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