This was the Old San Juan Day, so we started out with breakfast in Condado at a restaurant called Pinky's. Best thing was when you ordered the smoothie you got not just the glass with the smoothie in it, but the blender too. Can you say 3 servings? With all the smoothie I drank, could only eat about a third of the dish I ordered - the Skinny Biache and a cafe con leche. The place was busy, felt like a cute downtown, like West Chester only with palm trees. And the sky a bright cloudless blue. It was near a hospital, so there were people in scrubs picking up a quick breakfast at the register. And since the girls I went with are residents, it prompted some doctor talk too, which I didn't try to understand because I was on vacation. Notably, the menu had a naked cherub baby on it. So indecent and hilarious. After Pinky's we walked outside, west, in the direction of Old San Juan until we found something like a CVS and bought water bottles. Then we got into a cab pulled up at the side of the road and an elderly cabbie took us up up up to El Castillo San Felipe del Morro, which is a 400 year old fort maintained by the National Park Service. There was no shade. Just a green lawn about a quarter mile long and El Morro was at the edge of the harbor. It's really a fort. It cost $5 to get in. 7 levels I think. Sweat all over. Saw an iguana - pretty scary but he/she was just sunning. Then we walked down to the Castillo de San Cristobal. Then we watched a couple cruise ships come in and walked into the town, did the tourist thing. At one point we walked into a park where there were pigeons everywhere. In the trees. On the ground. They rose up for a moment we were terrified of getting pooped on - I used my painting to hide under, but PP hid under AC. There was a banyan tree decorated for Christmas. There was a fountain with stone horses. I took the best landscape picture from below the walls of the fort, looking towards the harbor.
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| Castillo del Morro on the left there. No trees. |
Back at the hotel, the girls didn't want to take a last walk on the beach, but it was supposed to rain tomorrow, so I went out for about 45 minutes and just walked with my feet in the sand until it got too dark. I watched a cruise ship float past, nothing but lights in blackness. How are they not all scared when they look out and see nothing but the blackness of the ocean? It's like being blind a little when I did that activity in Atlanta with Amy and Mary back in spring of 2010. Anyway, the other people were mostly couples, guys drinking, a lone middle aged man doing the same thing I was only with a drink in his hand. I went back and my hair was all thick and salty from the seaspray. I showered and dressed up in my pink Target dress and we went out to an expensive place to celebrate AC's birthday! We walked, which was fine because it was close, but she was having allergies because of the cats earlier and PP and I both had heels on. Totally worth it as I can stand to walk a few blocks in heels. The restaurant was my first time at a super fancy place where the waiter explains the meal to you and there are courses and a bunch of presentation to eating. We had the popcorn soup to start, which was like potato soup. And then something with chicken that was so rich. Had a signature PR drink that wasn't very strong. Had pumpkin donuts for dessert. The waiter brought AC something with a candle in it and PP and I split the bill. AC wondered if the cats had been rabid. I thought she meant the pigeons. We found this extremely funny, probably thanks to the alcohol. Walked back to the Intercontinental where the people held the doors open for us again. I loved that.
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