La Rogativa. January 1982
May 2010
May 2010
In My Old San Juan - Noel Estrada
(Trans.)
In my old San Juan how many dreams I forge in my childhood nights!
My first dream and my troubles of love are memories of the soul.
One afternoon I left towards a foreign nation, as fate would have it,
but my heart remained facing the sea in my old San Juan
Goodbye (goodbye, goodbye) dear Borinquen (land of my love).
Goodbye (goodbye, goodbye) my sea goddess (my palm queen),
I'm leaving (I'm leaving) but one day I'll return to find of my love,
to dream again, in my old San Juan.
But time passed by and destiny mocked my terrible nostalgia,
and I couldn't return to the San Juan that I loved, little piece of my land.
My hair whitened and my life fades away and death calls for me,
and don't want to die away from you Puerto Rico of the soul. Goodbye (goodbye, goodbye) dear Borinquen (land of my love). Goodbye (goodbye, goodbye) my sea goddess (my palm queen), I'm leaving (I'm leaving) but one day I'll return to find of my love, to dream again, in my old San Juan.
The song is one of longing for Puerto Ricans who immigrated to the mainland USA and miss their homeland.
1521
That is old for a colonial settlement. The only older city is over on Hispaniola in the now Dominican Republic. People go on about Saint Augustine, Florida's founding, but it is left in the dust by Old San Juan both in age and architecture. On my first trip to Puerto Rico back in 1981 I was astounded by Old San Juan. Later in life I walked the streets of old city centers in Spain and they brought me back to Puerto Rico immediately. On my last visit as part of a cruise, I nervously awaited greeting the city again after 30 years. Old San Juan was just as charming as ever. Those blue cobblestoned streets from Spain, the ballast from galleons that would replace cobblestone with gold and plunder for Spain, were still there. The buildings had been well kept. At anything, Old San Juan might have even been better than I remembered.
Traveling to Puerto Rico and especially seeing Old San Juan in my late teens confirmed that there was a lot more to the world that I did not know about and I desperately wanted to learn. I loved the mountains and beaches of Puerto Rico (and the food was incredible); however, those old buildings from another country and a forgotten age helped fan a growing desire in me to know more about destinations beyond the Northeast of the USA. The singer laments leaving Puerto Rico in the song, and I wondered walking the streets of Viejo San Juan why any Puerto Rican would want to go live in a big city in America? Of course, life was more complex than wandering blue cobblestoned streets among 16th and 17th century houses as a tourist - but it was just so beautiful.
I convinced some people from the cruise to get lunch in San Juan (kind of dumb considering all the food on the boat is included in the price), and we found a typical restaurant and sampled some hearty Puerto Rican fare. It might not have been healthy, but it sure was tasty! For me though, Viejo San Juan was much more than food - that could be gotten anywhere on the island. Old San Juan was dripping in history.
My favorite story from the old city was La Rogativa:
La Rogativa is a famous bronze statue located in the Plazuela de la Rogativa on Caleta de las Monjas near La Puerta de San Juan. Rogativa is a Spanish word derived from the verb “rogar” meaning to plea or to supplicate. A Rogativa is a large procession of people making a plea to God for help.
British troups, led by Sir Abercrombie, took control of the city by naval blockade on April 30, 1797. The desperate governor of San Juan ordered a “rogativa.” The women, led by the bishop, marched through the streets that night. They started at the Cathedral. They sang hymns, carried torches and bells, and prayed for their city’s deliverance. The British mistook the sights and sounds as evidence of the arrival of reinforcements. Considering themselves to be outnumbered, Abercrombie’s fleet abandoned the city promptly.
What a story! One of my favorites and I found played out again in different form worldwide. "Local people make a religious pilgrimage as an invading force approaches only to be mistaken for a military force". Not an urban legend, but a historical repetition. Strange.
Old San Juan will always be my first taste of "another country" and, like Penang, Malaysia, a place fondly remembered for setting my life on yet another trajectory.
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