Hello and Welcome Back to Circles In Space for Five Bullet Friday, where each Friday I share interesting stuff collected during the week.
If you’re new to Circles In Space, I wrote a bit about myself and this newsletter.
Good morning and happy Friday! Today we are celebrating our ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY! Thanks to everyone who has clicked, read, commented, shared, liked and subscribed. I want to write and share more here on Substack so I’ve got a few new things planned coming up. This week, though, we are celebrating with a special Puerto Rico edition.
Last week I took some much needed time off and traveled to San Juan, Puerto Rico. This was my first trip to the United States commonwealth in the Caribbean and I’m already looking forward to my next trip back to visit more of the island. I especially enjoyed the island’s history and beautiful natural environment. Today’s bullets cover some things learned, places visited, books read, and movies watched while traveling. Maybe this will inspire you to book a trip somewhere soon.
THIS WEEK’S TOPICS:
Puerto Rico, meaning ‘rich port’ in Spanish. San Juan was Spain’s first stop in the Caribbean after catching westerly winds which propelled their ships across the Atlantic. Here’s a few facts about the history and landmarks of Puerto Rico:
The Taíno indigenous people called the island Borikén prior to Christopher Columbus’s arrival in 1493 who renamed the island San Juan Bautista. A monument in Plaza de Colón bears homage to the infamous colonizer.
When the Spanish settled Old San Juan in 1521, they built Catedral de San Juan Bautista, the oldest church on U.S. soil and the second oldest in the Western Hemisphere. The church also houses the tomb of Juan Ponce de León the island’s first Spanish governor who later died in Cuba.
The Spanish built several forts to protect Old San Juan’s port including La Fortelaza (built 1533) and Castillo San Felipe del Morro, or El Morro, (built 1539). Today, El Morro’s battlements showcases 500 years of both Spanish and United States history. After the Spanish American-War, Spain ceded control of Puerto Rico to the United States who later updated El Morro for use during World Wars I and II.
If you’re visiting Puerto Rico, there’s tons of trips to take you beyond the beach resort experience, including an island hopping adventure to Culebra or a hike through the El Yunque rainforest. Also be sure to check out one of the island’s three bioluminescent bays. I had the incredible opportunity to do a night kayak tour through a mangrove-lined canal to Laguna Grande, home to tiny plankton which glow blue when you move your hand or oar through the water.
During the 1950’s business boom in Puerto Rico, a young 22 year-old journalist moved to San Juan and began working on his first novel. A few years later, he put the novel aside to focus on writing about the Hell’s Angels and the novel sat unpublished until 1998. Hunter S. Thompson’s The Rum Diary details the alcohol-fueled misadventures of reporter Paul Kemp, the Thompson-esque protagonist, and his ‘vagrant journalist’ cohorts at the San Juan Daily News. The novel evokes the spirit of Fitzgerald and Hemingway but unmistakably retains Thompson’s singular voice.
I rarely spend the time at home to sit down and watch a movie from start to finish, but when I’m on a plane with nowhere to go, I can really get engrossed in a film. Here’s a few movies I checked out last week:
In Can You Ever Forgive Me? Melissa McCarthy plays struggling writer and alcoholic Lee Israel who turned to forging letters written by dead celebrities to pay her bills. The film is based on Israel’s 2008 book. (Note: typewriter enthusiasts will love this film.)
Steven Speilberg’s The Fabelmans is a semi-biographical story detailing the childhood and teenage years of aspiring filmmaker Sammy Fabelman. This is a classic Speilberg film and features an excellent cast.
After rewatching Nope, I had to check out Jordan Peele’s first movie Get Out. Peele is a master storyteller who tackles racial and social constructs in this suspenseful thriller about what happens when a black man meets his white girlfriend’s family.
Traveling to a different location and experiencing a new culture leads to a greater appreciation and understanding of the music from that location. Lately, I’ve been hooked on Salsa, Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Cuban, Latin Jazz and much more. Check out New York-based Los Hacheros who pay homage to the golden age of latin music, incorporating salsa, charanga and bomba rhythms.
Got something to share?
That’s all for this week!
As always, thanks for reading and have a great weekend.
Until next time,
KW