#12 Old San Juan as a Tourist/Traveler

It was a Sunday morning when I decided to go for the tourist/traveler role on the Old San Juan in Puerto Rico. There are some places and activities in this tourist zone that are a must do if you are here for your first time. Among these is El Morro, which is on the top of the main attractions in Old San Juan; followed by many other things of which I had the opportunity to experience from another perspective than the one I am used to being treated with. ElMorro is the street name given to the Castillo de San Felipe, and though many people tend to think of it as a fort it was actually built to serve as a castle but confused with a fort by the U.S. government. Families now come to the grounds leading to the entrance to fly kites or even enjoy a nice picnic under the shinning sun. 

Even though my adventure started in the morning the sun was not shy at all and was showing all its glory, due to this I had to indulge in one of the most tempting parts of my day, a Piragua, a shaved ice treat made with your favorite flavor, that came perfectly with the show off the sun was making. This is a must try in Old San Juan and there is a Piragüero (name given to the man who creates the shaved ice) in all the highly visited corners in Old San Juan. This was the first part of my adventure and I can say that my perspective changed a bit given the fact that I spoke in strict English and instead of just telling him the flavor I had in mind (tamarind, a must try!) I went ahead and asked the flavor he recommended, and the best seller. He answered that the one he recommends was coconut, which I tried and was a bit disappointed, and the best seller was Strawberry. I continued experimenting and asked him that after I went to El Morro what place would he recommend for a late breakfast/early lunch, he pointed out a bakery/pizzeria that was about three to four blocks away from his kiosk, La Tortuga. 

Piragua Kiosk from which I also bought platanutres, plantain chips made with plantains from the island.

I kept his advice in mind and went ahead to El Morro, but before that I had to ask a Puerto Rican, to please take a picture of me, my piragua, and the amazing view of the ground of El Morro. This was my second interaction and I can say it was a pleasant one since he was nice enough to not only take a picture but I also asked him where to eat, so I can have a second opinion, and he answered that he’s not from Old San Juan, and that he and his family are on their way to look for a nice place to have lunch, making me feel a bit in group since we, the traveler and the Puerto Rican, were both looking for a place to eat. 

A fun fact about El Morro is the fact that in the extensive grounds that lead you to its entrance (everything that's green behind me) was used by the U.S. Navy to build a golf club for its officer’s entertainment.

El Morro right behind me!

I continued to El Morro and asked a couple of tourists to take a picture with a nice background. After this I went to La Tortuga, and was greeted by the waiter in Spanish, but I quickly answered “Hi, do I seat on any table I want” and I felt the othering she gave me since she even changed her tone from a rushed one in Spanish to a more attentive and passive one in English, she even explained what each sandwich was made of, something I knew she wouldn’t have explained in Spanish. 

Met new people while eating!

Since my experiment was being held solo, I took this advantage and across from where I was eating, I saw a twenty-something year old guy that went in to eat breakfast (also solo) and left his surfboard near the entrance, I later asked him if there was a surfer’s beach in Old San (I know there is one but there had to be something that started the conversation). He answered that in fact there is one and he went on explaining where it was in vivid detail. I saw his enthusiasm and imagined the question he in fact made a couple of minutes after we started talking “Do you surf?” I said that I’ve tried it a couple of times but that I’m not a pro at it. 

San Juan Cemetery

He invited me to the beach in Old San Juan, located next to the Cemetery, where he explained most of the famous Puerto Rican’s were buried there, and it was also very close to a not-so-good place in Old San Juan, La Perla, a neighborhood with a very bad reputation of drugs and criminality. This interaction influenced my internal journey since I had heard of the beach in La Perla, but I had never surfed there, something I would soon have overcome, even though it is said to have good waves, due to the external journey I hadn’t overcome which involved the fear of it being next to a bad neighborhood. Before we left La Tortuga I asked the waiter to take a picture of us and after he invited to take me to the beach I broke character and told him I was doing a project and I was actually Puerto Rican, just in case he got tired of talking about the island and started questioning my false identity as a traveler/tourist for a day.

View of the Cemetery and of the surfer's beach