Festival San Sebastían

Que locura!
El Festival de San Sebastían is kind of like a block party for all of Old San Juan. Our teacher was excited to take us there, and we were excited to go! We hopped on the subway from our campus to Sagrada Corazón and then waited in line for a good while to catch the bus. All the buses there were reserved just to take subway passengers from the subway station to the festival. The buses were all lined up and were the only ones allowed on the streets. We packed into a bus and the police escorted a fleet of us into the city. They dropped us off a little far and we had to walk to my teachers house. Along the way we heard music, people singing and dancing and there were people along the sides of the street selling hats and accessories that lit up.

We got to my teacher's house and it was sooo cute! We walked down a hall until we got to a courtyard. On the other side of the courtyard, we entered her house. It's a one bedroom apartment and all the rooms - even the bathroom - open to the courtyard. She made us a dinner of chicken with peppers and onions and potatoes and salad, it was really good! We talked a lot, mostly about the politics of the island and the differences between them and us, and then went out to brave the festival. People were packed in the streets and the plazas converted into discos with a stage playing music and people dancing in front while street vendors sold traditional foods, which are mostly fried. In addition, they had some Mexican food like tacos and Colombian food like arepas. We left the house just in time to catch the festival ending, but we got a good feel for it and returned to her house to sleep on her futon with the courtyard doors open to have a nice comfortable breeze.

For breakfast, we had grapes, toast, cheese and orange juice before leaving to walk around the town. She showed us a lot of different important buildings, stores and we finally made it to El Morro, an old fortress from when the Spanish first got to the island. It was soo awesome and massive. It lies right on the coast so we got some beautiful views. We also had a lot of exploring through it because it has 6 levels. It was castle-like but also defensive and one of the coolest things I've ever seen. After we left there, we went to a different plaza where they were selling a lot of artisan things in honor of the festival. Everything sold there for the festival has to have certification that it was made in Puerto Rico using things only from the island. This stops cheap vendors from selling things made in China. I got some really nice hand crafted things for good prices. Next, she took us to the first governor house, for the "emperor Carlos V" who was the king of Spain during the conquista. It was closed inside, but we walked around the gardens, which were gorgeous, and got some great pictures. On the way to lunch, we wanted to try something authentic so we got "bacalaito" which is fried bacalao, or cod fish. It was really good and thin like a pancake but hard because it was fried, a weird combination. She took us to a restaurant called Vaca Brava and we shared a meal with steak, ribs, chicken and fries as well as tostones and a pitcher of Sangria. Everything was awesome and it was nice to get out of the sun for a little.

We went back to her house to rest for a bit before taking the bus and subway back home. Tomorrow we plan on going to the beach to get some more sun :). I love it here.