There was a light rain when my daughter took this picture, but that did not drive her indoors. The beach was still quite pleasant. According to the website Travel Panda, it rains just about every day in Puerto Rico, usually a drizzle but sometimes a thunderstorm. Temperature is consistently around 85, though.
When Christopher Columbus encountered the Taíno, Puerto Rico's indigenous people, he observed: “They were very well built, with very handsome bodies and very good faces....They do not carry arms or know them....They should be good servants.”
Good servants indeed. Historians report that the Spanish (beginning with Columbus) enslaved the Taíno, in Puerto Rico and across the Caribbean. It didn't take long for this treatment, and European diseases, to kill off Puerto Rico's indigenous population. However, though it has been suggested that the Taíno became extinct, this is not true. Their genetic legacy lives on in their descendants. Among these descendants is my granddaughter whose paternal heritage is Puerto Rican.
While I have always joked that I am a mutt, a person of mixed ethnic heritage, my granddaughter's heritage is even more complicated. Years ago her father had his DNA analyzed and a good part of it was Indigenous American.
My granddaughter embraces her Puerto Rican roots, as she embraces her Irish, Italian, English and multiple other ancestries. She has visited Ireland, England and France in the past. This week she visited Puerto Rico.
My granddaughter visiting a cat refuge on the island. Cats were brought to the island 400 years ago by the Spanish. The locals love them but the National Park Service is trying to remove them. Gentrification issues in San Juan. (From the site Latino Rebels)
My daughter flew down there to join her briefly. Although I could not be part of that trip (I was invited!) they shared their experience with me. The photos posted in this blog were sent mostly by my daughter, but some were sent by my granddaughter.
Both ladies flew free. They used frequent flyer miles I accumulated with Jetblue Airlines. I accumulate the miles by shopping...not flying. Barclays Bank has a great rewards program (don't worry--I pay off the balance every month, no interest).
The picture above shows the Hall of Fame for Puerto Rican Athletes, in San Juan. This museum opened in 1958 and over the years has honored more than 600 Puerto Rican athletes.
Puerto Rico was formed by a volcano but there hasn't been volcanic activity on the island for thousands of years. One famous geological landmark, El Yunque, was formed by a supervolcano 145-166 million years ago. While Puerto Rico does not have active volcanoes any more, it does have earthquakes and tsunamis. Puerto Rico sits between two tectonic plates. Mountains were formed when volcanic rock was pushed up. I don't know which mountains they are, but along the spine of the island there is a series of peaks, with the highest being over 4,000 feet.
According to the website WorldData.com, there are earthquakes all the time in or near Puerto Rico. I'm glad my daughter didn't know that!
You can see a significant mountain range behind the tall buildings in the picture below.
My granddaughter split the cost of her accommodation with friends, so her lodgings were not expensive. My daughter rented an Airbnb on the Condado Lagoon, rather than on the beach. The lagoon and beach are next to each other, but lodgings on the beach are more expensive. She was on the 12th floor and had a magnificent view from her balcony. Here's a shot at dusk.
Here is a shot in the daytime.
My daughter was traveling alone so she didn't plan to be out at night. However, she wanted to enjoy the beauty of her surroundings, so she was sure to reserve the balcony. Here is a picture of her very generous balcony, with a sweeping view of the beach and the lagoon. You can see her toes in this picture.
Since she was going to tour mostly on her own (my granddaughter was with her friends most of the time), she rented a bike to get around. My daughter is a dedicated cyclist. Here is the trusty bike, not fancy but dependable, she rented.
My granddaughter sent me a few pictures, but these were mostly of cats.
As my daughter rode around on her bike she snapped a few photos of what seemed to be landmarks. She didn't identify them but I used different tools, including Google image search, to discover their significance. That's how I identified the Sports Museum, featured earlier.
Here is a sculpture, Mother and Child, by Fernando Botero. Botero was a well-known artist, one of Latin America's most famous who made distinctive figures disproportionately large features, as you can see in this piece. The piece appears in Fernando Botero Park, in San Juan, near Condado Lagoon.
Another interesting sculpture she found near Condado Lagoon was crafted by Jose Buscaglia. Buscaglia is considered one of Puerto Rico's foremost artists. He is known for his works in the mode of 'monumental scupture'. This piece is called Ventana al Mar--Window on the Sea.
Another sculpture is located by the San Jeronimo Fort, which is in San Juan islet. According to Wikipedia, this fort was once the first line of defense for the Spanish who occupied the island. The piece was made by Tomas Batista, who works mostly on Puerto Rican themes.
There are so many fine works of art spread around the area of Condado Lagoon. The final sculpture I show here is by Angel Botello. This piece is located in what is known as the Garden of the Winds. Botello was a painter and sculptor, who was born in Spain and spent the last ten years of his life in Puerto Rico.
According the Wikipedia, "This artistic period of Botello in Puerto Rico has a strong figurative and surrealist influence and is the period that brought most recognition to the artist."
My daughter comes home today. It was a short trip...she left on Wednesday. I guess I could have filled this blog with pictures of the beach and the shore. But I took instead a little tour of a small part of the island's culture. I hope you enjoyed that tour as much as I did.
Thank you for reading my blog.
May the war in Iran end. May peace and kindness prevail in my country.