Explosive forces at San Juan airport as mother and daughter collide in the baggage-collection area ............... Lauren-Anne and Tony, her husband, are here to join us for a two week vacation in the Islands ............. Not having seen each other since 'Little Lauren' got married in March in the beautiful Bahamas, there has been much to talk about ........ All four of us in a rented sedan, took off for old San Juan and the "EL MORRO" fortress ................ This little construction project was started back in 1539, and took more then 250 years to complete ............... In fact, part of the original fortress simply disappeared inside the walls of the later fortifications ......... Then again the original architect probably did not get upset, since he was no longer around ............. If you could hold SAN JUAN HARBOUR, you held the key to the Caribbean ............. That invasive paternalistic attitude still exists today .......... Take a close look at the sign just above this innocent adult couple at the airport ........
Enlarge this photo alongside, and you will see how incredibly thick these walls are, and how far they reach into the distance along the sea edge........... They do the same on the harbour side .............. Impossible to scale but requiring a huge military force to defend ................Impossible to calculate the amount of material used to fill these walls and as for the labour force to build them ?....... Best not to go there ..........And at every corner there is this quaint little look-out post to spot a possible vessel on approach ............. What a pity the 'conquistadors' never had cell-phones ............ Those little booths are just perfect for a quiet little ' habla-habla ' ...........
You would think that the designers would have added an extra little hole-in-the-wall for those with an urgent 'need to go', on their long sentry duty ............. The main lookout hole is way too high up.................Four hundred years later, the fact that this design-fault was not implemented is very self-evident ........ LOOK, but don't go in there .......................And definitely don't linger .......
THIS IS DEFINITELY NOT CAPTAIN MORGAN ................ There may be similarities in the way of arm and leg positions, but this is definitely not Capt. MORGAN ..... Capt. Morgan did not even come close to SAN JUAN ........
The 'big guns' are all gone, though the balls remain .............. So typical ................ And then there are the fallen and the deceased, buried outside the fortress walls ................" To rest in peace with a good sea breeze ".........
An awesome structure just under five-hundred years old and built with skill and precision in a land that at the time was devoid of infrastructure and facilities ............. A testament to colonization and domination of a " NEW WORLD " under the Governorship of PONCE de LEON, whose original house we did not get to see ........ These arched-domed rooms were the accommodation of officers and men alike, munitions storage, food supplies. repair and equipment rooms and a central courtyard for the parade ground with drinking troughs around the side ...........Rum no doubt in barrels was also housed somewhere ............... Despite the many arches, 'McDonalds' has not been able to get a foot-hold inside the fortress ...........
Four different nationalities laid siege to the ' EL MORRO ' Fort throughout its history, but only the English were able to penetrate the walls and they held the Fort for 10 weeks, but they too wrapped up the UNION JACK flag and left, after getting 'dysentry' ............... You can see the semi-circular patterns where the cannon cradles were swung in the direction of approaching ships ........... Cannons so large that the barrels projected over thew walls ........... Even drainage with built in traps were part of the desined engineering ................ Just awesome to see ..............
With at least 400 years of stone-mason and architectural history to fall back on, it comes as somewhat of a shock to see some residences in the 'modern day' ............... Oh, well ........... just keep driving ...........It is wonderful to be able to share these things with the 'Heiress' and Tony ..............Laurie is all smiles, from ear to ear ...............
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