Puerto Rico’s got a bum rap. Not sure how much the Broadway play (and Hollywood movie) “West Side Story” has contributed to this over the past 50 years, but lyrics like
“Puerto Rico . . .
You ugly island . . .
Island of tropic diseases.
Always the hurricanes blowing,”
haven’t helped.
In spite of this, and urged on by two eager Australian travel companions who didn’t want the hassle of additional international travel after arriving in New York City (and wanted a climate more like Sydney’s December than Manhattan’s), we booked a beach house on the west side of the island on the Internet and hopped a flight from JFK to San Juan.
We chose Puerto Rico’s west coast because our Internet research told us a) the East Coast was too windy, b) the South was too far to drive off the back of the relatively cheap nonstop flight into San Juan and c) the west has a wild and rustic appeal about it, and a great name – “Porta del Sol”, which even my high school Spanish could comprehend meant “Doorway to the Sun.” And as an added bonus, we read about its gorgeous pastel sunsets.
Kathy Drasky regularly writes about online culture. Her marketing and communications work with the ANZA Technology Network, Advance Global Australians and with various Australians and Australian enterprises has led to at least a dozen trips Down Under.
An accomplished digital photographer, her photos have appeared in 7×7 Magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle and Google Schmap.
