After the hurricanes hit Puerto Rico the governor wanted to show that the city of San Juan was recovering. He wanted a positive symbol to illustrate this so he hung the colorful umbrellas on a block in OSJ. I believe the light blue building at the end of the street is the governor’s mansion. On another block near La Plaza del Mercado de Santurce. I discovered more umbrellas, all white. Regarding the hurricanes San Juan is functioning well but I can’t say about the rest of the island. Much work must be needed somewhere because an Uber driver told me it would take 10 years for PR to fully recover.
One day I went shopping at Plaza las Américas, a mall with more than 250 stores. Of all the places to choose from I ended up at J. C. Penney’s. 😁 It was a good choice because I paid $70 for $160 worth of clothes.
Sales tax in PR is outrageous. 11.5%.
Two castles were built to protect San Juan from foreign invaders (French, British, Dutch and Portuguese). The larger of the two is San Cristóbal Castle; the smaller one at the point of the island is San Felipe del Morro Castle. Next to El Morro is a cemetery. Seems odd to put one right on the water’s edge. These photos are of both castles and with a couple of exceptions aren’t too interesting. A castle (I would call them forts) is better seen in person.
The last photo is a room where soldiers slept.
This next photo shows El Morro in the distance and the cemetery on the right. All white grave stones.
Puerto Rico doesn’t only worry about hurricanes. These signs are found on the streets around the two beaches near where I’m staying.
That’s it for today. There will be another food post in a few days, then back to Mexico.
I really fancy Costa Rica but I heard it’s getting expensive these days
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I’ve read that prices rival those of the US for many things. I wanted to go there this fall, but changed my plans to Nicaragua.
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