Friday, June 1, 2012

SANTURCE'S ALLEYWAYS I





I HAD been close by the end of Gilberto Monroig avenue, in Santurce some time ago. Savarona my original barrio has nothing like it.  Yesterday I saw and conquered...



Alleyways have always captivated yours truly. I have strolled by a few some in Boston and New York.  They are familiar in ancient cities of the world. I can not be precise as to why these spaces to walk, dividing, a frontier if I may, are so fascinating to my eye.

Maybe is the anarchic irregularity of their ways, shapes, forms as the cliche goes. The one of the video clip is one of the most interesting.  There are perhaps 40/50 between Borinquen avenue and Baldorioty de Castro, who knows? ?

Some alleyways are straight, curved, in angle but none have 3 ways to get in/out as this one. Not that I know of. The rarest of them all are a few not far from our residence with a trompe l'oleil character.


You see the entrance  getting the impression of an exit.  But some steps down the way you realize is a dead end.  Or the contrary, you walk down certain there is no exit and abruptly to left or right there is a 4' path to go through.


Most alleyways I have visited are south/north but plenty go east/west.
All are interesting.  In Santurce mostly poor people live nearby alleyways, the land  zone was water, a mangrove 80 years ago.

It was landfill with anything available, palms, coconuts, debris, you name it.  Poor people from the country side looking for their better future, a job in the city.

Those are essentially the origins of the neighborhood still populated by USA rican islanders, but too many  pockets have been occupied by invasive islanders of the west. A real pity and irritating situation, noticeable during my strolls when I hear that peculiar hillbilly way of speech and loud music.


I believe alleyways have a possibility to become attractive to tourism for people in good physical shape. Those who enjoy the walking as I do, with the bonus of an oasis in the middle of nowhere, with our own people,  two hundred meters from our finisterre, the lands end of Gilberto Monroig avenue.




that is that














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