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Well, we are back after a week in “the jewel of the Caribbean”. After 11 years of living in the United States, it still surprises me how little most Americans know about Puerto Rico even though our histories have been intertwined for over a century. For most Americans, the island is either a stopover on a cruise or flight to another destination in the Caribbean and, even if they have spent some time in the island, their travels are usually restricted to the resort areas where they see very little of the “real” Puerto Rico. Those who have never visited, have generally fictitious views of the island made up of stereotypes from many other third-world and island nations, which have little to do with reality.

For this reason, I have decided to dedicate part of this blog to a Puerto Rico travel guide for those who are interested in venturing outside the typical tourist areas frequented by the cruise ship crowd. For those who are willing to put a little effort into their vacations, Puerto Rico can prove to be a vibrant place where one can have many adventures. In fact, many Americans are choosing to settle in the island either after retirement or seeking lower cost of living and higher quality of life. A conversation with a realtor during our stay confirmed that indeed many communities in the Jobos and Ricón areas are already almost completely Anglo. Even our favorite traveling surfers, the creators of the TV program On Surfari, have chosen to relocate on the island from San Diego after considering many other places.

The trip was a success despite getting sick for a day or so and being a lot busier than I expected. We were able to go to the West coast and do some off-roading on dirt tracks to reach hidden pristine beaches and eat lots of great food. We visited the village of Boquerón to take in the party scene during the long Easter weekend and witnessed a mini-community of VW Bus campers that had settled the edge of town for the weekend. Unfortunately, some of the video that I was expecting to post seems to have been ruined when the camera got wet. We’ll have to see how much of it can be salvaged.

The main difficulty we had were delays on the flights there and back. Some of these were weather related but others were caused by logistical problems that are becoming all too frequent on this route. We travel this route frequently-at least 5 times since 2005-and it seems that recently American Airlines is unable to get all the pieces it needs to start the flight on time. This last time it was the pilot that was late coming in from Fort Lauderdale. First, they delayed the flight an hour and a half. When boarding did not start at the new appointed time, they didn’t even bother to explain, no doubt fearing further insults being hurled at them from the restless crowd who was by now demanding that the $5 shack fee be dropped-which, by the way, they didn’t get.

They eventually began boarding but we had to wait one more hour inside the plane before we could go anywhere despite an announcement that the pilot was on-board and making “final checks”. We had wisely chosen to take the $180 upgrade to business class and could clearly see members of the crew stagger in way after the announcement was made. Coincidentally, I found the following post on explorer and entrepreneur Richard Branson’s unofficial blog:

Still busy here, with a bit of travelling on my part as well. Flying to Dallas on American Airlines last week, I was suddenly jolted back to the reality of normal airline travel— dear God, have I been that utterly spoiled on Virgin Atlantic?! On AA, the seats were cramped, flights were late, staff was unenthusiastic, and the “$4 for snacks” pitch made me laugh out loud. Actually (true story), I picked up some food at TGI Fridays at DFW and was waiting at the gate when I thought I’d use the restroom before the flight. I asked the AA woman at the counter if I could leave my single-clear-plastic food container there for a minute, and she quite authoritatively told me I wasn’t allowed to and that she’d have to throw it away. Talking to a friend a few minutes later, we joked: “Damn, if this were Virgin, they’d not only hold it for me, but when I got back, they’d ask if I wanted it reheated!” It’s hardly surprising that Virgin Atlantic passengers rave about the airline while American and other airlines stumble their way toward bankruptcy with business-as-usual obliviousness. (I wasn’t even joking when I said the VAA staff at the gate mailed my postcards, etc.)

While these self-proclaimed fans of the creator of Virgin Atlantic are bound to be more than a little biased, I tend to agree as far as American’s service is concerned. I haven’t traveled with Virgin so I cannot comment on how superior their service is; however, I have traveled quite a bit on American and can attest to how bad their service is. Things have gotten even worse after 9/11 as flight attendants have been empowered by new security rules and customers’ freedom to complain have been curtailed. During one memorable flight right after my father’s death I had to endure repeated elbowing every time a flight attendant about whom I had complained walked by my seat. That will teach me to complain! I guess I was lucky she didn’t accuse me of being a terrorist and had to spend the rest of the flight bound and gagged inside the lavatory.

Enough ranting for now… I guess the hassles of air travel are a necessary evil if you want to go anywhere unless you are Richard Branson and have Virgin Galactic at your disposal. One can only dream…