Adventures in people-watching or 30 people you will encouter on a doomed trip to San Juan

I was meant to be somewhere yesterday, and I was, on time, and it happened that the people that I was suposed to meet didn't show up. Well, it was not arranged, it was more like a public meeting, and I thought I would find people that I knew there, but I didn't.But, I saw so many interesting people on my way to the above-mentioned "place". People watching is such an interesting sport... You have to be very careful that the person doesn't realize that you are watching him/her. Here is the list of interesting people.

1. A police guy at the train station: why do policemen have such tight pants? This guy looked like a girl.

2. A man with a bicycle in the train: he didn't have anything interesting, he just had the bicycle in the train, that is not uncommon (it is almost encouraged) but it was the first time I see someone with a bicycle in the train.

3. A goth girl: I sat next to her on the bus, she had tight black long pants with like gothic prints/desings (also black, so it was very tasteful), she had a kind of net on her shoulders and on one arm, and her makeup was, of course, dark on the eyes, white (but not too white) on the face, but the weirdest thing was that she had one of those old fans (like the ones the Chinese use...) the fan had a Paris landscape on it. Very interesting.

4. Two drunk men on the bus: not too far back on the bus, there were two drunk men, you KNEW because one of the was loud, and the other was holding a bottle, with some liquid, wrapped in a brown paper bag.

5. A dominican lady: A very thin and tanned lady got on the bus with a huuuugeamongous bag (it was from a store, don't remember), she sat in front of the drunk men. It happens that the drunk men were talking about countries, and when they mentioned Dominican Republic the lady got upset and went on argueing with them. It got so loud in the bus... God!

6. The bus driver: he finally stopped the bus and got off of his seat, and I thought, oh he's coming, but he didn't, he got off the bus. By the way, the bus driver was an intersting person too: he was not short, but his head was very close to his shoulders, as if he didn't have enough neck... or maybe I was seeing things.... So then, the bus driver comes back into the bus and points to the two men.

7. A chubby policeman: again, they have such tight pants... it hurts me. This guy was also interesting, he was almost like a twin of the bus driver, only younger. He slumped over to the drunk men and kindly asked them to get off. The drunk men didn't even notice the cop until he was actually in front of them, as soon as they saw they shut up. But they had to get off. As they got off the quiet drunk man (he was bald with white hair on the sides) fell on the ground, and the other helped him, as did the cop.

8. A nice looking spanish-like lady, she had a white stripe of hair on her hair (her her her her) which was brown. She had two bags.

9. Two old ladies, they stood up from the bus station as quickly as they could, meaning slowly. Then, on of them had trouble getting on the bus, so the bus driver knelt the bus for her. The spanish-looking lady, put one of her bags on her shoulder and went to help her up. And then, when they were leaving the bus, the one lady couldn't get up from the seat, so the spanish lady helped her up and out of the bus. That spanish lady was so nice. I would've done the same, granted that I was sitting where she was.

10. A fat guy, oh my god, he wasn't that fat, he really wasn't, he was average fat, I don't know, I'm sure he uses extra-large shirts...OK... anyway, he stank. Of sweat. I'm sure the goth girl beside me could smell him too.

11. One of many bums: he ran side by side of the bus when the bus was crammed in traffic.

12. A beautiful girl in Starbucks: I went inside Starbucks and was looking at the sweet things they have there (sweet! as in Suite!!! Internal Joke, nevermind). So I ask her for the cheesecake and she goes: "Oh", and it was a pleasurable "Oh" too, "si te gusta el cheesecake, ese te va a jukear (hookear)" ("Oh, if you like cheesecake, that one will hook you forever"), and in my mind I was, oh my God, if you could be more beautiful I would die, and said: "de verdad?, ah pues vamos a ver" ("really?, well we'll see"). Then, I was eating the cake (with a frappucino, which is nothing else but a raspberrie Icee/slushy, overpriced as you know), she came about and asked if it was good. And I was like: "oh yeah". Hmm, I think I might come back to that Starbucks...

13. Two boys playing background music at the lounge/bar/restaurant that I went to meet the people: they were your typical troubadours, or your typical artirts, one of them had a marked beard, not long, just uneven, unkempt, but not in a nasty matter, he still looked pleasant, I don't know how to explain it. Like a groomed hippie? The other was more like normal people, but he was playing a keyboard that he had to blow on a nozzle to make the keys sound, it was a very weird instrument, it sounded like an accordeon; the other was playing a guitar; they were good.

14. A little girl: not older than 4 or 5, she was so cute, she was jumping on the couch of the restaurant. She had blond-white hair and she was so small and interesting to look at.

So, I got tired of the lounge/bar/restaurant and took a walk in Old San Juan.

15. A not-so-old lady bum, on crutches, blond, asked to me for change in English... Do I look like I know English? I didn't say that, I just kept on walking. I really can't help every bum I find. Even less so when there are so many in San Juan.

16. Ooh! a guy with SO many tatoos in Wendy's: it was impossible not to look at his arms and legs, he had a black dot at the poing of his right elbow... interesting.

I walked back to the lounge/bar/restaurant, not without noticing that there was an Aquarium next to Wendy's in San Juan, how weird, I never knew that... I shall go back. So, since there was nobody that I could recognize in the bar place, I left.

17. Three lady tourists: the bar is in front of a Plaza (Plaza Colón it is called), the three ladies were taking pictures in front of the statue. It's weird because I've never thought of taking a picture with it, altho I have thought of taking pictures of statues in other places... hmm.

18. The bum-lady on crutches again: I saw her again when I was walking down the street near the Starbucks, and then I asked my self why was she on crutches, and when I looked at her one foot, the ankle was black and the flesh was open... *shivers* and she had a bandage but it didn't do much... And I asked myself how a lady, non native, late twentyish or thirtyish, ended up like that...

19. A dancing bum, this one was cheery. He had craggily, dirty hair, a red shirt, and as always, every bum carries a bag, so he carried one. He was dancing on the sidewalk to the oncoming cars... some cars even waved to him...

20. An old lady at the bus stop, She was old. White, big, bushy hair; a loooong and ample gown, (it looked like a sleeping gown to me, then again, old ladies use these all the time). Very thin, very white (new maybe?) tennis shoes... I noticed her because she threw a napkin to the sidewalk. And then, with her cane she pushed it away from her, as away as the cane got it. 30 seconds later she stands up, walks up and kicks the napkin off from the sidewalk onto the street. And then she sits back down...

21. Another bus driver: at first he seemed very nice, he even stopped for some people that were not on the bus stop. But then, one of the persons didn't pay the quarter, and:

22. It was another drunk man. The man didn't understand what the bus driver was saying so he just stood there, asking "¿qué?"

23. A dominican, 40-something, guy came about, he was with him, and he tried to give the driver the quarter but he couldn't find any... (this guy was intersting because he talked in a funny way, that I cannot describe... like if everything was a joke to him... like if he were a clown, the same goes for his clothes, he's shirt was white striped and tight, his pants were broken on the bottom and on the knees, and he had a visor...

24. An old man wearing big sunglasses at night. So then, since they didn't have a quarter, this weird looking old guy w/sunglasses gave them a quarter, saying the drunk guy was his friend. He had a balding head and his hair looked dirty too, (so many dirty people yesterday...), his face was so tanned, and then he had sunglasses, and it was already dark, so he looked over the glasses at everything. "Thank you", said the dominican guy, for the quarter. While the drunk man tried to shake the hand of the bus driver who just dismissed him. The dominican guy pulled him towards a seat in the back saying: "I don't want you to get bruised" in a very dominican funny way... Then the drunk man shook the hand of the old man with the sunglasses.

25. A young guy who was lost. He asked for another bus that would never go to the bus stop that he was standing on, so the bus driver let him in, and said to him that he had to take another bus at another stop... But the bus driver was very nice... altho the young guy had to pay the quarter. The young guy was also interesting, he had a tatoo of a green, weird looking star with a circle on his ankle, his hair was poking like the crown of the Statue of Liberty, he had sunglasses clinging on his temples down under his chin, and a portable CD player, he was going to the university...

26. A lady sitting in front, talking to the busdriver, the only thing interesting about her was that she was talking to him as if he was a cousin or something... which was weird to me... and she also had a big wart on the side of her upper lip.

27. A girl with her nasty belly protruding from her shirt, she must have been like 17. One of those unkempt people. Her bellybutton was humongous, I think even bottomless. There are unkempt, dirty people, but you can see it is because they either worked, or they are old, or they are bums. She was just dirty by nature. Of all the dirty people, she was the one that repulsed me the most.

28. A very ugly, dirty man. Not even him seemed as dirty as she did. He got on the bus and said: "good evening" to the bus driver. He was wearing work jeans, and his blond hair was dirty and oily, his thin face was caved in, like he didn't have cheeks, the underpart of his fingernails were black. And he was missing a lot! of teeth. (maybe that's why he didn't have cheeks, duh!).

29. A stoned guy, he too said: "good evening" to the bus driver, and even knocked on his fist (as a salutation...), he said that the bus driver was a gentleman. And then when he walked by me, I saw that he was wearing on his ankle, under his sock a "prison bracelet" (I don't remember how they are called, but when prisoners are left free before they're time is due, the prison personel put those on them so they can keep track of them).

30. And of course, ME. A guy wearing a yellow Snoopy shirt, thinking that police pants are too tight and painful to look at, because there is security on every train station... Also thinking that the day trip wasn't doomed after all. He sits at the window of the train, with his hands and arms over and on the side of his head so that he can see through of the glass at the darkness and at the beautiful lights of his city.