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Yay, first Port today. San Juan is the Capitol of Puerto Rico and the cruise ship docks right at Old San Juan which is a gorgeous mish mash of old and very colourful buildings and Spanish forts, cobblestone streets and 16th-17th Century Spanish colonial buildings.
I had decided to not do any tours or make any plans but just to wander through the town. First we headed left off the dock to the number 14 Trolley stop. I had read in my research that most people head right to the number 1 stop so to get a seat and beat the crowds going left is the best option. This proved correct and as we were waiting at the stop for the trolley I started talking to a young lady, asking her first if this was the right place for the free trolley. She turned out to be a local student and we chatted happily all the way up to El Morro with her giving us tips on places to eat and drink.
When Rodd told her it was Australia Day and gave her a flag to wave around for the day she told us that Puerto Rico is under US jurisdiction, much to the disgust of the local population and they were obliged to celebrate July 4th even though they didn't really feel patriotic towards the US but preferred to celebrate their own traditions and countries milestones!
El Morro is a very impressive old fort built from 1540 to 1589 with further work done in the 1700's .... wow, that just blows my mind and I had all sorts of imaginings of soliders running around and firing the cannons on invading armies out in the harbour!! Cost of entry was $10 each which also gives you access to all the other heritage sites so good value. We wandered around in here for quite some time as it is huge but by the time we were finished there we were so exhausted as it was a hot steamy day so jumped back on the trolley. We got off half way down the hill and just wandered the streets taking photos and doing lots of souvenir shopping.
After an hour or so we were ready for a rest so we jumped back on the trolley for a ride back down to the port area where Rodd had spotted a Police Station with bikes sitting out front. He went inside and asked the officer at the desk if it would be ok for him to get some photos of him standing next to the bikes, it took awhile for him to make his intentions clear and I was a bit worried he'd be marched off to jail any minute when she finally seemed to get the gist of the conversation. Obligitory Police photos taken and it's time to do some Australia Day celebrating at Senor Frogs!!
Senor Frogs is always a fun place and while we were sitting there all the staff jumped up on stage and did a very good country line dance type thing all hooting and hollering. Rodd had a little banter with the bar staff, giving one bloke a koala, which he promptly clipped to his ear. The other bartender was a bit jealous and so Rodd gave her a stubbie holder (printed with the Australian flag) and she went and put a bottle of water in it and waved it in the blokes face saying "well aren't you jealous now? My water will stay cold all day", in a very sassy voice with the whole head bobbing attitude thing happening..... was a funny moment!! Then Rodd gave them both some vegemite... as he does!!
We didn't stay out all day and were back on board by 2ish so once we'd dropped off all our purchases we headed up for some lunch with Rodd decked out in everything Aussie he could lay his hands on!! After lunch we went up to the Bali Hai bar which overlooks the pool area. There's a couple that we always seemed to run into whenever we go up there so we chatted to them for awhile, most of the conversation was centered on the unruly group of teenage boys dive bombing all the other poor passengers in the pool. These boys are part of a large group of people that have completely overrun the ship the entire cruise, they are rude, arrogant and have absolutely no manners. The children of all ages have been left totally unsupervised, causing damage and distress to many passengers throughout the cruise.... we have seen so many incidents involving this group but have not let them spoil our holiday.
We did all the same things for the rest of the day/night.... drinking, wandering, talking to whomever we came across, eating wherever and whenever we felt like it. The only other thing we did was go to the Stardust Theatre for the Tenors of Rock show. This is 4 guys from the UK and we found the show very entertaining. At one point they were talking about all the different countries and which Rock stars they had given the world and asking if there was anyone from that country, when they mentioned Australia and Cold Chisel Rodd stood up and and shouted "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie" whilst waving his Aussie flag above his head!!! Can't take him anywhere! In the following days we had few people mention how awesome it was when they saw him do that! He certainly is no shrinking violet.
- comments
Lyndal Aussie...Aussie...Aussie!! - love your work Rodd :-)
Debbie What a beautiful place. So much history.
Mum That all looked like so much fun. Wonderful Australia Day in a Great town and Gosh, the ship is magnificent..