If you’re a Sesame Street kid of the late 70s or 80s, when I say the word “pigeon” you may immediately think of Bert doing his goofy pigeon dance and singing “Doin’ the Pigeon.” Or maybe just seeing a pigeon or two brings it to mind for you. It does for me, and I’ve never seen as many pigeons as I did on a recent family trip.
On our vacation, we got a chance to spend a day in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. It is a beautiful city, rich with history. We toured the old forts Castillo San Felipe del Morro and Castillo San Cristobal. I’ve never really studied the history of Puerto Rico and didn’t realize how old the settlements were. They date back to the 16th century and are almost as old as the settlements in St. Augustine! The island of Puerto Rico was, for many centuries, a sought-after stronghold between the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.
The climate is tropical, and it turned out to be a really hot day. So after checking out these sites, we were on a quest to find the home of the original piña colada. As we walked the old cobblestone streets, we happened across beautiful little parks and fountains, and each one had a little flock of pigeons hanging around it.
But then, as we came closer to our destination, there were suddenly more pigeons. Like, a lot more. And on a decorative old gate there was a sign that said, “Do not feed pigeons outside of this park.” It turned out that we had stumbled upon Parque de las Palomas or Park of the Pigeons! Holy moly. There were sooooo many pigeons. It was overwhelming at first (think Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds). At first, we just kind of waded through the birds. You sort of had to do the stingray shuffle with your feet to move though them. They’d “do the pigeon” as they hustled away from us. But then we realized that if we stooped down and held our arms out, they would start to come a little closer. We got brave and bought a few bags of food from the little stand they had in the park, and that’s when they really descended on us. Once they knew we had snacks, they wouldn’t leave us alone.
They actually weren’t aggressive at all, although they would land on any available perch – backpack, head, shoulders, arms, whatever was available. Sort of like chickens, they’d just peck the food out of your hand or flock to a spot if you scattered some on the ground.
If you are afraid of birds at all, this is definitely not the place for you! It was a unique and unexpected experience, and afterwards, we continued on, sampled some mofongo, and then cooled off with the original piña colada, which really hit the spot on a summer day!
Happy Independence Day! Often at this time of the year, I reference an LLO I wrote many years ago about a book called The Founding Gardeners. Many of our founding fathers loved plants and horticulture, and many decisions that formed America were made on garden walks. Check it out here: Founding Gardeners – Kerby’s Nursery We are open today until 5 pm, so if you want to spend some time on the 4th in the garden, get your shopping done today. We will be closed tomorrow for the holiday but then are right back at it and open for our normal hours Saturday and Sunday.
And Saturday at 9:30 am, we have our monthly Yoga in the Garden. Grab your tickets and your best patriotic outfit and come out to enjoy yoga in a lovely tropical setting. Then on Sunday this week, if you need a little more BBQ to get you through the long weekend, Daddy Pig’s will be here from 11 am to 3 pm, slinging their delicious smoked ribs, brisket, and more. And you can top it off with a little sweet treat from A Slice Above Cakes by Ashlee.
Have a safe and happy Independence Day holiday!
