Yesterday Geoff and I wanted to start getting cracking with our chores, but with all the travelling we totally lost track of which day of the week it was and of course everything was closed being a Sunday. So instead, we decided to explore our local area.. instead of heading west like we did on Saturday, we went east this time.. which ended up being a 6 hour walk!
It was great though, we passed a little garage sale where I picked up these really cute mugs, handmade from the Dominican Republic. The handles are whales tails! The start to our new household collection...
We passed through Isla Verde (the touristy area of San Juan) and kept walking, walking, walking until we reached Boca De Cangrejos - this is the sort of area that Geoff and I have been looking for since we arrived! It was all locals, enjoying their lazy Sunday on the beach with their families, listening to the spanish salsa pounding from the little beachside restaurants. We just had lunch, but we HAD to eat again! We treated ourselves to a pina colada and tacos de camarones (shrimp taco) and got chatting to the owner there - who also happened to be a spanish teacher! He gave me the menu which had both the english and spanish names for everything and also showed me all of his salads that they had, explaining to me the spanish names of each of them. We've discovered that in general, Puerto Ricans will not give you the time of day unless you show an interest first - I often smile or say "Hola" to someone, and all of a sudden their entire face changes and they will blabber something in Spanish to me, or offer me a smile in return - and are ALWAYS more willing when you make an effort to speak in their own language! They really are beautiful, helpful people once they know your intentions are not that of the general white tourist that is there just to spend money and get drunk.
I like your first few photos. It's excactly how I would have pictured it!
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