After 20+ years I just spent a week at the El San Juan and learned that it’s not what it used to be. Here’s what I found.
streets of San Juan, Puerto Rico
1. Leave your passport home: PR is a U.S. territory hence, you can ditch your passport! Bring a valid / current photo ID though.
2. The drinking age is 18 and currency is U.S. dollar: It makes things very easy to buy what you forgot to pack.
3. There are 5 Miss Universe winners from PR: Unfortunately, I didn’t see any of them at the beach.
4. PR has 270 miles of beaches and is an archipelago: which means there are more islands to explore.
5. The west coast of PR has some of the best surfing and diving in all of the Caribbean: A hidden gem for sure.
6. PR has some of the best coffee in the world: Having been on 5 of the 7 continents I rate them in my top 5.
7. PR is the home of the world’s largest telescope: It’s called the Arecibo Observatory.
8. PR is almost always between 70 to 80 degrees year round: Weather is steady but no guarantee. We were just had 2 of 7 days that were sunny. We did find that the humidity seemed lower and less bugs than before.
9. PR is in deep debt that is currently $72B: Old town San Juan was noticeably run down with many closed businesses and less people. There was actually a shortage of luggage earlier this year because so many people are leaving the island.
Zip line fun in Puerto Rico
10. Currently, PR has no bankruptcy protection: PR is in a deep recession and there’s no guarantee that the USA will bail them out. They are having elections in may and corruption is rampant. The relationship between the U.S. and PR is a “tricky” one. We shall see how it plays out.
In summary, PR is still a fun place to visit. That being said if you were there years ago like us you will notice the difference and might be disappointed!