Every summer our family vacation revolves around traveling to San Juan, Puerto Rico to visit family.
The summer of 2018 was a bittersweet holiday for us as a family because it was the first time we traveled to Puerto Rico since Hurricane Maria.
Puerto Rico, La Isla Encantada, experienced its worst natural disaster when Hurricane Maria hit landfall on September 16, 2017. Hurricane Maria was a Category 5 storm with winds as high as 175 miles per hour.
My husband’s family rode out the storm in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Worse yet, rode out the aftermath.
They functioned with generators for months until they had power. My sister-in-law was without power for 42 days. My brother-in-law’s power was restored six months after the storm. He was able to cook dinner for the first time at his home, with electricity, on Super Bowl Sunday (February 4, 2018).
My 87-year-old father in law has not been back to his seventeenth-floor apartment because it has been uninhabitable since the storm. He is hoping to go back very soon as the apartment has been professionally cleaned and is now free of mold. All of the damaged furniture has been removed and replaced with new ones. They are all fairing well and living and moving on, as are many of the Puerto Ricans.
During our travels, many homes were still without power.
There were those without proper roads to access their homes, those still with blue tarps on their roof. The available energy was quite fragile and unpredictable. And hurricane season was fast approaching again.
When we arrived at Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in San Juan, my first thought was that it was quiet and subdued.
As we drove into the city, I noticed this was not the case at all. People were bustling about. The music was loud. People were smiling, laughing, dancing. Many restaurants and bars were full of people. The beaches were crowded with families.
There were no traffic lights functioning in the area of our hotel.
People were being cautious of each other on the roads. If you have been to Puerto Rico and have driven there, you know this is not the norm.
The Intercontinental in Isla Verde was crowded with people on holiday with their families.
Our hotel room was clean, smelled good and the view amazing…as I remember.
We arrived during Noche de San Juan (St. John’s Night).
Noche de San Juan is a major celebration in Puerto Rico. People gather on the beaches early evening and into the wee hours of the next morning. At the stroke of midnight, the tradition is to walk backward into the ocean, fall backward into the water. They repeat this act two more times (three times total) for good luck for the rest of the year. This party must have lasted until 3 AM. Either that or I finally fell asleep and missed the rest of it.
Our first night we ate dinner at Magno Pizza Palace, as we always do.
Magno’s has been in business since 1972. My father-in-law started bringing his family to Magno’s when it opened, and they have been going since then. My kids love Magno’s and always want to go there first thing (and last thing). They enjoy the familiarity and the family atmosphere. And they love the mini chicken cordon bleu and the French fries. The thin crust pizza is perfect, and the Medalla (the local Puerto Rican beer) is always ice cold.
My impression of Puerto Rico was that many people were moving on from Hurricane Maria.
They are still working hard to rebuild and make Puerto Rico better. The people of Puerto Rico are resilient, strong and proud.
We were able to experience many of the highlight tourist attractions, including El Morro and Old San Juan. El Yunque was closed, unfortunately, due to continued clean up. Our family tradition brought us to a movie at Plaza Las Americas and a walk around the mall (this is a sweet relief from the heat). And we ate as much Puerto Rican food as we could get our hands on.
But, of course, first on our agenda was a relaxing beach day!
Here are some of our favorite things to do while in Puerto Rico. Unfortunately, some are still closed due to the effects of Hurricane Maria.
Being a tourist in Puerto Rico today is just what this island needs.
Glad to hear that the island is recovering. What a trauma though for its people..
Very traumatic, but most are moving on and living.
Really enjoyed reading this. My heart ached for all those in Puerto Rico during last year’s hurricane season. So nice to hear things are FINALLY being restored and people are bustling and happy!
It was great to see everyone living and working and playing. There is still so much to do, but they are resilient. It was humbling, but positive.
I traveled to Puerto Rico before the hurricane, and loved it. It’s a beautiful country and the culture is so amazing.I definitely want to go back soon, thank you for writing this post!
It is a great place. Our family has such fun memories, not only with family, but with the beautiful island itself. It was great to see things moving in the right direction. But, still lots of work to do.
So glad to hear that the island is recovering! It was really interesting to read your insights having been there several times before the hurricane and then afterward as well.
It is improving and many people are moving on and living their life. Many things are different, but many are still the same. It is a beautiful place to visit.
A woman on my team at work has family in Puerto Rico. I ask her for updates every chance I get, because I worry about them like crazy and fear that PR is all but forgotten in the state-side news. Thank you for sharing your first-hand experience, and may everyone in PR be safely settled and through their ordeal very soon!
Thank you. I was in the Metropolitan area of Puerto Rico and things were improving. Still so much work to do, but they are doing it. It is really a beautiful island. So sad what happened.
Glad to hear that everything is getting back to normal albeit slowly. Nothing better for a region that for it to move on and continue to re-build. Glad you had a good time with your family despite a little heartache. The beach looks awesome!
It is awesome. WE always love going, lucky to have family there to visit all of the time:) It is a beautiful island with so much to do.
Your writing is so revealing. It’s quite lovely.
Thank you.
This is really good!!! Thank you for posting this because I was curious about this!
You are welcome. It is a beautiful island and they continue to work hard to improve after the storm.
Loved this post – I live in the BVI and Puerto Rico is one of my favourite travel destinations. I only recently got to re-visit PR post-Maria and I was thrilled to find, as you were, that things are looking up! Like us they have had it really hard, but they aren’t letting it get them down! I wrote a little PR series about our adventures over there if you wanted to check it out: https://thebarefootangel.com/old-san-juan-a-travel-guide/
Much love from the Caribbean, Charlie 🙂
After our week in PR, we spent a week on a power cat in BVI. Amazing week, I hope to post some experiences from that adventure soon. I saw your post on Anegada, we did not get there, but for sure we will next time. Thank you for commenting.
Did you get to talk to any local business owners? I know you said many of the businesses appeared to be doing well but how were they affected overall?
I did talk to some. The most impressive was the Ladies who lead the horseback ride at Campo Rico Trail rides. They let the horses loose to take cover in the mountains during the storm. When the employees returned to the farm, it was of course flooded, all vegetation gone. They spent a couple months cleaning up and rebuilding. She was so happy to have her job, said many had no job to come back to, she was so grateful. After a couple of months, they called all of the horses back. They ALL SURVIVED. And three of the mares were pregnant!!
Fantastic post and I love your pictures. Sounds like it was an excellent trip. I’ve always wanted to visit myself x
It is such a beautiful island and we are lucky to be able to visit as much as we do. You should get there some day. You will love it.
Terrific article, great to hear from people who have been there to give us an update
It was really humbling, but encouraging all in all. Happy to see them all moving forward. It is a beautiful island.
I love how you went and visited even after the storm. It helps their economy. My family is from Costa Rica and there are similarities in the food which is delicious, especially the fried plantains! I have yet to visit Puerto Rico. I would love to visit especially it being so close to home in Florida. Love your post! #FloridaTravelBloggers
Thank you for commenting. Puerto Rico is a beautiful, fun, vibrant place to visit. You should head over, you will love it. It was great to see so many people moving on from the storm and living. We had a blast and will be back soon.
It is truly sad what happen to that island. This makes me want to take a trip to help support their tourism economy.
From east to west gate. This is a great place for family trip. I just wish that I would have more time to explore.
Me, too! We try to do something different each time we visit the island. Of course, we end up doing much of the same!