Letter From Puerto Rico

One of my guilty pleasures when traveling is a trip to any near-my-hotel movie theater.

Often, I can finesse this as an effort to identify "local color" -- the quirky indie palace that Judy Blume built in Key West, the terrific museum-slash-screening-room in Miami.

It's a different story in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The Caribbean Cinema is just like AMC -- by another name. What I can say is that it's really nice to see a movie without the Nicole Kidman speech. Without the guy who drives a race-car. Without the booming voice and its nonsense declaration: "LIGHT is OUR HERO...."

I felt a little more virtuous when I visited the bookstore. There in San Juan, I picked up "Dear Dolly," a series of "agony aunt" letters that Dolly Alderton wrote for publication in her early thirties. Immediately afterward, I met a waitress with an abiding passion for Alderton's work. "I read her memoir last year....and I plan to read it again one decade from now. You think it's going to be about love..."

And I finished her sentence. "It's really about FRIENDSHIP."

Certainly, this was my all-time favorite waitress. Also, San Juan is beautiful, rich in history, etc. I hope to go back.

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