Puerto Rico

And now for something completely different—Puerto Rico (Wikipedia):

Officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, [it] is a self-governing Caribbean archipelago and island organized as an unincorporated territory of the United States under the designation of commonwealth. Located about 1,000 miles (1,600 km) southeast of Miami, Florida between the Dominican Republic in the Greater Antilles and the U.S. Virgin Islands in the Lesser Antilles, it consists of the eponymous main island and numerous smaller islands, including Vieques, Culebra, and Mona.

While Substack’s stats are either too imprecise for US territories or I’m unable to locate whether there are, in fact, at least one or more subscribers from there, in the end, it doesn’t matter, does it?

Having never been to Puerto Rico, where else would one commence a trip across the territory but in San Juan? I also have two postcards showing, according to their reverse, “typical streets of (Old) San Juan”, with me being in the questionable position of not being able to confirm or deny just how typical they may be…

They do look very nice, at least back in the 1970s when these were mailed…

And here’s San Juan’s Old City Hall, which also looks quite nice—and very sunny:

Other Sights in the ESPC

Of course, no destination is but its main city, and Puerto Rico is no exception:

Above, a “country scene near Caguas in the lush tobacco area”; below, the “Waterfront at La Croabas near Fajardo on the western end of the island”:

Needless to say, “even” back in the 1970s, mass tourism was rearing its ugly head:

Finally, my personal favourite: a scene from the Loiza Aldea festival, “celebrated in the month of July in honor of the James the Apostle”:

Now that was a trip you perhaps didn’t expect, eh?