Inside ICI


PUERTO RICO by Katherine Mariaca-Sullivan


Puerto Rico, known by its moniker La Isla del Encanto,


or the Isle of Enchantment, fully lives up to its hype.


Whether you are an adventurer who is into cave


exploration, boating, zip-lining or SCUBA diving,


a historian who feels the draw of the


ages from pre-Colombian times through gentle Taino rule and on into fierce Spanish conquest and ultimate defeat,


an art lover who wants to discover


important and soon-to-be important painters, sculptors, muralists, or jewelry artisans,


a gourmand who is up to having his


or her idea of the perfect meal revisited, a musician or dancer who understands that really good music moves you – and forces you to move


a tourist who wants to cram it all


in... pristine beaches, Old San Juan, an honest-to-goodness rain forest, snorkeling on a tropical reef, eating, dancing, drinking and gambling - into a once-in-a-lifetime bucket list blowout, or a businessperson faced with the all-


8 ❘ January 2019 ®


important question, “what should I absolutely see in the few hours I have, and how many Piña Coladas can I drink while doing so?”,


this small-but-huge island will surely delight, entertain, educate, and enchant you.


So Where is Puerto Rico – and How Do I Get There? Puerto Rico is the smallest of a group of islands known as the Greater Antilles. This group, which includes Cuba, Hispañola (the Dominican Republic and Haiti share this island), the Cayman Islands and Jamaica, are the northernmost islands in a chain that stretches from just south of Florida down to South America. “Antilles”, from the Portuguese words “anti” (before) and” ilha” (island) is another word for what we now more commonly refer to as the Caribbean. While it is the smallest of the Greater


Antilles, measuring approximately 100 x 30 miles, Puerto Rico’s location was militarily significant in the early centuries of European domination of the West as it lies to the east of the other large islands and it thus acted as an outpost and base between Europe and the Caribbean, the (now-known-as) Gulf of Mexico, and Central America. So much so that for centuries it was fought


over by the then-European super-powers (the English, the Dutch, the French, the Spanish, etc.) who understood that control of Puerto Rico meant control of the ships that entered into the more protected waters of the Caribbean Sea. Geographically-speaking, Puerto


Rico lies about mid-point between the southernmost tip of Florida and South America. While that might sound far, in truth it is just a relatively short plane ride from many points of the US mainland. I say “relatively” because when my family first moved there in September of 1972, travel to the island was a lot more complicated than it is now. Now it is just a 4-hour flight from Boston, a 2.5- hour flight from Miami, or a 4.5-hour direct flight from Dallas. Because the island is serviced by so many major airlines, there are many flights to choose from and prices are surprisingly reasonable, with specials to be found in the $200.00 - $400.00 range.


Things to Do OK, here is where I point you to Trip Adviser and tell you I’ve read through their suggestions and I couldn’t agree more. But, I will share some adventures that are particularly dear to my heart and that I highly encourage: Old San Juan – This is a place-out-


of-time magical place. The streets are made of blue bricks which travelled to


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