¡Puerto Rico - Me Encanta!

Feb 9, 2006

We escaped from New York this morning at 5:00 a.m. It was 25 degrees when Thomas, our driver, called for us to take us to JFK. We were escaping the frozen north for warmer climes - Puerto Rico. Our friend Rachel, celebrating her 60th birthday, invited some friends to join her in San Juan. We didn't hesitate a moment. We said farewell (again) to Pumpkin (our cat) and flew away, knowing that a possible blizzard was to arrive in New York in just a day or two.

Some four hours later we debarked our Delta jet in a warm and beautiful Puerto Rico. We were a world away. A taxi took us on a short ride to the Ocean Park section of San Juan and the Andalucia Guest House on McLeary Street.


The Andalucia Guest House in San Juan.

Emeo, our host at this sweet and modest guest house, was very friendly and filled us in on our new neighborhood. He explained how to catch a bus to Old San Juan and the fancier hotel zone , just west of the neighborhood where our hotel was located. We weren't meeting Rachel and the others until Sunday, at which time we would switch to the Ritz Carlton. Stacey and I arrived a few days earlier and we reserved the Andalucia as a less expensive alternative, wanting to explore the island a bit on our own and stay in a "real" neighborhood, the better to savor a more genuine Puerto Rico than we might not get to see in the posh resort in El Condado later on.

We unpacked. It was one o'clock (an hour later than New York as Puerto Rico is in the Atlantic time zone) and headed out to Kasalta, a well-known Puerto Rican restaurant, just down the block from our place. This was a great local diner filled with neighborhood residents and workers from the area. I had a soup and half-sandwich special: delicious chicken soup and pernil (roast pork). Stacey had a chicken salad platter. Nice!


Even though it was really hot outside, I still wanted to try a bowl of Kasalta's Puerto Rican chicken soup -- and it was worth it! Delicioso!


The busy scene at Kasalta, a well-known diner down the street from our guest house.


Stacey crosses McLeary Street after lunch at Kasalta.

Having our first taste of the local cuisine, we returned to our guest house and changed for the beach. Part of the lower price of Andalucia was that it was not on the water but a block or so from the beach. No problem. We walked to the corner, opened a gate - many of the neighborhoods (not to mention all of the homes, are gated. Puerto Rico is poor (more on that later) and there is crime, so ... the gates. On the other side of the gate was a lovely neighborhood with wonderful houses on tree-lined streets leading to a magnificent, white and wide beach on the Atlantic. Brilliant blue skies, warm and gentle water and breezes -- we were in paradise.


Our beautiful beach stretched on for miles -- in the distance is the Condado hotel district with its posh hotels and high rises. We preferred our quiet and low-rise Ocean Park neighborhood.


This bathing beauty posed for me on the beach near our hotel.

We lay on the beach for several hours -- that wasn't hard to do. You could feel the chill of New York's winter just draining away. When we returned to the guest house, we decided to take a walk to find some wine so we headed over to the 24-hour Walgreens but wine is not sold in drug stores here. We were given directions to a Cash And Carry store "just five minutes away". The five minutes were more like 35 minutes and the long walk gave us a picture of the "other" Puerto Rico. The one with grinding unemployment and pervasive poverty. This was the country that most visiting Americans don't get to see. It was quite amazing, the stark contrast between the hotel zone with its fancy American stores, restaurants, Starbucks cafes and manicured streets and this area along Calle Loiza with rundown, litter strewn, decaying apartment complexes and stores that looked more like prisons, given the amount of security personnel that roamed the aisles. Instead of welcoming their customers they seemed to be in fear of them.

Clearly then, this was the legacy of the 108 years of American domination of this island. Thus was created the two Puerto Ricos - on one side, the harsh reality of colonial subjugation that caused the great immigration to New York and beyond in search of opportunity and jobs. On the other side, the posh playground for visiting cruise ships and thousands of tourists. The age-old promise, made by the developers and their politicians, is that these resorts will bring jobs and a decent standard of living but that has never been the case as wide-spread poverty for most Puertoriqueños is still the reality of life today.

After our long walk, Stacey made a few drinks for us and we slipped into the small courtyard jacuzzi. An almost full moon had risen but the sun had not yet set at 6 o'clock. We were meeting an old friend, Joe Scammacca, for drinks at eight but time seemed to move slower down here. We let go of our fast-paced New York rushing behavior and sat back in the hot tub and relaxed.


Back at our hotel - a late afternoon jacuzzi session before dinner.

•••••••••••

Joe picked us up a few minutes before eight. We met Joseph Scammacca in 1985. He was a contractor who had worked for us many times at our house in Manhattan Beach. A sweet and gentle man with a soft-spoken demeanor, Joseph was from Argentina but had settled in Brooklyn and was well-known to Manhattan Beach residents for his dedication and skill and artistic sense of design and construction. Over the years we had come to admire him not only for his work but as a person and a friend. He had told us, years ago, that he was buying a condo in San Juan, so I thought we would give him a ring and arrange to meet him. Even though we liked Joe so much, we had never had the opportunity in all those years to socialize or even to meet his wife, Lil.

Joseph drove us the short ride back to his neighborhood: Isla Verde, an upscale section of San Juan known for its apartment-condos, fancy hotels, beautiful beaches and great dining spots.


Joe, Lil, and their visiting friend, Dora with Stacey on the terrace of their Isla Verde condo.


Joseph has re-discovered his love of painting. Here he shows his work to Stacey as Lil looks on. One of his paintings hangs on the wall and many have been sold in local galleries.

After a quick tour of their apartment, our hosts took us across the street to the exquisite lobby of the 1930's El San Juan Hotel for some drinks and a snack. We grabbed a table in a cafe at the edge of the grand hall, sat around, watched the excitement and had a fun time reliving old experiences and hearing about their new life in Puerto Rico. Joseph and Lil still have a small apartment in Brooklyn so they spend summer up north and the rest of the year down here. Not bad.


Joesph, Stacey and Dorita at the El San Juan Hotel.


The beautiful lobby of the El San Juan hotel, built in the 1930's, it has Spectacular Spanish-style wood ceilings and walls with intricate engraving.

We drove back to our guest house - tired but happy. It had been a lovely first day in Puerto Rico. We planned a dinner outing with our friends for the next evening. Very tired, we fell asleep instantly.