San Juan, Puerto Rico

We have been away cruising and stayed at the Hilton in San Juan before our flights home Sunday. I will be adding more pictures of the whole 11 days away but thought I'd start with some from our wonderful last day. These fat fish crowded near us in hopes of food. Looked to me like they had eaten enough, but they sure were pretty.

In the same pond garden, swans and geese lolled about, honking if we got too close.

Notice the white side wings lying on the sidewalk beside this beauty. Not sure I've seen that before.

Coming from our cold Canadian March I was transfixed by the vibrant flower colours.

I saw a lot of this one, really a leaf but so pretty.

Ron and I lunched near the beach and then headed for a water-side lounging spot under a bunch of palms. I sat down and felt my body fill with joy as I looked at the sight. To our far right was this old fort buffeted by frothy waves hitting the ancient rocks beneath. I could just imagine how hard it would have been to try to scale these walls.

To our left blue sky and bluer waves complimented each other. Just as I left my chair to get this picture these two men came and stood in my shot. I decided to click anyhow and like the relaxed pleasure they bring to the scene.

Here's another shot to the right, this one with more of the hotel walkways and green grass as contrast.

After spending a long time writing in my journal, trying to capture the view, I picked up my camera again and went after the coconuts in the palm tree to my left. Can you see them?

We got a little silly and Ron took this shot of me with all my splotches and warts. (Well, no warts!)

I reciprocated and got his crossed legs. Do we look white or what? And that's after ten days in the Caribbean.

I came to realize on this trip just how beautiful and to-be-desired black skin is, compared to white. My bruises always show and I never remember how I get them. We must look pretty puny to the lovely natives.

We weren't the only ones with camera in hand. Look closely at this shot of Ron lounging and you'll see a woman trying to capture the view.

And above us a little bird like a mourning dove came to visit for a bit. I took this for Mary, who always has such lovely nature shots.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw two sea-dos roar through the waves right towards the rocky shore. There must have been a sea path as they ended up on the beach over where the umbrellas are in the picture below.

I got up to try another picture of the space to my left sans people but just as I put camera to eye a young woman stepped up on the rock wall. And I am glad she did. I have several with her against the blues.

Compared to the shot below, I think she adds interest to the picture.

Later this young man sat just ahead of us and by then I was into capturing all who came near my lens. His colours were delicious against the blues.

We achieved a personal record for time relaxing in lounge chairs--three hours and fifteen minutes! Wow! Finally we got up and left the glorious space for someone else to discover and walked along the waterfront. This is another old fort on the other side of the hotel. So lovely.

In the roped-off beach play area kids of all ages tried climbing this water wall. It looked such fun I almost went in myself.

As we walked along we noticed that a movie was in process. We almost walked right into the filming before we noticed a blue-jacketed man calmly making small gestures with his hands in our direction. Oh! He means us!

Back in our room I took a few shots out our window. This plant looked silvery and strong just under our balcony.

We also did a few other things in San Juan before our cruise. Next time I'll tell about our trip to Bacardi. Oh, wait a minute. What happens at Bacardi stays at Bacardi!