Tuesday Night I landed in Sun Juan, Puerto Rico for another long layover – this one for 22 hours. I left the airport and found a cheap hotel. Wednesday I headed for “Old San Juan” (San Juan Viejo?) which is the old Spanish Colonial part of the city, and actually an island just off the coast of Puerto Rico proper. It’s pretty cool, and not unlike old Havana or Antigua, Guatemala (although I’ve never visited either of those places).
Here is a photo of Plaza Colon, which not surprisingly features a colossal statue of Chris Columbus. Despite everything this guy did for the Caribbean (conquest, enslavement, genocide, etc.) they sure like him a lot, which surprises me. Kinda. Also got me thinking: who are the Puerto Ricans and where did they come from, and why? All the original Natives of this Island were dead by 1550, and the current people definitely look more Indian than Spanish (i.e., they’re not white), so what gives?Puerto Rico is a U.S. colony. They use dollars, the USPS, and the National Park Service. Your cellphones work there, and you don’t need to go through immigration if coming from the United States. They speak Spanish, but most are fluent in ESL. So it’s a lot like Miami, solo con mas Salsa Calente.
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