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Fifty-One Years Behind the Same Counter

February 19, 2012
andyatmallorca
When the gentleman at the left was a lad of 15, he drank coffee here at La Mallorca in Old San Juan, and the coffee was served then by the gentleman on the right, Andrés (or "Andy"). Now the gentleman on the left is in his fifties, and he still receives his morning coffee at La Mallorca from Andy. Andy has stood his station at the near curve of the long counter at this cafe for 51 years. He is 80. He works with a quiet grace and economy of movement, now wiping the counter, now sliding a salt shaker to its proper place, now writing a customer's check longhand on one of those pads with the light green paper. Tomorrow morning, I'll order another cafe con leche from Andy. What a pleasure!

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Old San Juan: Day 8

February 17, 2012
Old San Juan (map) has something of the scale of downtown Athens GA. You can walk everywhere. The area’s southern border (Broad Street, if you like) is a sheltered bay. Cruise ships dock here very often. As you move north, block by block, you walk generally uphill. In places the grade is quite steep. Soon you reach the area’s northern limits -- overlooks along the old Spanish wall, offering spectacular views of the Atlantic Ocean. To your left is El Morro, the Spanish fortification guarding the entrance to the bay. To your right is San Cristobal, a later-constructed fortification guarding the area’s eastern approaches against the landing of armies. The area’s east-west axis generally varies much less in elevation than does the north-south axis, making the walking easier. I’ve uploaded an ever-growing gallery of my Old San Juan images to my SmugMug site.

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