San Juan (or "How We Left Grandma Behind")

Today the ship docked in San Juan, Puerto Rico. We had booked the "San Juan Evening Drive" bus tour specifically  because we thought that would be an easy activity for Grandma Trudy to enjoy without a lot of walking.

 

We also arrived in San Juan earlier than expected, so our excursion time was moved back an hour.  We received a note saying to meet in the theater at 2:45pm instead of the previously planned 3:45pm.

 

There was a notice in the "Celebrity Today" daily guide that mentioned we should stay on ship time and not change our timepieces to San Juan time.   I've never been on a cruise where the ship did not match the time zone of the port and I found it a little odd.   It was especially confusing because most smart phones now automatically sync with the current time zone. Does anyone still use a watch to tell time?   When we arrived in San Juan, we had to change our the time on our phones back to the ship time, but I was constantly worried that my phone would automatically switch back to the "real time" without me realizing it.

 

 

 

At 2:40 pm, the four of us were walking out of our cabins to go to the theater, when Grandma Trudy decided that she really needed to fill up her water bottles.  She had been on her balcony and realized that she was unaccustomed to the sweltering heat of Puerto Rico.  She wanted to make sure we had enough water with us.  The water from our bathroom sink wouldn't satisfy her.  The ice water in our ice bucket was not enough.  The fact that the cruise line always hands out bottles of water before excursions wouldn't do.   She needed to run up to the buffet and fill her water bottles there. 

"All right, but Grandma Trudy we are _leaving_ right now!" 

"That's fine.  Just give me my ticket and I'll meet you in the theater."

"Okay.  You'll need to hurry!"

So Ross, Sweet Pea and I headed to the theater while Grandma Trudy went off to fill her water bottles.  We got to the theater and were given stickers and told to sit with the rest of the members of our excursion group.  We had enough time to take a family selfie and to start worrying about if Grandma Trudy was going to make it.

Soon they called our group to exit the theater.  Ross went to talk to the person who seemed to be in charge and let him know that we were missing Grandma Trudy.  The person said, "Don't worry, I'll send her along as soon as she comes in."   We dawdled a bit so we were the very last people in our group to leave.  Still no Grandma Trudy.

There is a long pier that we walked along before arriving at three busses that were going to be taking the passengers on the excursion.  I kept our group in sight while Ross stayed as far back as he dared trying to locate Grandma.  Eventually everyone had boarded the busses except for us.  Sweet Pea and I boarded while Ross tried to talk to someone about the problem.  At this point, there were no Celebrity employees around.  The actual excursions are run by local contractors who function as the guides.   Ross told our guide that we were missing a person.  The guide looked at his clipboard and said, "No, we aren't missing anyone.  Get on the bus if you are coming with us."  So Ross did. 

 

 

Several of the other passengers on the bus had heard our plight and were very sympathetic about our worry.   I was stressed about leaving Grandma Trudy behind and was hoping she hadn't fallen or gotten lost, but there was really nothing else we could do but try to enjoy our tour.

The first top was the Paseo de los Presidentes which is The Walk of Nine Presidents and commemorates the nine United States presidents who have visited Puerto Rico.   The walk starts with President Teddy Roosevelt and ends with President Barack Obama.

 

This was a neat little stop and Sweet Pea agreed to a photo with Teddy.  :)

 

Also at this stop, we were allowed a very brief time to run up the steps of the capital building and look around inside. 

Here is the obligatory photo of Sweet Pea and me from the steps.

The beautiful ceiling in the rotunda showcases the nine Greek muses.  My picture doesn't do it justice.

 

The original Puerto Rico constitution is displayed in the center of the rotunda. 

 

 

 

We got back on the bus, which was crowded and quite warm.

 

The bus ride was also very bumpy and poor Sweet Pea started to feel car sick again.  :(  We commented that the ride would have been especially uncomfortable for Grandma Trudy, who has a bad back, and we begin to think it was best that she missed it.

Everyone was amused by the many American franchises.  Would you like to visit La Casa Del Whopper?

 

Our next stop was La Ventana al Mar (Window to the Sea park).  Sweet Pea rested in an interesting concrete chair.

 

We watched some hard breaking waves and then quickly returned to the bus.

After returning to the bus, we drove through several areas of San Juan.  There was an striking contrast between luxury and poverty in many areas.  Below is the upscale Condado Vanderbilt Hotel.

There were many buildings and locations that our guide said were currently under construction.  I got the feeling that they had been "under construction" for years. 

Our last stop was at eastern half of the Santa María Magdalena de Pazzis Cemetery.  The cemetery sits outside the gates of Castillo San Felipe del Morro which was a citadel built by the Spanish in the 16th century to defend San Juan Bay.   We did not have time to walk up to the fort, but the cemetery was very interesting to see.

While we were at the cemetery,  Ross was finally able to get ahold of Grandma Trudy on her cell phone.  (Since Puerto Rico is a U.S. Territory, we had cell phone coverage here.)  Grandma Trudy was fine, but had just somehow missed the bus.  She had exited the boat and was now happily shopping in Old San Juan.

One of the most interesting things we saw were streets paved with blue bricks, called adoquines.   The bricks were made from iron slag which was cast off during iron smelting and brought over as ballast in merchant ships that came from Europe in the 18th century.  Our guide told us that the bricks had come from Christopher Columbus's ships, but apparently this is just a bit of folklore that gets told to tourists.  :)

The old bricks are uneven and are currently being replaced with a more modern version so I'm not sure if my picture below shows the originals or the replacements.  Either way, I'd never seen such blue cobblestones before.  They were captivating.

 

 

 

After returning to the port, Ross decided to track down Grandma Trudy.   Meanwhile, Sweet Pea and I returned to the ship for a little snack because our dinner reservations for Murano weren't until quite late tonight.  

 

I thought we were in a big rush because we wanted to make it to the early show, featuring the illusionist, Alex Ramon.   We only had 30 minutes to get a snack and change clothes before the show.

 

We stopped by the Ocean View Café.  I had a few pieces of sushi which were okay.  Certainly not the best sushi I've had, but it made for a good snack.

 

 

 

 

Sweet Pea had a strange combination of corn, peas and summer squash from the salad bar. 



We finished our snack, rushed to our room to change clothes and then hustled to the theater.  The doors were already shut.   I carefully opened one of them and we quietly slipped inside to discover a completely empty theater.  I immediately knew that I was on San Juan time again instead of ship time.   Oh well, now we had time for tea and cookies from Café al Bacio before the show.

Ross and Grandma Trudy met us at the cafe.  Ross had found Grandma Trudy buying some "hand-dyed" t-shirts from the "unique" shops in port. 

This time Grandma Trudy told us a fuller account of why she had missed our excursion.  She said that she was mixed up about the change in our excursion meeting time and she had lost her paper explaining where to go.  She left the ship to search for us, but couldn't find us on the pier so she decided she'd just wander around the city and shop. 

 Ross thought it was definitely time for a drink.

He ordered an  Old Fashioned cocktail from The World Bar.  The bartender use an icepick to chip a block of ice into ball for the drink.  It was smooth and excellent.