San Juan, The Calle De San Sebastian Festival… or party time in Old San Juan…

We are here… staying in old San Juan at the Sheraton… we can walk anywhere in old San Juan, which is good, because the streets beyond the waterfront are grid locked or blocked…  We had explored the festival area a bit yesterday, still confused by what it was, where it was, and how it all worked…

We got up at a reasonable hour (late for me, early for Tina) and made our way in search of La Mallorca, a well reviewed diner (by the New York Times, among others…), doing breakfast, and known for its Mallorca pastry… It was a very good choice… 

Fortified, we climbed the hill towards Calle San Sebastian, and the festival… We reached the street a block from its eastern end… then worked our way westward up Calle San Se, towards El Moro, and the reported site of the artisan booths and such…  There were seemingly vendors and artists everywhere, along with make shift bars, and people wearing festival hats, most of which seemed to be yellow, promoting a local beer…  The primary artist area is at the west end in the Cuartel De Ballaja.  There we found artists and food (and beer) vendors lining the streets, in the various plazas, and in several buildings… indoors it was clear that most of the artists were just that, not the general run of craft dealers found at various “art and wine” festivals in the states… I suspect there was some sort of jury system before being allowed to have a booth inside.  We were impressed… we bought something for Steph, a silk screen, and a tee shirt from the local animal rescue organization.  We may have bought a couple of beers…

Since we were near El Moro, we decided to visit… There is an admission fee, but this is a (US) National Park, and as such they accept my magic Parks Pass…  We didn’t spend much time… we have been here before (Tina has been here twice) and we may visit in a week or so when our ship returns… We did encounter two cats (one black, one orange), a egret and a Segway tour along the path… then back to the festival, back to Calle San Se… more artisans, more shops… (more beer?) then back to the hotel to drop the loot, and find lunch… Yelp and other reviews consistently mentioned a place near the hotel, Punto De Vista, known for Mojitos and shrimp mofongo… It was nice, but due to the festival, they were not allowed to pour the local rum… (I assume the festival may have held an exclusive contract?)  We had beer, I shrimp mofongo, Tina steak mofongo…  then back up the hill to the festival… we reached the end of San Se as the parade was starting… 

We found a place on the curb… 

The day before we were mid parade route, and it was hard to see what the parade was, beyond some people wearing big head masks and stilt walkers… mostly it was a mob… today, at the staging point, as the parade began, we could see that there were specific organized groups, Each with a sponsor, (including one lead by a stilt walker promoting feminine hygiene products… really…) with signs and tee shirts with the sponsor’s name… and people wearing big head masks, (recalling local citizens, sports figures, mythological characters, and even, Chef Boy-ar-dee) and other costumes, some with a band… some just drums…  but we could also see that the public just joined in with them as they marched…  more public joined along the route until it was the slow moving mob with bands and stilts and people with big heads that we had seen the day before… spectators with tambourines, with whistles, with great variety of noise makers all joined in… It was a form of friendly public chaos, which in a way, defined the street festival.

As the 4^th or 5^th group came by a local told us that this was the last group (we stood out as one of the few gringos or whatever name is applied to the non-locals from the north… and they took pity on us…)  So, in the spirit of the parade, we joined the last group… and marched the length of the street… It seemed that along the way, other groups joined us… making it hard to tell who was a planned part of the parade, and who just walked on as it passed… and there were other groups, on other streets, maybe not part of the parade route…  There may have been another beer, Tina had an ice cream cone...

Now, still early, we have returned to the hotel… a young Porto Rican told us that was good… the rest of the evening was for the younger people…  I may still take a walk back up the hill… just to look around...