Teacher Aboard Logs

Buenos diasand welcome to "Rich Port," which is what the first colonist, Juan Ponce De Leon, called the port after admiring a beautiful bay on the north coast. Christopher Columbus claimed the island for Spain in 1493 and named it San Juan Bautista (honoring St. John the Babtist). Somehow 16th century mapmakers confused the two names and the entire island became known as Puerto Rico, with a port called San Juan! The Spanish built a series of three forts and joined them by a 40' high wall to guard against invaders. El Morro was the fort built to guard the entrance to the port and it still stands mightily, greeting visitors in a majestic fashion . . . like Pride II.

Our Arrival

We passed the El Morro as we entered the channel into San Juan.

We tied up at the dock beside a row of beautiful palm trees waving in the breeze, inviting us to stay.

We were immediately met by the customs and immigration officials who came to give us clearance to come ashore. Every time we enter a new country, we have to be cleared by those offices. This is how they keep track of who is entering the country and what their business might be, and to make sure nothing illegal is brought in.

We were securing sails and lines and hanging the tarps above the decks for some much needed shade when we met our first local businessman, an ice cream vendor! He turned out to be our favorite source of nutrition on the island, and he visited us every day, much to the delight of the crew! Passion Fruit was my favorite flavor.

I looked around and discovered cruise ships surrounding us. San Juan is the jumping off point for cruise ships taking passengers around the Caribbean. Across the street was the Wyndham Hotel and Soapy's Internet Cafe - my first stop. As soon as we were cleared to leave, I made a beeline for Soapy's where I sent off my last Atlantic crossing log and all the photos needed for the logs. The next thing on my agenda was to call the Caribbean Preparatory School, which I was to visit the next afternoon. I contacted them and made sure everything was still on schedule, and then paid a visit to the Concierge office at the hotel where I made my reservation to tour the Rain Forest on Saturday, my only free day in Puerto Rico. It was now 1400 hours, so with all my arrangements taken care of and camera in hand, I set off for the town of Old San Juan.

Old San Juan

Since tourism is the greatest source of income in this town, it's not surprising to find so many upscale shops. This was easy to overlook, however, when I discovered that the stores are not allowed to change the style of the old city's architecture, thereby keeping its old-world charm. And this town has charm aplenty!

From town squares with old men playing dominoes, to children feeding pigeons under mom's watchful eye, this town exudes a sense of calm, proud traditions.

I stopped for a cold soda at a cafe with seating in the middle of the cobblestone alley. At the end of the alley, you can see one of the original gates to the fort.

Art With evidence of Indian, African, and Spanish influences everywhere, I was not surprised to find an abundance of art in infinite varieties. Once again, I found plenty of homemade arts and crafts. They ranged from an Indian making figures from the heart of the palm tree, to a local woman making wall hangings for the tourists coming from the cruise ships. Probably the most impressive "outdoor art" was this work being put in place by a construction crew. These sculptures of tables and chairs will be functional art - probably used by the dominoes players!

Because I was so intrigued by the different cultural influences still visible on the island, I began walking all the narrow side streets in search of galleries. This gallery, for instance, featured artwork by new, up-and-coming artists.

This one featured art based on the once-living, physical history of the island. Galeria Fosil Arte, run by Radames Rivera and Yolanda Velazquez, specializes in art that features 40 million-year-old fossils excavated on Puerto Rico. The photo shows the artist in front of some of the artwork, as well as photos of him at work in the excavations. He has his own Galer’a Fosil Arte web site so take a look! I had a wonderful visit and tried to spend more time with him the day before we left, but the gallery is so popular that he was busy. I'll just say "Thank you" until we meet again someday!

My next stop was to a highly recommended shop called El Galpon, where I met the owner, Gustabo. The store features Panama Hats and Premium Cigars, but also specializes in local artwork and masks. Here, Gustabo poses with one of my favorite masks from his large collection. He can ship worldwide. If you'd like to contact him, his email address is lerner@prw.net. Tell him you read about him on the Europe with PRIDE web site! Again, I had a great time and would recommend this shop to everybody. Thanks, Gustabo!

History

I headed to the square at the foot of Fort San Cristobal, which was built to defend against attackers come from the interior of the island.

In the square, a tall, proud statue of Christopher Columbus stands. Columbus was the first European to visit the island. Columbus returned later on a second journey, while Juan Ponce De Leon received permission to establish a settlement on the island, which he did. He later set out on an expedition, and his search led him all the way to Florida.

The Spanish ruled the island for approximately 300 years, until 1898 when they went to war with the United States and lost the it. It became a Commonwealth of the U.S., obtaining some U.S. privileges, yet maintaining self-government.

By this time it was early evening, so I went across the street to a nearby cafe for dinner. I tasted Chicharrones (small pieces of pork with crunchy skin still attached) for an appetizer. For the main course, I ordered Piononos, which was a ripe Plantain with chopped meat, eggs, and tomato paste cooked in Salsa Criolla (criole sauce). Everything was washed down by a huge glass of mixed fruits blended into a Frappe! Yum!! To top everything off, I had a beautiful view out the window (over a couple eating at a table on the veranda) of both Christopher Columbus and the Fort Cristobal! I headed back through the town toward the harbor, and stopped just for a moment at the edge of the fort to take a picture of the sun setting over the island. What a lovely end to an exciting first day here in the land of swaying palms!

Mail, Conference Call and School Visit

Friday morning began with the delivery two packages from the Pride office in Baltimore. One package contained a scrapbook from the Language Arts class at Brunswick Middle School for my school visit later that day. I also received a great letter from Jamie Young at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania who's following our journey in a computer class at school. I will be sure to send off a card to you as soon as we arrive, Jamie! There was also a wonderful letter from Ms. Cindy Ferrell at the American International School of Lisbon, accompanied by lots of thank you letters from students in Lisbon. I loved the drawings and cutouts of Pride II! The highlight of the mail for me was probably the package sent by the lovely lady substituting in my classroom, Ms. Jeanie Moore, which contained photos of my students and a letter from one of my favorite former students. I'm so proud of the good work my students have done! Jenn, Steve, Eric, et al . . .thank you all so much!

After reading my mail, I headed across the street to the business offices of the Wyndham Hotel to make sure everything was ready for our conference call to Baltimore. Students were gathered in two Distance Learning Labs in Baltimore City. Students at Hamilton Middle School and Canton Middle School could see and hear one another as we talked to them from San Juan. Captain Parrott and I placed the call at eleven AM, and had a wonderful conference with the students. We were impressed by the quality of the questions the students had prepared, and enjoyed ourselves immensely. Thanks to all who participated.

Captain Parrott returned to the ship and I jumped in a taxi with a driver who only spoke about ten words of English, but seemed to know where we were going. I was about to enjoy a 45-minute tour of the area, as the driver got lost and had to call the school several times! (It was a fixed price for the trip, so I just sat back and laughed as we tried to communicate, using lots of sign language.) Eventually, we arrived at the Caribbean Preparatory School where the lovely Ms. Judith Rivera, director of the high school, met me.

Judith showed me around the grounds, from the courtyard where the younger students played basketball, to the library and cafetorium, where I would be addressing the students. The 6th, 7th, and 8th graders were called in, and I began with my usual slide show about Pride II and her mission of goodwill. I then moved on to my mission of establishing communications between schools in Maryland with those I was visiting.

I presented the Brunswick Scrapbook to these students and they seems really enthusiastic about responding. I'll bet the Internet will be humming soon! I thoroughly enjoyed myself at Caribbean Prep and learned a great deal about the educational system in Puerto Rico from Ms. Rivera, who has several children in different levels of school herself. Thank you for making my final school visit abroad an extremely enjoyable one. This was a great way to end my long voyage and stream of visits to other education systems. Gracias!

By the time I returned to the ship, it was 5 PM, and I needed to check email and send off postcards. After that I ate some dinner and retired to my cabin to make some notes for this log. The next day was going to be my last and I wanted to be well rested, so I went to sleep at 2300 hours with my alarm set for 0700 hours Saturday.

Go to Part 2 of the November 12, 2000 Log