Puerto Rico: El Caribe Americano
March 2017, Puerto Rico
History-rich Puerto Rico offers a colonial built heritage in combination with beautiful beaches and bohemian life. The island is a territory of US and part of Latin America at the same time. More than 70% are Roman Catholics and around 95% of the population speaks Spanish. The island offers a different Latin experience and it is a must-stop for any Caribbean trip.
From Columbus to the present
Puerto Rico, discovered in 1493 by Christopher Columbus on his Second Voyage, was firstly named San Juan Bautista while the capital was Ciudad de Puerto Rico. Due to its location, it was an entry point for the Spanish conquistadors on their route to colonized territories around continental Americas and a hub for traders. Afterwards, they swapped out the names of the city and the island, as it is today. In 1898, at the end of Spanish-American War for Puerto Rico, Cuba, Guan and Philippines, the US annexed all but Cuba. So today Puerto Rico remains a US territory, without being a state. Puerto Ricans are among the 4 million US citizens, without voting representation in the United States Congress and being ineligible to vote for president as well. Today, the island has serious financial problems, as it has accumulated some $70 billion in public debt. Local campaigns calls Puerto Rico to became the 51st US state as a way to escape this debt spiral. More than 60% voted for a statehood in 2012 Status Referendum, and next month, June 2017, are scheduled another referendum as the results is expected to confirm the ambitions for a statehood.
San Juan
San Juan is a mixture of tall skyscrapers forming the modern skyline and colonial heritage from the Spanish. The Old San Juan, or San Juan Antiguo, is the most touristic part in the city. Located on a separate island, Isleta de San Juan (“La Isleta”), the Old City is connected to Santruce, the biggest district, with three bridges. There are regular buses between Sagrado Corazón in Santruce and the ferry terminal in the Old City, known as Muelle de Viejo. Once in the Old City, there is a free scenic trolley to El Morro. Castillo de San Felipe del Morro, or El Morro, was built by the Spanish, to guard the sugarcane-rich island from seaborne enemies. Today, it is a World Heritage Site declared by United Nations and since El Morro’s grounds returned to their historic 18th century appearance in 1992, the site generates tourism revenue. Another defend tool of the Spanish was Fortín de San Gerónimo del Boquerón – a fort that had protected for a long time San Juan from British forces. It is on the opposite eastern side to El Morro on the Old City’s island. The streets around are very colorful thanks to the colonial houses, so just walk there and you will forget that you are actually in USA, not in Havana nor Cartagena. In the Old City, there are various of Puerto Rican restaurants, with plenty of tasty local apetizers and dishes. I went to El Jibarito, as the locals recommended to me, and tried some Bacalalitos (cod fish fritters) and the famous Mofongo (red snapper with plantain), with local beer. The local kitchen is inspired also from Africans, as many of them came here during the slavery era.
Another popular area in San Juan is around Laguna del Condado – the neighborhoods of Miramar and Condado, in Santruce. The tourist like the area, because of the modern hotels and condominiums here and the proximity to the Old City. The best beaches in Santruce are located in Condado and Ocean Park, another beach neighborhood that is a favorite place for locals. The transportation in Santruce is relatively easy, as many forms of public transports stop at the terminal of Sagrado Corazón. There are buses and metro (urban train), reaching many parts of the city.
South to Santruce is the Hato Rey Norte district, where I also spent some nights in Eleanor Roosevelt neighborhood. It is a low-rise residential neighborhood, so I was able to explore San Juan outside its tourist area as well. The public transportation here was not so good, as it took me a lot of time due to connections needed and not so frequent timetable. Renting a bike was a good option, as the north-south Luis Muñoz Rivera Avenue links the area with Sagrado Corazón in Santruce. Riding a bike needs additional attention, as the traffic sometimes could be chaotic. There is also a Uber, so it could be also an easy option to explore. The airport is not well connected by public transportation to the city, as there is just small minibuses running to Piñero station in Hato Rey.
The Reggaeton island
In Puerto Rico it all about the music. The reggaeton was born here in the 90s, today a leading musical genre in USA. There are live music bars everywhere with everyone being a musician. I went to three different Airbnb hosts in San Juan, as two of them were trombone musicians. I was even invited by one of them to concert repetitions in the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music, so I went to learn more about the music culture here. Many Latinos come to Puerto Rico to study and practice for the most popular job here – a singer. Daddy Yankee, Ricky Martin, Marc Anthony, Bruno Mars, Jennifer Lopez and many others who occupies the US charts, are either born here or have a Puerto Rican descent. The competition is on very high level so graduating the Conservatory is considered as an advantage and increases the chances to enter the market of live performances in local clubs.
Outside San Juan
Most of the population of Puerto Rico lives in San Juan metropolitan area – around 1.25 million of total 3.3 million people population. Here are located the three largest cities on the island – San Juan, Bayamon and Carolina. The rest of the population lives in lower-density cities around the coastline like Ponce, Mayagüez, Arecibo and Aguadilla. I visited the last two, before took my flight to Fort Lauderdale from Rafael Hernandez Airport in Puerto Rico’s west coast. It was a military airport with short runaway and some bombers didn’t make it. So a pier for crash rescue boats was built nearby Aguadilla and a large boat crashed into the cement pier before turning south. During years of abandonment, the sea dropped tons of sand on the pier and created one of the most popular beaches in Puerto Rico, known as Crash Boat Beach. However, the best beaches in Puerto Rico are considered to be in Culebra, a famous resort island, located between Puerto Rico and Virgin islands. It has a nature-rich wildlife with several reserves. There are plenty of beaches on that small island with white sands, marine life and calm waters. Many locals spend their weekend holidays, as there are daily flights to San Juan and cheap ferry service from Fajardo, 60 km east of San Juan. However, the intercity public transportation is not developed so going to Farjado by taxi could be more expensive than buying a flight tickets to Culebra. The only reliable way to move around Puerto Rico is to rent a car.
I drove from San Juan to Aguadilla, and the road conditions were good, unlike the weather conditions – there were very strong coastal winds between Arecibo and Aguadilla, as the PR-2 Highway is passing just next to the sea in this road section.
This article was originally published in The Economist's magazine Bulgarian issue No. 21 of May 2017.