San Juan Photo & Social Club, Woohoo!

A ‘Meetup’ group made for folks like me

Before I took off on my first trip to Puerto Rico, I looked online to see if there were any ‘Meetup’ groups there. If you are not familiar with them, they are simply small groups or clubs of like minded folks. Any theme or idea can be the basis for a Meetup. There were a bunch in Alaska and thousands of them all over the US. Not so many outside the US. Well, as luck would have it, there IS a Photo Meetup group in PR (based in San Juan). I finally had the opportunity to meet these folks and spend the day shooting in and around Ponce (on my side of the island).

I have a lot of experience with non-profit volunteer organizations via my involvement with the JayCees. At one time, the JayCees were very popular in Alaska. Anyway, I learned a long time ago to keep expectations to a minimum… That I could not expect more than I was willing to contribute and that making time to participate has a direct effect on the group’s success.

I was pleasantly surprised with the SJ Meetup.

Brad, the group leader, did say that this was the most folks to ever turn out for a shoot. Even so, there is lots of potential here. All skill levels and plenty of genuine enthusiasum.  He seemed a little bummed since a couple members bailed at the last moment. No biggie. That IS the nature of a volunteer group. Momentum is always hard to maintain. The group was formed a couple of years ago. Enough said about all that.

Ponce Revisited…

We met at Ponce’s La Guancha Boardwalk down by the ocean. I had visited it previously but did not post about it. I did get a few good shots of locals racing bikes back then, but not much else. This time, the observation tower was open to the public. It gives you a commanding view of the small boat harbor and boardwalk. You can also see the Rafael Cordero Santiago Port of the Americas in the background. With a 50 foot anchorage, it’s the deepest commercial port in the Caribbean. Coffin Island (Caja de Muertos) and the Cardona Island lighthouse on the opposite side, can be seen in the distance.

It was very hot with little breeze…

After climbing down from there, we decided to take a short beer break. Hence the name “… and Social Club”. We like talking photo and drinking beer, almost as much as we like to shoot. Medalla Lite.. ARRG!!!

After the short break, we walked up the boardwalk to where several locals were racing their remote-controlled sail boats.

Pretty cool stuff!

From there, we caravanned past a huge scrap iron pile, but access was restricted.  A sign in Spanish, proclaimed the presence of asbestos.

Shooting down near the port can get you into
serious trouble so we didn’t stay long.

Our next stop was an old abandoned sugar processor next to the Serralles Rum Distillery (next to the airport in Ponce). This is where they collected and crushed sugarcane on an industrial scale. The rusting hulks of a time gone by.  A couple of us ventured through the fence around the backside to score some shots. Grass and undergrowth was up to my armpits. We got a good ways into the place before we heard security dogs barking and decided to get the heck out.

Since sugarcane is no longer grown on the island, this facility was shutdown a long time ago.

There was also an old cement office building worth investigating. Lots of accounting records laying around in various states of decay.

I also saw railroad rail on the ground, but no RR cars.

From here, we decided to head into Ponce for a late lunch. After driving around in ‘old town’ we stumbled onto a neighborhood restaurant, Cafe El Pilon. The menu was traditional Puerto Rican fare. Me 1st Mate and I split a plate of fried pork pieces and tostones (mashed, fried platanos) and a couple of cervezas ($10 total).  No rice and beans on the menu which I thought was a little odd, but hey, not every place serves the same thing. Their menu was mainly seafood. The pork was a little dry and the tostones seemed like they were of the ‘frozen’ variety. Good, but not great. I left full and satisfied. Yes, you can get prepared tostones in the frozen food dept. of Walmart… Deep fry them like french fries. Arrg! Service by US standards was a little slow, but there was 9 of us. We took over half the tables in the place.

for Cafe El Pilon..

Our last stop was the main Plaza in Ponce. I had shot this location before so I was looking for something a little different. Thanx to Brad, he got a good group shot of everyone out in front of Parque de Bomberos. I appreciated being able to use the image. Parque de Bomberos is considered the 2nd most photographed building in PR.

We left Ponce at 5PM.

Gotta feed the dogs/cats and get ready for our run to Las Casas de la Selva the next day. Its up above Patillas in the southeast. A group dedicated to sustainable forestry.

for San Juan Photo &
Social Club, ARRG!!

Hurricane Earl Update: Lots and lots of rain…

Though parts of the island suffered from flash flooding we were spared. We lost power for a couple hours the next day (as was expected). Earl passed well north of San Juan by about 100 miles. Three days later, it was gone… Blue skies!