Why in heck go to Puerto Rico when it’s still recovering from a hurricane?

We’d made our cruising plans back in February/March. The cruise was supposed to start and end in Puerto Rico so four of us figured that we’d spend a couple of days as tourists there before starting the cruise. The other four would arrive a day later. We’d done this a couple of years before and everyone enjoyed it.

This was before a couple of hurricanes rolled over the island and knocked out power and water for everyone.

Our hotel cancelled our reservations. We initially thought that this was because they didn’t expect to have power or water anytime soon. We found out later that it was because accommodating the fine folks from FEMA took priority over accommodating the tourists.

We wound up getting an Airbnb condo with 4 queen size beds. It was a penthouse on the twelfth floor. There were promises of a generator by the time that we got there but some of us took those promises with a truckload of salt.

Getting there is all the fun 

On the plane to Puerto Rico, the captain addressed the passengers. To returning Puerto Rican’s, he said “We wish you the best in these trying times.”

To the people who were going to help the Puerto Ricans get back on their feet, he said “We applaud your noble sacrifice.”

He didn’t say anything to the tourists. Some of us considered feeling sheepish. Others of us didn’t.

On arriving at San Juan airport, we found that the airport had intermittent power, no air conditioning, and barely any cell coverage. Surprisingly, it only took an hour to find our luggage and get to a taxi.

Our temporary digs 

We took the cab to our temporary digs and met our Airbnb host. There was still no power but there was water on the ground floor. He was working on a scheme to get water to the penthouse. He thought that he could somehow pump the water up the twelve floors and was dragging some water hoses up to try that.

What I remembered from high school physics was that water couldn’t be pumped higher than thirty some odd feet but maybe he knew something that I didn’t.

It turned out that he didn’t know something extra. High school physics prevailed.

We dragged our luggage up the twelve floors in a couple of passes. I knew from the airport check-in that the suitcase that I was carrying weighed 48.5 pounds and I felt every one of them.

The penthouse was bright and airy. After we recovered from the climb up the stairs, the penthouse didn’t feel too hot when we caught the breeze just right.

Since the penthouse didn’t have water and the ultra long hose plan didn’t pan out, our host dragged up two 5 gallon buckets of water to use to flush the toilets.

We’d missed lunch so we went to dinner at 4:00pm. The place that was open had excellent food. Unfortunately, after dinner, we found that the only store that had been open was now closed. We went back to our digs with no hope of new supplies until the following morning.

It got dark around 6:15pm. We chatted amongst ourselves until around 7:00pm and went to bed.

Despite the breezes, it was stinking hot and no one got to sleep until after midnight.

A new day dawns in Puerto Rico 

We awoke at sunup, around 6:00am. We wandered around looking for a place to eat and a place to get supplies.

We settled on a restaurant that opened early. It was more of a diner than a real restaurant but the food was passable. The service was awful – it took forever to get stuff and when it arrived, it was wrong. Pam was blessed with an extra helping of peppers in her “western omelette, hold the peppers”.

After that, we got supplies from the now-open store, climbed up 12 floors to the penthouse to drop off the supplies, dropped off the supplies, climbed down 12 floors, and went exploring to find a beach.

We found a food court with power and air conditioning and cool beverages and food. It was all of the stuff that we’d missed over the last day. Then we discovered that wifi was available. Once we realized that, we attacked our phones like starving wolves.

The more the merrier

Around mid-afternoon, the second half of the troop arrived in their cab. Since phone service in Puerto Rico was spotty, at best, we’d begged the cabbie to return for us on the following day to take us to the ship.Otherwise, it would be a long walk with a lot of luggage.

We all climbed to the 12th floor and we showed off the accommodations. This narrator isn’t sure, but it may have been around this time that someone found a cockroachasaurus and killed it with a flip flop. Good times, good times.

Cleaning up

Our gracious host had set up a shower, of sorts, on the first floor. It was on the outside of the building and consisted of a couple of 6 foot brick walls and a wrought iron gate. He’d covered the gate with a shower curtain. A garden hose, a shower head, broomstick, and duct tape completed the shower.

The water was cold, but it was Puerto Rico cold water, not Michigan cold water. When we were hit with the water, we could still breath. After a day of heat, humidity, climbing 12 floors again and a again, and sweat, it was beeping wonderful.

Of course, after the wonderful shower, there’d be another climb up to the 12th floor and we were covered with sweat again.

Escape from Puerto Rico

The following day, the cab showed up on time and we got ourselves and our luggage to the cruise ship. Soon we were drinking cool beverages and floating in swimming pools and basking in the luxury that we’d so sorely missed.

We’ve never appreciated a cruise ship so much.