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"Quite too soon comes a daylight call, then the black coffee, and off through the calle de Tetuan, one of the few streets practicable by bicycle. The grade is easy, but pedestrians choose the middle of the road instead of the narrow footways - it would be libel on the word to call them sidewalks. No attention is paid to bells; carts and clumsy vehicles generally cause continual blockades, so that the rider is off and on his wheel constantly until he reaches the edge of the town."
De el valle del Turabo nos dice:
"The crest of a long ascent, fifteen miles from Rio Piedras, commands a view of a plain given up to sugar-cane; encircling mountains are the background, and a compactly built flat-roofed town fills the middle distance. 'Caguas' says a peon who happens by, as he stands pinching the tires and jingling my bell while I take in the the picture."
Mas adelante nos cuentan de las curvas de la carretera central:
"The genius of the Spanish engineers who carried through this piece of road building is most strikingly shown in this section of the work. The road twists and doubles upon itself here in a way that brings about an almost perpendicular overhang at points, but withal the grade is very heavy. I had been told in San Juan that it was impossible with my equipment, 88 gear and 8 inch cranks, to hold a wheel through the pass, a distance of several miles, by back pedaling."
En resumen, una lectura corta pero muy interesante que nos ayuda a visualizar el quehacer diario del Puerto Rico de principios del siglo 20. Estoy seguro que sera de interés a muchos, especialmente a aquellos que disfrutan del placer de pasear en bicicleta o motora por la isla.
Fuente
1. Ives, L. H. (1900, abril). An Easter Cycle Jaunt in Puerto Rico. [Revista digitalizada]. Outing. Vol. 36, pp.45-52. En Google Books. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Outing/Nbg2AQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA45&printsec=frontcover&dq=puerto%20rico
