Puerto Rican street maintenance

I try to resist the urge to join in on the recreational griping that "ex-pat" mainland Americans seem to indulge in. After all, the things that most mainlanders like to complain about are the things that make Puerto Rico different from the mainland. That's the point isn't it?

However, you've gotta see this to believe it...

The first week that I was here, I was walking late one evening back to my hotel. I was on the sidewalk, but there was very little light. As I was walking along, minding my own business, my heart skipped a beat as I narrowly missed stepping in a pothole. At first (because of the low light) I thought to myself, "Self, you could have stepped into that hole and twisted your ankle." Here's a view of the pothole from a few paces away:

It was too dark to see the bottom of this pothole. So, I took a picture using the flash so that I could see how deep the hole actually was. I couldn't believe my eyes. What at first appeared to be a little pothole, turned out to be the ambitious (but poorly marked) start of the San Juan, PR to Bejing, China Tunnel Project - forecast to be completed in 3022.


Seriously, if my stride were any less manly and purposeful than it is - I would have found myself chest-high in a huge, unmarked hole in the middle of an Old San Juan sidewalk. This is the kind of hole that I dreamed of digging in my backyard as a ten-year-old to capture the Sasquatch! Which made me wonder if maybe there weren't some local teenagers hiding in the bushes waiting to "help" a hapless tourist like yours truly that was less lucky than yours truly. Nah...

The Puerto Rican pace is, well... relaxed. As evidence, I cite the picture below. A construction crew consisting of three men is replacing an intersection in Old San Juan. The additional 17 individuals pictured (+ another 10-12 out of frame) are part of the essential Moral Support Team. Plus, the Moral Support Team Captain (seated on curb and talking on cell phone) is busy calling MST HQ for reinforcements.