April 1, 2013
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| The Condado Area, San Juan |
Still in Puerto Patillas.
Since last writing, Dave has had two adventures.
A week ago Wednesday, we arose early to drive
Janis to the airport to begin her weeklong trip to
North Carolina to visit her daughter’s
family and help them settle into their new home.
After dropping her off, Dave and I drove to
the beach area of
San Juan
and strolled down the promenade.
The
north swell produced huge rollers.
Other
Puerto Riquenos enjoyed the early morning on the beach and boardwalk or were
walking laps at the track across the street.
An odd mixture of new modern homes and run
down fixer-uppers lined the street that overlooked the ocean.
We met a modest-looking man picking up litter
and walking his little
Chihuahua.
Giving it my best Spanish try, I asked him
for a place nearby to have breakfast.
His response was in perfect English.
I asked him how he came to speak English so well.
He said that he’d studied medicine at
Georgetown University
and worked at
Mt.
Sinai Hospital.
That’ll do it!
Obviously he was a very bright man and here
he was cleaning up the street and walking his feeble though cute
Chihuahua.
He told us of a place, Kasalta, where we
could get a light breakfast, and by the way, President Obama had a sandwich
there.
My first thought was,
“Uh-oh.
Pricey.”
We walked the several blocks and found
Kasalta, a sort of early 60s, kitschy bakery.
Sure enough, on the wall were Spanish and English informative posters,
each with a huge photo of President Obama eating a sandwich there in 2011.
Dave had fresh-squeezed orange juice and a
grilled ham and cheese sandwich.
I had a
vegie omelet and cafe latte.
Both meals
were basic but tasty and just a little on the pricey side.
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| Beautiful condos in Condado with a view of the beach across the street |
But that wasn’t Dave’s adventure.
We’d read that the
Trapeze
School New
York had begun a school in
San Juan.
It took a bit of sleuthing, but we found it at its temporary location
next to the Coloseo (coliseum).
The
school will move in May to the new location next to Pier 8 at the port.
The manager, Michael, originally from
New York, signed Dave up
for a class that afternoon.
We met the
other teachers, Scott, Caitlyn from
Reno and
Dave, who was one of the founders of the school in
New York.
Other than a ten-year-old boy and Dave, the class was comprised of women
– mostly 30-somethings and probably well-off.
There was a trio of three generations:
the boy, his mother and his 60-ish grandmother, which was very
cool.
Ample kisses were bestowed after
each one’s flight.
Dave had told the
teachers of his prior trapeze experience – he was skilled enough to have
performed in a county fair – but that it had been about 20 years since he’d
last flown.
They had him go up and
watched to see what he could do.
He
looked great!
Everyone clapped and
cheered.
After the first flight, he
swung out of the net and walked over to me sporting a grin from ear to ear, his
exhilaration palpable.
He said it came
back to him like riding a bike.
He went
up about eight times.
Dave practiced the
layout, which is when he flips his extended body, heels over head.
So smooth.
The last three flights he tried to do a catch with Dave, the
catcher.
They didn’t quite complete one,
but if they would have had a couple of more tries, they would have gotten
it.
Dave was a little disappointed about
that, but so happy to have been able to try out the trapeze again.
He’s been talking about it for years.
He’s been doing push-ups and pull-ups which
probably helped to ward off injury.
Still, after a week and a half, his shoulders are a bit sore but are
improving daily.
Not bad for an old man
of 62.
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| Fly, Dave, Fly! |
But that’s not all, that’s not all!
Just yesterday morning, we spotted some
manatees munching at the edibles on the boat hull of our Czech neighbor.
Dave donned snorkel and fins and jumped in to
hopefully cavort with the fat fellows.
The water was murky, so it was difficult for him to see them unless they
were very close.
I more easily spotted
them standing on the bow.
“Over there!”
I’d shout and point.
Our neighbor put on
his snorkel and fins and jumped off his stern to join in.
It was as if the manatees were playing tag
and Dave the Czech guy were “It.”
The
funny thing is that the Czech guy at one point said, “What are they?”
So he’d jumped into the water to follow some
huge sea creatures but he didn’t know what they were.
Need I say that single-handers are known for
their daring/kooky behavior?
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| Manatees! |
The manatees proved a bit too wily for the Its who returned
to their boats.
Since he was already in
the water, Dave requested a scraper and brush and began cleaning our hull.
A few moments later, the curious manatees
were back and swimming alongside our boat!
Perhaps they were enjoying the morsels that Dave was scraping off.
They made several passes right by Dave who
brushed their backs as they went by.
He
thought they seemed to like that.
Wouldn’t surprise me as they had barnacles and greenery attached to
their backs not to mention the blue bottom paint from doing their own hull
scraping.
Dave loved this and even shot
a short video of his romp with the manatees but I'm not able to upload it now.
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| Dave and the manatees |
