San Juan, Puerto Rico - August, 1999

I had the opportunity to visit San Juan, Puerto Rico, in the summer of 1999. My employer sent me there to work. And so I did, for five days, including Saturday. But Sunday I had off, the only day off I had while I was on the island. Since I was the one of the three of us with the car, I decided to go to Old San Juan, where all the old, historical buildings are. I took one of my companions with me on that hot and muggy day, and off we went, to Old San Juan and El Morro.

What is El Morro you ask? El Morro is one of three old forts in the San Juan area. The Spanish build them in the 1500's and 1600's to repel invaders (mainly the Dutch it seems). El Morro was the main fort and is at the end of a peninsula to the west of the city of San Juan and Old San Juan.

At first glance, as you can see in this picture, El Morro doesn't appear to be all that big. Just a big, wide building at the end of an island. It looks like all the rooms are on one level. To the contrary, El Morro is huge, comprising many levels and even tunnels. Not all of them are accessible to the public or even visible as you approach the fort by land. I doubt someone on a ship could see them, either.

It took us about ½ hour to reach El Morro from the parking structure. Just a note here about cars, parking, and Puerto Rico. They drive like maniacs. Fortunately, or not, I fit right in - did not have any trouble driving over there. Puerto Ricans make their own lanes, just drive right over the center divides if they need to get somewhere. They will also drive right along side of you on the right, even if the space is narrow - I surprised they don't hit or scrape the cars. I would not have an expensive car if I lived there, but I saw plenty of Mercedes', SUV's, you name it. Also, there is a definite lack of parking there. Wherever you want to park, you must pay. Even at the local strip mall.

Back to El Morro. We walked from the parking structure to El Morro. It was probably about a mile or so. The walk itself wasn't so bad but by the end, we were perspiring heavily. It is very humid in San Juan and Puerto Rico in the summer although the natives didn't seem to be affected. We walked along the seashore, for the most part pretty scenic although there are parts I'm sure the tourism authorities probably don't want people to see.

El Morro, like all tourist attractions, has an entrance fee, a measly $2. We paid the enormous fee, received a little leaflet, and went in. The fort has about 3-4 levels. I believe. It was hard to keep track of all of them as we walked around. From the front, you'd think there was only 2 but as you went towards the back of the fort, there were at least two more down towards the beach. The beach was not accessible from the fort although we were allowed in the tunnel that led there - the exit was blocked off with an iron gate.

I liked El Morro because, aside from making sure it wasn't going to fall down, it hadn't really been restored all that much. I like to climb around on old stone structures - castles, walls, forts - I am not exactly sure why. I think it has something to do with the fact that the structure has usually been there an awfully long time, that the lives of many people have had something to do with it or have been influenced by it. I find it very awe-inspiring to realize that so much has happened at a given structure, a long time before I was even thought of being created by my parents, much less being born.

Having said all that, I also like it when the ground is also made of stone and not dirt. I say this because, generally, old structures usually have some dirt floors which are now exposed to the elements (i.e. weather) and these dirt floors tend to get muddy when it rains. I like rain as much as the next person; I just don't like walking in mud. Your shoes get dirty, you slip and slide around, occasionally even falling, and then you really get dirty. Mud, like sand at the beach, seems to get everywhere you don't want it to. And, then, somehow, you manage to get it everywhere else.

El Morro had the requisite ramparts, cannon (as you can see), ramps for positioning the cannon (which you cannot see as I didn't take any pictures of them but, trust me, one of them is very steep and very long - I cannot imagine how they managed to get the cannon up and down that thing safely), sleeping quarters, tunnels, circular stone staircases (both inside and outside), and very pretty views of the ocean (to the north and west) and the city (to the south and east). To get from the various levels to another, we were required to climb up and down various staircases, some outdoor and one of which was inside and quite dark. If I remember correctly, it was one of the circular type staircases like in the old castles in England. They may sound fun to climb, but it can also be very easy to slip and fall as the steps are usually worn and slick.

It also had a chapel (which, if I remember correctly, was the only "restored" room in the fort, a lighthouse (which no one was allowed to go inside of), and a giftshop. The latter sold cold water, which was a godsend on this hot and muggy day (I drank my bottle in about a minute), and had a fan which, even without air conditioning, blew cool air.

I don't know when the fort ceased being used, or when that fate also applied to its sister forts. I know that we probably went to every inch of the fort that we could, and had done so in about an hour to an hour and ½. I suggested we walk down the coast, about a mile or so, to San Cristobel, one of the sister forts, but we decided it was too hot and, once you've seen one fort, you have pretty much seen them all. We walked back into Old San Juan and ate lunch at that fabulous local restaurant, the Hard Rock Cafe of San Juan.

The Hard Rock Cafe is housed in a Spanish-style building, an old residential building I believe. It has a upstairs balcony that overlooks the bottom floor and which goes around the entire floor. Murals and other paintings are on its interior walls. On the way to the Hard Rock, we saw an old convent, the main church of Old San Juan, and some other, unidentifiable historic-type buildings. Usually, I am more observant. Except when I am hungry, tired, or just too hot and sweaty, as I was that day. I did manage not to get us lost, which in itself is an accomplishment.