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Tourist information |
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Puerto Rican culture is a mixture of Spanish, African and Taíno traditions overlaid with a century-thick layer of American influence. At times, parts of San Juan can seem like any US city with a large Latino population, but dig a little deeper or get into the countryside and you'll find a complex Creole culture that certainly won't be erased by the arrival of Budweiser and Burger King.
The intermingling of cultural influences is so pronounced that nothing on Puerto Rico is ever one-dimensional. Spanish is the island's main language, though the local version contains plenty of English, Amerindian and African words. Roman Catholicism is the main religion, but it's infused with spiritualism, Indian and African folkloric traditions. The music you hear on Puerto Rico's streets may sound like it originated in the 'hood, but la bomba and la plena, featuring call-and-response dialogues and satirical lyrics sung in high, plaintive voices, are distinctly African, and salsa hails from émigrés in New York. Out of boombox range, typical Puerto Rican instruments include maracas, güiro (a type of gourd used as percussion) and cuatro, a ten-stringed guitar-like instrument. Puerto Rican painters, both native and expat, are achieving international recognition. Names to look out for include Arnaldo Roche-Rabell and Jorge Zeno, as well as canonized Spanish masters such as Angel Botello.
Uncomfortable with their ambiguous political status, much debate on the island revolves around questions of national identity. Though political will for independence is a slippery animal, vocal Puerto Ricans clearly see themselves as distinct from their gringo cousins - and there's little doubt that the island has much more in common with its Caribbean and Latino neighbors than it does with Uncle Sam.
Much Puerto Rican literature is produced by expatriates and deals with national identity and the links between acá (here) and allá (there). 'Nuyoricans' such as Pedro Juan Soto, Emilio Díaz Valcárcel and José Luis González tackle the elusive idea of home in stories, novels and poetry.
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