Puerto Rico Report: The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly

As many of you know, I didn’t want to go to Puerto Rico for my niece’s wedding but was convinced by my wife and her family. While we had a good time, met some interesting people, and saw lots of beautiful places, I don’t think I would ever go back. On the last flight from Charlotte to San Juan I sat next to an elderly Vietnam veteran from Puerto Rico. He told me how in the last 10 years or so Puerto Rico has changed and most of the people that have the money to leave, have left. I also learned from him and others that the main way for young people to get out is by joining the military. We also made friends with a 30 something taxi driver that gave us more specific numbers of over 1 million leaving since the hurricane 5 years ago. He was getting ready to move to Tampa (I bit my tongue on that choice!). When we got to San Juan at close to 11pm we took a shuttle to our car rental and quickly learned what a shitshow it was trying to get a car. Three people in front of us and we waited 90 minutes without the line moving. Then we spoke to some others to find out some people had waited 4 hours to get a car and the guys in front of us has waited almost 2 hours to RETURN a car! We took the shuttle back to the airport and decided to get a taxi.

We stayed on the northeast side of the island at a fancy timeshare, it had power and few signs of the previous hurricane. It was very nice but the Jimmy Buffet theme & high priced pool bar drinks kept us searching out local spots to see the real island and people. We avoided going to the worst hurricane damaged areas on the westside but ended up driving to the southeast where a bunch of rivers had crossed the road and damaged much or the shoreline.

Driving around you would definitely see abandoned structures and roofless homes but most were from the hurricane 5 years ago and not from Fiona.

The above along with the 90 degree heat and 75 to 100% humidity were the bad and ugly of the trip. Also, at the rehearsal dinner, the grooms mother decided to air her grievances and my wife sat her down and explained that the wedding was not about her. I also was almost summoned to hell while standing on the edge of a deck. My leg went through a rotted part of deck but I luckily was spared major injuries.

The good was walking around San Juan and the old circa 1500’s fort!

The streets around old San Juan and the colorful buildings are very cool.

Another highlight of old San Juan was the church where Ponce de Leon’s remains are as well as many other famous figures. It was very photogenic and the lady that invited us to come in asked about where we had come from. When we told her Seattle, she went off about “where women are boss!” We agreed with her and had a great conversation about women’s rights.

We found a beautiful nature preserve beach where all the locals were partying on the far eastside of the island.

The waterfalls around the El Yunque rainforest were amazing.

The hiking in the rainforest almost killed me with the heat and humidity. The first one we did my wife said “we are not going to that tower” but I knew she was full of shit!

This tower was much shorter walk!

I will admit I spent a bunch of time with a cold drink in the pool after all the hikes and sightseeing. This guy was one of my favorite locals that also like to hang around the pool and beg for fruit.

and finally, one of the best parts of PR was Mafongo, a tasty mix of plantains, pork skin and garlic. I am going to try to make it but if anyone already has a good recipe they have tried I would love to see it as a FYCE!

Thanks for listening to my rants & please share your PR stories if you have them.