February 28, 2015

 Wednesday February 25 was a record setting day in Old San Juan. Six large cruise ships were in port, and they brought 18,000 passengers to town. This is the most for any one day since records like this have been kept, at least according to El Dia, a Spanish language newspaper I try to read every morning. Four of the ships came in  early – between 6 and 7:30 am; the last two came in about 1 pm.

I was in Old San Juan in the morning and it was, as you can imagine, crowded. What do 18,000 visitors do? Well, they certainly visited the stores catering to tourists, and bought t-shirts. And they used the trolleys to get around the city and visit the two forts. And, if they were in Plaza d’Armes, they had the chance to learn the salsa.

Salsa party in Plaza d’Armes, February 25, 2015.

An agency promoting tourism in Puerto Rico had hired a salsa band, and an enthusiastic young woman was counting the rhythm and teaching the steps. In a short while, several people were in the Plaza, dancing the salsa, with varying degrees of proficiency.

They were joined by young people on stilts and in various costumes.

Salsa on stilts? Why not? These two made it look easy.

 Now, for me the idea of learning how to do the salsa is daunting enough. I suspect I would have injured myself severely had I attempted to learn while on stilts. But these two were having fun, and in an infectious way. Even I began to feel the rhythm.

I’m not sure what some of the other costumes were all about. Take, for instance, the distinguished gentleman’s head. Is this an important figure in Puerto Rican history? Perhaps it is meant to be Luis Munoz Rivera, a statesman who negotiated a degree of autonomy for Puerto Rico during the last few decades of Spanish rule. Or maybe he is a Baccardi, of the rum family. Or the owner of a coffee plantation. Whoever he is, he can do the salsa.

He can do the salsa, whoever he is.

 Finally, there were one or two dancers in brightly colored robes, wearing colorful effigies on their heads. I believe these are masks are called vejigante, and are a common feature of carnival parades in Ponce and Patillas and other towns along the Caribbean coast.

So, how do you deal with 18.000 tourists in one day? Teach them to salsa. It seemed to work on February 25.