March 13 Old San Juan

Today we took a trip into several hundred years of history. We went to the forts of Old San Juan. These forts, Castillo San Cristobal and Castillo San Felipe del Morro, were built by Spain starting in the 1500's and were used to defend Puerto Rico from French, Dutch and English invasion until the Spanish-American War of 1898. For inquiring minds, we won.

The fort structures and cannon placement are interesting. Multiple levels. One level to shoot "hot shot" cannon balls at the ships, heated to set the hulls of attacking ships on fire. Another level to shoot and cause deck and sail damage. Another level to defend against land attack.

So, here we are, oozing in history, thinking about what it is like to live on a daily basis in a fort like this...truly an an engineering marvel of its day. Surprisingly cool. Hundreds of men living, fighting and dying within these 15 foot thick walls. But then, these are the things my twisted mind thinks about. For real. I read it on a US Dept of Interior placard so it must be true. They wouldn't bring draft animals inside the forts to cart the cannons up and down the SIX stories of the fort for fear of contaminating the precious fresh water supply with animal waste, but then they had hundreds of men with not only routine daily biological needs but also dysentery (bacterial-induced diarrhea). Evidence of the rain water catchment system is everywhere but nothing of a waste system, and I want to know how you deal with hundreds of men with serious diarrhea. No tetracycline or Charmin back then so they poo'd until they died. Frankly, I'd take horse pee. For all you post-menopausal girls out there who take estrogen supplements, that's what they use to make premarin. But then I digress....

And what of these shoes?? Tough, fighting men, living in a tough environment, even if they were only 5 feet tall, wearing Big Gay Al's Big Gay Ribbon Shoes. Satin bows,, no less!!

A map that shows the strategic position of Puerto Rico between Spain and the New World:

An obvious addition to the fort, circa 1940's, by the US military....looking for German U Boats:

This island, at the entrance to San Juan Harbour, was used as a leper colony. No antibiotics for that back then either but not a shabby place to live out your few remaining years with the dread disease...

The original fortifications of Morro Castle. A missile fired during the Spanish-American War penetrated and is embedded in the wall: