Old San Juan

We've had a relaxing weekend, here by the ocean. We seem to be in condos popular with the locals for a weekend getaway, because the complex filled up pretty good on Friday, and there were beach parties and loud music into the night each night, but today it's been quiet again.

We attended church yesterday at one of the wards where Steve served as a missionary, twenty years ago. The people were all very friendly, and helped us with the language. The girls all got interpreter friends in their Primary classes, and I had a bilingual sister help me out during Relief Society. I was able to loosely follow what was said in Sacrament Meeting, but I think I got tired of concentrating after that, and I had a harder time in the other two meetings. I found myself wishing I'd kept up my Spanish studies from college. Even though I never could speak very well, I used to be able to understand much better.

Steve recognized a couple of the people in the ward, but didn't remember them very well--and they didn't remember him, just one missionary out of the many that have served there in the last twenty years. But it was fun to visit with the people, anyway.

Today, we decided to get out and do some sight-seeing. We went to Old San Juan and toured El Morro, an old Spanish fortress on the tip of the island. It was really interesting! We had fun running around the old fortress, going into lookout posts, and seeing all the old cannons and fortifications. There's a big grassy area on the land side of El Morro that used to be a battlefield, but now people play there and fly a lot of kites. That was fun to see!

We walked around Old San Juan and found a little place to eat. By then, we were really tired and the humidity was getting to us, so it was nice to sit down for awhile and drink lots of ice water! I don't think they were used to serving children, as they didn't have many kid-friendly dishes, but they pulled out some "chicken nuggets" that were really more like mini-chicken-cordon-bleus. The kids liked them, and Megan had some chicken pasta she ate most of. Katie had garlic shrimp with the traditional yellow rice they serve here, and Steve and I shared a dish of fried plantains topped with spiced beef. It was all really delicious, and our server was super friendly. He was a "gringo," or mainlander, like us.

When we got back to the condo, we made pina coladas, which the three younger girls eschewed in favor of ice cream cones. (They don't know a good thing when they have it!) I thoroughly enjoyed my pina colada, anyway.  Steve and I drank our treats out on a bench overlooking the ocean as it got dark. There are few things in life that can beat that!