If Old San Juan and the El Yunque rain forest and the beaches have been drawing visitors for hundreds of years, that’s certainly not true for this hidden attraction: a vast, and still-not-fully-explored system of caves, carved out by the world’s…
On our second-to-last day in Puerto Rico, we headed to the south shore of the island, to the city of Ponce. It’s smaller than San Juan, has less tourist traffic—all that, and yet it considers itself the cultural equal of the capital or of…
San Juan, Puerto Rico is a city of contrasts, of modern skyscrapers, crowded residential areas of different eras, resort hotels and casinos along Condado, and much more…but the image that usually comes to mind is really that of Old San Juan, the…
As Gumbo readers know by now, a lot of us who write these pieces are suckers for markets, large and small, wherever we go. If an army travels on its stomach, an army of bloggers stocks up at the public market. So, on our recent trip to Puerto…
Because Puerto Rico was the first freshwater island for 16th-century travelers from Spain, and because it guards the entrance to the Caribbean, its Spanish masters went out of their way to defend it, not only with the huge fortifications at the…
When we began planning a trip to Puerto Rico, and planning to include our 14-year-old granddaughter, we sent her some of the material we were gathering and asked her what her priorities were. She, and we, both had El Yunque right near the top of the…
El Morro, the giant fortification that’s guarded San Juan Harbor for nearly 500 years, is the sight we saw before we saw it. Its image is everywhere when you do online research for a trip to Puerto Rico; its “garitas”—small domed…
Sometimes, at home or traveling, you miss an obvious place to visit, just because it’s nearby and you can fit it in “any time.” On our last day in Puerto Rico, we finally got to visit the museum around the corner and a few blocks…
On our recent visit to Puerto Rico, we took an unplanned side trip to what might be called ET’s phone booth—a vast radio telescope at the Arecibo Observatory that “listens” to space both for astronomical information and any…
These colorful dancers (and a lot of cars) stopped traffic in Old San Juan a few hours before the end of the year.
If Old San Juan and the El Yunque rain forest and the beaches have been drawing visitors for hundreds of years, that’s certainly not true for this hidden attraction: a vast, and still-not-fully-explored system of caves, carved out by the world’s…
On our second-to-last day in Puerto Rico, we headed to the south shore of the island, to the city of Ponce. It’s smaller than San Juan, has less tourist traffic—all that, and yet it considers itself the cultural equal of the capital or of…
San Juan, Puerto Rico is a city of contrasts, of modern skyscrapers, crowded residential areas of different eras, resort hotels and casinos along Condado, and much more…but the image that usually comes to mind is really that of Old San Juan, the…
As Gumbo readers know by now, a lot of us who write these pieces are suckers for markets, large and small, wherever we go. If an army travels on its stomach, an army of bloggers stocks up at the public market. So, on our recent trip to Puerto…
Because Puerto Rico was the first freshwater island for 16th-century travelers from Spain, and because it guards the entrance to the Caribbean, its Spanish masters went out of their way to defend it, not only with the huge fortifications at the…
When we began planning a trip to Puerto Rico, and planning to include our 14-year-old granddaughter, we sent her some of the material we were gathering and asked her what her priorities were. She, and we, both had El Yunque right near the top of the…
El Morro, the giant fortification that’s guarded San Juan Harbor for nearly 500 years, is the sight we saw before we saw it. Its image is everywhere when you do online research for a trip to Puerto Rico; its “garitas”—small domed…
Sometimes, at home or traveling, you miss an obvious place to visit, just because it’s nearby and you can fit it in “any time.” On our last day in Puerto Rico, we finally got to visit the museum around the corner and a few blocks…
On our recent visit to Puerto Rico, we took an unplanned side trip to what might be called ET’s phone booth—a vast radio telescope at the Arecibo Observatory that “listens” to space both for astronomical information and any…
These colorful dancers (and a lot of cars) stopped traffic in Old San Juan a few hours before the end
