black and white street sign directing traffic reads "Transito" and seems lost in the blue and pink and green and yellow colors of the multi-story homes and shops packed together. The flowered balconies seem to almost touch their neighbors' across the narrow streets.

An old man, his skinned browned from a life under the Caribbean sun and his face hidden by a floppy hat, sits in a doorway off a narrow walkway as he plays a slow, enchanting melody on a small accordion. A crowd gathers to listen, but he never looks up--as if enchanted by his own tune.

It's Sunday; the cruise ships are in and the town is alive. Venders in the central plaza offer clothing and sparkling jewelry and blue ice treats and souvenirs and cold drinks. Crowds can't get enough.

A young Puerto Rican, 20-something, sits in the window of his street-level apartment just off the plaza. He seems to enjoy the crowds. His hat is turned backwards and his dark sunglasses reflect the tourists passing close enough to his window to shake his hand. The cigarette dangling in his hand almost touches them. But his Caribbean smile welcomes all passersby.

In the heart of the city, the domed ceiling of Cathedral de San Juan reflects the light of the pastel buildings that surround it. The sanctuary offers a quiet, cool respite from the heat and noise and bustle outside. Inside, it could be Paris or Barcelona or Edinburgh.

At the end of the small island that has tucked in San Juan for centuries sits the old Spanish fort Castillo San Felipe del Morro--better known as "El Morro." The fort has stood, Gibraltar-like, on a pinnacle separating San Juan Bay from the Atlantic Ocean. Although St. Augustine, Florida, (founded in 1513) is the oldest city in the continental United States, San Juan was founded five years earlier and ceded to the States after the Spanish American War, making it the oldest city under the Stars and Stripes.

But Old San Juan is no museum. It's vibrant and alive and a must for Caribbean adventurers.