I made my way through San Juan International Airport easily finding the luggage
carousel.  Even though Carlos said he wouldn’t be able to meet me at the airport, I
still held the hope that he might show up.  So, I kept an eye out for him just in case.  
And as for my primary means of connecting up with Carlos, I pulled out my new
cellular phone and turn it on to check and see if he had tried to call me.  
Unfortunately, the problem with the battery not charging up still existed.  Unless it
was plugged in to a wall socket, it wouldn’t work.  

I wait for my bag at the luggage carousel but it doesn’t come.  Instead, there seems
to be an endless amount of oversized black cases coming down the chute.  When a
large round black box comes down and crashes into the end of the carousel with a
loud, resonant vibration, I finally figure out what is in these cases – musical
instruments of course.  I continue to patiently wait for my bag while the band’s cases
are being collected off to the side.  Some of the band members begin inspecting the
instruments as an airline employee checks each case off his list.  Suddenly it dawns
on me, “What a great opportunity to meet a band that could be a part of my first
concert”.  I walk on over to introduce myself, the suave new concert promoter, to one
of the band members.

I break the ice by asking him, “So, to what band do all of these instruments belong?”  
He replies, “They belong to the José Luís Rodriguez band.”  Like I knew who that was
(he should be singing in the background to you right now).  He goes on to explain
that he is a stagehand and that the band is in Puerto Rico for a concert this
weekend.  He continues to talk to me as he and the Pan Am employee continue to
account for each piece of equipment.  Since I had never heard of José Luís
Rodriguez I ask him if the band is very popular to which he responds with a
resounding “Yes.”  I then ask him if he makes a lot of money to which he replies “No”
with a grin, “but José Luís does.”

I then introduced myself to him as a concert promoter and that I plan to put on a
concert in San Diego this coming June.  I tell him, with all seriousness, that I am very
interested in having José Luís be a part of the concert, possibly as the opening
band.  He informs me that they already have a concert set in Los Angeles for May
but that they might be able to perform in San Diego as well.  So he gives me his
name and the location where they are performing this week in San Juan as well as
the dates and times.  I type all of the information into my handy electronic organizer.  
He then tells me to just ask for him at the gate and he will be able to let a friend and
me in to see the band.  I grin at him with a big smile, thank him, say good-bye, and
head back to the luggage carousel.  Finally, my bag comes down the shut.  I grab it
and head right upstairs to find a pay phone to get in touch with Carlos.

Once upstairs I pass the Pan Am ticket counter which reminds me of a question I
need to ask a Pan Am agent about my return trip.  She needs to look at my ticket to
answer my question, so I take it out of my backpack and show it to her.  As she is
looking at my ticket she notices that my return ticket to Miami is missing, yet I still
have my ticket from Miami to San Juan.  Apparently the boarding agent in Miami took
the wrong ticket which means I have no way back to Miami.  We laugh (me
nervously) and she says it won’t be a problem.  She makes a note of the mishap on
my ticket jacket and signs her name and I head off to the nearest pay phone.






















All I could see around me were stand up pay phones.  Knowing that I might be on the
phone for a while I wanted to find some sit down pay phones.  So I stepped into a
small magazine shop to ask the clerk where I might find a phone where I could sit
down.  She told me she didn’t know of any in the airport anywhere.  Disappointed, I
headed over to the bank of phones across from the shop to call Carlos on the new
cell phone he was carrying.  Since our cell phones were based out of Miami (305
area code), it was a long distance call from San Juan, so I had to use my MCI calling
card (wiki explanation of calling card process).  I dialed the MCI local access number
950-1022 but never received the next dial tone to continue my call long distance
call.  So I hung up and tried the MCI toll free access number 1-800-950-1022
instead.  This time I received the dial tone and now needed to enter my private
security code which was another 10 digit number like a phone number.  After
entering those numbers I was finally able to continue on with the number I was trying
to reach, Carlos’ cell phone number.  I quickly looked Carlos’ number up in my
organizer, entered the number into the pay phone and received the following notice:
“This cellular phone customer is currently unavailable.  Please try again later.”  Well,
well.  It looks like I’m not the only one having difficulties with the new cell phones.  
Apparently Carlos was having difficulty with his phone as well.  So, I called Carlos’
land line at his family’s house.  It too was long distance from San Juan so I had to
use my MCI calling card for this call as well. The call went through but the line was
busy - a very fast busy.  I assumed his family was on the phone to relatives about his
dying grandfather so I’d have to try him later.

Next, I decided I would try to use my cellular phone to see if I could call out on it since
it would be a lot easier than having to dial 30+ numbers using my MCI calling card
just to make one phone call.  So I look for a nearby electrical outlet to plug the
phone in.  There wasn't any.  So I took the phone and charger back to the magazine
shop across from the phones and this time I kindly asked the clerk if I could plug my
phone into one of her outlets to see if it would work.  She was more than happy
enough to let me do so but still the cell phone didn't work.  I then asked her if she  
would mind if I left the phone plugged in to charge up while I go over to the pay
phones and attempt make some more calls.  Again, she didn't mind at all.  I showed
her where I would be just in case the cell phone rang.  

Now for sure I knew I was going to be at the pay phones for quite a while and so not
wishing to stand at the phones the whole time I asked her if she might have a stool I
could borrow.  She unfortunately did not have one.  So I left her shop and noticed
that the shop next door had a stool.  I went into the shop and asked the shopkeeper
if I could borrow her stool.  I explained to her that I needed to place many calls,
pointing out to her where I would be, and that I would prefer to be seated.  She
gladly let me borrow the stool.  And oh, as some of you might notice, I’m not having
any troubles with the language.  Seems most people here in Puerto Rico speak
English as well as Spanish which was very nice.

Now, the main reason I wanted my cell phone to work was so that I could receive
incoming calls... I especially needed to be able to receive Carlos’ phone call.  It was
the only way he knew how to get a hold of me.  So, I called my cellular phone from
the pay phone to see if it rang.  And it didn't.

I then called Carlos’ family’s house again.  The phone was still busy.  Suddenly, I
recalled Carlos’ statement about the cell phones, about how great they would be in
Puerto Rico since the local phone system here doesn’t work well at all.  I now had
evidence of this fact.  And unfortunately, the new cellular phone system seemed to
be working just as well…which is not at all.

So I looked in the phone book for Cellular One of Puerto Rico and I gave them a call
expecting their friendly customer service personnel to help me out.  After I explained
my problem to a young man at the other end of the line, I discovered that their cell
system was not ready yet and that it wouldn’t be ready until mid-April.  Needless to
say, I was pissed.  I told him that I wanted them to do something to help me get in
touch with my friend because I was told upon purchasing the phones in Ft.
Lauderdale that they would work over here in Puerto Rico.  Cellular One, the
national leader in cell systems in the U.S., had confirmed with the salesman in Ft.
Lauderdale that the phones would work here in Puerto Rico and I was going to hold
Cellular One to their promise. The gentleman told me he would need to have
someone return my call in a few minutes.  I gave him the pay phone telephone
number for him to reach me and ended the call.

Still needing to make other phone calls, I used my belongings to block the pay phone
Cellular One was to call me back on to keep someone else from using it.  I then
moved the stool and a few belonging to the phone next to me and I called the youth
hostel in Miami to talk with René.  He wasn't in, so I left a message for him to call me
on my cell phone hoping that I'd have it working by the time he called.  Next, I called
the rental agency in Ft. Lauderdale to pay for insurance on the car to cover René
during the time he would be driving the car to return it.  The agent told me I couldn't
add a driver over the phone and that I'd have to come in to do that to which I replied
“that is kind of hard to do when you are on an island 2½ hours away by plane”.  So
much for that effort.  I informed him that the car would be returned late.  Finally, I
called International Bikes in Ft. Lauderdale to see if Robert and Nurettin had arrived
to pick up my bike and the rental bike.  They hadn't yet.  

My next move was to call Sound Advice in Ft. Lauderdale to talk to Mike, the great
salesman who sold me the phones.  Mike was not in today nor was the second Mike,
so I talked with the manager.  He explained that all I needed to do was put the phone
into ROAM mode.  Wow - so simple.  All of my problems just for this?  After he
explained the procedure, I headed to my cell phone in the shop, leaving my
belongings in my view by the pay phones.  I followed his procedure and went back to
the pay phones and dialed my cell phone number.  And still it didn’t ring.
More than 15 minutes had passed and Cellular One hadn't phoned me back so I
called them again.  I talked with the same gentleman who had told me he would
return my call and asked him why he hadn't called me.  He said that he'd been trying
to call me but there was no answer which is kind of funny since I was standing right
next to the pay phone he was trying to get back to me on.  He then passed me on to
his manager.

I explained to the Cellular One manager that I was told specifically that the cellular
system was working in Puerto Rico and this was the main reason I purchased their
phones.  I then informed her that since her system was not working yet and I was
promised in Miami that it was, I wished for her to help me get a message through to
my friend Carlos in Villa Alba.  She asked me how she was supposed to do that.  I
told her to use her imagination - the thing we all had as kids.  She didn’t seem
amused with that.  So instead of using her imagination she puts up her road block
sign:  she tells me that this Cellular One is not even affiliated with the Cellular One in
the states.

Whoa, wait a minute.  I had to think about that one for a few seconds.  Being smart
however, I came up with a great response.  I informed her with my nice tongue that
maybe one day her company might wish to be affiliated with the state-side Cellular
One and that when the state-siders hear that the Puerto Rican Cellular One can't
help an innocent customer out of a bad situation, they won’t be pleased.  As well, I
will make sure that business between the two companies will never occur.  
Unfortunately, these words did nothing to phase her.  She wouldn't help me to get a
message through to Carlos no matter how I pleaded.  I was getting no where with her.
I thanked her for her help, hung up and took a few deep breaths.  I then called
Carlos’ cellular phone again.  It still wasn’t working.  I then called Carlos’ family’s
house again.  It was still busy.  

I then called the manager at Sound Advice again to tell him of my latest problems
with the cell phone.  He told me that all I needed to do was dial 611, talk to a service
operator at the local Telephone Company, and have them turn on my phone
access.   Easy enough.

I called the service operator.  It was busy.  So I dialed the regular operator to
connect me to the cellular service operator.  She attempted to make the connection
but she too received the busy signal.  She asked for my phone number and she
would have a service operator call me back.  After waiting five minutes without a
return call, I called the regular operator again.  A bit steamed that no one from her
company had called me back as promised I had to tell her so.  This is when she
kindly informed me that pay phones in Puerto Rico do not ring through (in 1991 most
pay phones in the US still rang through – only a handful were turned off in the US to
curb the use of pay phones for drug transactions).  I asked her to please turn on the
phone so that it may ring through.  She told me she was not able to do that.  I didn't
believe this since it is easily done for pay phones which don't ring through in the
states.  I had her put me through to her supervisor.  The supervisor said the same
thing - the operators in Puerto Rico do not have the capability to make pay phones
ring through upon request as they do in the states.  It was beyond their system’s
capability.  I then asked her a really stupid question, “So, then why is there a phone
number posted on the pay phone then?”  She had no reply for that one as I
laughed.  I then explained to her my basic problem.  I was trying to get service for my
cellular phone but the service operators have been busy for the past 10 minutes.

She put me on hold while she looked for another way to get my service turned on.  
While on hold I used the opportunity to try and call Carlos again on the phone next
to me.  Here I am, user of three pay phones, sitting on a short stool with my
electronic organizer lying out on the floor and my belongings sitting at the end of the
bank of phones in front of the phone I was expecting to ring which I just learned
never would ring.  It must have looked pretty funny to any onlooker and pretty
obvious I didn’t fit in.  Carlos’ cellular phone still did not ring through and his family’s
phone was still busy.

The operator came back off of hold and told me the best thing to do was call the
Puerto Rico Telephone Company’s main office.  She gave me the phone number
and wished me luck.  I then decided that since I wasn’t reaching Carlos I would call
Marsha.  Marsha as you may remember, was my friend from California whom I had
found out just last night was attending her last year of college here in Puerto Rico in
a place called Humacao.  I called Marsha and to my total astonishment, I got directly
through to her - not one phone issue.   I was amazed.

Marsha was surprised that I was in Puerto Rico since when we’d talked last I had no
plans to visit Puerto Rico but she was very happy that I could now come visit her.  I
explained to her that I was having difficulties getting in touch with my friend who had
invited me to Puerto Rico in the first place and was a bit lost as to what to do.  So
she invited me to come to Humacao to go to dinner with her and her parents.  She
told me I could meet her at Palmas del Mar, a beach resort just outside of Humacao
where her parents were staying.  Hey, a beach resort sounded real good to me -
anything sounded better than standing for hours at airport pay phones dealing with
phone issues.  She suggested that I take a taxi to Humacao which she thought would
cost about 20 to 30 dollars.  As we ended our conversation, the shopkeeper from
who I borrowed the stool came to retrieve the stool, for it was time for her to close
her shop.  I thanked her for being so kind for letting me use the stool and then I
continued with my phone calls.  Next I called the Puerto Rico Telephone Company.

After talking to the man at the Puerto Rico Telephone Company it was determined
that I would need to bring my cellular phone in to have them perform some operation
on it which would “turn it on”.  Since I planned to use the phone extensively this week
while setting up the concert I decided I would head to the phone company before
heading to Marsha's.  He gave me the address and stated that it was directly across
from the Old Lottery Building.  Problem was that they were closing in about 45
minutes so I would need to hurry.  I packed up my things, went into the shop to pick
up my cellular phone, thanked the girl for watching it for me, and I headed
downstairs to catch a cab to the phone company and then on to Palmas del Mar.

After trying several cabbies I found out it would cost at least $50 dollars to get to
Palmas del Mar and there was no chance in hell of making it through traffic to the
Old Lottery Building by their closing time.  Having learned earlier in Ft. Lauderdale
how much a taxi can cost and trying to be thrifty as usual, I decided I’d be better off
renting a car.  In the airport terminal, each rental car company had a small-
unattended office with a phone.  I called a few of them to find out prices and terms.  I
stayed well away from the Budget Rent-a-car phone after the bad experience in
Buffalo.  I ended up choosing Dollar Rent-a-car.

The Dollar van picked me up and shuttled me to their rental facility located right at
the main automobile entrance and exit to San Juan International Airport.  I arranged
for rental of a compact car fully insured for one week until the 27th of March.  I
began to chat with the young lady (Rosa?) who was filling out my rental agreement.  I
queried her to see if she knew who José Luís Rodriguez was since I didn't.  Her eyes
lit up and she smiled and said, "Yes, he's a very good artist"  Feeling excited by this
revelation, I informed her that I was going to one of his concerts this week at Bella
Artes.  I explained to her how I had just met one of his stagehands and that I could
bring her to the concert with me if she wished to go.  Her response was quick that
she'd like that.  I promised her that I would be back either Friday or Saturday in the
afternoon to confirm the plans.  I showed her the information in my electronic
organizer, the name and location the stagehand had given me as proof of my
promise.  She completed the rental agreement and needed to confirm the rental with
my credit card company.  While waiting, I came up with an idea to temporarily solve
my telephone problems.  I asked if I could use her business phone to make a long
distance call on my calling card.  She had me step around to the back office where
one of the secretaries let me use her phone.  

After explaining to the secretary how my MCI calling card worked by dialing a toll free
number and assuring her that they wouldn’t be charged for the call, I was allowed to
call long distance to Kirk, my work associate at General Dynamics.  I told him about
the concert I was working on and told him about the problems I was having with my
cellular phones I had just purchased.  I informed him that I would be needing to get in
contact with many people concerning the concert and that they would need to reach
me by phone.  Since I was not going to be at a fixed phone and since my cell phone
was not working, someone trying to reach me would have to phone me where they
could at least leave a message.  So, I asked Kirk if I could have people call and
leave messages for me on his voice mail at his work and I could call in later and
easily retrieve the messages.

Realizing this probably was not a good idea due to work security regulations, Kirk
suggested it would be better to have people call his answering machine at home.  He
was sure his machine would allow me to pick up messages from another phone but
he wasn't sure how to do it.  He offered to figure it out and I could call him back in a
few minutes to find out the procedure.  I ended the conversation and headed back to
the front counter to complete the rental agreement.  I also obtained a map and some
vague directions to Palmas del Mar and the returned to the back room to phone Kirk
back.  
NEXT SECTION
NEXT SECTION
3.2-1
My First Day in Puerto Rico
Wednesday Afternoon until Thursday Morning
March 20th - 21st, 1991
Counter
World Turned Upside Down
Payphone bank similar to one in San Juan International Airport - but PRTC phones of course
Music - Voy a Perder
La Cebeza por Tu
Amor by El Puma -
Jose Luis Rodriguez