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Step One: Fly to San Juan. Thanks to the efficiency of the hub and spoke system used by so many of today's airlines, I was routed from Memphis to San Juan via Pittsburgh. This made for an early departure from Memphis and an arrival in SJU around late afternoon.
Step Two: Drive from San Juan to Aguadilla, where the airport is called Borinquen, or BQN. In my pre-departure briefing, Tom told me to drive defensively, since the traffic norms are a bit different down there. This was good advice, and I was well prepared for the oddities, like motorcycles driving continuously on the dashes that separate lanes, etc. What I wasn't quite as prepared for was how much rain there would be. The distance on mainland US interstate highways would have taken about an hour, but due to the nature of the roads, and a near continuous moderate rain, it took closer to the expected three hours. Most of the distance was on 22 Oeste (west), which was a divided four lane road of good quality.
After getting checked in to the hotel, I went right to bed for an early morning. On the first day, I woke up about 4:00 to make it to the airport on time. After a cold shower, since the hot water was not working, and the 24-hour reception was not in receive mode, I was on my way. The first day was basically overcast all day, which made for poor pictures, but it kept the temperature down a little bit.
For the sake of the pictures, skip ahead a little while to the second day. As soon as we were clear of all of the arrival routine and on our way to the hotel, I sat back and snapped pictures along the way. These are the sights along a divided two-lane road between Las Americas and our layover resort. This was the closest that I've ever been to a third-world economy. Mike tells me that a realistic salary there is about $100 per month. For a highly skilled manager, that might be $400. As you can see, the perceptions about the quality of life are much different from back in the US, even in the poorest regions.
Here are some pictures for where we stayed during the day. On every day other than the first, we were here a total of about 5 hours. That made just enough time for lunch, a little sailing, a little nap, and then a trip back to the airport. The last picture is from inside of the restaurant. Did I mention that the food was included? It sure was good stuff too... have you ever had cantaloupe juice? What about banana juice? How do they make juice out of a banana? I haven't any idea, but I guess as long as they knew how, that is all that matters. I also had orange, mango, tamarino, watermelon, lemon, etc. The grilled fish was also fantastic, as were the many other selections of fine cuisine.
Here are a few pictures back at the airport. The sun was especially bright, which made for great pictures. There are a few pictures of a Russian airplane there. I don't remember the designation, but it was very similar to ours when it comes to the configuration. It was a little bit heavier, and immensely more complex inside. They fly with either four or five in the crew.
Here's a quick rainbow. Did I mention how wet it is in the Caribbean? Well, it is really wet. Lots of rain showers, lots of thunderstorms, lots of humidity. But that is what makes for the good pictures!
Here is the building for the cargo agent that we used, both from afar and up-close. The little van was our transport to and from the ramp. The other pictures are just of the ramp operations, since they are quite a bit different.
The hotel in Puerto Rico was probably the worst hotel that I've been in since I've been traveling. The hot water was definitely intermittent, leading to two days with none at all. The laundry was expensive, and free internet access or continental breakfast? Don't press your luck. It wasn't too bad though; at least the water was potable. It is amazing the things we take for granted in the US that the DR doesn't have, such as a sanitary water system.
The drive to the airport in my little grey rental car was a short one. It used to be a US military base, so it has that grand feel of extra pavement and big buildings. From what I hear the base was closed in the mid 1970s, which looks about right considering the condition of the property.
June 29th sure was a good day to take a few pictures. The clouds were just right, and the sun was bright. This is from the FedEx ramp.
For the benefit of those who are interested, here are some pictures of 713's features. The heavy floor, rough field gear and cockpit are all different.
And now for the flying part. These are en-route on different days. It was amazing to me how similar things looked from day to day.
The daytime clouds were bright, but the sunset made for some nice colors.
Feel free to save and distribute these as you would like; just don't sell them, and don't tell someone else that you took them (unless you did, and in that case you know who you are).
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| This page last modified 03/27/09 | |||||