San Juan, Puerto Rico

After several sea days this is our last port before we get to Fort Lauderdale.  The time just seemed to fly by.  Kate Ross, my friend and guest lecturer, have a fascinating and fun talk on chocolate!   I think everyone loved it and it seemed a perfect way to end such an interesting cruise.  It was positive and humorous yet still very informative.   I don’t think you can ever know enough about chocolate!   I will share a few birthday parties we celebrated too and sone other fun photos.  We have been to Puerto Rico many times so we didn’t want to do anything organized.  We decided to get out and walk and possibly find some of the places Jeremy talked about that we hadn’t seen before. 

If you have a National Park Pass you can use it here to see the only US National Rain Forest El Yunque.  It is a ways to go and the roads are rough especially if it has rained but if your goal is to see all the US parks you could cross this one off your list. There is also a famous gelato place here, or at least Jeremy thinks so, and it is called Anita’s.  He thought there were only three in the world but yes, we went there and there are actually quite a few: New York, one being built in Miami, one is Australia, Egypt and Los Angeles.  I will say it was probably the best I have ever had and there were so many flavors.   They even let you sample so put this on your list.  We also had to do our immigration here which was very helpful because when we get to Fort Lauderdale it was easy to get off the ship and go. There were over 3000 pieces of luggage coming off and many are shipped back to folks who paid for this service from San Juan.  Dan Juan has an d and new city and has a UNESCO world heritage site with the old fort which is massive.  The streets are cobblestone.  This area has had its share of hurricanes with lots of damage but things looked good and streets were clean.  Jeremy told us a food to try here that they are famous for us Mofango which is fried plantain with meat.  

We docked at the Pan American Pier which has a very large, clean and modern terminal.  This is where our immigration took place face to face.  The ship provided a shuttle service to town on their town square.  From there you were close to the fort, Anita’s, the Park de las Paloma’s which is the park of the pigeons and lots of shopping.  The Cathedral  of San Juan founded in 1512 is one of the 2nd oldest in all the Americas. The tomb of Ponce de Leon is here.  Casa Blanca is a famous old building that is now a museum with a beautiful courtyard.  When you cruise into the port the captain announces that we should come out and see the fort as it is so evident and show what a fortress it was to protect the city. In 1591 Spain had a stronghold on the area and it was a strategic point to attack pirates.   San Felipe Del Morro is another historic site. Fort San Cristobal was built on the opposite side to protect the island from land attacks in 1634. La Fortaleza is the official governors mansion and there are tours available during the week. The Princess Pathway Promenade was constructed in 1853 for festive displays and activities. The old gate to San Juan is red and you can still see it.  It has 15 feet deep walls all along the fortress which was built in 1635. You can also visit the famous Bacardi Rum Casa and factory but you have to get there by ferry which is very inexpensive.  The Jardin Botanical Gardens are another lovely area to see along with several beach areas like Condado Beach. 

Part of the fort visible from the town square.  

This is where they dropped us off with the shuttle.  

The square was clean and decorated for the holidays 

It rained a bit so we walked under overhangs but the streets are very narrow 

Can you believe this sign for waffles!?!!  I had to get a photo. 


Here is a place for the Mofongo

Here is the map from the presentation and where we docked.  

A photo of the Mofango


This cool place Umbrella Street sometimes is up but not always 

A pigeon at pigeon park up in the tree avoiding the rain 

These photos are all painted on the building or are stand ups.  It looks so cool!

Here’s where Chuck bought us a special treat!!! Yummy

We check it all out 

Maybe hot chocolate, maybe a latte?

A very cool statue and bird.  At first I though he was real!



Government buildings decorated too

Little sidewalk cafes and cobblestone roads 

Ah!!!! Here is the place!

Look at all that temptation and that’s only a portion of it!

Chuck looks happy and the gelato is delicious!

For sure!

I guess he wanted a bigger bowl!!

Pigeon Park!!! 

https://vimeo.com/786366300

Betsy and Chuck trying to fake being pigeons!

One day we had a little surprise birthday party for our new friend Maryann.  Karla is hugging her.  My friend Kate is there and a few other friends. 

Dan made her a funny unusual gift on a hard paper plate of Africa and what we saw.  There was an artist on board who did an actual drawing which was for sale for quite a bit of money but this is unique and no one but Maryann will have a copy.  It was a hit! 

Our friend Nomer, bar waiter , loved it!

All the waiters came to wish her happy birthday with a special crepe and her favorite rocky road ice cream! 

All the pigeons were on the wall avoiding us 

A walkway along the fort

See the pigeons in the holes avoiding rain?

Then on to a Fiesta Market which was so fun. 

Dan and Betsy head out to the market 

https://vimeo.com/786382680

Betsy gets her groove on!

Great Dancers with a lady Mary in the middle from our group!

We had a great crew show too with winners!!!

 Then one night there was a barn dance on the Lido!



And along the way we had a fun birthday for Betsy at the Canaletto with friends 

My friend Kate on the left and a new friend Ruth Macy on the right 


And then crazy Dan!

So we left Puerto Rico and had one sea day after it till we got to Ft Lauderdale which meant a day to pack and say good bye to many friends.  We met Betsy and Chuck in the morning at breakfast and then they were off.  We moved to a new room for our holiday cruise and then got new keys and reboarded.  

We sure missed all the great folks we got to know and our besties Chuck and Betsy.  

Thanks for coming along on our amazing journey of a lifetime.  Wherever you go travel wisely and most of all be flexible and enjoy the journey.  Nothing takes the place of wonderful memories. 

Mindelo, Cape Verde ; Cabo Verde Safari

On December 11th of December we docked at Mindelo , Cape Verde.  It was a trip of 250 miles from our last port. Our island was Sao Vincent which means Saint Vincent.  It was named by the Portuguese and has a population of about 80,000.  Music, bars and clubs are a big thing here and they celebrate lots of festivals around their colonial structures.  Our captain tells us we may have two other ships in ports.  70,000 cruise passengers come here each year.  Things to see include the old Fort, beaches, markets and museum along with mountains where you can 4 x 4.   The Fort here is in ruins but it is still an important historic place. We have a free shuttle that drops us in town which is about a mile from the port.   The shuttle drops you by the Museum of Oceans which is a replica of the tower in Lisbon from 1852 Fortim Do Rei.  

Praia de Laginha is a major beach with bars and restaurants.  The Peoples Palace built in 1874 celebrated their independence in 1975 and is now an art gallery.  If you are there on a Sunday they are open a limited time.   The Municipal Mercado has a food area and a few souvenir areas. There is also San Oedro Beach for swimming. Monte Verde is the highest point on the island at 2450 ft with a magnificent viewpoint.  

Calhau is a fishing village and rustic.  The island is small.  We are here from 8-4:30. 

We do have our last tour here .  Then we will have five sea days to Puerta Rico.  Our tour is with Cabo Verde Safari.  Our tour guide or organizer is a very interesting fellow. He has lived here for 20 years moving from Portugal to run textile factories that were selling to places like REI and LL Bean,etc.   Things did well until the market crash in 2008.  The factories closed.  He was married and wanted to stay here so he started a tour company with lots of different venues.   He did day tours, motorcycle tours, camping tours, hiking tours and anything you can think of to individualize it for his customers.  After a few years a company came in  and wanted to help him expand.  They ended up starting their own company taking all his ideas and clients so he began again.  I liked him and would recommend him.  He is knowledgeable and very good to his passengers.  We had four wheel drive vehicles and there were probably 12 vehicles with four per vehicle.  Lots of room.  Only problem was a driver didn’t speak English and the guide was in another van. But he always stopped and spoke to the group about different sights in the island.  We did pretty much the entire island going to the eastern coast of Calhau to Praia Del Grande beach, to Baja das Gatas and then lunch in the fisherman’s village with a visit to Monte Verde. There was off road and on road travel.  If interested you can go to you tube and watch their video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xy_PYot4Q-E

The port has a protected bay for smaller boats
These floating homes looked so interesting 


Their art depicts their lives

The Jeep in front is what we road in.  Streets seemed quiet.  

Everywhere there were dogs.  They belonged to no one and all seemed hungry and thirsty. 

The land is very dry here and they have had drought for many years.  There are large volcanic mountains but nothing grows on them 

San Vincent where we are is 10 x 15 miles with 45 miles of roadway all made of pebble stone. Most of the life here still bears witness to the African influence .  This island was the last to be colonized in 1835 by the English although the Portuguese had found it earlier. The bay is perfect and naturally safe with no waves. It has been a refueling station for ships going up and down.  They used to bring coal here for the whaling ships. It now is one of the most important refueling station competing with Dakar and the Canary Islands. 

Because there was little fresh water here many did not settle here.  The British shipped in water until 1964 when finally a desalination plant was built. There are still lots of English and Jewish names here. Slavery never was on this island . The English invested in the island even though Portugal was an empire and they would have no slaves. But it is said they had paid slaves. 

Our guide says there are large families here and men have more than one wife.  There are actually more families from this island living abroad than living here mostly in Massachusetts.  In Mindelo one only pays taxes on the land.  There used to be more agriculture here but because of the long drought no one can grow much.  The drought has existed since 2012.  They do collect water anytime their is rain.  They use a gravity fed irrigation system to conserve water. Irrigating this way can produce five times more produce. 

The Bay of Mindelo is a caldero from the volcanic activity. 

Here are a few photos of the area from the cruise director presentation. 

You can see the colonial impact and colorful buildings. 

A map of the area. Not much roadway and I think we traveled it all. 

The museum area close to the shore. 

You can see how dry everything is. 

Often the clouds covered the peaks of the mountains.  Most trees were scrubby and many Açacia 



Looking down at the Bay Area.  Several smaller islands are across the way but no one lives there 

There are houses far from town with no power or water.  Many are is disrepair and can’t be bought because the families are so large no one is able to contact them all to get their permission to sell. 

Workers trying to eek out a small farm huddle under the tree for shade 

This is a milkweed bush!!!! It’s the biggest I’ve ever seen.  Our guide didn’t know what it was as far as the Monarch’s.  He said there are no butterflies on the island and few animals although the have a lot of Osprey due to the fish.  


There is a small farm here using the drip system 

There are more goats on the island than anything .  The shepherd had no shade as he watched after his goats.  They use the milk for cheese which is popular here. 

We came to this beach by 4 x 4.   The water was cold and it was windy.  It’s quite a ways from the village but a few come here to fish.  

The rock is volcanic 

Not an easy beach to navigate.  


But there are caves here and the guide said folks come and spend the nights here sleeping in the caves on a pad or cloth. 

Most things have to be imported here in fact 90% is imported so life is very expensive and there is an import tax on goods. Most people live on 126 euros a month. One liter of milk is 1.5 euros. A bottle of wine is 15 euros.  There are 500,000 people living here. Someone ask what Soldad meant and he said missing something from inside… Luke missing your home when you move away. Land is cheap here but building a home is very expensive.  Sone buy pre fab homes or build homes themselves but they are very simple. To purchase an existing home is very expensive.

There is a bird here called the Lark Raso which is endemic to the island and uninhabited islands which are a nature reserve. Diving and Snorkling can be good here if it is not too windy. 
Fishing is very good here and has sustained the people during the drought and the pandemic.  You can get excellent Tuna and Grouper.   

The ocean close to the caves

Not much grows here even after millions of years

The small fishing village.  

We have our lunch here close by.  



We drive to the highest peak to see the viewpoint of the town and bay