These per­sonal obser­va­tions come after
hav­ing spent my first full year in Puerto Rico.

Gen­eral facts about Puerto Rico can be had by vis­it­ing the CIA fact page that was updated in Sep­tem­ber of 2010 and Wikipedia’s site which I quote from often. Other links can be found in the Side­bar on the right. Ideas regard­ing what to see and do can be found by sim­ply surf­ing the Dog’s site or fol­low the occa­sional link within. You will need to look else­where for golf or health spas. Both activ­i­ties are very pop­u­lar here.

Don’t for­get to check out the ‘Maps Page’ too!

WEATHER: The weather in PR is typ­i­cal of the Caribbean. It only varies a few degrees year round and it’s a lot cooler up in the moun­tains. Its not uncom­mon to be clear in the morn­ing and rain in the late after­noons. The North side gets more rain than the South side. In fact, the South is quite dry (but hot), the price you pay for liv­ing down by the ocean. The Hur­ri­cane Sea­son is from about mid June until the end of Novem­ber. For­tu­nately, most folks from else­where take their vaca­tions in the win­ter… it all works out. Here’s a tip– When Puerto Ricans take a vaca­tion, they usu­ally go to the Moun­tains or the West end of the island. Fresh­wa­ter fish­ing and clean air up in the ‘hills’ or the great beaches and seafood around Rin­con or Cabo Rojo are very pop­u­lar. My favorite time of the year is late June and July… The Flam­boy­ans are in full bloom and every­thing is bright green. Plus, it’s still too early to really think about hurricanes.

PASSPORTS: For Amer­i­cans trav­el­ing to Puerto Rico, it’s very easy. PR is a ter­ri­tory of the USA so no pass­ports are needed if you fly directly back and forth between the main­land and the island. If on the other hand, you will be join­ing a Cruise with ‘Ports of Call’ out­side Puerto Rico, then yes, you will need one. Vis­i­tors on hol­i­day from other coun­tries will need their respec­tive pass­ports too.

LANGUAGE: Though Span­ish IS the local lan­guage, as long as you stay in the main tourist areas of San Juan, Fajardo, Ponce, Cabo Rojo, Mayaguez and Rin­con, you should always be able to find some­one who speaks Eng­lish. Once you get out­side the big cities and into the hills, it’s a dif­fer­ent story… Speak some Span­ish or carry those silly lit­tle cards you can point to. Many cops out­side the big towns do not speak Eng­lish. I rode the bus from my hotel in Isla Verde (in Car­olina) to Old San Juan twice and always found some­one who spoke Eng­lish to chat with. Most folks are very friendly… I like that about Puerto Rico. As a rule, most Puerto Ricans love the oppor­tu­nity to prac­tice their Eng­lish. There are many locals who once lived on the main­land with lots of retired mil­i­tary as well.

SAFETY: The same rules apply here as they do at home. Stay to the tourist areas and you will not have any prob­lems. San Juan’s hotel dis­trict in Con­dado, Car­olina and Old San Juan are well patrolled, 24 hours a day. The Plazas of all the towns I’ve vis­ited seemed safe to me. I felt safer in Old San Juan than I did in Hon­olulu (and its cheaper too). I wrote in more detail about good safe prac­tices in this arti­cle about pho­tog­ra­phy. Com­mon sense is the rule of the day.

CELL PHONES: You will not have any issues with your cell phones as long as you stick near the coast and major high­ways. Inland is another issue. AT&T does not fare as well as Ver­i­zon (Claro in PR), up in the cen­tral moun­tains, but at some point they all fail. Wire­less Inter­net will only work in the main metro areas. Almost all hotels have Inter­net ser­vice, but I would ask about it if it’s some­thing you have to have. Hang­ing out at the ‘Busi­ness Cen­ter’ of the hotel to send an email sux. Also worth not­ing, the Plazas of all towns (big or small) have wire­less Inter­net. It’s very com­mon to see locals sit­ting on benches, surf­ing the Net from a Net­book, cell phone or iPad since Wifi is free.

ACCOMMODATIONS: If you are the typ­i­cal Amer­i­can tourist look­ing for the same level of com­fort you get back in the USA, then you need to stay in San Juan or maybe Ponce. All the reg­u­lar chains have hotels in San Juan. Gam­bling is legal on the island so most hotels have their own casi­nos.  If you are more adven­tur­ous, then there are lots of alter­na­tives. Locally owned ‘Mom ‘n Pop’ hotels are every­where. I stayed in one such hotel while in San Juan, The Coqui Inn and loved it, but you might not. Paradores are pop­u­lar with the locals and there are a few Motels scat­tered across the island, but they are really used for ‘one-night-stands’ and ‘after­noon quick­ies’. Most rent out by the 8 hour block. Very dis­creet as most fea­ture pri­vate garage park­ing so no one can see you come and go. There is also lim­ited camp­ing capa­bil­ity, but it’s not con­sid­ered safe to do in small groups and requires advanced reg­is­tra­tion for most locations.

HEALTH CONSIDERATIONS: You can always get pre­scrip­tion meds re-filled here, but its a pain if you don’t speak Span­ish or deal directly with Walgreen’s. There are NO deadly crit­ters on the island and if you stay to the main tourist areas you have absolutely noth­ing to worry about.  Most haz­ardous ani­mals are noc­tur­nal.. you will never see them. If you are prone to reac­tion (ana­phy­lac­tic shock), then bring an extra syringe for emergencies.

Mos­qui­toes can carry ‘Dengue’ (like Ben-gay) known as “Break-bone Fever”. So use bug dope when out in the woods and you’ll be fine, really. I live rural and its not a big issue. I often take odor­less gar­lic gel-caps before I head out. Dengue is com­mon to PR, the Caribbean and Latin America.

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: Or lack of it would be a bet­ter call. From within San Juan, there are reg­u­larly sched­uled pub­lic buses that run from the hotel areas in Con­dado or Car­olina to the Old San Juan Bus Ter­mi­nal. Ask at the front desk and they will tell you which bus to get on and where. Bus stops are rather non­de­script, nor is there a posted sched­ule. For­tu­nately, the ter­mi­nal in Old San Juan puts you right in the mid­dle of things. I felt safe on the pub­lic bus.. lots of local folks of all ages were rid­ing it. Most small towns includ­ing Old San Juan, Ponce and Mayaguez main­tain shut­tle buses that run in and out of the main plaza.  These are free and many are air-conditioned.  You can always hail a cab, but San Juan is a huge place– Always insist on a price in advance or you’ll likely get stiffed. They sel­dom drop a ‘flag’. The ‘Tren Urbano’ mass tran­sit sys­tem serves Metro San Juan, the main uni­ver­sity and the main hos­pi­tal, but not the tourist areas. Out­side of San Juan, there are only small pri­vately owned ‘Pub­li­cos’. These are ‘one-man vans’ run­ning to only one des­ti­na­tion. What’s more, you have to get there early to get a ride to where ever you are going and if it don’t fill up with rid­ers, they may not go at all. Pub­li­cos are a Puerto Rican tra­di­tion from years past. They are fine if you are not in a hurry and speak Span­ish. DOH! Rent­ing a car or jeep is your best, most prac­ti­cal option. A ferry ser­vice pro­vides access to Vieques and Cule­bra from the docks in Fajardo. They make the run on a daily basis.

DRESS: Dress is always casual. Temps are in the mid to high –80’sF dur­ing the heat of the day. And in the low –90’s on the South side of the island. San­dals, shorts and tank tops are very com­mon as is jeans and polo shirts.  The more ritzy hotels and restau­rants will have for­mal dress codes, espe­cially at din­ner hour. When walk­ing on Old San Juan’s 500 year old cob­ble stone streets, good shoes are in order. ‘Styl­ish’ heels might cost you a twisted ankle. A hat is a good idea if you will be out and about dur­ing mid-day. Its also pos­si­ble to be caught out in an after­noon down pour so a small umbrella or ‘rain-slick’ is a good idea too.

EATS: Puerto Rico has all the fast food chains most Amer­i­cans are famil­iar with and a cou­ple more. Do not expect the same ‘fast’ ser­vice you are used to, Puerto Rico runs at its own pace. If you have not tried Pollo Trop­i­cal, you should. Think up-scale Taco Bell with a Caribbean twist. It’s my favorite. I have not been to McDon­alds or Burger King since I moved here. Restau­rants in the main tourist areas are many and var­ied just like back home.  I was sur­prised to see a big help­ing of french fries served with every meal, at every Chi­nese Restau­rant I’ve been to.  It’s a local thing. Authen­tic Puerto Rican dishes are sim­i­lar to other Caribbean fare, but not quite as spicy hot. Its all good so dive in! If you man­age to take a road trip, I rec­om­mend stop­ping at a ‘Pin­cho’ stand and try one of their roasted chicken or pork skew­ers. Hope­fully they will be set-up next to an out­side bar where you can wash it down with a Medalla Lite beer (Brewed in Mayaguez). It’s pretty good too.

DRINK: If you drink water, make sure its bot­tled AND that the cap is intact. Tap water is OK.  It’s sim­ply loaded with chlo­rine and heavy with min­er­als.  We use a reverse osmo­sis sys­tem for drink­ing water at home.

Another good rea­son for drink­ing beer! At least you know its not been tam­pered with. The drink­ing age is 18.. I’m sur­prised this place has not become a hot spot with the ‘Spring Break’ crowd. Drink­ing in pub­lic is banned in Old San Juan, but open in most other places.  Puerto Rico is home to sev­eral RUM dis­til­leries so it would be sad to pass on try­ing a few of the local con­coc­tions. I have an arti­cle about RUM for those that are inter­ested.  Don Q is the favored Rum since they are local. If you pre­fer some­thing else, you’ll need to speak up. Bac­ardi has a big pres­ence as well. Road­side bars are very com­mon in Puerto Rico and most allow you to sit out­side where its cooler. Hope­fully, the Pin­cho guy is right next door. Most road­side bars are not open dur­ing the week, only on the week­ends. As far as the nightlife goes, San Juan runs non-stop, 24 hours a day. There’s some­thing for everyone.

DRIVING AND ROADS: Since PR is a ter­ri­tory of the United States, they drive on the same side of the road as the rest of the US. Your US Driver’s License is good for up to 120 days. They also rec­og­nize Inter­na­tional Driver’s Licenses as well. A lot is said about those ‘Crazy Puerto Rican Dri­vers”. I think New York cab­bies are way worse. San Juan, with 2 mil­lion peo­ple has 2 mil­lion plus cars so its real crowded and park­ing is almost always a prob­lem, no mat­ter where you go. THE busiest time to be on the road is between 3:00PM and 4:30 PM. All local and state gov­ern­ment offices AND schools let out at between 3:15PM to 3:30PM. Traf­fic grinds to a stop, when mom comes to pick up the kids from school. If you plan on rent­ing a car, make sure your hotel has off street park­ing.  Some hotels charge their patrons for it, some have no park­ing at all. Car rental is more expen­sive here than most other places and your own car insur­ance may not cover you while in Puerto Rico adding more to the cost. Check with your insur­ance com­pany first AND get some­thing in writ­ing too or they will not allow it once you get here. A GPS unit will go a long ways in keep­ing you on track. I still use one, but bear in mind, some don’t cover Puerto Rico. Tip: Look­ing at maps marks you as a mark. Don’t do it in a pub­lic place, unless it’s rel­a­tively pri­vate. Road signs are another issue. There’s a real lack of them and they are in Span­ish. Not a big deal since they use shapes and col­ors, we in the US are famil­iar with. Speed limit signs are in miles-per-hour, but road signs are in kilo­me­ters (dis­tance to..). The roads off the few main high­ways are paved, but pretty bad. When they do road work, the patches that fol­low are almost always poorly done.  That is why you see sooo many folks zig-zagging around.. try­ing to avoid the crap in the road. Dri­ving in PR is NOT a casual expe­ri­ence, you got to stay on your toes. Yes, its not unusual to see a Puerto Rican absorbed in his/her cell phone while dodg­ing pot holes.

You been warned.

MONEY AND ATMs: Amer­i­can green­backs rule. Banco Popular’s ATHs (ATM) are your best shot at draw­ing cash from your debit or credit cards. Most trans­ac­tions will cost you some­thing. Very few, if any gas sta­tions accept cards, cash only and paid in advance. Gaso­line is dis­pensed in Liters so its not near as cheap as it looks at first glance.

TOUR COMPANIES: My sug­ges­tion is to talk to your hotel desk and ask them for ideas. From San Juan, there are many 1/2 day and full day excur­sions. If you are on a tight sched­ule, this is the way to go. I did a 1/2 day trip to El Yunque from San Juan on my first visit and it was worth it.

PR Emer­gency Numbers:

• Emer­gen­cies: 911

• Police: 787 – 343-2020

• Ambu­lance: 787 – 343-2222

• Civil Defense: 787 – 724-0124

• Fire Depart­ment: 787 – 343-2330

• F.B.I: 787 – 754-6000

• U.S. Secret Ser­vice: 787 – 766-5539

• U.S. Coast Guard: 787 – 729-6770

• Abuse of Minors: 787 – 749-1333

• Amer­i­can Red Cross Blood Bank: 787 – 759-7979

• Fed­eral Mar­shals: 787 – 766-6000

• Fed­eral Secret Ser­vice: 787 – 766-5539

• Fed­eral Emer­gency Man­age­ment Agency (FEMA): 787 – 729-7637

• Humane Soci­ety of Puerto Rico: 787 – 720-9398

• Tourist Infor­ma­tion: 787 – 722-1709

• Toxic, chem­i­cal and oil spills: 1 – 800-424‑8802

Most Fed­eral and State level per­son­nel speak Eng­lish,
but under­stand that Eng­lish may not be that person’s
first lan­guage.  Always talk in a calm, clear voice.

I’ll add more tips as they come to me, if you see errors, hit me back.

Be safe, be vig­i­lant, but get out there.  The Scurvy Dog… Arrg!

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