Old San Juan: steep, tropical, colorful

Photos and text by Sally Kneidel, PhD

Corridors help wildlife,  in fragmented forests

This Puerto Rican research has broad implications for all fragmented bird habitat. Many of the world’s forests persist only in fragments now, due to human activities such as logging, agriculture, and development.  Alan is studying whether the breeding birds of  Puerto Rico must have forested corridors in order to move from forest fragment to forest fragment to search for mates or food. The team is also investigating which migratory bird species pass through Puerto Rico on their way to North America from wintering grounds in Latin America.

The heritage and culture of Puerto Rico

Since Puerto Rico was colonized by the Spanish in the 1500s, almost everyone speaks Spanish as their first language. I’ve read that the people of P.R. are varying blends of Spanish, indigenous Taino, and Africans brought in by the Spanish. Alan says that in his home area of Guanica, on the SW coast of P.R., many of the locals are descended from Venezuelans.

Puerto Rico is different from other Latin American countries I’ve visited in that a huge portion of the population speaks excellent English, especially in the cities.

American stores everywhere

Another difference was the American infrastructure. The major highways were in excellent shape with highway signs that looked American, except the words were Spanish. And American stores were everywhere: Walmart, Walgreens, McDonalds, KFC, K-Mart, and more. Alan says you can find almost any American product, from an American store. Although he says a few things are way more expensive than in the U.S., which is typical of islands.

What’s the relationship of Puerto Rico to the U.S.?

Puerto Rico’s political status is a little confusing. It’s an “unincorporated territory” of the United States – belonging to the U.S. but not a part of the U.S.  Federal law applies in P.R., but they have no representation in Congress. Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, but oddly, they can’t vote in U.S. elections while in Puerto Rico. They can, however, vote if they are in the U.S. during the time of an election. Strange.

Puerto Rico doesn’t want to be a U.S. state

I was told while I was there that the vast majority of Puerto Ricans do not want statehood. In fact, there was a 1950 revolt against the U.S. in the Puerto Rican town of Jayuya, known as the “Jayuya uprising.”  It led to the U.S. attacking Jayuya with bombers.  My family stayed in Jayuya for three days on this trip – I’ll write more about that in a later post. Some of the people of Jayuya were not especially welcoming of our gang of gringos from the U.S.  We never did find any restaurants open, and ate dinner every night on the balcony of our hotel.

Historic,  colorful, steep:  Old San Juan is beautiful

The capital city of San Juan is the second-oldest European settlement in the Americas. It was founded by the Spanish in 1581, and still has two huge fortresses built by the Spanish.   The ocean is almost always visible from the old part of the city, with cruise ships anchored off shore. Cruise-ship passengers roam the narrow and hilly streets, past  historic pastel homes and shops.

Ken and Alan wait for me on a corner in Old San Juan. Photo by Sally Kneidel.

The coastal boardwalk was cool

We visited one of the two Spanish fortresses (Castillo de San Felipe del Morro) built in the 1500s, then walked back through Old San Juan along a boardwalk (or sidewalk) by the ocean.  That was my favorite part of the day.

Leaving the walls of the fortress behind, setting out on the sidewalk by the sea. Photo by Sally Kneidel

On to the tropical rainforest

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