An Evening in San Juan

April 14, 2012

There is something magical about ports at night. Part of it is probably that we aren’t in many of them. In fact, during this entire Caribbean season the only port that we are in after the sun set is San Juan, Puerto Rico. Maybe the scarcity is what makes it so special. To go ashore in the late afternoon and evening is definitely something we look forward to.

As we put together our plan for the cruise at our team meeting, Tim made it clear to our other team members that he and I would be heading to San Juan in the evening. That preemptive statement made it clear that at least one of the other team members would stay ashore to provide HR coverage. Since Dwight doesn’t like to be ashore at night (it makes him think he missed the ship sailing!) we were covered. The workday, of course, was full. Since we didn’t dock until 2pm the rhythm of the day was more like a sea day. But once we docked the anticipation of completing work and getting ashore built. I worked through lunch hoping that nothing would delay us of heading down the gangway by 4pm.

One of our goals was to meet up with Becki, the Celebrity Summit HR Manager, for dinner as Summit was also in port that day. Summit arrived earlier than us and would be leaving by 8pm. Becki felt she would have time to complete several errands and then join us for dinner before rejoining her ship. Tim and I talked to the local immigration officers when we arrived and determined that we would check out a restaurant named, Raices, which served local culinary specialties. With our plan firmly in place we called Becki to tell her we were on our way and would meet her for dinner at 5pm. When we got to the restaurant they were so busy they would not be able to take us for another half an hour. No problem, we thought, and called Becki to tell her of the slight delay. She was still racing around the city with a driver and told us that since she was running late this last half an hour should aid synchronizing our schedules. Tim and I decided to take advantage of the delay by heading to a local brew pub just two blocks away for a pre-dinner drink. Showing great discipline we consumed only one and headed back figuring that Becki was on her way. We called her from the restaurant only to find out that she was not going to be able to make it. She still had one stop left and was now concerned about not making it back to Summit in time. After sufficient razzing her for standing us up, we said goodbye by phone and heading in for local treats.

The dish we chose to try was in a coconut shell style bowl filled with mashed plantains and topped with savory shredded pork. It was definitely ‘local’ and although the mashed plantains were ‘different,’ it grew on me as the dinner wore on. It was definitely a local establishment and met the bill for the evening repast.

This was still Puerto Rico and the CVS Pharmacy beckoned. Normally this is a place we like to stock up on necessities and given that we were heading to Europe at the end of this cruise this stop took on even more importance. As we entered the CVS, though, I saw the blood pressure machine and since I had done no conscious health maintenance during the contract I checked it out. It was great to see that both blood pressure and pulse rate were in ideal ranges! Although I felt Tim’s was high, he told me it was very low for him which made us believe that an evening in Puerto Rico was good for the both of us. We quickly stocked up on necessities. For me that included the prerequisite Butterfingers, peanuts, and basic toiletries. Based on the recommendations of our spa staff I added a facial scrub. If I now look five years younger it may be because I have now scrubbed five years of dead skin off my face. I also added Spanish olives to my shopping list, another salty treat I had missed.

Since we were not able to see Becki we decided to walk along the dock the ¾ of a mile to where Summit was and watch her sail away. She left just after dark. With the lights of San Juan coming up around us, the hordes of teenagers hanging out at the sea wall, and the beauty of Summit as she sailed passed, it created a enduring memory for our last night in San Juan., Feeling full, properly provisioned, and esthetically engaged, we walked back to Silhouette as we ended our evening. By the time we dropped our goods in our cabins we realized it was close to our sail away time. We changed and went top decks where we watched as San Juan slowly disappeared astern.

And the adventure continues . . .