The 164th Episode : San Juan, Puerto Rico

A view of Port of Spain similar to that of San Juan (from the hotel)

[September, 1999　San Juan, Puerto Rico]

     Forgetting the flood of my room at the hotel, I would fly to Dallas, Texas via San Juan, Puerto Rico, American territory this day.  I would stay for one night at Dallas and take a flight to Kansai International Airport next day.

     Puerto Rico, it’s the home country of Ricky Martin who sang the theme song of the FIFA World Cup France 1998 called “The Cup of Life” one year before.  And “Living la Vida Loca” was worldwide hit in this year, 1999.

     This country/island is a volcano island only in 3,513 square miles (9,100 square km) located in the north east of the Caribbean Ocean.  The equipment was small from Port of Spain to San Juan.  San Juan airport was very close to the sea, where tranquil rural landscape was in my sight.  Mountains, especially that reminds me of volcano, were not in the view.  It’s said the island has a 3,280 feet (1,000 metres) mountain range but it seemed to be a little far from the airport.

     As I entered the American territory, the immigration procedure was taken here.  The flight to Dallas is actually treated as a domestic line, but still 2,500 miles away, that is almost from Osaka to Vietnam.