Do you like to Samba?

The photo below is the back of the Capital Building and taken from the exact spot where I fell!  134 architectural designs were submitted from the US, Cuba, Canada, France, Spain, and Puerto Rico. After controversy and changes in architectural designs and more modifications of the final selection, the building was completed in 1929. The day we were there, the Governor was going to give a speech and therefore there were many police officers all around. This photo does not reflect how many!

The second photo of the Capital Building above is the front of the building and was taken the day after the speech and the barriers had not been taken down.

The statue in the photo below is the gateway to the Old Town area of San Juan where there are many restaurants and shops. It was not super busy on the day we were there and I think this was reflective of the reduction in tourism due to the hurricane.

"The statue commemorates the 400th anniversary of the discovery of Puerto Rico by Christopher Columbus on his second voyage to the new world. Christopher Columbus originally named the entire island of Puerto Rico to be San Juan Bautista (Saint John the Baptist), however, the island was later renamed and only the capital city of San Juan retains the name. Bronze plaques on the base of the monument provide pictorial representations of the ocean journey and arrival of Christopher Columbus and the meeting of the indigenous people."  

I will not discuss the colonial guilt I felt while studying this symbol.  Soon the local Indians had been enslaved by the Spanish.

This was a beautiful statue when you really looked at it.  

Old Town is colorful and artistic and a perfect place to shop and eat.

It is also full of colorful characters.

There were examples of hurricane damage even in these simple palms along the waterfront. There were buildings that had still to be repaired and others that were brand new on the same street.

I am not so sure I like the new architecture and I hope it is a reflection of storm sturdiness and not bad design. Of course, comments in U.S. social media complain that Puerto Rico does not deserve our support because it is so corrupt and the money would be wasted...so unlike the real estate projects, private university efforts and philanthropic foundations established by the staff in our White House.

I did read in the newspapers of small grants and a few large loans being made through our government, so there is small hope.

There are a number of small and larger forts around the island where Spain protected its colony from attacks by pirates and others.  This is El Morro, one of the more well-known and one we have visited before.  The views of the ocean and bay are amazing and the freedom of such an open area is welcome on crowded days.  There is a small fee for the museum which is part of our National Park Service.  On this day the temperature was perfect as it can get quite hot!  (This is me after my fall, and you can see I am recovering well.)

We had to be at the airport by early to mid-afternoon and so had time to stop here:

The sunny courtyard was protected by palms and umbrellas and in the background was some very nice samba music to get you in the mood.  I had a rum Pina Colada and hubby had the virgin version.  It seems this famous drink was created here.

This barely touches the flavor and culture of the island that we absorbed in our two short days.  I didn't even mention the great restaurant attached to our hotel and the conversation with the man who runs the food program at the church that had been damaged across the street!  I also have to write the tale of the lady I sat with on the plane home and her story about the hurricane!  And I failed to mention that the very days we were there, winter storms on the north side of the island had sent huge waves inland washing cars into the ocean.  Never enough time is there?