The Scurvy Dog's Puerto Rican Blog

Ruins of Miraflores Magazine and Isla Grande

As mentioned in my last post on Santurce Graffiti, this is part 2 of a Photo MeetUp shoot we did a few weeks back. After having covered the Street Art of the area, Abandoned US Navy Hanger in Isla Grande, Santurce we moved over to the Isla Grande area which is also part of Santurce.

Isla Grande-

Isla Grande is also very close to Old San Juan and had been used by the Spanish military, very early on.

Though Isla Grande was originally an island, it and the surrounding mangrove swamps were filled in to accommodate the construction of the WWII San Juan Naval Air Station.

Prior to WWII and the arrival of the US Navy, it was the home of Puerto Rico’s first international airport operated by Pan American Airways. Later, after the exit of the Navy, the Air National Guard would work from the same airstrip. Small aircraft still fly in and out of it, but FAA suspended tower services a couple years ago.

A buddy of mine used to work there.

The Photo MeetUp group stopped briefly at an old Navy hanger to get some ground shots. It’s featured in a photo on Wikipedia. It was a huge structure with several smaller buildings next to it. One had become home to several bats. Abandoned metal buildings like this pepper the Puerto Rican countryside.

Then we moved onto the main event. [Read more…] about Ruins of Miraflores Magazine and Isla Grande

Santurce Graffiti- The Street Art of San Juan

My second most favorite subject to shoot.. Urban Art.

Most people don’t know this, but Santurce covers 40 sub-districts including, Condado, Isla Grande, Loiza, Miramar, Ocean Park and Sagrado Corazon. It runs the gamut of ritzy upscale hotels to abandoned barrio slums. You can see a full breakdown with a map of the area, on Wikipedia, via this link.

The first suburb of greater San Juan… a microcosm of life in Puerto Rico.

Because of it’s convenient bus routes and cheap housing, it is very popular with immigrants from Cuba and Haiti and to a somewhat lesser extent, the Dominican Republic. Though to be fair, most immigrants from the Dominican Republic are of a more professional background and tend to seek more upscale housing.

The gritty side of life…

The drug trade, driven by the local gangs, tends to dominate the poorer public housing areas. Efforts to reduce this in recent years has resulted in hundreds of arrests. Similar to the action taken in La Perla of Old San Juan. That made national news. [Read more…] about Santurce Graffiti- The Street Art of San Juan

433rd Anniversary of Coamo with Fireworks

This is an editorial.. I take full responsibility for it.

I was there… I was the guy with the camera, funny hat and ponytail.

When I saw the the schedule of events on Coamo’s official Facebook page, I thought this would be a great opportunity to get more shots of life in Coamo…

A historically significant date, full of potential.

There is much said about Puerto Rican culture and the need to preserve it, protect it.

I saw none of that on display at the event on Saturday night. Nothing that said, we are proud of who we are or of our past.

Instead, it felt more like an effort to leave it all behind.

No, I don’t speak Spanish well. But there was nothing in the presentation that spoke to ‘what it means to be Puerto Rican’. No respect for the past… it felt sterile at best. [Read more…] about 433rd Anniversary of Coamo with Fireworks

The Ruins of Hacienda Santa Elena, Toa Baja

As most of you know, photographing the old sugar mill ruins of Puerto Rico is one of my most favorite things to do. Especially now that I have a pretty decent camera.

Well… Santa Elena is by far, the best site I’ve been to yet.

I stumbled onto this place while studying a collection of material I downloaded from a Department of Interior’s Website. It is host to the American Engineering Record archives which is part of the (US) National Park Service. The main list simply breaks down by the State 2 letter postal ID. I downloaded almost everything under ‘PR’. It turned out to be a treasure-trove of images, drawings, maps and data.

All of it is available to the public at large… Your tax dollars at work!

Other than giving credit where credit is due, you are pretty much free to use the material as well. So I will be featuring bits and pieces of it that complement the story, just as I did when I featured Isla de Cabras a few weeks back.

If this interests you, you might want to check out the National Register of Historic Places listings in Puerto Rico found on Wikipedia. It’s a great place to start.

[Read more…] about The Ruins of Hacienda Santa Elena, Toa Baja

My Garden, Seeds in Process- Final Part 3

Because I did not have much luck with my first attempt at germinating Date and Acai palm seeds, I ordered more. This time I split the order between 2 different suppliers. A second order from RarePalmSeeds in Germany and one from Seedman in the US.

Seed Germination Stimulation

Seedman sells a product specifically designed to stimulate seed germination.

I’m always apprehensive of any product that declares itself- ‘New and Improved’. Makes me wonder if it really worked to begin with. Yea… I know that sounds a little ‘flaky’, but if I can improve the odds of exotic seed germination, I’m all for it.

Seedman sez they use ‘Cape Seed Primer- Super Smoke Plus’ in their own nurseries. It is a product from South Africa. The packaging was in English and claims it is a general-purpose germination stimulant. Each chemically treated paper disc is soaked in 50mls of water to recover the seed stimulant.