“San Juan is a city of white-sand beaches, lush rainforests and inspiring Spanish colonial architecture. Compact and elegantly planned, Old San Juan spans the centuries. El Morro fortress has been standing watch over San Juan Bay since the 16th century and its formidable cannons peer out to sea. The streets of the centuries-old UNESCO World Heritage Site are paved with steel-blue adoquín stone, used to ballast the Spanish galleons that brought settlers here. These colorful, narrow byways lead to picturesque multihued facades and townhouses with neoclassical balconies.” From the Viking website description of Day One.

 

Explaining the many hardships of Puerto Rico’s economy, our tour guide kept emphasizing, “We make it work.” Rock sand material is used for making bridges between islands. In San Juan gas costs 81 or 84 pesos per liter, which is $3 per gallon. Cars are very expensive and require loan payments. Most Puerto Ricans earn about $18, 000 a year and need 50,000 to buy a car.

EIDL and FEMA loans were provided for hurricane relief, however they need to rebuild first, and then receive reimbursements. After the hurricane, 20 percent of the Puerto Rican people left to the States. The Southern part is still very bad with 60 percent of the island demolished.

Walmart was flattened by the hurricane. The island’s agricultural fields get demolished every 3-5 years each time a hurricane comes through. And they have to start over again. “We make it work,”  she adds. Fields are singular crops and not profitable for community crops. Condato area is friendly to visitors close to the ocean, on the beach with hotels shops.

Our tour guide told us that she knew more English than her English teacher. Over 30 percent of Puerto Ricans know English now. An officer sighted the island of Puerto Rico and the city was build up on the town cemetery. Underfunded historically by the state dept Puerto Rico started to develop with tourism which was started in the fifties with the opening of the Caribe Hilton. One of the diplomats French wife skinny dipped in the pool on the opening night.