Castles and Bones

Puerto Rico - The Rich Port - we didn't know where to start looking. We decided to hop onto the free transit system and see where it took us. One of the first stops was Castillo San Cristobal. Puerto Rico was a prized location in the 1500's because it controlled access and commerce in and out of the New World. This castle was built to protect the city from land-based attacks.

I don't want to bore you with too many pictures of the forts but man they were cool. I'm not a huge history buff but when you see it in person and feel the rocks beneath your feet that people hundreds of years ago stood on as well... history does come alive. Below is a picture of the capitol building and then some more of just different places inside the fort.

The fortress extended to include Old San Juan the city and stretched for over 3 miles. It had fortifications on top of fortifications and I can see why no one was able to take it over.

El Morro was the first fortress built. It started in 1539 as a simple tower and then grew from there. It is massive and it took over 250 years to complete. The Spanish Officers had the ground leveled in front of the fort so that it would make it easier to spot and kill anyone coming close. Thousands of men died on that green grass in front of the fort.

This cannon looks like it is aimed at the little island across from it but there were cannons on that little island as well. Between the two places ships could not access the harbor without some serious poundage from the cannons. The island wasn't just used for the cannons, it was also a place where those with leprosy were sent to die. I had always heard of places like that but had never actually seen one. Again, history coming alive.

No fort is complete without a dungeon and this fort didn't disappoint. It was a small room at the bottom of one part of the fort and it was depressing and dreary - exactly what you need for a good dungeon. You could feel the weight of the fortress pressing down on you and if you weren't claustrophobic before, you would be after staying there for a short time.

On the wall of the dungeon were some pictures. I sense someone was longing for the sea.

He even signed his name. What a neat thing.

Next to El Morro we could see something that looked interesting off to the side of it. So we walked closer to see exactly what it was.

It was a cemetery. We had to go and explore.

(Side Note: Puerto Rico has graffiti everywhere!! I have never seen the likes of it. Either they are very artistic or very bored...)

The cemetery was not nicely arranged and evenly spaced. It was very tightly packed and it didn't have paths. The grass was very squooshy to walk on and it creaped me out to no end. You seemed to sink into it about four inches and it seemed like you might fall through at any moment.

What it did have was some of the most beautiful grave markers I have ever seen.

My grandma would be proud - I even found a long-lost relative. (Padilla is my mom's family name.)

Things were going great and we were doing much oohing and aahing over different sites when we stumbled across something that made us all pause. Actually Christy, Steve and I all blithely stepped right over this dug up area so that we could see the other side and Mark casually called out to me "Did you see the bones in there?"

Come again? Bones? I of course shrieked and called over Christy and Steve so we could investigate together (and so if anything started trying to come alive they would be eaten first). Yup folks, they were human bones and I got thee worst case of the eebie jeebies. We left shortly after that.

After such a hot and sweaty (and scary) day we retreated down to Senor Frog's for dinner and drinks and called it an evening. After all, we had a cruise ship to catch the next day.