Puerto Rico

General Information

Puerto Rico is an American territory, the president is Obama and they have their own Governor. They speak Spanish but you can easily communicate in English. The signs on the road are American style, just in Spanish, like "Salida" for Exit. The speed is in miles, but the gas is sold by the liter, so you will see the gas price as $0.66. And you don't need a passport to go there, but there is a free shop at the airport, with really good prices. You can buy there if you are going to the "mainland".

Where to Stay

I stayed my initial night at a Hilton Golf Casino Resort in Ponce, on the south side of the island, where my wife was working. Ponce is located about 1:20h from the airport, you have to cross the mountains to get there, there is a highway with toll. The resort is nice, but the beach is narrow, with reefs and no white sand, mostly rocks. I don't think anybody swims there.

For the remaining four nights, we were looking for a place to go with a nice white sand beach and we couldn't find any resort, so if you know of one, please tell me.

Initially, I booked a hotel on the North central area of the island. My wife didn't think it was a good idea and she cancelled that and booked what is known to be the best hotel on the island: Waldorf Astoria "El Conquistador". Great hotel, very nice and fancy, it is located on a hill, in three levels, the top level is the main area of the hotel with the lobby, restaurants, pool and rooms. And a one million dollar view of the ocean and islands nearby. The middle level has rooms and a pool and the sea level has rooms, a marina, restaurants and a water park. We booked the sea level room thinking about using the pool and easy access to the marina, however the pool on this level has a $13 fee per day! Frustrating, we didn't pay. To go to the other hotel levels there is a non-stop funicular service, that works really fine! The hotel doesn't have a beach on the hotel area, but they have an island with a very nice white sand beach, and a free ferry every 30 min departing from the marina. Very nice! The hotel rate is very expensive, and they charge something like $80/night in extra fees, resort fees and other taxes. And the food and drinks are very expensive everywhere in the hotel area, including on the island. If you want to google, the island is called Palomito. And the hotel doesn't have a casino. The hotel is located in Fajardo, about 1h driving from San Juan, on the east side of the island.

Another options to stay are on the Puerto Rico islands, Culebra is the best, and Vieques is the second option. The main problem of staying on these island is how to get there. I checked a few sites and all of them said it's almost impossible to get a ferry ticket, unless you go the line the night before! The service is operated by the government, locals have priority, and the round trip is cheap, $4.50. We tried to get there, since our hotel was very close to the Ferry Terminal, but as expected we couldn't get tickets to Culebra. We didn't try going to Vieques. Looks like the best option to go to these islands is by plane, $75 each leg.

How to Get Around

The main hotels have a shuttle service from the airport to the hotel. This is best option if you don't intend to go anywhere. Of if you go, you will take a tour.

We rented a car, since we were in Ponce initially. They drive like crazy (worst than Brazilians!) and roads are usually in bad conditions. The streets don't have names on the corners, it's a challenge, but not impossible. We did it, and we survived! And with the car we could go to a Walmart for shopping!

They have a lot of toll roads, when you are getting your car they will ask you where you are going and they will recommend to prepay the toll, they will sell you it for $3.95/day, it's a very good deal.

What to See

There is a few of historical places on the Island and also nature, like a rain forest. The main attraction on the island, a "must-see", is the Old San Juan, and it's two forts, especially the San Felipe del Morro, known as "El Morro". Yanni recorded his latest DVD there. There is an underground public parking lot right across the main entrance of the fort, under a park. Get there early because the parking lot gets full, and don't be afraid if when you go back to you car, there is another car(s) blocking your car, someone will go there to move the cars. We freaked out when we saw it...! The parking costed $6 for a few hours.

From this fort, you can easily visit the Old San Juan, with it's narrow streets and sidewalks and colorful houses. The Old San Juan is located on a hill, the fort it's on the highest point, so you will be walking down most of the time. And it will be hot, so bring a hat and sunscreen. Fortunately, if you don't want to walk back the hill up to the fort, there are free trolleys that will take you there. Just ask someone where the trolley stop is located, make sure you mention the "El Morro" trolley, because there are other lines. We walked.

Another parking option in the Old San Juan is the "Estacionamiento Doña Fela", a very large parking lot, multi level, in front of the port where are cruise ships. From there you can either walk to the fort, up hill, or take the free trolley.

Old San Juan is also a nice place to eat local food.

One attraction that is also popular in Puerto Rico, and we didn't visit, are the lakes with gloomy fishes. I think you have to go at night and take a canoe.

What to Eat

Food is very good in Puerto Rico, especially outside the hotels. My wife had Red Snapper, a fish they eat entirely, including the eyes, unfortunately I didn't have this opportunity. But the main food is definitely mufongo. Mufongo is like a small pie, made either with banana plantains or with yucca ("aipim" in Portuguese) that they deep fry and stuff with anything, from octopus to chicken, shrimp and beef. Very delicious, I had it many times. They also eat rice and beans. Another typical side dish is something called "tostones", this is something like if they smash a banana plantains on a skilled and grill it. It's interesting.

They also have regular fish dishes, like salmon, cod and mani-mahi.

And my wife's favorite food was the "churrasco", a grilled piece of flank steak with chimichuri.

They also have very good snacks, pastries. We had a few times pastelillos, it's like empanadas, just bigger. And quesitos, a sweet turnover with cheese.

They have great desserts. I had at least one flan every day, they make all types of flans, vanilla, cheese (my fav), coffee, chocolate, etc. On the last day we discovered their "3 leches" is much better than the Mexican, very moist and sweet.

For breakfast, the best recommendation is to go to a "panaderia" and order a ham and cheese sandwich. It's made with french bread and is pressed. Excellent! You won't find it at the hotels.

What to Drink

They have two beers, Medalla is the most popular, very light. And Magna, their premium beer. They are ok, but you see people drinking mostly Corona.

Puerto Rico is the land of rum, you will drink a lot of rum there. The main drinks are Piña Colada and also Daiquiris. They call this two drinks as "frozen drinks". But you can also drink mojitos. The most popular brand is DonQ (/doncú/), but Bacardi is also from the Island.

Besides that, we found fresh orange juice at the panaderias.

If you want to buy rum to take home, the best place is the airport duty free, $25 for two bottles of DonQ. At the hotel, this was the price of one bottle, and Walmart sells for $14 (+ tax).

Coffee is also excellent on the island. In this case Walmart was the best place to buy coffee. Yauconno is the most popular brand and very delicious, especially if make like expresso. But Alto Grande seems to be the top quality brand. We bought both.

What to Shop

The only things we bought there were rum (at the airport free shop) and coffee (at Walmart). In the Old San Juan you will see a lot of artisans if you want to buy some local stuff. I wouldn't know anything else to recommend.

Some Prices

Gas: $0.66/litter (around $2.50/gl)
Beer Medalla: $3 in a bar, $6 at the hotel, a little more for the Magna
Drinks with alcohol: $9-$12
Drinks without alcohol: $6-$8
Mofongo: $12-$18 (depends on the stuffing)
Flan: $3-$6 (depend on the location)
Burger: $14 (at the hotel)
Ham and Cheese sandwich: $3
Pastelillos: $3
Fort El Morro entrance: $5 (valid for the other fort also)