Puerto Rico Negro
NOTE - As I was writing this post, the Puerto Rico Tourism Comapany (CTPR) the official governmental touristic agency, announced that they were not giving Piñones and Loíza "tourist area status" and will not provide funds to help develop the tourism industry in these two towns. A year after Hurricanes Irma and Maria, Puerto Rico’s tourism industry has begun to recover. The tourist areas in San Juan are open for business, and most of the hotels and restaurants are back. But what is it like outside the metropolitan area? On a recent trip to Puerto Rico, The Amazing Ms. D and I spent time in the towns of Piñones and Loíza. These towns, northeast of San Juan are areas that are historically Afro-Boricua. In the 1600’s the Spanish ordered that African descendants who had escaped enslavement in the British Caribbean colonies were to be sent to this area for settlement. This kept them away from most of Puerto Rico’s enslaved populations, and placed them in an ...