The New York Times, January 18, 1891, p. 10:
IN PORTO RICO'S CAPITALHOT SAN JUAN AND ITS FORMIDABLE CASTLE.
THE NEATEST CITY IN SPANISH-AMERICA-- THE CAPE AND THE CONSUL-- A NIGHT AT THE OPERA--THE HOTTEST CITY IN THE WEST INDIES.
...As seen from the sea, San Juan consists almost entirely of a series of massive fortifications, that collectively form the castle, as the Spaniards call all their big forts, although this has little of the appearance that is commonly supposed to belong to a castle. It is a town--a city--of forts and batteries, all built of stone, rising one above another, crowding and jostling each other. When it was built it must have been nearly impregnable; and even now, although modern guns would soon reduce the stone works, the place could, in a few days, from its commanding situation and other natural advantages, be made into a stronghold.
The buidings are in such excellent repair that they seem almost out of place in a Spanish colony. There is none of the picturesque ruin that adds to the beauty of the reknowned Morro at Havana or the other Morro at the entrance to Santiago.
Near one of the forts stands a low stone building, the size of a small cottage, with an immense stone chimney rising from it.
"Is that a smokehouse?" I ask, "that small building with the great chimney?"
"No," I am told, "that is the powder magazine."
"And why a chimney for a powder magazine?"
"That is not a chimney," is the reply; "it is a stone column to support the lightning rod."
A rich port indeed (for that is the English for the name of Porto Rico) this must be where they can afford to build a stone column fifty feet high to support a lightning rod.
But there are no signs yet of any town save a few buildings on the hilltop. The pilot has come on board and taken command of the bridge... We go in through a channel a few hundred feet wide, and although the harbor opens out as we enter, the ship channel does not widen, as we can see by the lines of buoys. As we creep further and further in, sweeping around to the eastward, the city of San Juan, the capital of Porto Rico, lies before us. Now we see the lay of the land, and the mystery of the hidden city is explained.
The town lies on a rocky peninsula, shaped like the narrow end of a long, curved squash. This peninsula is an island, in fact, being separated from the mainland by an insignificant inlet a few miles down the coast. In front of the peninsula is the sea, behind it the harbor. The land rises somewhat abruptly to a height of perhaps 200 or 250 feet. On the seaward slope are the fortifications, on the harbor slope is the city.
A relic this of the savage state of mankind only a century of two ago, when San Juan was founded. Here is probably the finest site for a city in the whole West Indies, with a steep slope to the water before and behind, the placid sea in front, and in the rear, some miles away, the mountains. But San Juan was begun in the days of pirates, adventurers, and almost constant wars, when all cities, but particularly these towns in the West Indies, belonged to whoever was strong enough to take and keep them. An unfortified city would have had no chance at all, so two-thirds of this San Juan peninsula was turned into a fort to guard the one-third that was left for the city. The castle of course took not only the larger but the better part, planting itself on the hilltops and the side facing the sea, where there is always a cool breeze. On the slope toward the harbor so small a space is left that the houses are crowded together and are in general taller than West Indian houses. In addition to the castle, or perhaps as a part of the fortification, a great wall was build around the city, which is kept in such good order that it is as perfect to-day as it was a century ago. The city, however, has outgrown the wall and many buildings are now outside.
As we rounded the curve into the harbor we found the first decided evidence that we were in the tropics. It was late in November when we left New-York and the weather chilly, and on the water we did not suffer from the heat...
We were officially received, of course, by two Custom House officers; they were on board, I think, before the anchor was dropped, and they remained on the ship while she lay at St. John. We "let go" about three hundred yards from the wharf, and within a few minutes Mr. Fernandez, one of the agents of the line, was on board, and the small boat that was to be our constant attendant was alongside. Our running ashore on the previous night was instantly the great topic of conversation, for the agents at Arecibo had hastily telegraphed to St. John for tugs to help us off--tugs that I think existed only in imagination, for I did not see one in the harbor while I was there. There was a small steam ferryboat constantly crossing to a village on the other side of the harbor, but she could not have ventured beyond the fort.
We found the weather at San Juan rather more comfortably warm, even on board ship. We were in about latitude 17°, on a level with the south side of San Domingo and the north side of Jamaica, several hundred miles lower than Havana. Down in the cabin everything was blistering, even in the early morning, and under the circumstances we were in no haste to go ashore, but first ate breakfast deliberately and then rubbed off the evidences of a seven-day voyage. Those starched linens were so bright and stiff when we brought them out for the first time since leaving New-York--they were so limp and helpless ten minutes afterward!
About 10 o'clock Capt. Godfree, Mr. Friedlander, and I stepped into the little boat the Anita, crawled under her low awning, and in five minutes were set ashore at the best and prettiest landing place in the West Indies, that at Havana not excepted. The city wall here is five or six hundred feet back from the water, and the landing place is directly opposite one of the gates, with a street running from the gate to the water. Immediately around the landing is a charming little park, kept in perfect order, with iron railings to protect the beds of the brilliant flowers, and at the water's edge a stone-paved plaza, solid stone steps to land upon, and seats under the trees to rest upon.
Instead of going at once through the gate into the city, we turned to the right to the office of Latimer & Fernandez, the company's agents, to whom I had a letter of introduction. Mr. Latimer I found to be an American, a Philadelphian, and while the Captain transacted his business in the office, Mr. Latimer gave me a store of information about Porto Rico...
To go anywhere in San Juan it is necessary to ascend or descend a hill. The north-and-south streets are steep hills and the east-and-west streets are moderate hills. It is necessary always to walk, for there are no public carriages and very few private ones, and no street cars or other conveyances. The population is large enough to warrant such things, being about thirty thousand, but the hills are so steep and the city is so compact, covering so little ground, that they would not be of much use.
In our walk through the city that morning I found it to be the best-kept and cleanest city I have seen in any Spanish country. It has not, of course, the wealth or the grandeur of Havana, but it is in much better order. The streets are broader than in the old parts of Havana, there is a good system of sewerage, and plenty of lights, both gas and electric. There are good broad sidewalks and well-paved roadways. The houses are mostly of brick or stone, cemented on the outside, and this cement is kept in good repair and well painted or whitewashed. Rain water is used exclusively, caught from the roofs and stored in stone tanks. This is the grand city of Porto Rico, and the Porto Riconians are justly proud of it, rarely calling it by name, but speaking of it always as "the city" or "el capital."
Our first objective point was the café. Every Spanish city, of course, has its café, and San Juan has two. We chose the one on the corner opposite the great cigar factory, "Los dos Antilles," because it was the nearest. and found nearly all its marble tables in use already, although the Porto Rico breakfast hour, 11 o'clock, had barely arrived.
There are only two meals a day in Porto Rico, breakfast at 11 and dinner at 5, and everybody, rich or poor, must eat at those hours, or go without. Breakfast is the more important meal of the two, to be taken with great deliberation and solemnity and soup and Spanish wine, and all the public offices from 11 till 1 while the officers go to breakfast. The café, however, is not a place to eat, except such light things as cakes and ice cream. It is devoted to drinking and smoking and talking, and it is such a universal place of resort that one is reasonably sure in the course of an hour or so of seeing all his male acquaintances there. It has none of the obstreperous features of an American bar, and light and cooling drinks were in far greater demand than strong liquors.
|
| | |
see also: Virgin Islands News - Bahamas - Cuba - Dominican Republic
|
All of Puerto Rico is one time zone at GMT-4, with no Daylight Savings time.
|
Salsoul Radio 98.5FM
Puerto Rico News
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (US): Populated for centuries by aboriginal peoples, the island was claimed by the Spanish Crown in 1493 following Columbus' second voyage to the Americas.
In 1898, after 400 years of colonial rule that saw the indigenous population nearly exterminated and African slave labor introduced, Puerto Rico was ceded to the US as a result of the Spanish-American War.
Puerto Ricans were granted US citizenship in 1917. Popularly-elected governors have served since 1948. In 1952, a constitution was enacted providing for internal self government. In plebiscites held in 1967, 1993, and 1998, voters chose not to alter the existing political status with the US, but the results of a 2012 vote left open the possibility of American statehood.
Economic recession on the island has led to a net population loss since about 2005, as large numbers of residents moved to the US mainland. The trend has accelerated since 2010; in 2014, Puerto Rico experienced a net population loss to the mainland of 64,000, more than double the net loss of 26,000 in 2010.
Hurricane Maria struck the island on 20 September 2017 causing catastrophic damage, including destruction of the electrical grid that had been crippled by Hurricane Irma just two weeks before. It was the worst storm to hit the island in eight decades, and damage is estimated in the tens of billions of dollars.
A referendum held in late 2020 showed a narrow preference for American statehood.
CIA World Factbook: Puerto Rico
Area of Puerto Rico:
9,104 sq km slightly less than 3x the size of Rhode Island
Population of Puerto Rico:
3,944,259 July 2007 estimate
Languages of Puerto Rico:
Spanish, English
Puerto Rico Capital:
San Juan
SAN JUAN WEATHER
Puerto Rico Reference Articles and Links
Wikipedia: Puerto Rico History of Puerto Rico
BBC Country Profile: Puerto Rico
Puerto Rican Government in Spanish
Puerto Rico Governor
WikiTravel: Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico News Websites
El Vocero in Spanish
Primera Hora in Spanish
El Nuevo Dia in Spanish
La Perla del Sur Ponce in Spanish
WAPA TV in Spanish
Noti Uno 630AM in Spanish
ABYZ: Puerto Rico News Links
|