Old San Juan (OSJ) and Boarding Day

Late to bed and didn’t have a very good night’s sleep and were up at sparrow’s fart.  Went for a walk on the beach, then found a couple of loungers for an hour in the sun.  Went back into OSJ as we had only seen half the town a couple of days ago.

There were three cruise ships in, so the town was pretty busy.  Went for brunch at Caficultura (see Foodie blog).  Wandered around the town through the streets we hadn’t been to and have now seen everything we want to see.  Stopped at Rick’s Bar at Casa Blanca Hotel for a beer before heading back to the hotel for more time in the sun.  Another teppanyaki dinner, which was just as good as the first one – prawns for me this time.  Sat at a table with a local family of four (originally from Miami), and a couple from Boston who had got off a Princess cruise ship that day.  The father of the family of four was an FBI agent who had been in San Juan for three years of his five year assignment.  Crime is rife in San Juan, mainly drug related.  Already 300 murders this year, and it’s only March.  Corruption is also rife, with a recent bust of 130 people including 90 police officers.  Cocaine is the drug of choice, linked to the South American cartels.  We have seen the odd beggar in OSJ and I asked him if they were mostly destitute or druggies – he confirmed the latter.  Nice guy, with a gorgeous wife who looked like she was related to Eva Longoria.  They were there to celebrate his 11-year-old daughter’s straight A report card.  Every time she gets straight A’s she gets to have a dinner at her choice of restaurant.  Cute 2-year-old completed the family – very nice people.  The couple from Boston are going to e-mail us a recommendation of something to do in Castries.  They warned us to be careful in Grenada.  Early to bed and had good night’s sleep.  Up early this morning for last walk on the beach, and hour on the sun loungers, followed by coffee.  Up to our room for some last-minute ironing, then repacking everything.  Down to the pool café for lunch, then time to check out and make our way to the pier.  We were both very excited.  Huge queue to get on the ship, although processing was very quick and in all took about 45 mins.  The ship is fully booked so there’s about 2200 people on board.  A glass of bubbly on arrival, then to our cabin to go through all the arrival information.  Had emergency lifeboat drill, and waited for our last suitcase to arrive (delay due to pier traffic as there were 4 ships in port).  Sailaway not till 8.30pm which is our dinner seating so we had a couple of hours to have another look around the ship before changing for dinner.  Went to a show after dinner however we had to leave after about 15 mins as neither of us could keep our eyes open.