Date of trip: January 2006

Having travelled to tropical islands with my parents throughout my childhood, I’ve had a tendency to avoid them and seek out more cosmopolitan experiences in big cities. I have, however, wanted to visit Puerto Rico for many years now as so many people have sung the praises of Old San Juan to me. Will and I thought it would be a great place to visit for a long weekend at just over three hours away by plane. It turned out to be a perfect choice.

We decided to stay right in Old San Juan as all of the sites we hoped to visit were easiest to reach from there. It is quite popular with tourists and is also a cruise ship port so there are people out and about at all hours making it safe but also expensive.

Highlights:

-Dining is an experience in Old San Juan. At night people get dressed up and most restaurants don’t even open until 6:30pm. Most people sit and have drinks at the bar then move on to a table where they order appetizers, entrees, desserts and of course, more drinks! If you are a simple kind of person, like me, don’t worry…you can dress casual and order as much or little as you like. Every place we ate was expensive, but excellent and the service was great. If you are the type that goes to bed early and you are staying at a hotel in OSJ, I suggest packing some earplugs as the city seems to party all night, every night. In the mornings, the best place for breakfast is a bakery where you can order some fantastic Puerto Rican coffee and a quesito (pastry filled with cheese).

-Many tour companies will pick you up in OSJ and take you elsewhere on the island. Will and I took a half day tour to the El Yunque Rainforest. We embarked on a pretty strenuous hike, saw two impressive waterfalls and learned about the island’s famous Coqui. The Coqui are tiny frogs found all over the island that sound like chirping birds. Although we didn’t spot any Coqui, when night fell we definitely heard them!

-Ferries located at the cruise ship piers are another way to explore the island further. Will and I took a 10 minute ferry ride to Catano where we visited the Bacardi Rum Factory. It wasn’t that great, but it was a nice little boat ride and the tour was free and included a couple of free drinks. There are also ferries to Culebra and Vieques, two Puerto Rican islands off of the mainland that I’ve heard offer much better excursions for divers and snorkelers and great beaches.

-Old San Juan is probably most famous for the wall which surrounds the city limits and the giant forts on each end. Here’s a quick history lesson. When the Spanish began exploring the Caribbean and South America they found treasures like gold, silver and jewels that they wanted to bring back to Spain. Puerto Rico was located along the route they followed so it was a great place for them to stop along the way. It also would have been a great place for their enemies to base themselves in order to hijack their ships and steal their booty. So Puerto Rico was an extremely important acquisition to the Spanish and it was vital for them to protect and keep it. So….they built a wall around it with fortresses on either side. The two fortresses, San Cristobal and El Morro are castles filled with mazes, ramps, dungeons and tunnels. They are both worth visiting as they are different and offer the most amazing, incomparable views of the city.

-The best thing about Old San Juan is it’s size. It’s very small so you can see it all on foot. Walking through the streets is a great way to get a feel for the place. You’ll see fancy shopping areas where you can buy designer jewelry, parks where hundreds of people fly kites, squares where people listen to Latin music, a little colony of stray gatos (cats) and beautiful architecture. It’s a happy place and the mood is contagious.

Puerto Rico was not what I expected. As an American territory I always thought Puerto Ricans probably felt occupied and wished for independence. The truth is that they actually are happy to be American, especially if they are old enough to remember what life was like when they were not. In fact, most of them wish to become an official state. As a territory, they don’t have to pay income taxes, but they also don’t get many rights afforded to those of us living stateside. For instance, they can’t vote and they are not allotted federal funding for various programs like a state. Life on the island has improved since they became American, but without statehood they are pretty much stuck where they are and treated like second class citizens. Most Puerto Ricans would gladly pay income tax to become a state but the many corporations based there refuse. With 70% of the population living in poverty, you can guess who has more power there…the people or the corporations. I would love to welcome Puerto Rico as our 51st state in my lifetime.

For more pictures, please visit my Photo Gallery or click on any of the photos posted above.

Old San Juan Links:
Puerto Rico Official Site
El Yunque National Forest
The Forts of Old San Juan