that

La Perla

“Be Careful” in Old San Juan

La Perla (The Pearl) neighborhood is a prime piece of real estate but, strangely enough, it is a slum. It is sandwiched between the thick city walls of Old San Juan and the Atlantic Ocean. It only stretches 650 yards along the coast.


It’s a 300-year-old neighborhood. Cemeteries, slaves, ex-slaves, and a slaughterhouse were once all banished to exist outside the city walls. Back then it was undesirable to live near the sea. There were pirates, the English, the Dutch, the French, and hurricanes. It was dangerous. Today it’s a different story. Now everybody wants oceanfront property. And the fine people of La Perla refuse to sell it to them.

However, you can visit them. If anyone were to tell you to “drop by” sometime, you could literally drop in.

La Perla Old San Juan

Do you see how that just comes to an end there? The old wall curves around the barrio with gaps that lead to a 40 ft. drop. Exciting.

A side view of the numerous “chutes” to the bottom of La Perla.

wall Old San Juan

Take heed: An American tourist was murdered in La Perla in 2021. He was buying drugs which was fine. It was only when he started to take pictures, and the locals told him not to, that he was beaten to death.

A Change in the Weather

Suddenly the sea changed color. The wind rose and blew me away from La Perla. It started to rain. I turned down a small street out of the wind and looked for an alcove, some kind of shelter. The only thing I found was an open door with two men standing inside, I asked the bigger of the two if I could just stand inside till the rain stopped. He looked like Sydney Greenstreet from ‘Casablanca’. I could. When the rain stopped I called out “Gracias!” The large man reappeared and said something to me in Spanish. A woman poked her head out from behind his massive frame and said, “He’s speaking Spanish.” You don’t say. He translated: “It was my pleasure to be able to assist you.” Then he looked at me and said, “You have the international look”. I smiled. “Be careful”, he said.

Casablanca on tv in Old San Juan
L to R: Sydney Greenstreet and Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca
Categories: United States

2 Comments

Rico · January 10, 2022 at 7:02 pm

Having grown up in San Juan I can attest to the unreliable electrical service. More than once did my poor family have to throw out a full wild boar carcass that we had stored in our freezer due to these failures. My hard-working father, Manuel, would then have to venture back into the jungle for another of these delicious beasts. (They make a fine sausage.) He could not afford to buy more boar on a cobbler’s wage.

Complaints, or requests for compensation from local government for our losses were always met the response, “No refunds for those from East San Juan.”

Great Blog!
Rico

    Moe · January 10, 2022 at 11:42 pm

    Thank you for that interesting story, Rico. Wild boars have always been one of my favorite topics of conversation. However, I’m not sure what you mean by “those from East San Juan” unless it’s what I think you mean. If that’s the case, we’ll leave it for another blog.

Leave a Reply

Avatar placeholder

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

error: Content is protected !!