ISLA de ENCANTA by Sunny Frazier

Sunny is my once a month guest--today her post is about Puerto Rico.

Poor Puerto Rico. Just five years after weathering hurricane Maria, here comes Fiona.

This month honors Hispanic Heritage. That’s why I want to talk specifically about Puerto Rico and the time I spent there in the 1970’s.

I joined the Navy in 1972. My first duty station was Newport, R.I. I got there in early spring. It was incredibly beautiful. The “Summer Cottages” of the Gilded Age, the cobblestone streets, the big sailing ships—I wrote my parents it was like Disneyland without an entrance fee.

I rented an attic apartment above a quahog shop (that’s a clam). From my back landing I could see the church Jackie and John Kennedy got married in. From my front window I could see the sailing ships. My friends and I ate baked stuffed lobster at the Black Pearl and then went for drinks at Fiddler’s Green and listened to sea chanties. All this on a seaman’s salary!

Then it snowed.

I’m a Central Valley girl. I don’t do snow. The stuff was pretty for a day before it turned into gray, ugly slush. One morning I woke up and the radio DJ announced “It’s a beautiful 9 degrees out!” I started crying and couldn’t stop.

When the opportunity arose, I transferred to Roosevelt Roads,  Puerto Rico, a USA territory. I didn’t know anything about the country except I was pretty sure it didn’t snow. On New Year’s Day my friend and I sunbathed on Playa Azul (Blue Beach).

It was a tough base, 8,650 acres, the largest base landwise in the Navy. The mosquitos were out for blood. The land crabs, large as dinner plates, snapped at our ankles as we waited for the bus. The coqui (pronounced Ko-Kee) are frogs the symbol of the island, the size of a thumbnail with a deafening croak. The jungle came alive with them at night making it hard to sleep. When I got back to the states, nighttime seemed too quiet.      

We were isolated, no TV or newspapers. We’d wait for newcomers to get news and see the latest styles. One day a newbie said we had a new president. Nixon was gone and our Commander in Chief was Gerald Ford. Now, you’d think someone would have let told us, right? Nice to know who you’re working for!

I loved going off base to San Juan. There were free rum drinks at the Don Q rum hospitality house. The best empanadas were at a bakery in Parque de las Palomas (Pigeon Park). In Old San Juan, I strolled El Moro fortress. The mansion where Ponce de Leon was the first governor is still there. So are blue cobblestones, bricks covered with iron from melted down cannonballs.

Much of this came back to me when I chanced across a book in the library: “The Time It Snowed in Puerto Rico” by Sarah McCoy. The slender novel caught my eye since I’d left New England because it NEVER snows on the island. But there are hurricanes and right now Fiona is devasting the land and the people. Part of my heart is still there and so are my prayers.  

--Sunny Frazier