Going Postal in Puerto Rico

Quarantine was over in a flash, and before we knew it we could set foot on the beautiful land that we had been gazing at for days. We were surprised to discover that the land around Salinas is flat, despite the picturesque mountains in the distance.

Although we are at anchor, we were happy to learn that the Marina de Salinas is very welcoming to cruisers, offering warm smiles and providing many services. For a small fee of 39 USD a month we have access to their well maintained and secure dinghy dock, marina WiFi (unfortunately it doesn’t reach us in the outer anchorage, but we can use it when we go ashore), bathrooms and showers, wheelbarrows at the dock for those big provisioning trips, access to tap water, and use of their mailing address for any post or deliveries (Amazon delivers here!). Not a bad deal, as far as we’re concerned.

The marina staff always greets us with a smile and enthusiastic “Buenos dias,” and they have helped us feel right at home. We are still slightly chuckling over the fact that the name of our old home base marina in Spain was Marina Salinas. Coincidence? Maybe someone is trying to tell us something…

Most of our adventures so far have been in the local area of Salinas, with a trip to Ponce and a couple of trips to Guayama for VA appointments and errands. There is no public transportation available here, so we rent a car on the days needed for 40 USD a day. It is very convenient—Sidney is the man to contact when you want a rental car around here. He drops off the car at the marina in the morning and picks it up the following morning. Easiest rental car process we’ve ever encountered.

Because it is much cooler here, we have been going on frequent walks around the area. One of our longer walks was to the Post Office and beyond. Yes, the Post Office. Not just any Post Office—the United States Post Office. We were on a mission, but that didn’t keep us from stopping to take photos along the way.

We walked through the marina and down the streets of Salinas, observing as we always do the restaurants, houses, and the water views. Although it suddenly appeared as if we were walking in a more rural area, there was still a nice sidewalk. Picnic areas were on our left, and a field of horses on our right.

After a while, we found ourselves in front of the Post Office. It had been a while since either of us had been to a US Post Office, and we were happy to find this particular one efficient and the people very friendly. However, every single Puerto Rican we have met so far is friendly!

The wait wasn’t long in the Post Office and once we were free we decided to continue walking rather than turn back. Eventually, we found ourselves standing in the town square of Salinas. It is a nice square and reminded us of some of the squares in Spain, with intriguing statues, benches and banyan trees. Locals were hanging out and chatting, a few shops were opening up.

We walked a little further and found the old Mercado building. It was not open, but from what we could see through the gate, it appeared that the building is now used for small shops and/or eateries rather than a produce market.

At this point, we could turn around and go back to the marina the way we came, but we already knew what was down that way. So we continued on, deciding we would make a large circle taking us back to the marina.

We walked through residential areas, a stadium with beautiful paintings on the outside walls, and finally we found ourselves in an area that was very familiar to us. We could see the Econo supermercado (supermarket) where we had already made several provisioning trips.

Before long, we were at Marina de Salinas, and back onboard Soltara where we enjoyed a couple of cold Radebergers.

Yes! We have found German beer here in Salinas! And not just any German beer, but the beer that was made just down the road from our home in Dresden, Germany! Anyone who knows L.J. knows just how happy this made him. 😊

Watching the sunset from our cockpit with cold Radebergers was the end to a great day!

I hope you enjoyed our little exploration around Salinas, all prompted by our archaic need to go to the Post Office.