A Caribbean surprise
by dlandt
One thing that slowly dawned on me over the course of our visit, was that Puerto Rico is not very touristy. Old San Juan is, but the city and island as a whole are not. Puerto Rico is a wowrking and comparatively thriving island economy, with the business of finance and education, government and commerce taking place in San Juan and most manufacturing located in Ponce. The smaller cities tend to struggle, but are easygoing towns that focus on the sea and fishing, or the nuts and bolts of rural life as everywhere else. Rural Puerto Rico does a lot of things like road maintenance, staff hospitals, retail work, fix cars etc. The best thing about Puerto Rico's non-touristy aspect is that you go local with surprising ease. You don't get out of the tourist areas, there are none. You don't seek out local restaurants, they're all around you. You shop in the same stores locals do, you eat the same foods and drink in the same open air bars, eat the same mallorcas they do, because that's all there is! Sure, they have chain restaurants, but even in those, you will be surrounded by local people, not tourists.
Immigration Check when coming from USA (NY/NJ)
by jumpingnorman
Regarding your question about what immigration papers they check in Puerto Rico if you're arriving from NY or NJ:
Just arrived in Puerto Rico yesterday and nothing was checked...as in nothing. We just got our luggages and that was it...no immigration...Of course we had our US pasports, birth certificates for the kids and driver's licences but they did not even look at it...it was just confusing to find out where our luggages we coming out of because we did not listen to the flight attendant when we were landing..there are no compuer screens to show where your luggages are (carousels 1-8).
Even leaving NY (La Guardia) we had to check in through the domestic counter - not considered International...
Be careful
by myfuninthesun
Did not like Puerto Rico. Stayed in a hotel night before cruise. All they want you to do is drink and gamble. Had an item stolen from carry-on during security check (only time it was out of my sight)
El Morro
by jgemini65
El Morro was awesome. There is no doubt that this is a must see in Puerto Rico. The history is amazing and the views are breathtaking! Walking the grounds of El Morro and the adjoining Cemetery are a photographic dream!
Puerto Rico Weather and Feasts
by risse73
I just had a long conversation with my good PR friend about the concerns you've raised here regarding the weather. Similar to what was noted in the above on-line link re: temperature, the subjective conclusion of people who know PR the best because they come from there is that the tropical weather of PR makes it an ideal location year-round as it does not change much throughout the year. The only real problem you need to be worried about is that of the annual tropical storms/hurricanes that peak around late July to September. Per my friend, sometimes luck may be on your side since this comes later during the season (sometimes between August-Sept.). Sometimes there may be downpours, but it stops a few hours later and the sun shines brightly again. Also know that it depends where you position yourselves in Puerto Rico. The northern part (e.g., San Juan, other areas close to the El Yunque National Rainforest, etc.) gets the heaviest amount of rainfall, but the south (e.g., Salinas, Ponce, etc.) less so. Please don't think that my earlier posts were that of a dissuading nature, I am merely cautioning you about what you will potentially encounter weather-wise as part of your travel-related planning. My friend graciously has compiled a list for you to peruse regarding feasts in August all over PR. I will e-mail it to you as soon as I receive it. As for the heat, well, it will not change...it will be warm to hot, but I often referred my experience with weather in PR as "warm" rather than "hot" because we made sure to stay around the coastal part where we got a nice sea breeze all the time. That made the difference, I think. As for the activities, we were all over PR in the few weeks we were there and actively pursued outdoor-type activities. Sailing is GREAT if you get to do it privately, but it may be too much of a stretch in August when you may not know when the storms/hurricanes strike. You don't want to be in the middle of it out there in the open water and risk having the boat capsize.
Good Luck & Enjoy! Our drive all over the island of Puerto Rico and the sailing with friends.
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Las Raices Fountain
Guavate!!!!!!
Fort in Old San Juan.
King Lechon
