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Calle San Justo in Old San Juan (Gustavo Firpi) | | |
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A walk around my
Old San Juan |
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© 2002 Américo Boschetti Aponte
Total or partial reproduction is prohibited without the authors authorization | | |
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When I was a little boy we used to go every saturday to stroll around Old San Juan.
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When we got to the Dos Hermanos Bridge at the islet's entrance I couldn't avoid looking with innocent amazement at the dog standing on the reef, a natural jetty that protects the small beach at the Condado Lagoon from the sea when it gets angry. The legend says that the dog used to accompany his owner, a fisherman from San Mateo (actually Santurce), on his daily angling in his frail boat. But not that rainy day that his master left him behind because of the rough sea. The dog stood on the reef waiting for the fisherman's return. In his long waiting, the animal petrified where he stood. And he's still there waiting patiently. Motionless, he looks eternally at the horizon. He's unaware that the man drowned that distant day of storm in the high seas.
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As if it was an extension of the reef, San Geronimo Fort, the solitary guard of the entrance to the San Juan islet, glances silently at the Condado building skyline. It was built by the spaniards to stop any attack by english or dutch pirates or cosairs should they attempt to take the city by land after desambarking in the unprotected Cangrejos area thus avoiding the ferocious cannons stationed all along the northern wall, from el Morro Castle up to Fort San Cristóbal.
If the petrified dog amazed me, the sight of the enormous concrete ship 'ran
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Hotel Normandie
(photo: Toni Umpierre) | |
aground' in the Escambrón area really blew my infantile mind. My mom told me that it isn't a shipwreck. It is the Normandie Hotel, built in the image of a steamboat and named after the famous french ocean liner.
Today, as I walk along the Muñoz Rivera Park I remember the Zoo in the old powder magazine in the park grounds. The main attraction were the motionless and apparently rusty crocs which seemed to be taking an eternal 'siesta' in a deep dry pond. In the glass cages inside the ancient building the snakes, coiled around their own imaginary axis, seemed to be glancing with their excruciating tiny eyes at the espectators. Their only vital sign were their tongues like miniature whips slashing the air in fast motion. The captive birds seemed to repeat themselves cage after cage.
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I'm on my way to Old San Juan enjoying the atlantic coast. The vegetation seems to pour down the slopes into the Atlantic Ocean shore
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The slopes seem to slide down into the Atlantic Ocean at Puerta de Tierra.
| | becoming beaches sometimes punished by merciless waves, and other times caressed by gentle ones. San Agustín Church's belltower silently covered by the thin mist that the wind blows from the sea stares at the inmense horizon. And as I leave the church behind, I get to the Capitol building. Right across the street from it, the statue of a raging Saint John the Baptist with it's menacing finger lifted high in the air, as it was standing in the hills in front of Herod's castle in biblical times accusing him of all sorts of sins. The metaphor is clear, and very real. This original piece of art was sculpted by Puerto Rican artist Rafael López del Campo.
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As I pass behind the Casa de España with it's Andalusian air and it's Moorish architecture, the imposing walls of Fort San Cristóbal appear in front of me. It was just about here that the walls that surrounded the city extended from north to south and where the only access to the city by land was built. The gate was named Puerta the Santiago, the vecinity outside this wall became known as Puerta de Tierra (Land's Gate) because of its location.
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And so I arrive at the Plaza de Colón at the very entrance to the city. Once here I have three options to enter the colonial city: go up Norzagaray Street, enter the Old City via San Francisco Street or head down to the bay along Recinto Sur Street.
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My choice is to head up Norzagaray Street.
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As I reach the top of the hill, I see the green ocean become the blue sky when they touch in the horizon. To my right I have the entrance to Fort San Cristóbal. At
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The Devil's Sentry Box
(photo: Toni Umpierre) | | the foot of the wall on the northern side of the fortification, as if elongating itself into the sea "La Garita del Diablo", "The Devil's Sentry Box", is washed by the waves. It's thus called because of tales of sentries that dissappeared without a trace in their night shifts. The most famous one is that of a soldier by the name of Sánchez. By a very strange "coincidence" the soldier dissappeared from the sentry box the very same night in which his beloved Dina, a beautiful "mestizo" girl, also did dissappear from her house.
But the townspeople refused to relate one disapperance with the other, and blamed the devil for Sanchez's on his night of duty at the already notorious "Garita del Diablo". Nobody even thought about the possibilty of the soldier deserting his post and eloping with Dina to the mountains.
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Anyway, Norzagaray Street transits above the northern walls. Between the walls
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La Perla with El Morro on the background.
| | and the ocean sits "La Perla" community. Its houses seem to be escalating up the rocky slope trying to avoid being dragged by the waves into the sea and drowning. The origin of "La Perla", "The Pearl", dates back to the 1940's. It was built by workers from al over the island, mainly the central towns, that arrived in the city hoping to "cross the puddle" and get to the United States and get jobs in the tomato fields of New Jersey or in some Yonkers or New York City factory. It was built by those that had hopes of a better life in that "promised land" beyond the sea but for some reasons they didn't make it to the other side. So they stayed in La Perla, made it their home and remained there. The shanty town was turned into a community of working class people.
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I get to the "Convento de los Dominicos" home to the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture. It's inmediately followed by the "Square of the Fifth Centenary", built for the 500th anniversary of the "discovery" of America. A sculpture, "The Teluric Totem", identifies it. Standing between the Ballajá Quarters to my left and the Old San Juan Cemetery to my right, El Morro Castle is visible in the distance. As I look down at the cemetery beyond the wall, I can see don José de Diego (1) in a jolly conversation with don Pedro Albizu Campos (2) and puerto rican writer and journalist Abelardo "El Josco" Díaz Alfaro while Noel Estrada (3) serenades them with his beautiful "En mi Viejo San Juan".
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Finally I get to el Morro. Once in it my imagination flies away and I can here the voices of the spanish soldiers mixed with the sounds of muskets and rifles firing at
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Sentry Box on the northern wall overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
(photo: Toni Umpierre) | | the enemy. A smell of powder fills my lungs as the cannons roar repelling an imaginary attack by british corsair Sir Francis Drake's or the Earl of Cumberland's men-of-war in the 16th century, or by U.S. General Sampson's battleships when they bombed the city for three hours in the morning of may 12, 1898, two months before the invasion of the island by U.S. Navy under the command of general Miles, on the 25th. of July. They landed in the southern town of Guánica. As an outcome of the invasion, Puerto Ricos sovereignity, even though the island had become an autonomous province, was handed to United States by Spain.
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Back to Plaza de Colón it's up San Francisco Street that I enter the city. About a block from the square I visit the San Francisco church, built in 1756. The "Cristo del Buen Viaje" draws my attention. It is an ancient wooden crucifix that floated from a shipwreck which ocurred north of El Morro until it reached the reefs at the entrance of the bay. The neighbors brought it to Chapel where it still reamains.
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Right by the church I sit on a bench in Toribio's Square, the meeting place for many sanjuaneros that gather to play dominoes every afternoon on it's domino-shaped concrete tables and seats. A bust of the famed "güiro" player watches them with a silent glance, his "güiro" at hand, ready to start the party anytime, eternally.
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A block away, at La Bombonera, I enjoy a "mallorca" with cheese and an aromatic and delicious coffee made in their antique coffee maker (c.1940). Founded in 1902, La Bombonera is one of the coffee shops preferred by sanjuaneros and visitors, and it's frequently the meeting place for artists and bohemians, residents or non residents of the Old City.
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Just around the corner of San Justo Street is La Mallorquina Restaurant, established in 1848 and probably the oldest restaurant in the city. It's legendary Guest Book contains the autographs of the most prominent puerto rican and international personalities of the arts and politics that ever since that date have visited the internationally known restaurant.
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Around "Plaza de Armas", in the heart of the city, there are government buildings, City Hall, fast food restaurants, cafeterias, restaurants and jewelery stores. In some of the colonial balconies of the resident's apartments, smiling and colorful flowers flirt with the passers-by who look at them. Various art galleries are disseminated around the area. Many reknown Puerto Rican artists have their shops opened to the public.
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I decide to head up to San Sebastian Street where the nightime activity is always the order of the day. During the day, it's pretty quiet.
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From Plaza San José - with the statue of Juan Ponce de León (7) in it's center, he's finger pointing towards the Villa de Caparra ruins, the original capital of Puerto Rico, across the San Juan bay - to the Lincoln High School, the street is plagued with night spots. Los Hijos de Borinquen and El Patio de Sam must be, by far, the most famous of all.
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Nevertheless the San José Chapel in the square is a nice place to visit and hide from the sun. This centennial chapel is adorned with beautiful frescoes recentlly discovered under various coats of old paint.
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From the Plaza San José I walk downhill the Calle del Cristo, where the Cathedral is located right across the street from Hotel El Convento. At the very end of the street la Capilla waits for me. On this street El Batey and Maria's have the Hijos de Borinquen and Patio de Sam's most famous reputation for nightlifers.
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At the intersection of Calle del Cristo and Calle Fortaleza I take a look at the Palace of Santa Catalina, best known as La Fortaleza, "The Fortress", the official residence of the governor of Puerto Rico. Located at the very end of the street, the palace gardens overlook the beautiful San Juan bay. The building itself was declared Patrimony of Humanity by UNESCO in the mid 1950's.
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But I head the other way down Calle Fortaleza heading back towards the Plaza de Colón.
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This street is crowded on both sidewalks with jewelry stores, restaurants, souvenir shops, shoe stores, bars and coffeshops. Perhaps I'll go to Barrachina, home of the Piña Colada, and enjoy one refreshing glass of the beverage to refuel and continue my walk.
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Once at Plaza de Colón, I head down towards the piers along Recinto Sur Street. Just behind the Tapia Theater, a fresh smell coffee surprises. It comes from Café del Caribe, a franchise of Starbucks Coffee. This is the first of the many restaurants along this street. A short walk ahead there's Lupi's Mexican Grill & Sports Cantina where I stop for lunch. This Tex-mex restaurant has music in the evenings. They alternate karaoke nights with live music. And their Margarita's are TERRIFIC!
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Just a block down I stumble into San Juan's Hard Rock Café. With it's covered with rock memorabilia, San Juan's Hard Rock Cafe is a fervent promoter of rock in spanish Thurday and friday nights belong to the local rock bands.
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I keep on walking and get to the Paseo de la Princesa, and before continuing, I would like to make some observations.
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The streets of Old San Juan were "paved" with the cobblestones used as ballast in the Spanish men-of-war that would transport the Mexican "Situado" - as the "New World's" contribution in gold and riches to the Spanish Crown was known -. Most of it were riches stolen from the indigenous civilizations of the continent recently "adquired" by the europeans. The Situado was shipped from Mexico to Puerto Rico and stored in a special vault in La Fortaleza, the actual Governor's Palace, and from there it would be shipped to Spain. The ballast was replace with the "Situado" so that the floating line of the ships would not vary making it difficult for pirates and corsairs to tell of any difference in the cargo. Before this method ewas adopted, pirates would attack the ships when they could tell the difference in the floating line after coming empty from Spain and then heading back to the "old continent" loaded with the riches.
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Old San Juan's colonial architecture is protected by laws up to the point that the colors to be used by homeowners or merchants on their buildings are regulated. It is prohibited to alter facades or use colors without the approval of the Instute of Puerto Rican Culture.
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The UNESCO declared Old San Juan's Historic Zone (the walls, its fortifications and the different monuments) Patrimony of Humanity.
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The streets of Old San Juan were paved with the cobblestones used as ballast in the Spanish men-of-war that would transport the Mexican "Situado" - as the "New World's" contribution in gold and riches to the Spanish Crown was known -. Most of it were riches stolen from the indigenous civilizations of the continent recently "adquired" by the europeans. The Situado was shipped from Mexico to Puerto Rico and stored in a special vault in La Fortaleza, the actual Governor's Palace, and from there it would be shipped to Spain. The ballast was replace with the "Situado" so that the floating line of the ships would not vary making it difficult for pirates and corsairs to tell of any difference in the cargo. Before this method ewas adopted, pirates would attack the ships when they could tell the difference in the floating line after coming empty from Spain and then heading back to the "old continent" loaded with the riches.
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I walk along the Paseo de la Princesa, named after the prison located at the building that now houses the Tourism Department. Around this area the third gate that gave access to the city was located: the San Justo Gate. This gate gave access to a from la Puntilla, the center of maritime import and exportation. The wall was demolished to build the docks. As a matter of fact, at the Ports Authority Pier I can catch the ferry to Cataño, the town across the bay, and once there take a tour of the Bacardi Rum Plant or just mosey around this picturesque town.
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Instead I choose to keep on strolling down the Paseo de la Princesa that takes me to the San Juan Gate, the only one of the three original gates that is still standing. Beyond la Puerta de San Juan, outside the walls, the Paseo de la Princesa becomes the Paseo del Morro. It takes you to the very entrance of San Bay. You can face the sea and enjoy the breeze, watching the ships come in, with the monumental el Morro right behind you.
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But then again, entering the city through the gate leads to the Cathedral, La Fortaleza or the Statue of La Rogativa. Once there, I can just keep strolling around the city, to discover it's historical past or to live its present. Any way, the two are a nice options... I can always combine them.
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About La Rogativa and the attacks on el Morro |
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In1797, a British flotilla commandeered by sir Ralph Avercromby had the city under siege. A group of women carrying torches and headed by the Bishop marched around the city praying for its deliverance from the attack. When the enemy saw the torches, they thought they were reinforcements that were arriving. This made
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Plaza de La Rogativa
(photo: Toni Umpierre) | | them retreat, and, in the morning, their ships were seen disappearing into the horizon.
The other attacks were lead by Sir Francis Drake in 1595; the earl of Cumberland, in 1598, who succeded in taking the garrison, but a disentery germ that sprouted on the attackers made them abandon the siege; in 1625, dutch general Balduino Enrico disembarked on the Esacambrón area, and puts El Morro under siege, but when he realizes that the fort will occupied, he retires not before setting the whole city on fire (as a consequence of this attack, the eastern walls of the city are built); and finally, in the earluy morning hours of the 12th. of May, U.S. Navy Admiral Sampson, at the command of a U.S. navy flotilla, bombed the city for three hours. This was the last intent of taking the city by those who intended it for over 400 years.
At the end, it was in 1898, through Guánica, a town on the south, that Puerto Rico was invaded by the United States Navy and occupied the island. Because, after all, Old San Juan was impenetrable when attacked by sea.
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Leyendas y Tradiciones Puertorriqueñas - Cayetano Coll y Toste; Editorial cultural Inc.; Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico; 1975; Colección Puertorriqueña |
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Leyendas Puertorriqueñas para Niños - Marcelino Canino Salgado, Carmen Chiesa de Pérez; Editorial Juvencia, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico, 1983. |
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San Juan: Historia Ilustrada de su Desarrollo Urbano, 1508-1898 - Centro de Investigación CARIMAR, 1989, Primera edición |
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Puerto Rico Turístico: Guía de Viajes para Puerto Rico - Héctor Sánchez Martínez; Publicaciones Puertorriqueñas, Inc., San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1992. |
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© 2002 Américo Boschetti Aponte
Total or partial reproduction is prohibited without the authors authorization |
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