A trip to Grenada

A decrepit building... decorated with stuffed animals?

Departure and Puerto Rico It was time to head home. Another early morning flight, but this time the airport was much nearer, the check-in time less, and we got more sleep than on the way out. Shawn showed up at 6am to help us get our luggage to the airport (the three of us plus our luggage was too much to fit in the Suzuki at one time). After checking our luggage and paying the departure tax to a surly attendent, we once more boarded an American Airlines Super ATR. This time our stay in Puerto Rico was to be more than an interminable wait in the airport; we had eight hours, so had time to see the city. We stored our luggage, and caught a cab to old San Juan. This is the historic district of the city, bordered by the old city wall, and the El Morro and San Cristobal forts. The forts are designated United Nations World Heritage Sites as well as being US Park Service National Historic Sites. The old town itself resembles a European city, with narrow streets and apartments over shops and restaurants. Apparently, property prices are high and it's expensive to renovate while keeping to historic guidelines, so there are occasional decrepit buildings. One of the more interesting ones was festooned with stuffed animals.

We spent some time wandering, stopping by a number of shops, had lunch, and then went to the forts. We only walked by San Cristobal, but went in the old cemetary next to El Morro, and then to El Morro itself. This whole stretch is along the coast, which is breath-takingly beautiful. The surf was high today, and 20+ foot breakers were crashing into the rocky shore. El Morro is a well designed, multi-level fort that was part of a defensive system that included San Cristobal and another smaller fort. The fortress never fell in battle and is in good repair today. In the pictures, El Morro looks short, because it's built with a deep moat surrounding it. We made our way through all levels of the fort, taking in the view from the many openings in the walls. One fascinating sight was a Russian freighter, which had run aground just off the point on which El Morro sits while trying to put out to sea during one of last year's hurricanes. They had removed its fuel and cargo, but the ship was still there. In fact, the ship was due to be removed the day we were there, but the removal had been delayed until the next week. Large breakers were striking the ship, sending spray over a hundred feet into the air, but the ship didn't even rock -- it was most firmly aground. The way into the harbor was relatively narrow, and surrounded by rough water and treacherous rocks. It seemed like it would be easy to run aground. Probably for this reason, El Morro sports an old lighthouse, recently repaired and refinished to resemble its original color.

Omar in front of San Cristobal The lighthouse over the walls of El Morro Click to see larger images

Spray breaking over the bow of the grounded freighter Click to see larger image

We left, had some ice cream to cool off, and then did some more shopping. So we're in the exotic Caribbean, right? So where do the girls want to go shopping?? Marshall's! And not just go shopping there, but they buy a number of things. Large household items, like a metal trashcan! By comparison, I only bought some small carved wooden things in San Juan. Granted, I was very tempted by a number of expensive items in the import shops; for some reason, there were lots of shops importing from Southeast Asia, as well as other places. There was this large carved wooden dragon, from Malaysia or Indonesia, finished in green and gilt that I liked, but I decided I didn't want to be that expensive. Plus, how would I pack it?? We stopped by several art galleries, and all three of us bought some art work. Susan and I both bought different sizes of this print. I didn't get much of a chance to practice my Spanish since most of the people spoke English fluently. I was mistaken at least once for a Spanish speaker (and to increase the illusion, I responded "Que?" when I didn't hear what she had said). Even with being stuck in the evening traffic jam, and having to collect and repack our bags with all the new goodies, we made our flight without problems, and returned to Dulles less than four hours later, where my sister picked us up.

San Cristobal fort	Y & S in El Morro with San Juan Harbor entrance behind	Cool picture of two levels of El Morro and freighter	Rocky coast, high surf, city wall, and San Cristobal
Click images to see full-size versions

-omar

Back to Day 8