The first time I visited Puerto Rico I didn't rent a car, & I cribbed w/ an aunt in Rio Grande de Loiza. I was about 30. She had moved back there because her 92 yr old man had dementia. I was researching for a baseball book.

Generally when she went on errands or to see friends I accompanied her, & we took all meals together. I didn't know my way around La Isla, & there was no Internet to check back then. Days ran differently than they do now. I don't think I went into San Juan. 2nd yr I stayed in a..

...guest house they call "parador"'s- in nearby Fajardo. I had a ride. Unlike the first vacation, I connected w/ some former balllplayers & big league scouts, whose names were in the phone book. Met some. Attended an American Legion All-Star Game. Hung out. Clubbed a little...

...I still didn't do San Juan because it's not my speed- & I'm not into tourists. Paradores were about $28 a night, I found mine in paperback travel guide in the US, there was no online search engine. Went to Luqullio Beach when my research work or interviews were complete...

...Took pics w/ a Polaroid. Met & befriended locals. Was a last minute guest on sports talk radio in Hato Rey (after that youth all-star game), about my upcoming book. Spoke Spanish on air. 2nd yr speaker. Drove as far as Toa Alta, Bayamon, roughly. Not much commerce on the...

...carreterra between say, Canovanas and Fajardo, sparse shopping, housing very spaced, occasional hotel, but never off the highway. Zero traffic once everyone got in from work. These vacations were in April's.

3rd year I again cribbed @ guest house Las Familias, morning meal part of package, lunch/dinner you're on your own. Rental ride. Met dir. of LatAmer scouting f/ the Mets (formerly of the Giants). He had attended h.s. w/ my aunt, so treated me as a nephew. Victor Pellot Power also

...treated me as fam. Facilitated a ton of introductions. He lived in Guaynabo. I spoke a lot of Spanish to them, though as scouts, their English was fine. My Spanish was learned via my kid brother's old textbooks and Spanish lit books, Telemundo, Univision, & radio. At home

By '92 I had a front desk gig in a bdg. w/ OAS/World Bank ofc's- where Spanish fluency was a requirement of the job. I'm the only Yank. Those visits to P.R. there was some TeleOnce, some Baloncesto Superior. Small clubs. Outdoor bars on Viernes Social. Lotta driving. No GPS

3rd yr I went, someone offered me an opp to move to Puerto Rico f/ free. Spot where I ate, near Luquillo Beach, owner was fr. Queens- older than I. He was considering rehabbing a former vid arcade outside Rosey Roads naval base, making it a topless bar. Only part of island...

...where it was legal. We had discussed other things- women, mob films. I usually chatted w/ him until he closed @ night. One day we drove out to peep a regatta near Roosevelt Roads, & he showed me the former arcade. I actually postponed my return flight from Sat. to Wed.

...His bartender was a service vet, around 24, & he had cribbed on that street that dead ends into Luquillo Beach, very close to the steak/shrimp restaurant his employer ran. The bartender had moved, so his crib was vacant- though the rent was paid. The steak place owner...

...said if we went into biz together w/ me as an investor in the renovated club near the base, I could have the crib, free. Told him I'd mull it over when I got back to the States. In those days, when I'd talk w/ him 'til close, or his bartender kid, or chat up his fine waitress

...there was on Internet to go back to my room & check, & none of us owned cellular phones. The Sat. we rode to the regatta, we conducted our day free of digital interruption. I may not have even called my answering machine in the U.S. I sent folk postcards. I did postcards...

...from the Vineyard, where I'd stay from July through Labor Day '92-'98, for most of those summers, sometimes sending four or five out at a time. But the state of mind driving on empty highway in P.R. listening to radio SalSoul Noventa Seis, hitting up small clubs, w/ zero...

...online or personal device interaction, armed w/ only the map provided by the car rental firm- hmmm. El Yunque. El Comandante racetrack. Driving to see Aunt. Meeting her sisters Josefina & Maria, & her bro. Pepe, w/ whom I once watched tv boxing. Rooting f/ "Mr. Frisky" on...

...Derby Day because the horse was fr. Puerto Rico. Interviewing Juan Pizarro @ his gig in Parque Central. Girl watching in Plaza Carolina. Eating out alone. Nearly empty Luquillo Beach. Driving past guaguas & publicos. Or folk awaiting them. I went back in '01- honeymoon

All along the drive from about a half hour-45 minutes before Fajardo fr. the airport, like fr. Canovanas on- where the sides of the highway had been vacant in '92? Malls, shopping, hotels. Even near tiny Rio Grande. The imagery was arresting...

...Another thing about '90-'92- the drive through the town of Loiza Aldea. The style of its homes & the complexion of its residents.

Every time I was on La Isla, it was impossible to drive through Isla Verde w/o thinking of Roberto Clemente's plane.