Yes, there are lakes in Lakeland......

So, it's a thurs. eveniing in a brisk chilly lakeland, Fl. and I'm sitting in a local florida chain called Crispers. The sun just went over the horizon and I'm watching a big train loaf by outside the giant picture window. So, updates, the last time I typed I had just experienced the bioluminescent bay kyak trip with Ted; quite the expereience. So, that was early in the first week in PR. The next day I went for a brief foray to old san juan with my Romanian teeterboard friends. We all decided to take the public transportation since taxis in PR don't have meters on them! Thus, a taxi ride from our hotel near the airport to old san juan cost around $20 each way, not exactly affordable. We arrived a the the bus depot near the boat docks, and immediately your feel the tourist bureau reaching for your wallet. But, we ignored the money magnet (for a brief time anyways) and made out way up the san juan hill towards El Morro fortress. On the journey we were surrounded by youths of the middle school variety who were all wearing red shirts. They weren't militant, and as I later came to find out, they were all making their way from the campus or field in front of El Morro from some PRday celebration. It seems that this area is often used for large events and concerts. Further on our way, Aaron (one of the elephants huys) and myself were hungry, so we decided to look for something local, and after wander by bugalos and a haphazard movie set we stubled upon a corner eatery (I don't know the name in spanish). So we walked in, to our delight there was nothing tourist about it. But, on the other hand, in this small cafe of a counter and two tables, we stuck out like two yankee thumbs. But, a smile is a greeting in any language, and before long, the guy next to us piped up in broken english and helped us order. I had a special (roasted pork w/ red beans and yellow rice) and Aaron had a pastrami sandwhich. All in all, is was local, good, and cheap; which in my travel book is a good find. we countinued on our way and made it to El Morro and paid the admission and continued to venture around this old abandoned fort. It was most certainly a beautiful day, which made it perfect for pictures (as you can see on my Pbase site) and just enjoying the caribbean climate. Sometime in that first week it hit me, this was the farthest south that I'd ever been in my life. It was a pretty cool feeling to be sitting by the pool while friends in Buffalo NY were watching snow accumulate, than again I did kind of miss the snow. I suppose you can never totally take the childhood out of the kid. That evening as we went back to the hotel rested and checked out the music at the in-house bar/cafe/restaurant. To my surprise there was a band every night and on weekends there were sometimes 2 or 3 bands until 2 or 3 in the morning. All these bands were more or less traditional PR music, which as I came to find out was anywhere and everywhere. In PR pretty much anyone who grows up there can dance and feel the rhythm, it's ingrained into the culture......the music, the movement, the feeling......it's all something that is part of a culture, part of a people. In the states, we have a culture, but it seems to me that everything has become so diversified that there is no specific US anything anymore, nothing uniting us as one group of people. In PR there is such a strong sense of music, art, movent, food that when there's a holiday or celebration everyone can participate (not everone does, but they can) And all the traditional music in just happy, full of feeling. Even the tunes in minor (which in the US is taught to young ones as "sad" sounding music") is just as rich and full of intesity as the upbeat major keyed tunes. (and yes, and my friend meghan J so aptly pointed out in her blog, dancing for dummies is all about the hips :-) ) So, the rest of the week in a nut shell, I had one more foray to old san juan, practice (of course), swimming in the free form pool, pina-colatas, food at Metropol, salsa dancing in the lobby, Piu Bello gelato, waking up to the ocean breeze, and Pueblo made me bankrupt. muze isc.........must go, more soon