1- Medical Emergencies: On San Francisco street, in front of the Plaza de Armas you will find two drugstores stocked with every essential item for minor scrapes, bruises, as well as emergency medicine runs. One o them is a major chain store, while the other is a local pharmacy. If I would recommend one I would say to go to the local one, (more inexpensive), but if you have your prescriptions on the more famous one, that’s the one you will need.

2- Security emergencies: For all the police related problems that happen in Old San Juan, you will need to head to the Puerta de Tierra Police Headquarters. If you’re in a car accident, lose your possessions, or are accosted, this is the place you need to go to make an official complaint. Old San Juan is always crawling with police officers so if something were to go down, you will usually find one near to your location. The Headquartes is located on Fernandez Juncos Avenue in Puerta de Tierra, near the fire department and the McDonalds.

3-Transportation emergencies: Nobody is going to get mad at you if you miss your bus back to your hotel because you were too busy finding the perfect souvenir. (Well maybe your wife/husband.) So for those: “I have to get out of here quick”- emergencies, you need to head to the corner of Tetuan street and Fortaleza street. There you will find a brigade of Taxi’s ready to take you wherever your lodging might be. These cabbies can be found round the clock, into the late hours of the night looking for fares. I would recommend care in selecting the taxi, they can be very competitive with each other and they are not afraid to fight for a fare! Don’t let this scare you, it just means that you will always be able to find the ride you need….or let go in the first place. Cabs painted white are part of the Tourist taxi program and have set fares for most routes, check ‘em out here on their website http://www.cabspr.com

As always be sure to practice safety at all hours! Old San Juan might not be as big as New York City but the same rules of security apply: mind the traffic, be courteous, don’t walk alone late at night, and if you have doubts as to your current surroundings go into a business and ask.

Know any other places where you can find help on the OSJ? Sound off in the comments below!

Many artists from all over the Island come to Old San Juan to capture the scenery for their personal collections, looking to demonstrate a new angle on famous structures and to find overlooked spots to shine some artistic light in. When you combine this with the huge number of tourists that visit the city every day you get the reason why OSJ’s vistas are famous around the world.

Here are some artistic expressions from Old San Juan.

The Portal by Toxic Lunch

Slow afternoon for crafts by Toxic Lunch

The Cobblestones by John Grace

Spikes in the Princess Walkway by John Grace

The last two pictures were taken by John Grace for his travel blog: Windward Journey, both of them link back to his original post where you can see more of his beautiful pictures of OSJ.

If you have any pictures of Old San Juan you would like us to see and post, please send it to pulgatory@gmail.com, so I can take a look at it!