Puerto Rico '08 - Day 3

11.19.08

I met Doc and Robert in the lobby at 1030, then it was back to Labombanara for breakfast. Yada-yada huevos, yada-yada tostadas, fresh squeezed jugo de china (awesome). A good breakfast would once again be beneficial due to the hours we were soon to spend exploring both Castillo San Cristobal and Castillo San Felipe del Morro. These are the two forts that line the northern coast of Old San Juan.

San Cristobal

First stop on our tour of the hundreds of years old military forts was San Cristobal. Construction in the area began in 1634. Main construction began in 1765. The part built in 1634 is known as La Garita del Diablo (The Devil's Guerite, or sentry box). Legend of the guerite says that many soldiers mysteriously vanished from the lookout post over the years. Malevolent spirits or vengeful natives? You make the call.The Dungeon. This large stone room has a six by twenty inch hole ten feet deep that provides the only light in. A collection of drawings diagramming the latest in maritime technology at the time lined one of the walls (some of which is believed to be written in blood).The upper level of the fort offers views of the ocean where canon batteries defended the city against attacks from the British, Dutch, and (in 1898) Americans. I think we all know how that last one ended. Red, White, and Blue, baby! The Spanish military flag still flies above the fort alongside the U.S. and Puerto Rican flags. San Cristobal also served as an observation post during WWII.So, is the fort haunted? Some of the park rangers that work there seem to think so. This creepy old, um, I mean historically rich point of interest would be a great place to do an all night investigation.

San Felipe del Morro

San Filipe del Morro (or El Morro for short) is clearly visible from San Cristobal. The walk over offers a few things to see... and avoid. La Perla is smack dead in between the two forts. Never go to La Perla unless you wish to get stabbed. Every city has it's bad neighborhood and this is Old San Juan's. However, any bad elements seem to be isolated in this small walled in area leaving the rest of the city to be explored with your wallet hanging out.

Just past La Perla is Cementerio Santa Maria Magdalena de Pazzis (or just Cementerio de San Juan), a large cemetery containing many beautiful statues and tombs right next to the ocean.The large grass field leading up to El Morro was spotted with kite flying families (a pastime of the area) taking advantage of the ocean breeze blowing inland. One may be wary of flying pirate ships.[view full]

The fort itself has more of an antiquated feel to it than San Cristobal. Rightly so considering that construction began in 1539. I accidentally discovered an accoustical anomally in one of the rooms. If you stand in the right spot, you can hear everything you say bounce off the wall and into your left ear. From the top level, you can see San Cristobal and Old San Juan of course as well as Casa Blanca. Casa Blanca was the residence of Ponce de Leon (first governor of Puerto Rico) and was occupied by his descendants for over 250 years.

After leaving the fort, we passed Casa Blanca, saw some cats, a couple parrots, and a "leezard". We headed for Capillo de Cristo to meet up with David. David is a Hispanic spiritualist trapped in a gringo's body. Did someone say dinner? Sweet! The main advantage of having local contacts is knowing the best places for local sustenance. Local eatery, El Jibarrito, has a different menu everyday. But one thing that is always being served is mofongo. Mofongo comes in two varieties: fried green plantains or fried yuca root. The later being my favorite. It has the consistency of mashed potatoes that have been deep fried and it smells kind of like Chinese food. It's served with a garlic butter sauce. [drool] My entre was a cube steak served with a creole dipping sauce that will clear out your sinuses in two seconds flat. I gare-on-tee!This is Elizabeth. She was our server. Cordial and sassy, just the way I like 'em.

Onto some after dinner rooftop socializing. David regailed us with stories of his spiritual discovery and island history. Rum and cervezas flowed. Keep your night clubs and Spanish karaoke bars, I could have stayed on that rooftop all night getting lost in conversation with David, Mike, and the rest of the gang. But alas, we had to meet our guide, Manuel, at 0830 the next morning for a cross-country tour and rainforest excursion.

Puerto Rico '08 - Day 2

11.18.08

Old San Juan

I slept like a baby... a baby in an extremely humid but comfortable environment. I met Doc, Eric, and Robert in the lobby around 1130 to grab breakfast at a local diner called Labombanara (which is recommended by Rachael Ray's $40 a Day, just FYI). Short stack of pancakes (or as they say in San Juan, "pancakes"), bacon, 2 kinds of toastadas and what appeared to be a plain danish dusted in powdered sugar. The carb-heavy meal proved to be beneficial for the ten miles of walking I was to do later that day.

Joe's Travel Tip: Servers don't like to split up the check in Old San Juan. Either inform the server before you start ordering, buy a calculator, or just take turns picking up the check.

After a quick browse through some of the local shops (hope you like hats) we met up with Joshua and Lauren in the hotel lobby at 1400.

From the hotel, we made our way down to Paseo de la Princesa to discuss the meaning behind it's ornate fountain and the history of the area as it applies to the Spanish who sailed to the area for 400 years.


Joshua also gave us a history of the interaction of the first Europeans to come and the native Taino Indians. Here is a wikipedia article regarding the Tainos.

From the Paseo de la Princesa we seamlessly toured La Muralla, the Wall of San Juan. This is a protective barrier that runs along the coast for much of Old San Juan.


The wall has a gate that leads into the city. Joshua is demonstrating below how the Spanish travelers arriving would cross themselves as a thanks for a safe journey.


Old San Juan is overrun with stray cats. The government has them all immunized and they're fed by locals, but I feel that their diet consists mainly of mice and lizards. I don't know. There's cats everywhere, that's all I'm saying. Okay, where was I?

The Catedral de San Juan.

This is the final resting place of both Ponce de Leon (first governor of Puerto Rico) and St. Pius who was a saint... and named Pius. St. Pius's mummified remains are under glass for public display.

From the cathedral, it was onto Capilla del Cristo. This is the site of a miracle where a man called out for God's help when the horse he was atop ran off a cliff and fell several stories. The man was unscathed, the horse was unfortunately an atheist and plummeted to it's death simultaneously becoming an equine airbag.
The Capilla del Cristo is now visited by those wishing to be healed. To the immediate right of this place is the Parque de las Palomas (pigeon park). Watch your step and wear a wide brimmed hat. Avian dive bombings are not uncommon. I've heard that if a bird craps on you then it's good luck. Joshua and I both were fortunate enough to be "lucked" upon during our stay.

We continued to stroll through some more of the southwestern portion of Old San Juan and finally stopped at one of the gems of the city. Barrachino is a restaurant on the site where in 1963 the Pina Colada was invented. DRINK STOP! Tapas and frozen pineappley goodness. I mean they had umbrellas in the drinks and everything. SALUD!

Next stop, Hotel Convento. This luxury hotel was once a convent. While digging a new pool for the hotel the crew discovered many jars containing aborted fetuses. It's believed that pregnant young women fled the lives they knew and joined the convent and aborted their pregnancies or the nuns would help perform abortions on local women. Either way, this could leave some restless spirits unwilling to cross into the light. The ghosts of nuns have been seen walking the second floor of the hotel. One hotel staff member was very forthcoming with the experiences had by several employees as well as himself.

Quite a tour of the city. However the abovementioned are only the bulletpoints of the day.My first full day was not a disappointment. Plenty to do, plenty to see, and more to come.

Puerto Rico '08 - Day 1

11.17.08

I got off of work at 0600. Shit, shower, and shave. Pop a Xanax. Then off to Nashville Int'l Airport. Curbside check-in, a quick TSA raping and I was on my way... to Atlanta because whether you go to heaven or hell, if you're flying Delta, you'll get there through Atlanta. A bigger jet and two time zones later, I was touching down in San Juan. Coincidentally, I arrived the same time as Mr. Eric Scott. So we were able to go halvsies on a cab (or as it's known in San Juan, a near death experience). After arriving in one piece and kissing the ground, we checked into what was to be our home for the next five nights. The Hotel Milano. A quaint, clean, affordable hotel in the heart of Old San Juan. But with so much to do, a hotel is really nothing more than a place to wash up and sleep.

Eric and I, both being photographers, decided to start shooting the city as soon as we were settled in.







Some photos are viewable at my flickr site here or my web album here.

We met up with the rest of the group at 1900 for an orientation of the weeks activities and a rooftop reception at Mike's. Our gracious nocturnal host's apartment's roof offers a 360 degree view of Old San Juan as well as across the harbor to San Juan proper and the Atlantic Ocean. An open bar of locally brewed Medalla beer and Don Q rum was enjoyed by all while conversation flowed and acquaintances were made.

Joshua, Lauren, and Al(Doc) had arrived earlier in the week and spent the previous night in Mike's company. That night they had seen some strange lights in the sky. Since airplanes are constantly making their final approaches in the immediate area and with Doc being a pilot himself, I find it unlikely that they simply misidentified a plane. What I do know is that the first night that I spent on Mike's roof, there was what appeared to be a shooting star that decided to make a few sharp turns before departing in an upward angle during it's 3-5 second trek across the night sky above the ocean. I can honestly say that I've never seen anything like it. I found it to be the perfect start to a week spent exploring the unexplained at the southernmost corner of the Bermuda Triangle.

Puerto Rico '08 - Intro

I arrived at the airport at 0630 on November 17 to catch a connecting flight through Atlanta, then it was Adios, Mainland and Hola, Puerto Rico. The reason: a five day paranormally themed vacation covering catacombs, cathedrals, catamarans, and cupacabras. I was looking forward to a trip filled with UFOs, ghosts, and bioluminescent dinoflagellates (we'll get into that later).

First let's meet the crew. The group of people I accompanied was assembled by paranormal expert, author and radio host

Joshua P. Warren.

Lauren, his wife.

His boy Elroy... I mean Washington D.C. videographer and photographer C. Eric Scott.

Kansas City surgeon Dr. O. Allen Guinn, III, M.D.

and making the furthest trip,

Canadian Robert Ross.

Hey! Let's not forget this guy. It wouldn't be much of a Joe Southards Blog without

Joe Southards

The purpose of this excursion was to explore the legends, mysteries, and just plain strange aspects of the island of Puerto Rico. To help us with this goal was a small cast of supporting characters.

Mike the expatriate... sort of.

He's a retired former Asheville, NC inhabitant who now lives in Old San Juan.

Manuel the guide.

Who better to show you around than a native of the area who has an encyclopedic local knowledge.

David the spiritualist.

David is a gringo who now has lived in Puerto Rico for over a decade. He's also a practitioner of a religion known as Santaria.

The trip wasn't to be all business of course. A healthy sampling of local libations and cuisine was among the plethora of culture we took in. Locally made rum, cerveza, mofongo, coconut, and plantain dishes were just a few of the local favorites that quickly gained our favor. I hope that you can get enough from this blog to whet your appetite and visit the "rich port" for yourself. It is time well spent in a land of interesting and hospitable people. It would be impossible to leave disappointed.