And then there were two
26 March 2018 | San Juan. Puerto Rico, USA
Culture shock central in San Juan, big time. This is a really happening city with trains, high-rise apartment blocks, big shopping malls selling every brand you have ever heard of, restaurants galore, great coffee and even Uber (which we love, and are learning to make best use of). It is a smart city that, relative to other places we have been through, has shrugged off the hurricane damage and moved on with life. The road system looks like part of Houston. And to be clear to any of our readers who might not know– this is America (as the Customs lady at Culebra was at pains to point out). It is definitely the biggest place, by miles, that we have been since October last year. We’ve also switched from a world of English-French-Creole to one of Spanish-American.
Richard helped us massively by dragging us into the modern age of unlimited mobile data – as we have said before, what makes a boat a home is nothing more than good fast wifi! Thanks Richard.
Yesterday morning we enjoyed a walk along the shore-front fortifications, with views of waves crashing on the reefs, up to the old town of San Juan for excellent coffee and breakfast – what a treat. Great hat shop. Then back to Club Nautico de San Juan to see Richard off the premises. It has been a huge pleasure to have him on board for all too short a time, and we hope it is not too long before we meet and sail together again. Richard also has an OVNI 395, and it has been a great opportunity to exchange ideas.
Today is Monday, so we got back into the usual domestics that accompany arrival in a major port: laundry, chandlery, provisioning, planning the next leg … We refuelled, which we can honestly say was a pleasure: the fuel pipe is brought to your boat, not the other way round.