The Scurvy Dog's Puerto Rican Blog

A Fine Art Photographer’s Dream Come True

Have Camera, Will Travel, With Due Diligence.

This Post is for all you photographers out there. Pro or not.

The photo opportunities on the isle of Puerto Rico are ripe and all around, no matter what time of the year you visit. In fact, vegetation is at its best during the summer and fall, not the winter months when most folks want to come here. My first visit was in late August/early September. It was beautiful then, very lush and green. The Flamboyans were in full bloom and covered the countryside.. now its early March and things look a little shabby. Some plants are showing early buds.. especially the Mango and Lemon trees. This is considered the Dry Season, though we have had a fair amount of rain. You cannot second-guess when it will rain in PR. But I see that as an opportunity as well. It is part of the Tropics.

Fine Art images, those suitable for large display prints can be had almost anywhere. Subjects like old dilapidated brick buildings lay in ruin all over PR. 500 years of Spanish and American history can be seen in the rubble. [Read more…] about A Fine Art Photographer’s Dream Come True

Trolley Stop 24 and Old San Juan Revisited

El Morro and Old Town from an Open Trolley…

This Post and Video is related to a quick trip into San Juan for family visiting from the ‘mainland’, back before the San Blas Marathon.
Because parking is sooo ridiculous in Old San Juan, we started with the Bacardi tour in Cataño and then parked at the ferry terminal for the ride across the bay into old town. The run out to the nearby Bacardi facility is worth the ride, but I’ve been there several times now so I don’t need to do it again anytime soon. At the end of the movie presentation, I was polite and kept my mouth shut when they asked for questions.

I have two –
Where do they get the sugar (or molasses) to make their rum and –
why did they relocate their world corporate headquarters to the Bahamas? BTW – I already gave the Bacardi Tour a 5 Skulls rating in my previous post about Old San Juan, just so ya know.

Once we hit Pier 2,
we walked around the old cobblestone streets and slowly made our way to ‘El Morro’. There are lots of concession stands down by the docks where the cruise ships come in selling all the standard tourist type stuff. On my first trip,
I walked around the outside wall of the fort, but never made it inside.
It was too hot and way too much walking for this old dog. All of that was covered very thoroughly in my first Post about Old San Juan.

We were there on a beautiful Tuesday afternoon, hoping the crowds would be at a minimum. We were mistaken. When I was here back in late August and early September, I pretty much had the place to myself… not now. Come to Puerto Rico during the winter months and it will be crowded.

The Castillo San Felipe del Morro National Historical Site

Known simply as ‘El Morro’ by the locals. There was a small cover charge to go inside, but its worth it. The price includes a nifty black & white self-guided walking-tour (in English and Spanish). Fort construction began in 1539 after the Spanish abandoned their first site at Caparra. It took another 250 years before it got to what it looks like now. The second fort just up the road, San Cristobal was built to protect the city. I have yet to visit it, though you can see us run past it in the video. There were several small organized tours going on at the time we were there. One group showed up on a bunch of Segways! I bet that was a lot of fun. I took my time shooting the inside of the fort. The late afternoon sun made all the textures pop out. There was a good breeze up on top where the fortified lighthouse is along with a nice view of the surrounding area.

Stop 24 Gets a Better Seat

We retreated from the fort along the route of the trolley shuttles. Its free to ride, if you can get on one. By walking down a ways to Stop 24, we were able to score a seat. This meant we were heading back to El Morro, but who cares, we were off our feet now. The open trolley we were on runs all the way up to the gate at El Morro, but the closed, air conditioned one does not. Something else you can see in the video: They both make the run from El Morro through Old San Juan, all the way down to the docks. We are only talking a half dozen blocks, but its all up and down hill. Not too bad if you are in shape and have good shoes. They badly need more than the 2 trolleys I saw.

A Video Ride Back to the Docks

We made our way back to Pier 2 for the ferry ride back to Cataño. It was full of folks getting off work and local families heading home for the day. From there, we drove back to Coamo.

About the video: It was shot with my VadoHD, hand held out the side of the trolley. The old cobblestone streets made it a very bumpy ride so some of it suffers from the ‘jitters’. Sorry about that.

The video’s background music is courtesy of The Free Music Archive which has made my work fun! I appreciate these guys!

48th Annual San Blas Marathon Video, 2010

This is my shortest YouTube video to date – 5 minutes, 14 seconds. The first part was shot with a Sony Handycam DCR-SR45. The last half was shot with the VadoHD firmly attached to a telephone pole at about 10 feet up. Since the San Blas ‘Half’ Marathon runs late into the afternoon, the setting sun messes with part of the video. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did putting it together. Effects were added with Apple’s iMovie and edited with FinalCut Express.

Music was courtesy Pack DV Free Music off the Net.

The winners of the race are the first two runners after the Coamo Motorcycle Police Squadron.. keep an eye out for the runner pushing the baby buggy near the end!

48th Annual San Blas Half Marathon of Coamo – 2010

I plan to drive around the Marathon route next year and post that video with an update. UPDATE! The video of the route was added and you can follow the San Blas Marathon Route from beginning to end now!
The San Blas Marathon sponsors are preparing a major event for the 50th anniversary in 2012. The original 48th Annual San Blas Marathon of Coamo post includes a link to a page dedicated to the runners.

My next post covers my return to Old San Juan with a video shot from the free trolley using the VadoHD. Cobblestones make for a very bumpy ride!

48th Annual San Blas ‘Half’ Marathon of Coamo

A Grand Excuse to Party all Night,
all Day and the Next Night too

The very first ‘foot race’ of 3 miles was held in February of 1963 by its sponsors, the Coamo Fraternity of Delta Phi Delta. It was conceived as a tribute to honor one of the Patron Saints of Coamo, San Blas. Yes, they have 2 Patron Saints whereas most towns have only one. Within a few years, the route was extended to 21.0975 Kilometers (slightly over 13 miles) and has grown into a race of international proportions.

Contestants from over 50 countries have made the ‘Coamo Run’

In fact, in the last 10 years of the 21Km marathon, all have been won by runners from outside Puerto Rico (or the US for that matter). The Men’s Overall Division was won this year by 26 year old Patrick Nthiwa of Kenya with a time of 1 hour, 2 minutes and 50 seconds. He received $8,000 for his efforts, but did not break the current best time of 1 hour, 2 minutes, 10 seconds. Patrick would have got an extra $5000 had he beat it. His time was the 5th best ever. There is a separate Women’s Overall Division with a purse of $8,000. That was won by Ann C. Bererwe also of Kenya. There are additional sub-categories based on age, another for residents of Coamo, one for residents of Puerto Rico and an International category. There is a Wheelchair Category as well. Medals are handed out in a formal ceremony that immediately follows the Marathon. It cost $20 to enter, $5 more if you wait until the last month before the race to register. [Read more…] about 48th Annual San Blas ‘Half’ Marathon of Coamo

From the Road: Degetau’s Rock to Coamo, Part 2

Video Part 2 – Aibonito to Coamo

My visit to the Garden with a View at ‘Mirador Piedra Degetau’ was such a gorgeous perfect day! This is the video I shot driving back down the road from Aibonito and it was a great way to end that day. You can see where we stopped and had a Pincho and beer before heading on down the mountain.

Video From the Road: Downhill to Coamo

Or as I like to call it – “The Aibonito Speedway”

This ‘From the Road’ video was ‘squashed’ to double speed (2X) with iMovie (edited in Final Cut Express), allowing me to include more footage without going over YouTube’s time limit.

Background music was courtesy of the Free Music Archive a great resource for my videos!

Yes – the uphill video was a calmer, more leisurely and scenic route. You can see the Coamo to Aibonito Video next, if you missed it..

Degetau’s Rock was covered in a previous post as well as being the subject of my first QTVR Panorama. A carefully handcrafted virtual reality image – which unfortunately does not translate to YouTube format. It worked beautifully as a QuickTime image. You could manually turn the image to see the view from every direction. I had to remove that link since there currently isn’t a convenient way to experience it. Progress isn’t always progress.

It’s been somewhat cooler and wetter here in Coamo. I’m doing catch-up with the material I have and will post up more as soon as it is ready to roll.