Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Total Rico
One part rum to two parts vibrant culture and tropical rainforest, Siobhan McNally samples a heady cocktail mix of excursions around the Spanish Caribbean island of Puerto Rico
The bright and breezy 70s one-hit wonder, “Yes, I like piña coladas, and gettin’ caught in the rain, I’m not much into health food, I am into champagne”, could have been written about me.
In fact, I like piña coladas so much, I went to the paradise island where the tropical pineapple, coconut cream and white rum cocktail was invented – and is still being slurped un-ironically by the (mostly) American tourists today.
JLo (now Jennifer Affleck) and Ricky Martin are the other famous exports of this former Spanish colony, which sits between the Dominican Republic and US Virgin Islands.
“And Bad Bunny – he’s hip-’op,” our travel guide proudly added to the list, leaving our middle-aged travel group looking blank.
We soon realised Bad Bunny’s big in Puerto Rico, and it turns out he hasn’t had an operation on his pelvis – he’s a famous local singer who raps in Spanish.
Since Christopher Columbus stuck a Spanish flag there back in
1493, it became a very handy strategic outpost for the
European superpower for four centuries. Merchants from the old world would cross the
Atlantic for 5,000 miles, and turn right, sailing on the trade winds that would take them to their first major port of call – Puerto Rico, the gateway to the Americas.
The island was “acquired” by the US when the Americans intervened during Cuba’s bid for independence from Spain in 1898, and ended up bagging Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines for its troubles.
These days, it’s a popular holiday destination for Americans, and the four-hour flight from New York means it’s even close enough for mini breaks. A unique blend of three cultures in this US territory of 3.1 million gives the island its Latin American vibe – the largest white, mainly Spanish, population, the black African and
the indigenous Arawak Indians. Everyone speaks Spanish and English and a third of the island’s population live in and around the capital San Juan, which looks more like a mini Miami with its modernist architecture, hotel strip, bars and casinos – just with more rum and no guns.
Not only does Puerto Rico have the usual tropical fare of azure blue seas, white sand beaches and year-round sunshine, it also has a cool Europeanstyle cocktail bar and foodie scene, a rich history and beautiful Spanish colonial architecture to explore.
The island also used to supply a fifth of the world’s coffee, and while that figure has dwindled to just 8%, there are enough single-estate coffee bars and micro breweries here to keep even the hippest millennials happy.
If you like making love at midnight…
The action didn’t kick off till gone midnight at La Concha hotel where our stay happily coincided with one of the island’s biggest festivals, Noche de San Juan – one of 16 annual knees-ups which give Puerto Ricans yet another excuse to get glammed up in sequins and salsa.
Traditionally people dance on the beaches, then at midnight, everyone gets in the water and does a backward plunge to get rid of bad luck.
If you like piña coladas…
The Spartacus of cocktails, practically every bar on the island claims to have invented the piña colada, but it’s generally acknowledged that a bartender at the Caribe Hilton first served it in 1954.
There’s no denying Puerto Rico is the home of rum, and even though Bacarrrrrrdi (you must rrrroll your Rs like the locals) was originally Cuban, its distillery on the island is the biggest in the world.
Doing a tour of Casa Bacardi is a bit like going to a boozy Disneyland – you feel like a big kid on an articulated trolley ride while swigging cocktails. However, I’d like to confess now that if anyone was missing vital ingredients from one of the prep areas in the cocktail-making class, me and my buddy nicked the rums and added them to our drinks. Which might explain why the trolley train was so much more fun on the way back. Choo-choo! (Bacardi mixology group class from £62 per person. bacardi. com/casa-bacardi).
I’m not much into health food…
The east-to-west trade winds and lots of shade from clever Spanish colonial architecture make walking around historic Old San Juan in the heat of the day quite comfortable, especially if you
stop off at several cafes, cocktail bars and ice cream parlours.
Every cobbled street of this perfectly preserved 500-year-old neighbourhood, with its tropical pastel-painted colonial buildings and El Morro Fort, is a photographer’s dream.
With its long history of Spanish cooking and Latin American flavours, Puerto Rico’s capital is also a food-lover’s paradise.
Cool designer boutiques and micro breweries vie for space in the shady plazas with street food-style pork, rice and beans joints, tapas bars and stunning 1930s Art Deco banks that make you feel like you’ve walked on to a set of Citizen Kane (Spoons Old San Juan Walk & Taste Tour from £108 per person. thespoonexperience.com).
If you’re not into yoga…
The island is so fertile that founder of the Casa Alternavida retreat, Yancy Wright, says that anything he throws in the compost ends up growing in the lush grounds of his beautifully restored hacienda on the edge of the El Yunque rainforest outside San Juan.
It’s also a metaphor for his brand of personal growth, which saved him from his burnt-out New York lifestyle, and he now shares with paying guests.
Yancy’s eclectically furnished and individually decorated rooms, themed on the island’s flora and fauna, make this a delightful place to escape the stresses of modern life (Casa Alternavida retreat from £415 per person per night. casaalter navida.com).
And the feel of the ocean…
The Atlantic side of Caribbean islands can be a bit rough for nervous swimmers like me. I like to be able to see my feet at all times. Puerto Rico is the largest in an archipelago of 143 small islands, many with white sands, palm trees and calm turquoise waters, so it only took a 30-minute bus ride out of San Juan to the east coast to board a catamaran to Culebra island and its Bounty-style beach, Playa Flamenco.
Saying that, all eyes were firmly fixed on the horizon as the bumpy, 45-minute crossing played havoc with our breakfasts.
Jumping off the boat into the crystal clear waters and swimming to the beach sorted the sea sickness right out, before doggy-paddling back for cocktails and lunch on the boat.
Everyone happily risked heat-stroke by partying the afternoon away under the baking sun (Culebra Island Day Trip with East Island Excursions from £128 per person. eastislandpr.com).
And gettin’ caught in the rain…
It’s hard to believe that by the 1930s, Puerto Rico’s El Yunque tropical rainforest had suffered 95% deforestation from hurricanes and colonial plantations.
The island takes its eco credentials very seriously these days and is reforesting, and even built a £2million cathedral-sized visitor’s centre as a monument to the island’s diverse ecosystem. Which also means you’ll hear the sound of the forest’s native tree frog, the coqui, alongside the loud clacking of the incongruous giant bamboo that have been planted to help with soil erosion.
But at least the carefully monitored visitor numbers now means there are never too many tourists
(El Yunque Rainforest tour from £138 per person. bespokeconcierge.com/ tours).
Write to me and escape…
Jumping off the boat and swimming to the beach sorted the sea sickness
My group stayed at two very different styles of hotel. Party animals will love La Concha Renaissance San Juan Resort right in the middle of the busy Condado area. Although it was built in 1958 in the concrete modernist style, it has the luxury and charm of a small boutique hotel.
After exploring the mini bar, I then stayed at the Caribe Hilton, which is slightly out of town and is more of a resort. I totally get why some people prefer this but, to me, it could have been anywhere in the world, rather than this rum-filled Caribbean island with a twist of European lime.