28.01.2022 - 08.02.2022: Puerto Rico (1)

Calendar:

28.01.2022 - 20.02.2022
Salt Life Villa, Humacao, Palmas del Mar

30.01.2022
Fajardo, East Coast, Seven Seas Beach

01.02.2022
Liquillo and Beach

02.02.2022
Southeast coast to Malecón de Arroyo

04.02.2022 - 06.02.2022
Continuous rain, Hucares

07.02.2022
South coast, Ponce

08.02.2022
Old San Juan

Notable:

Puerto Rico means "rich port". It is the largest (about 9,000 km2) and most populous (3.5 million) territory of the United States (since 1898), and at the same time the smallest island group in the Greater Antilles. All Puerto Ricans have U.S. citizenship, but they are not eligible to vote in presidential elections unless they have their residence on the mainland. 95% of the population speaks Spanish as their mother tongue. San Juan is the capital of Puerto Rico and also the largest city (with an agglomeration of about 2.5 million inhabitants).

From 2010 to 2016, the population of Puerto Rico has shrunk significantly due to economic reasons. In particular, young people have left the island and settled on the mainland of the United States. A total of 1.8 million inhabitants born in Puerto Rico have emigrated, making Puerto Rico one of the world's highest emigration rates.

In recent times, there have been 3 referendum votes on whether Puerto Rico should be admitted to the United States as the "51st state". The votes had a low voter turnout, and although a majority favored admission each time, the Spanish language and culture of the island have so far prevented incorporation.

Our accommodation is located in Palmas del Mar (Humacao), a huge beach resort with its own golf and tennis courts and its own marina. The total area of the resort alone is about 11 km2; there is a security check at the entrance every time. The complex is divided into numerous individual, isolated "bubbles" that are only open to their respective residents, which greatly reduces the exploration opportunities within the overall complex. Even the individual beach clubs are reserved for their respective members only, somewhat unnatural. Right at the beginning, we were kicked out of one of these clubs because we were not registered there, later we found the beach club where we were also allowed to enter, the whole scenario here somehow reminds me of the movie "In Time - Your Time Is Up".

We assume that the majority of the apartments were purchased by mainland Puerto Ricans, probably with a view to later retirement. Fortunately, in Palmas del Mar, there are also some shared places, such as the Plaza with corresponding shopping opportunities and restaurants. The preferred means of transportation within the entire complex are electric golf carts, for which special roads have been built. If you are traveling by car, you have to pay for parking spaces regularly, probably to encourage more people to switch to carts.

Outside the complex, the real life of Puerto Rico takes place: the cheerful, dancing, and always laughing Puerto Ricans are refreshing. However, Puerto Ricans lack a deeper understanding of the environment: even the most beautiful beach sections are constantly used as garbage dumps, and there is a lack of actual infrastructure on the beaches (especially restaurants). An exception is Liquillo Beach in the northeast of the island, where the beach is only moderately dirty and local delicacies are prepared at the numerous so-called kiosks along the beach promenade.

The roads of Puerto Rico are in a desolate condition, fortunately, we are not traveling by scooters. For such a large island, a car is better anyway, and we regularly travel over 100 km a day.

A 3-day continuous rain set in on 04.02.2022, probably to give us a taste of Swiss conditions. During these days, we watched movies and played games. I discovered a new game for my phone, it's called 2048 and it's really entertaining. The goal is to create a field with the number 2048 by moving and combining other fields. Thanks to the continuous rain, I managed to do it in 2 days...

On 07.02.2022, we drove to Ponce on the south coast of Puerto Rico. Apart from a really beautiful city park and a deserted amusement area by the sea, Ponce doesn't have much to offer. However, the journey there was impressive. It led us right through Puerto Rico. In the northern part, there is a very lush, tropical vegetation. As soon as you leave the mountains behind in the south, a barren, steppe-like landscape opens up towards the sea, probably due to the soil conditions. Directly on the south coast, the ground is again very fertile, and there are huge banana and tobacco plantations. We even spotted numerous turkeys on Puerto Rico...

We visited Old San Juan on 08.02.2022. Narrow streets pass by buildings that were mostly built in the 16th and 17th centuries. There are also numerous shopping opportunities here, although most of them offer only tourist junk. Monumental fortresses characterize the coastal area. The interior of the town is also well maintained; there is no dirt or garbage lying around here, as elsewhere in Puerto Rico.

Mario, our Polynesian Tiki, was finally granted entry into Switzerland; joy reigns! He arrived at our home on 07.02.2022 after his long and arduous journey. Apparently, he has already made friends with Dumba, our Thai elephant, and the two of them maintain an intensive cultural exchange. Great, cross-national conversations are often very fruitful.

Best regards.