Plaza Las Américas
The refrigerator we got with the house was disgusting. The previous owner had slathered on white paint in a desperate attempt to disguise its nastiness. But I think the paint just made a better home for mildew to grow on. So when we were talking about a shopping trip to the main island, a new fridge topped the list.
Most people (or at least most gringos) on Vieques seem to buy their appliances at Sears. The local mueblería has a very limited selection and Sears delivers to Vieques for only $10 additional. We could have gone to the Sears in Fajardo, but we decided to make the pilgrimage to the Caribbean’s cathedral of consumerism: Plaza Las Américas.
We almost aborted the trip because of a whopper thunder storm at 5:00 am, but it had stopped by the time we made it to the ferry dock. In Fajardo, I managed our luggage while Chris ran ahead to be first in line at the rental car agency, which saved us about 45 minutes over our last trip, and we made it over to the other side of San Juan and Plaza Las Américas with no problem.
It really is quite a nice mall and is large without being totally overwhelming. Sears and many of the cheaper stores are at one end, the world’s largest JC Penney in the middle, and Macy’s and the high-end stores at the other end. I was a bit surprised to see the likes of Brooks Brothers, Hugo Boss, Coach, and Tiffany.
This was Chris’ first trip to the mall, but I’ve been there a couple times before. The parking lot is always packed and there’s always something going on. When we were there they seemed to be doing a live broadcast of a local TV talk show. Later there was some guy doing a stand-up act dressed like an old woman.
There are lots of kiosks and promotional areas set up throughout the mall. I was pleased to see that a couple of them were selling solar water heaters and PV panels for electricity. It seems to be catching on here, which only makes sense given the abundance of sun coupled with rising fuel prices.
So the folks at Sears were very friendly and helpful. We ended up buying both the new fridge and a new stove too. (I think our current one was never converted properly for propane. It’s a serious challenge to get a pot of water to boil.) This was Friday, so we were very pleasantly surprised to hear them say they’d deliver them on Monday. (We later found out that they ONLY deliver to Vieques on Mondays.)
And our shiny new fridge did arrive this morning at 7:30. It looks great! The stove, however, didn’t make it. Apparently the guy who’s certified to hook up the gas hasn’t been showing up for work. Well, I guess there’s always next Monday.
