{"id":3475,"date":"2014-11-12T02:16:57","date_gmt":"2014-11-12T10:16:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=3475"},"modified":"2014-11-12T02:16:57","modified_gmt":"2014-11-12T10:16:57","slug":"shimmer-san-juan-puerto-rico-11032014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=3475","title":{"rendered":"Shimmer \u2013 San Juan, Puerto Rico \u2013 [11\/03\/2014]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"e55413b7a8fa7588d45cfb6de32527d7-d6w41p6\"<\/a>My soul is painted like the wings on butterflies
\nfairy tales of yesterday that grow and never die
\nI can fly my friend<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a year since I last set foot in San Juan, and to be honest, I was hesitant to do so again. Not because I don\u2019t like the port, quite the opposite actually, but because I was almost afraid of shattering the perfection of the memory of my last time here. There are some days that you simply crystalize and carry with you, like a miniature time travel device when you need it the most. My last call here was one of those. You can never replicate that, no matter how hard you try.<\/p>\n

So\u2026I did my best not to try.<\/p>\n

But there was one call I knew I had to make, because it has been haunting me since I didn\u2019t do something there the last time. Besides, I knew I had to show Kitkat the butterflies.<\/p>\n

San Jaun remains an odd port in that it\u2019s not very big, but it is very easy to get turned around. The brightly coloured streets all end up blending together and unless you watch the storefronts and use them as landmarks it\u2019s very easy to get somewhat disoriented, plus the map we had wasn\u2019t the best, but we did find the place eventually. As we approached the doors I shrugged and said<\/p>\n

So when Amras brought me here? All I got was a \u2018hang a right Sis\u2019 as warning\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Oh?<\/em><\/p>\n

Yes. So\u2026hang a right.<\/em><\/p>\n

Now I know how I must have looked last year, unable to really even speak, you just\u2026stand there, and feel yourself get swept up by a multitude of shimmering wings. The artist has captured something in those works that no photograph ever could, even if you were allowed to take one. You feel something untangle inside you, like you\u2019re suddenly breathing easier.<\/p>\n

Wow\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Told ya\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

I was blinking back tears \u2013 though I couldn\u2019t have told you precisely why they were coming \u2013 as I approached the counter and looked at the display of tiny pieces that were actually in my price range \u2013 albeit at the higher end of it. And lo and behold, it was still there, either the exact same one, or one exactly like it. The owner just smiled at me as I laid it carefully on the counter.<\/p>\n

The fact that I didn\u2019t buy this last year has just been\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Following you? I tell everyone that they tend to do that\u2026if they\u2019re supposed to be with you they will follow you.<\/em><\/p>\n

This one did.<\/em><\/p>\n

You\u2019ve been here before then? <\/em><\/p>\n

Yeah, I was here with a friend of mine last year, this is probably my favourite place in the Caribbean.<\/em><\/p>\n

So I now finally own a butterfly, and it\u2019s the right one. I did try and replace it with other cheaper ones between then and now, I really did, but I just couldn\u2019t go through with it. It had<\/em> to be that one.<\/p>\n

That accomplished my mission for the day, so I let Kitkat take the lead in the rest of the day\u2019s wandering. And we really did just wander. I\u2019m really not the best with directions, so I let Kitkat take the lead for which way to wander. There\u2019s something to be said for just proceeding without a particular destination in mind, particularly when the air is heavy and humid and makes you not feel like moving particularly fast and there is plenty to catch your attention, like buildings the colour of ice cream toppings and markets seemingly around every corner.<\/p>\n

Despite hoping that its location would miraculously drop into my memory, I was fated not to come even close to locating the tiny bar that serves the best<\/em> cocktail in the world \u2013 I swear you can only find that place by stumbling on it and you are doomed never to remember its location. Who knows, maybe it actually moves<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Last time I was in San Juan my throat stung from the burn of Caribbean rum and my eyes were dazzled by more than just the shine of butterfly scales. This time it was a day of photography, markets and gourmet frozen yogurt.<\/p>\n

Doesn\u2019t matter, San Juan is my \u201cParis\u201d\u2026I\u2019ll always have it \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My soul is painted like the wings on butterflies fairy tales of yesterday that grow and never die I can fly my friend It\u2019s been a year since I last set foot in San Juan, and to be honest, I … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[77,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-east-coast-adventures-2014","category-ports-of-call"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3GtNE-U3","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3475"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3475\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3477,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3475\/revisions\/3477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}