I'm back from Puerto Rico today. I've traveled to many places over the years, but this is the first time I've visited a tourist city and never felt the urge to return. It's not because it didn't leave any impression; on the contrary, the good and bad impressions it gave me were very distinct. Puerto Rico is more like a hopeless case, making me angry at its lack of ambition.
As a tourist city, my overall evaluation of it is positive. It has very good natural conditions, but it has not made good use of them, resulting in its lack of prominence in various aspects and its complete substitutability (there is no need to come to Puerto Rico to experience these things). On this basis, its shortcomings are even more obvious. Therefore, if you have other travel options, I would not recommend going to Puerto Rico.
Top-notch attractions, but basic amenities.
Puerto Rico is an island surrounded by the sea, but its main attractions are concentrated in the eastern part of the island. We also visited the western part this time, since it's only a 2-hour drive, although it's actually not a 2-hour distance, it's just that its "highways" are full of traffic lights.
Puerto Rico's various "attractions" are very scattered, almost entirely untouched by human intervention. Even when several attractions are connected, they remain firmly in their original locations. This is an advantage, allowing visitors to experience a natural feel, but it also makes exploring the area quite strenuous, especially getting into the attractions and parking. Often, entering an attraction requires traversing a very narrow path surrounded by dilapidated houses; one might easily mistake it for a lost path.
Moreover, in Puerto Rico, in addition to natural scenery such as beaches, rainforests, and water sports, many activities are privately run, such as horseback riding and yachting. You need to drive to their "house" to start your activities.
Although there's some unease about this kind of "service," the final result seems positive. These practitioners value their reputation highly and strive to do their best to attract tourists. Furthermore, due to the lack of regulation, they can often do things that aren't possible elsewhere, such as riding horses recklessly, driving yachts, or flying drones.
Overall, Puerto Rico has very beautiful scenery, but due to the lack of proper management, it is very difficult to travel around. Many services are private and feel unreliable. Although the people are very nice, it is hard not to feel comfortable.
mansions in the slums
Most of Puerto Rico is underdeveloped; driving through the streets feels like entering a slum—the houses are dilapidated and disorganized, utility poles are scattered everywhere, and various items are strewn about. But as mentioned before, Puerto Rico has many "self-employed individuals" who offer a variety of tourism-related services, which is quite interesting.
For example, when we went to the west side of the island, we booked a "hotel" (there are very few hotels on the west side of the island, so it's hard to imagine that this is a tourist destination). When we arrived, we were dumbfounded. It wasn't a hotel at all, but a private villa. The housekeeper told us that someone had bought it for their own vacations, but hadn't been coming back for the past few years, so they rented it out. It was more like an Airbnb than a hotel.
This house is incredibly luxurious and extravagant; in DC, it would probably cost tens of millions. However, it's located in a very "chaotic" neighborhood, accessible only through back alleys, and surrounded by extremely dilapidated houses, creating a stark contrast. I've included a screenshot comparing this villa to the "villas" nearby.
Such examples have become increasingly common in recent days, including at tourist attractions, where many sites are situated within clusters of dilapidated buildings. This unbalanced development is somewhat surprising and unsettling.
I later heard from locals that the area's lax management, lack of planning, and lack of property taxation led many to buy land and build houses during the period of US subsidies. This also explains why many luxury homes are located in "slums," and why many service providers use their own properties as bases.
This has led to a significant price imbalance. You can take a round-trip cruise to the island for (one hour), but staying in a "normal hotel" would cost 0-0. This imbalance is directly reflected in the prices, and Puerto Rico also levies a tax of nearly 12%.
Chaotic traffic and inconsistent quality of service
However, once you leave the tourist attractions, it's a completely different story. Because of personal reasons, I needed to buy something at Best Buy, which led me to a shopping mall where I encountered many unfriendly people and behaviors.
What needs to be emphasized is their transportation. Not only are there major problems with the road design, but many auxiliary roads and main roads are even in the opposite direction. Moreover, the toll highways are not lit at night. The streetlights are just standing there, but they are not turned on. Although many highways in the United States do not have lights, it is the first time I have seen toll highways with lights built but not turned on.
Another unacceptable thing was that even in areas with streetlights, 50% of Puerto Rican drivers used their high beams, blinding me so badly I couldn't see anything. Reminding them was useless; it seemed like using high beams at night was perfectly normal. It wasn't until the third day, driving back from the island, that I gave way to someone behind me with their high beams on. He seemed a little embarrassed and turned them off. That's when I noticed… one of his headlights was off, and the other was barely lit. This suddenly reminded me of when the guide told us while horseback riding that vehicle checks here are completely lax; as long as the car can move, it's allowed through.
The dilapidated car wasn't the main problem. Driving at night, there were practically no traffic rules here. On the way back, everyone just ran red lights, whether it was at highway exits or on side roads, completely ignoring them and speeding through.
If running a red light didn't shock you, then drunk driving and speeding might. That day, running a red light wasn't actually my biggest concern, since it didn't affect me much. But speeding was unacceptable. Every car on the road was going incredibly fast. You know I'm the kind of driver who can go 80 mph when I'm only at 60, but they all seemed to be going around 100 mph, speeding without a care in the world, probably because there weren't any police around.
At the gas station store, you could actually buy alcohol. Many people would buy alcohol while refueling, open it, drink it, and then take any leftovers to their cars to drink while driving... I witnessed this firsthand.
Upon arriving on the island, I immediately felt the warmth and cheerfulness of the Puerto Ricans. From airport services to car rental, they not only proactively offered assistance but also chatted and laughed with me, creating a feeling of paradise.
Later I realized this was just an illusion, similar to the large price differences. To enjoy a "normal" service, you naturally have to pay a higher price. The reason I always thought Puerto Ricans were nice was because I was always on the path of "enjoying" things, without ever venturing out to see the real "locals."
Government incompetence
I initially wanted to use "corruption" to describe it, but since I lack evidence, I'll use "incompetence" for now. All of these issues—luxury homes in slums, exorbitant taxes, a diverse population, chaotic traffic, and so on—are inextricably linked to the government.
As we all know, Puerto Rico has long wanted to join the United States and become a state, but the US government has consistently refused. After coming here, I found the reason. An island with such great tourism resources has managed to create such a poor tourism experience; a country with 3 million people has accumulated a debt of billion. I can't think of any other word besides incompetence.
Tourism is Puerto Rico's most famous and easily developed economic sector, yet it hasn't been properly managed. The attractions are chaotic, the infrastructure is extremely poor, and even hotels are scarce. Exposed power lines, narrow and irregular streets, and other issues demonstrate the government's lack of interest in developing tourism. Local Puerto Rican businesses are very friendly and value tourists, striving to create a good impression and frequently emphasizing "come back," but the government appears inactive.
It's worth mentioning that C and V Islands, Puerto Rico's largest tourist attractions, only have four daily cruises between them and the main island, and tickets were extremely difficult to buy (though online purchases are now available). To date, these cruises primarily serve the island's residents. If this is interpreted as controlling tourist numbers, then the cruise's unreliability becomes inexplicable.
Because we hadn't bought our tickets in advance (and didn't know where to buy them), the only tickets available that day were for the last boat back at 9 PM (the previous one was at 4 PM). Many people, like us, had spent the whole day sightseeing and were waiting for the boat to return and rest (many had even just come out of the water and hadn't changed their clothes). After the boat arrived at 9 PM, it dropped off the arriving tourists and then left. The staff told me they were going to another pier to unload cargo—yes, unload cargo—and then pick up a few more people at that pier before coming back. I'd heard many complaints about boats not being on schedule, and this was a real experience. We didn't board the boat until almost 11 PM and didn't get back to the hotel until 2 PM.
These boats come and then go off to do other things; I can understand that as running shady businesses. Doing this in the middle of the night, disregarding the feelings of tourists, only shows the incompetence of the management. The poor businesses are the ones whose good image has been ruined like this.
Summarize
Overall, Puerto Rico is a place you can choose to visit or not. While the scenery isn't particularly outstanding compared to other places (like Miami), that can't mask the underlying problems. Tourism is all about comfort, especially island getaways like this. If things are worrisome and lack any guarantees, it's hard to convince tourists to come back.
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Original author:Jake Tao,source:"Never again, Puerto Rico"
Comment list (1 item)
[...] Getting back to the point, I spent five days and four nights in Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas, and compared to my trip to Puerto Rico last year (link), I feel my evaluation will be more objective and fair. The overall feeling and scenery of these Caribbean island nations are quite similar, but compared to Puerto Rico, the Bahamas experience was much worse. I wonder what Cancun is like. [...]