Old San Juan

Puerto Rico is a unique island. It is an American territory located in the Carribbean that is mainly Spanish. It was ruled by Spain until the Spanish-American War in 1898 and still retains the Spanish flavor and language.
Old San Juan has blue cobblestones, narrow streets, colorful Carribbean buildings and cats everywhere.

We walked around the old town, got caught in a short rain shower and stopped at a corner bar that looked like it was straight out of the movie Casablanca. Slow moving ceiling fans, a few locals sitting at the bar and a few small tables. The bartender recommended a restaurant for lunch to eat "real" Puerto Rican food.
We tried mofongo, which is a dish of fried green plaintins mashed together with olive oil and garlic. Ours had a tomato based sauce poured over the top. We also had rice and beans and of course, the local beer, a Medalla.

I was on a mission to find this statue - my nephew has a picture of it on his mantel and I've always liked it.  It took a bit of asking and searching but success...And then it was time to visit El Morro National Monument...