Welcome to Puerto Rico, my 14TH Territory out of a global total of 71. After my blog photos below are the key statistics, brief history and interesting facts about this destination.
STOP PRESS:
Day 20 (6 January 2026) was spent at sea sailing from the Dominican Republic towards Puerto Rico. It was a lovely day outside but crappy inside given we had no internet the whole day. The ship’s guest services called all our hire car companies until 15JAN to make sure our booking was still valid and to confirm pickup location and time. Bundy and I spent a lot of time in the gym and I also did some book work offline - lucky I downloaded bank statements the day before when we had internet. GIGSKY has generally been good but the ship’s satellite system does not always offer strong internet. For the first time, we got NO INTERNET at sea with GIGSKY for the whole time !!! Plan B would be to prepare the blog offline that afternoon for the day gone by and post it in the morning or afternoon at port and use the land component of GIGKSY which has been reliable up until now. No complaints since GIGSKY cost us $USD123 vs $USD350 for the Ships Satellite for 32 days. Our day at sea concluded with an amazing Barramundi Salad followed by a movie and more VEEP !!!
The following day was PINA COLADA day because this world-famous cocktail was invented in Puerto Rico which came into sight at 7am. The largest city and capital, San Juan is simply GORGEOUS !!! It is now in Number One Spot for the “BEST CITY/TOWN/VILLAGE” category !!! Back to the usual daily ritual of a 6am start for my groin rehab followed by queuing to get out first at 715am for 8am. This time Bundy held our No 1 spot in the disembarkation queue while I raced up to Deck 9 to the very aft of ship in the outside pool area to link up to San Juan’s 5G network and publish my Post 11 which went up in record time !!! Down to the queue again and I was once again King of Zuiderdam, getting off first in San Juan. Today was our first taxi ride to a hire car. Ridiculous. Why hire a car of you have to cab it to them !!! $USD25 to get to Avis at the Sheraton 3.6km away – we should have used UBER. At least Avis was quick and we were on our way to the Old Town by 9am.
Underground parking was the only option but it was just outside the main fortress. What a spectacular piece of work and on acres of grassy land. The views out to the ocean and coast are wild and misty in sea spray. We circled the entire area and headed into the old town to feast on multi-coloured buildings from the early 1500s !!! We visited the following attractions: Paseo Peatonal de la Princesa, La Fortaleza, San Juan Gate, Viewpoint, Monumento al Capitan Don Juan, Fuerte San Felipe del Morro, Galeria Nacionale, Catedral de San Juan Bautista, Castillo San Cristobal. San Juan’s Bautista was very plain outside but very ornate inside. This was our first serious and focused walk of a main Caribbean city and capital and worth it – the best so far !!!
Our car then took us 50km due east to Balneario La Monseratte (Luquillo Beach). On the way we side-swiped lush rainforest but not at high altitudes like Saint Lucia or Dominca. Luquillo Beach is the premier swimming and snorkelling spot of the San Juan area. Lovely beach. Lovely 1.5km swim. Even my drone loved it. From here it was an express run back to the port via supermarket (6 bottles of wine) and petrol station. We entered the Zuiderdam in triumph at 330pm as per our plan after dropping off our car at the Sheraton. The Uber was $USD7 back vs the $USD25 in the morning – lesson learned = DO NOT CATCH TAXIS !!!
We celebrated my Names Day with newly uncorked Chardonnay with slivers of smoked salmon and pimento olives. No cheese today – we are conserving it !!!
.jpg)
.jpg)
PUERTO RICO IN A NUTSHELL:
Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the United States with high levels of poverty and income inequality compared to the mainland U.S.
• Population (2024): 3.2 million.
• Capital & Largest City: San Juan.
• Official Languages: Spanish and English.
Racial & Ethnic Makeup (2020): Hispanic or Latino (98.9%), White: 17.1%, Black or African American: 7.0%
• Median Age: 46.1 years.
• Life Expectancy (2024): 82.1 years.
• GDP (2024): $USD121.0 billion.
• GDP per Capita (2024): $USD39,285.
• Median Household Income (2024): $USD27,213.
• Poverty Rate: 39.6% of the population lives below the poverty line, with 54.3% of children living in poverty.
• Unemployment Rate (2024): 5.5%.
• Key Industries: Manufacturing (especially pharmaceuticals and medical equipment), followed by finance, real estate, and tourism.
• Currency: United States Dollar (USD).
• Area: 13,792 sq km.
• Climate: Tropical rainforest climate with little seasonal variation in temperature, but distinct wet (April-November) and dry (December-March) seasons.
• Highest Point: Cerro de Punta, at 4,390 feet (1,338 meters).
• Political Status: An unincorporated U.S. territory organized as a commonwealth; residents are natural-born U.S. citizens.
• Head of State: The President of the United States.
• Head of Government: The Governor of Puerto Rico.
• Government Structure: Devolved presidential constitutional dependency with a Legislative Assembly.
BRIEF HISTORY OF PUERTO RICO:
• Puerto Rico was settled by various Amerindian groups for thousands of years, most notably the Taíno people.
• The Taíno developed a complex society based on agriculture (growing cassava, sweet potatoes, and pineapples), fishing, and craftsmanship.
• Christopher Columbus claimed the island for Spain on 19 November 1493, during his second voyage to Americas, naming it San Juan Bautista.
• The first Spanish settlement was in Caparra in 1508.
• European diseases, exploitation, and warfare led to a rapid decline of the indigenous Taíno population. The Spanish then forcibly transported enslaved Africans to the island to work on fortifications and sugar plantations.
• The island became a vital Spanish military and trade outpost in the Caribbean, heavily fortified to defend against English, Dutch, French.
• Spain officially abolished slavery in Puerto Rico on 22 March 1873.
• In the late 19th century, a distinct Puerto Rican identity emerged, leading to movements for self-governance, including the failed Grito de Lares uprising in 1868.
• Spain ceded Puerto Rico to the United States under the Treaty of Paris in December 1898, marking the end of over 400 years of Spanish rule.
• The U.S. established a civilian government with the Foraker Act of 1900, though it retained ultimate control.
• The Jones Act of 1917 granted U.S. citizenship to all Puerto Ricans, allowing them to move freely to the U.S. mainland and serve in the military.
• In 1952, Puerto Rico adopted its own constitution and became a U.S. Commonwealth, granting it a degree of internal self-government but remaining an unincorporated territory of the U.S.
• In recent decades, Puerto Rico has faced severe economic challenges, a major debt crisis, and devastation from natural disasters like Hurricane Maria in 2017.
INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT PUERTO RICO:
1. Home to three of the world's five bioluminescent bays, including Mosquito Bay in Vieques, which is officially the brightest one on Earth.
2. El Yunque is the only tropical rainforest in the U.S. National Forest System. Home to hundreds of plant and animal species, including the endangered Puerto Rican amazon parrot.
3. All people born in Puerto Rico are U.S. citizens but cannot vote in U.S. presidential elections and have a non-voting representative in the U.S. Congress.
4. The coquí, a tiny tree frog known for its distinctive "co-kee" call, is the island's unofficial national mascot and is found only on the island.
5. The Capital, San Juan, founded 1508, is the 2nd oldest city in the Caribbean.
6. The piña colada was invented in San Juan in Puerto Rico.
7. Puerto Rico competes as an individual country in the Olympics and the Miss Universe pageant, despite being a U.S. territory.
8. The island's culture is a rich mix of Taíno, Spanish, and African heritages, evident in its music, cuisine and language.
9. It was once home to the Arecibo Observatory, which housed the world's largest single-dish radio telescope for over 50 years. The telescope was featured in James Bond’s “Golden Eye” and was used for significant astronomical discoveries before its collapse in 2020.
10. The Puerto Rico Trench, located just north of the island, is the deepest part of the entire Atlantic Ocean at 27,493 feet (8,380 meters) below sea level. Everest is 29,000 or 8,937m high by comparison.
No comments:
Post a Comment