Any Travels

The island of Puerto Rico is almost rectangular in shape, and is the smallest and the most eastern island of the Greater Antilles . Its coasts measures approximately 580 km, and if the adjacent islands Vieques and Culebra are included the coast measures approximately 700 km. To the north and south seas capes measure 8.525 m for the Grave of Puerto Rico and 5.000 m for the Grave of Tanner. In addition to the principal island, the Commonwealth includes: Vieques, Culebra, Culebrita, Palomino (known by some by the Spanish Virgin Islands), Mona, Monito and various others isolated islands. Deep oceans waters fringe Puerto Rico. The Mona Passage, which separates the island from Hispaniola to the west, is about 75 miles (120 km) wide and more that 3,300 feet (1,000 meters) deep. Off the northern coast is the 28,000 feet (8,500 meters) deep Puerto Rico Trench, and to the south the sea bottom descends to the 16,400 feet (5,000 meters) deep Venezuelan Basin of the Caribbean.

The peak tourist season is between December and April, but this has more to do with the climate in U.S. mainland than anything else. The best time to avoid the crowds is the low season between May and November, which is also hurricane season (June-November).

An agreeable climate is one of Puerto Rico's most attractive characteristics. Puerto Rico has a tropical marine climate, with an average annual temperature of 82? F (28? C). Puerto Rico enjoys year round summer temperatures. The dry season is December to March. Note that temperatures in the mountains are significantly cooler than the coast, so if you intend to travel inland bring a sweater for the evenings regardless of when you visit. Annual rainfall is 62 inches.

Places to go:

San Juan
San Juan is a spirited modern city with high-rise beach strips and a justly famous colonial core. Founded in the 16th century, it's the second-oldest city in the Americas; today it's the engine of the island's economic and political life and the cultural beachhead for US influence in the Caribbean.

Many Caribbean adventurers never make it past Puerto Rico's seductive capital: there's a lot to be said for being able to lay a towel down on an pristine white Caribbean beach while having the culture and quaintness of a historic city and the convenience of a modern metropolis just minutes away.

El Yunque
The Tainos believed the god of happiness hung out on El Yunque, which is no doubt why hiking through the rainforest to this 1065m (3500ft) peak leaves travellers basking in the glow of well being, personal achievement, sore muscles and callused feet.

The mountain is part of the Luquillo range and gives its name to the surrounding forest reserve, otherwise ostentatiously named the Caribbean National Forest. Tourist authorities are fond of promoting the reserve as the only tropical forest in the US national park system.

Ponce
Nearly half a billion dollars have been spent preserving the colonial core of Puerto Rico's second city, and it's not only architecture buffs who declare the money well spent. The heart of Ponce dates from the late 17th century and has been declared a national treasure.

It consists of plazas and churches and highly decorative colonial homes, some glorious fountains and what may well be the funkiest fire station in the world. One of the reasons Ponce is so easy on the eye is that an early city regulation required that street corners be chamfered (curved).

Rio Camuy Cave Park
This jagged karst region in the northeast of Puerto Rico is littered with sinkholes and surreal limestone formations, making it prime spelunking territory. Over 200 caves have been discovered in the region, some capable of swallowing skyscrapers.

The Camuy River is one of the largest subterranean rivers in the world. Experienced cavers can get dirty and wet by climbing, scrambling, abseiling and swimming through the underground river system, but some experience is required to contemplate entering this dangerous terrain.

San German
This picturesque town set in the southwestern foothills of the Cordillera Central looks like it was lifted lock stock and barrel from Mediterranean Spain. It's Puerto Rico's oldest settlement outside San Juan, and it wears its flaky plaster heritage with charm and aplomb.

There's nothing more taxing to do here than take a genteel stroll through the town's two plazas, admire the courtly townhouses graced with gingerbread trim and poke your nose in the Church of Porta Coeli ('Gate of Heaven'). The latter was built by Dominican monks in 1606, and its august career includes a stint in the 19th century as the town jail.

Culture


Puerto Rican culture is somewhat complex, -others will call it colorful. Culture is a series of visual manifestations and interactions with the environment that make a region and/or a group of people different from the rest of the world. Puerto Rico, without a doubt has several unique characteristics that distinguish their culture from any other.

Lets consider that the people of Puerto Rico represent a cultural and racial mix. During the early 18-century, the Spaniard in order to populate the country took Taino Indian women as brides. Later on as labor was needed to maintain crops and build roads, African slaves were imported, followed by the importation of Chinese immigrants, then continued with the arrival of Italians, French, German, and even Lebanese people. American expatriates came to the island after 1898. Long after Spain had lost control of Puerto Rico, Spanish immigrants continued to arrive on the island. The most significant new immigrant population arrived in the 1960s, when thousands of Cubans fled from Fidel Castro's Communist state. The latest arrivals to Puerto Rico have come from the economically depressed Dominican Republic. This historic intermingling has resulted in a contemporary Puerto Rico practically without racial problems.

What about Puerto Rican food, cuisine and eating habits, music, and family traditions? These among hundreds of hundreds of Puerto Rican customs and traditions are what define Puerto Rico. Please feel free to browse this section to obtain a small hint of what Puerto Rican culture truly is.

Although Puerto Rican cooking is somewhat similar to both Spanish and Mexican cuisine, it is a unique tasty blend of Spanish, African, Ta?no, and American influences, using such indigenous seasonings and ingredients as coriander, papaya, cacao, nispero, apio, plantains, and yampee. Locals call their cuisine "cocina criolla".

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