Sunday, January 29, 2006

San Sebastian Street Festival


I happened to be in San Juan, Puerto Rico during the San Sebastian Street Festival in Old San Juan. This is a huge party, like Mardi Gras, and people come from all over the world to see it. During the day, some of the streets were packed with crowds like this. At night, it was even more crowded. There was music day and night, with both staged events and impromptu concerts on the street by groups of drummers. And of course there was plenty of rum and beer to drink.

Only one road leads from the mainland to Old San Juan. This helped make it easier to defend the city hundreds of years ago, but now it creates horrible traffic jams when everyone arrives for the festival. At first the taxi driver refused to take me there. "We'll never get there, and I'll get stuck and won't be able to get back." He only changed his mind when I told him I would settle for being dropped off somewhere near there, as close as he could reasonably get.

The festival was a lot of fun. It is one of those things you have to see to believe.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Puerto Rico, eh? You must have really enjoyed the local food, like bratwurst, sauerkraut, and head cheese.

Unknown said...

Actually, Puerto Rican food is pretty good. I like the fried plantain.