San Juan, ‘a place that’s both of America and removed from it’*

​​December 21-22, 2019, San Juan, Puerto Rico — Saturday was Embarkation Day. Two years ago, I had no idea what that entailed. Now I’m an old hand.

The last pre-trip chore I got around to, sort of, was to go through the stack of Condé Nast Travelers that’s been accumulating for years, tearing out articles on places I’ve been, places I want to go, and places I’m about to see on this trip. I came up with a few... including an article on San Juan that was obviously written before Hurricane Maria, which struck on September 20, 2017.

On the way in from the San Juan airport, my driver, Edwin, said the island benefited from the hurricane because so many hotels used the insurance money to make renovations they knew were needed. But some hotels went out of business totally and others, like the Ritz Carlton, still have not finished the work and are still closed. Edwin also talked about young chefs who got government funding to open small businesses: many started food trucks which, he said, are everywhere and very good.

*The author of the Traveler article described San Juan as ‘a place that’s both of America and removed from it.’ Though he says things have improved, he cited ‘San Juan’s reputation as a city where you put up with mediocre food and ignore the local culture in exchange for a lounge chair facing the ocean.’ I experienced all three at the Caribe Hilton. The food was meh, the local culture was evident in Christmas carols with a driving Latin beat on the PA at the pool, and a live band in the bar Friday night, with the same driving Latin rhythm at mega decibels. There was nothing wrong with the lounge chair.

Wiki contributed these history thumbnails:

• Originally populated by the indigenous Taíno people, Puerto Rico was colonized by Spain following the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1493. It was contested by the French, Dutch, and British, but remained a Spanish possession for the next four centuries.​

This is ‘the mighty citadel’ of Castillo San Cristobál, the largest fortress built in the New World.

• The island's cultural and demographic landscapes were shaped by the displacement and assimilation of the native population, the forced migration of African slaves, and settlement from the Canary Islands and Andalusia.

• In the Spanish Empire, Puerto Rico played a secondary but strategic role compared to wealthier colonies like Peru and New Spain. Spain’s distant administrative control continued up to the end of the 19th century, producing a distinctive creole Hispanic culture and language that combined indigenous, African, and European elements.

I get several emails a day from the Travel Trivia site. A recent trivia nugget was ‘5 Places That Could Become U.S. States.’ First on their list is Puerto Rico. Here’s their capsule history of the island:

The U.S. has had a presence in Puerto Rico since it claimed the island for its own during the Spanish–American War of 1898. Initially, the U.S. relied on military governance to police the island, but its main goal was to Americanize its new territory. Through the Jones-Shafroth Act, the U.S. was able to grant U.S. citizenship to Puerto Rican residents in 1917. The symbiotic relationship, which has only grown over the last century, makes it feasible that Puerto Rico could become a U.S. state.

In 1951, the residents of Puerto Rico voted for commonwealth status after President Truman signed the Puerto Rico Commonwealth Bill. This gave the island more autonomy to create its own constitution. Yet, Puerto Rico has faced decades-long financial struggles. Today, it continues to receive aid from the United States. Additionally, the relationship between the U.S. and Puerto Rico has remained a hot topic in Puerto Rican politics, which has led to a handful of referendums over the years.

In the most recent referendum in 2012, a majority of voters indicated they were not happy with Puerto Rico’s status as a U.S. territory. When given the choice to become a U.S. state, an independent country, or a ‘sovereign free associated state,’ more than 60% of Puerto Rican voters voted for U.S. statehood.

I add these two items from Wiki, pertaining to the islands financial predicament and the devastating damage of Hurricane Maria:

• In early 2017, the Puerto Rican government debt crisis posed serious problems for the government. The outstanding bond debt had climbed to $70 billion at a time of an unemployment rate of 12.4%. The debt had been increasing during a decade-long recession.This was the second major financial crisis to affect the island after the Great Depression when the U.S. government, in 1935, provided relief efforts through the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration.

• By early August 2017, the debt was $72 billion with a 45% poverty rate. In late September 2017, Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico, causing devastating damage. The island's electrical grid was largely destroyed, provoking the largest power outage in American history. Recovery efforts were slow in the first few months, and over 200,000 residents had moved to the mainland state of Florida alone by late November 2017.

I was scheduled for two excursions on Sunday, but only squeezed in one — a 5-hour bus ride to and through El Yunque, the only tropical rainforest in the U.S. national forest system. Our first stop was for coffee and a pastry in the little one-horse town of Rio Grande. Off to a bad nutritional start...

First rainforest stop was Puente Roto, or Broken Bridge. The flesh-colored blob in the center is a man enjoying the current.

Some of the inhabitants of the 28,000-acre forest: Coqui frogs, green heron, boa, red fruit bats. And a person picking up litter.

La Coca Falls...

Back too late to take the official walking tour of Old San Juan, I set out for a leisurely stroll among the brilliantly and exotically painted colonial buildings. ​The streets are paved with blue cobblestones...

​Note the Christmas decorations on the balcony and the Moorish door/window shapes...

The humidity is doing a number on this metal gate — and has been eating away at it for quite some time...​

​Close up of air roots on a tropical plant growing outside someone’s home...

Old San Juan is getting ready for Epiphany, or Three Kings Day, on January 6, when there will be festivals, parades and, of course, music.

​Puerto Ricans fly their flag proudly — and some paint their houses to resemble the flag. A street party appeared to be going on down below, with loud music and people milling around.

Next up: Barbados. #

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‘The answer to the world’s problems today is not to turn inward.

We simply have to seize every opportunity to promote understanding between countries and across cultures. And there’s no better way to do that than to explore the world with an open mind, a sturdy carry-on,

and clothes that don’t wrinkle.’

— Madeleine Albright