It turns out early yesterday morning a main city supply line burst at Plaza las Americas (a massive suburban mall) in Hato Rey. This prompted the city to shut off all water to the populous metro areas of Isla Verde, Condado, and Viejo San Juan. The city asserted: We're working on the issue but San Juan could be 48 hours without water.
With that report, I rose to a city of resilient Puerto Ricans, accustomed to these types of occurrences, heading out with the sunrise to prepare for a hot, water-less day. And of course, I did my best to join them in the preparations - because what other option did I have but to adapt!?
Interestingly, a blatant gap was revealed between business with continued use and those with no choice but to close. Large American chains like the Sheraton (my casino spot) & Starbucks remained open throughout the day (although the cafe's wc closed eventually) yet small local restaurants and hotels closed or diminished capacity. I'm uncertain if this schism is due to better preventative resources (cisterns galore) or a more powerful relationship with city suppliers.
Typically, a disproportionate expenditure of the city's resources can be seen with a quick trip to the suburbs. One day I trekked twenty minutes south to Guaynabo (for an interview) to find a shopping center with faltering power and blacked-out stores. Upbeat background music skipped in + out with the flickering lights. Although this sight was strange to my eyes, locals shopped in the darkened clothing stores, snacked on benches, restocked groceries & vended lotto tickets. It seemed like a typical day in Guaynabo.
Despite this apparent normality, I've never seen tourist-filled Old San Juan receive the same treatment.
the influx
When all of a sudden. I SAW IT.
I was freaking out. Certain - this will be the end of Old San Juan.
Now don't get me wrong. I love tourists. I probably am a tourist half of my life-experience. But there is a strange and potentially dangerous mental-shift that can occur when a person undergoes the 'tourist' identity change - where a vacation is not seen as a reward for (insert amount of time) of labor - it's a personal right. And in today's market, this right to leisure-time often translates into a mass-migration of people who feel entitled to eat everything, enjoy limitless hot-water, wifi, tv, + energy & explore a city without needing to wait in lines or see garbage or poverty or think about world issues like diminishing freshwater availability. Not always, but it's a definite possibility.
Believe me, my interviews with tourism-related business owners have repeatedly highlighted the struggle of dealing with the entitled mind. Perfectly amiable people can be transformed by their resolutely unrealistic expectations in tourist-mode. Heck, even tourists complain about tourists!
So with this anxious mind I anticipated the ship & thousands of passengers' fast-approach.
While my North-East raised mind (accustomed to unceasing resource access) assumed that 'no water' shuts down a city, I instead witnessed accepting people who creatively adapted to the changing possibilities. Some stores were certainly set back by the day's events. But overall, the city just kept on welcoming their expectant visitors. Indeed, throughout my time here, Puerto Rican's have proved to be very giving people.
In fact, the tourists surprised me too! For, although they could potentially suppress a town with unabashed self-indulgence, they are also so beautifully enraptured by the vibrancy of a never before-seen place, they remain blissfully ignorant of the infrastructure struggles. Despite restaurants & shop closures ... in fact, even with the largest attraction in town (the Federally-run San Juan Historic Park & El Morro) closed by government shutdown they're as thrilled with the blue-cobblestone alleys, street cats and pop-colored buildings as I am! It's quite beautiful. As the hot sun set last night, the streets were filled with gleeful visitors - enthralled with their six hour day at port in Viejo San Juan.