Wedding in Puerto Rico

This time my article is about surprises in life and unexpected friendships. It all started with a post on Facebook I saw in a migrant women’s group. A young bride-to-be wrote that she would have a marriage ceremony in Puerto Rico and that her family could not attend the wedding due to visa problems. Many people commented below and wrote, “It is hard to be alone in expatriation, I hope someone will come.” Since I was going to Denmark on July 16, it seemed difficult to go to the ceremony on July 14, but the feeling in the article touched me very much. On the one hand, as an immigrant living in the US, I empathized with this call and wanted to go but I had to prepare for a long journey. I explained the situation to my friend, and with a sudden decision, we decided to go to San Juan together and surprise the bride so that we could both represent her side and not leave her alone. Everything happened very fast. When we wrote to the bride that we were coming, she was happy; she immediately sent the invitation and wrote a post in the group expressing her joy. It was a nice coincidence that they planned to live in the same city with us later. It was a different story for our meeting; we had to make good use of the time since we were going only for 2 days. We traveled from Miami to San Juan for 2,5 hours and first we went to our hotel and then we took an Uber to Old San Juan.

Along the way, we got information about the restaurants on the island from our driver Miriam. With the recommendation of both her and the Tourism Information officer, we chose Raices Restaurant, a popular place in San Juan. Raices restaurant, whose walls were painted with Puerto Rican landscape paintings, was packed. We ordered mofongo and bacalaito because we wanted to try local flavors. We chose shrimp for the mofongo, a fried puff pastry made from fried rice, filled with seafood, meat, or chicken and topped with garlic or tomato sauce, but the shrimp were very hard. They were served hot in a clay jug. The fried marina fish bacalaito, a traditional Puerto Rican appetizer, was a little too fatty but we enjoyed their local beer Medalla. Old San Juan, close to the harbor where cruise ships docked, was the most touristic place in the city. The narrow and one-way streets of Old San Juan, which has a nickname meaning Walled City in Spanish, reminded us of the Balat neighborhood. The colorful Spanish architecture of the houses with their balconies and flowery facades made you want to take a photo at every step, unfortunately, none could reflect the beauty we saw with our eyes. Narrow streets we walked on stony paths to a wide area. To our right was Castillo San Cristobal, to our left was El Morro, and in front of us was the vast ocean. Some of the houses on the beach bore the scars of Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017. Some of them had never been repaired and were left as they were. At La Perla Ravelin, we looked at the view and read the sign about the history of this place. We watched the sailing races in the sea from the watchtower, which was reached by a narrow passage. There was a large cemetery on the beach and a parking lot under the ground. The castle bastions started ahead. From here, it was possible to see the city and the beaches. We also saw iguanas in the garden and again we climbed a hill to the entrance of El Morro castle. The museum entrance ticket was $10, allowing entry on the second day. I could not see the exhibits I saw in the museum when I first visited 15 years ago. Maybe they had been moved due to the hurricane. The walls were very affected by moisture. The view from the big cannons and towers in the bastions was beautiful. Went down the steep stairs and up the triangular stair tower. We were exhausted.
The one-way road was very crowded, the Uber price had also increased; luckily, we found one and arrived at the 6-room villa hotel. There was no reception at the Rosalina Isla Verde Hotel. Even the cleaning staff we left our belongings with during the day was gone, we took our key from the box on the door with the code number they gave us by calling us and we arrived at our room. We were very thirsty because it was hot. We slept for 12 hours because we were tired.
The next morning for breakfast, we went to Bistro Cafe, chosen as the best in San Juan. It was a popular and crowded place. Since we did not have a reservation, we sat at the bar and had breakfast with an omelet and tea, then I went to the sea and the water was very wavy and salty. There was a cemetery next to the beach so I won’t easily forget La Isla Verde beach.
Our intention today was to visit the only rainforest in the United States.
We wanted to go to the Yungue forests, but we could not research before we arrived, we planned to go by Uber, but Uber did not accept it, when we searched on the internet, we saw that commercial vehicles such as taxis and Uber are forbidden to enter the forest. Either private tour cars of companies that have special permits or you go with your private vehicle. I went to the forest 15 years ago with a rental car and walked to Mina waterfall by trekking. I had the chance to go up to the observation tower and watch the forest through a telescope. I still remember the giant leafy trees. We were too late to rent a car; we were invited to a wedding at 3 pm.

We got ready and left. When the Uber took us a long way, we realized that we had chosen Antonios Pizza instead of Antonios restaurant and we were going in the opposite direction, our driver laughed a lot, anyway, we finally came to the famous Antonios restaurant, where there are photos of celebrities eating here on the walls. The bride had not arrived yet, the groom and his father showed us the table where we would sit, and we were the only ones on the girl’s side. When they said, “She asked one of you to be a bridesmaid,” our astonishment increased even more. When we thought that we would only be guests, the bride, whom we had not yet met, made another request from us. My friend agreed to be a maid of honor. The groom’s brother was to be the best man. Accompanied by La Comparsita, the bride entered the hall with the groom’s father. The groom’s aunt translated the officiant’s words from Spanish to English. Finally, they were pronounced husband and wife and exchanged rings. The bride met her maid of honor for the first time. As you know, in American-style weddings, the maid of honor is usually the best friend of the bride, but due to visa problems, they could not come, so this task was left to my friend. Finally, we had the opportunity to meet officially and have a chat. When we had our photos taken together, we felt as comfortable as if we had met before. The DJ played mostly Spanish songs. Even though they got up and played samba and merengue, there were moments when the runway was empty, as you know; in Turkish weddings, the runway is never empty. While chatting and eating with the 3 sisters sitting at our table, the Erik Dalı (Turkish song of the plum branch) played at the request of the bride and the DJ played the song Kiss (şımarık) from Tarkan as our request. We had a lot of fun with them. They imitated everything we did while teaching them Turkish-style dance.
When we said goodbye to the bride Aylin, the groom Jess, and the family members we met there, we enjoyed seeing a Puerto Rican wedding and listening to Turkish music. In the evening, we went to Old San Juan again and this time we saw it at night, those colorful houses looked very beautiful even at night. We sat at La Fabrika bar and drank margaritas.
The next morning, as we were saying goodbye to Puerto Rico from San Juan airport, we realized why people continue to live here despite earthquakes and hurricanes. The island which blended both modernity and the reckless culture of the Caribbean life was slow and calm. Puerto Ricans call themselves Boricua.
The island, which is governed by a governorship is connected to the USA but is also autonomous, citizens cannot vote for the US president even if they carry an American passport. Although it is similar to the USA with most of its features, it has different applications. For example, do not be surprised to see the gasoline price at 95 cents. This is the price of a liter, not a gallon because gasoline is sold by the liter in Puerto Rico. The people speak Spanish but they also speak English. In 1917, a law was passed recognizing Puerto Ricans as US citizens, in 1946, a Puerto Rican governor was appointed for the first time, and in 1949, the people elected the governor. Puerto Rico has been an unincorporated autonomous territory of the United States since 1952.
The Popular Democratic Party, one of the two mainstream political formations in the territory, favors the continuation of the status with the United States. The New Progressive Party holds the view that Puerto Rico should become one of the states of the United States. On the other hand, The Puerto Rican Independence Party advocates the ideal of the territory separating from the US and becoming a fully independent state. In 2017, Hurricane Maria also wreaked havoc in the region, destroying infrastructure and causing severe power outages throughout the territory. This has caused many people to migrate to the United States. Puerto Rico means Rich Harbor in Spanish. I recommend you go to the island famous for its natural beauty and the warmth of its people.
Your fellow traveler Canan