Expatriate Forums in Puerto Rico

Johnny Rivera is So hott now!

guitarwhispers — Tue May 01, 2007 5:15 pm

Author: guitarwhispers

Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 5:15 pm

Hey whats up guys I just wanted to know if anyone has heard of Johnny Rivera? He is a Puerto Rican singer and he's been around for a while. He has come out with a few albums in the past and I've liked them all. My co-worker told me that he is coming out with a new album on May 8th called "Vivo Por Ti". He produced the entire thing himself and from what I've heard on his myspace, its going to be really good. So if you like salsa music, check out his myspace and tell me what you think!

NIGHTLIFE IN PUERTO RICO / PUERTO RICO NIGHTLIFE (SAN JUAN)

Puerto Rico Info — Sun Nov 19, 2006 9:50 pm

Author: Puerto Rico Info

Posted: Sun Nov 19, 2006 9:50 pm

NIGHTLIFE IN PUERTO RICO (SAN JUAN)

San Juan nightlife comes in all varieties. From the vibrant performing-arts scene to street-level salsa and the casinos, discos, and bars, there's plenty of entertainment available almost any evening.

As in a Spanish city, nightlife begins very late, especially on Friday and Saturday nights. Hang out until the late, late afternoon on the beach, have dinner around 8 o'clock (nine would be even more fashionable), and then the night is yours. The true party animal will rock until the broad daylight.

Qué Pasa?, the official visitor's guide to Puerto Rico, lists cultural events, including music, dance, theatre, film, and art exhibits. It's distributed free by the tourist office.

Romantic Sunsets

There is no better place on a Sunday night from 5:30 to 7pm to watch the sun set over Old San Juan than at Paseo de la Princesa. In this evocative colonial setting, you can hear local trios serenade you as the sun goes down. After such a romantic interlude, the night is yours. Of course, you should take along a lover.

La Rumba Party Cruise

The trouble with most nightlife venues in San Juan is that the real parties in conventional night clubs begin at hours so impossibly late that the average visitor will tend to be deep asleep by the time the first dancers begin to rock 'n' roll. So if you love to salsa and merengue, but if you maintain relatively conservative ideas about your bedtime, consider the La Rumba Party Cruise as a viable option. It all takes place aboard a neon-lit two-level mini-cruiser that's moored most of the time to a point near Old San Juan's cruise pier no. 1 (Plaza Darsenas) and the Wyndham Old San Juan Hotel. Schedules vary according to business, but tend to last 75 minutes each, and depart every Thursday at 9:30pm, every Friday and Saturday at 9:30pm, 11:30pm, and 1:30am; and every Sunday at 9:30pm and 11:30pm. And if you show up about an hour prior to a scheduled departure, you can fit in up to an extra hour's worth of shaking your booty to Latino music as the boat sits in port, music blaring, waiting for other clients. Cruises cost $12 per person, with a cash bar on board selling beer for between $4 and $6 each, depending on the brand. There's a sightseeing benefit to the experience as well: en route, as it chugs out to sea, participants garner sea-fronting views of both of San Juan's 18th-century forts and the coastline of Isla Verde. For reservations and more information, call tel. 787/375-5211.

Casinos

Many visitors come to Puerto Rico on package deals and stay at one of the posh hotels at the Condado or Isla Verde just to gamble. Nearly all the large hotels in San Juan/Condado/Isla Verde offer casinos, and there are other large casinos at some of the bigger resorts outside the metropolitan area. The atmosphere in the casinos is casual, but still you shouldn't show up in bathing suits or shorts. Most of the casinos open around noon and close at 2, 3, or 4am. Guest patrons must be at least 18 years old to enter.

The casino generating all the excitement today is the 18,500-square-foot (1,719 sq. m) Ritz-Carlton Casino, Avenue of Governors, Isla Verde (tel. 787/253-1700), the largest casino in Puerto Rico. It combines the elegant decor of the 1940s with tropical fabrics and patterns. This is one of the plushest and most exclusive entertainment complexes in the Caribbean. You almost expect to see Joan Crawford -- beautifully frocked, of course -- arrive on the arm of Clark Gable. It features traditional games such as blackjack, roulette, baccarat, craps, and slot machines.

One of the splashiest of San Juan's casinos is at the Wyndham Old San Juan Hotel & Casino, Calle Brumbaugh 100 (tel. 787/721-5100), where five-card stud competes with some 240 slot machines and roulette tables. You can also try your luck at the Wyndham El San Juan Hotel & Casino (one of the most grand), Av. Isla Verde 6063 (tel. 787/791-1000), or the Wyndham Condado Plaza Hotel & Casino, Av. Ashford 999 (tel. 787/721-1000). You do not have to flash passports or pay any admission fees.

Cockfights

A brutal sport not to everyone's taste, cockfights are legal in Puerto Rico. The most authentic are in Salinas, a town on the southern coast with a southwestern ethos, which has galleras, or rings, for cockfighting. But you don't have to go all the way there to see a match. About three fights per week take place at the Coliseo Gallistico, Av. Isla Verde 6600, Av. Isla Verde, esquina Los Gobernadores. Call tel. 787/791-6005 for the schedule and to order tickets, which cost $10, $12, $20, or $35, depending on the seat. The best time to attend cockfights is from January to May, as more fights are scheduled at that time. Hours are Tuesday to Thursday 4 to 10pm and Saturday 2 to 9pm.

Bars

More than any other place in the Caribbean, San Juan has a nightlife that successfully combines New York hip with Latino zest and the music of the Spanish tropics.

First, head for a pair of holes in the wall across the street from the El Convento Hotel. El Batey, Calle del Cristo 101 (no phone), and Don Pablo, Calle del Cristo 103 (no phone), are battered side-by-side hangouts with a clientele of locals, expatriates, and occasional visitors. (In the 1980s, a Hollywood director selected these spots as the set for a Central American drug den, much to the amusement of the regular clientele.) Whereas El Batey's music remains firmly grounded in the rock 'n' roll classics of the 1970s, with a scattering of Elvis Presley hits, Don Pablo prides itself on cutting-edge music that's continually analyzed by the counterculture aficionados who hang out here. El Batey is open daily from 2pm to 6am; Don Pablo, daily from 8pm to 4am.

These bars, along with the dark and smoky Café Bohemia, just across the street, in the cellar of the El Convento Hotel, Calle del Cristo 100 (tel. 787/723-9020), are hip hangouts for late-night dialogues. At this hideaway you can often hear live jazz while enjoying fruity cocktails, drinks, and light meals. Older locals mingle with hotel guests, the patronage mainly in the post-35 age group.

You might also stumble into Carli Café Concierto, Calle Tetuán 206, off Plazoleta Rafael Carrión (tel. 787/725-4927). This is one of Old Town's best spots for drinking margaritas and watching the world go by. Owner Carli Muñoz, who earned fame as one of The Beach Boys, plays jazz and piano classics nightly, often with invited guests. There is no cover charge.

Also recommended as a dining option, Tantra, Calle Fortaleza 356, (tel. 787/977-8141), serves creative martinis to crowds of interesting clients till very late (between 4 and 5am) every Tuesday to Saturday. After the mainstream menu ends, a different menu that includes platters of fried prawns and pizzas is made available, along with one of the most intriguing selections of martinis in town. Priced at between $8 and $9 each, they include versions with mango, passion fruit, and a personal favourite, a version with cinnamon and clove. Live belly dancers amuse the crowd on Friday and Saturday nights, and any night of the week, you can rent, for $20, a Mogul-style hookah pipe for every member of your dining table if the idea of playing pasha for a night appeals to you.

FOOD & DINING IN PUERTO RICO / PUERTO RICO DINING GUIDE

Puerto Rico Info — Fri Nov 17, 2006 6:55 am

Author: Puerto Rico Info

Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2006 6:55 am

FOOD & DINING IN PUERTO RICO

Although Puerto Rican cooking is somewhat similar to both Spanish and Mexican cuisine, it has a unique style, using such indigenous seasonings and ingredients as coriander, papaya, cacao, nispero (a tropical fruit that's brown, juicy, and related to the kiwi), apio (a small African-derived tuber that's sort of a more pungent type of turnip), plantains, and yampee (a tuber that's similar to an apio, but bigger, growing as big as 5-10 lb).

Cocina criolla (Creole cooking) can be traced back to the Arawaks and Taínos, the original inhabitants of the island, who thrived on a diet of corn, tropical fruit, and seafood. When Ponce de León arrived with Columbus in 1493, the Spanish added beef, pork, rice, wheat, and olive oil to the island's foodstuffs.

The Spanish soon began planting sugar cane and importing slaves from Africa, who brought with them okra and taro (known in Puerto Rico as yautia). The mingling of flavours and ingredients passed from generation to generation among the different ethnic groups that settled on the island, resulting in the exotic blend of today's Puerto Rican cuisine.

Appetizers & Soups

Lunch and dinner generally begin with hot appetizers such as bacalaítos, crunchy cod fritters; surullitos, sweet and plump cornmeal fingers; and empanadillas, crescent-shaped turnovers filled with lobster, crab, conch, or beef.

Soups are also a popular beginning. There is a debate about whether one of the world's best-known soups, frijoles negros, is Cuban or Puerto Rican in origin. Wherever it started, black-bean soup makes a savoury if filling opening to a meal. Another classic soup is sopón de pollo con arroz -- chicken soup with rice -- which manages to taste somewhat different in every restaurant. One traditional method of preparing this soup calls for large pieces of pumpkin and diced potatoes or yautias (the starchy root of a large-leaved tropical plant whose flesh is usually yellow or creamy white).

The third classic soup is sopón de pescado (fish soup), prepared with the head and tail intact. Again, this soup varies from restaurant to restaurant, and it may depend on the catch of the day. Traditionally, it is made with garlic and spices plus onions and tomatoes, the flavour enhanced by a tiny dash of vinegar and varying amount of sherry. Caldo gallego (Galician broth) is a dish imported from Spain's northwestern province of Galicia. It is prepared with salt pork, white beans, ham, and berzas (collard greens) or grelos (turnip greens), and the whole kettle is flavoured with spicy chorizos (Spanish sausages).

Garbanzos (chickpeas) are often added to give flavour, body, and texture to Puerto Rican soups. One of the most authentic versions of this is sopón de garbanzos con patas de cerdo (chickpea soup with pigs' feet). Into this kettle is added a variety of ingredients, including pumpkin, chorizos, salt pork, chile peppers, cabbage, potatoes, tomatoes, and fresh cilantro leaves.

Not really a soup, the most traditional Puerto Rican dish is asopao, a hearty gumbo made with either chicken or shellfish. One well-known version, consumed when the food budget runs low, is asopao de gandules (pigeon peas asopao). Every Puerto Rican chef has his or her own recipe for asopao. Asopao de pollo (chicken asopao) takes a whole chicken, which is then flavoured with spices such as oregano, garlic, and paprika, along with salt pork, cured ham, green peppers, chile peppers, onions, cilantro, olives, tomatoes, chorizos, and pimientos. For a final touch, green peas or asparagus might be added.

Breadfruit

Reading of Capt. James Cook's explorations of the South Pacific in the late 1700s, West Indian planters were intrigued by his accounts of the breadfruit tree, which grew in abundance on Tahiti. Seeing it as a source of cheap food for their slaves, they beseeched King George III to sponsor an expedition to bring the trees to the Caribbean. In 1787 the king put Capt. William Bligh in command of HMS Bounty and sent him to do just that. One of Bligh's lieutenants was a former shipmate named Fletcher Christian. They became the leading actors in one of the great sea yarns when Christian overpowered Bligh, took over the Bounty, threw the breadfruit trees into the South Pacific Ocean, and disappeared into oblivion.

Bligh survived by sailing the ship's open longboat 3,000 miles (4,830km) to the East Indies, where he hitched a ride back to England on a Dutch vessel. Later he was given command of another ship and sent to Tahiti to get more breadfruit. Although he succeeded on this second attempt, the whole operation went for naught when the West Indies slaves refused to eat the strange fruit of the new tree, preferring instead their old, familiar rice.

Descendants of those trees still grow in the Caribbean, and the islanders prepare the head-size fruit in a number of ways. A thick green rind covers its starchy, sweet flesh whose flavor is evocative of a sweet potato. Tostones -- fried green breadfruit slices -- accompany most meat, fish, or poultry dishes served today in Puerto Rico.

Main Courses

The aroma that wafts from kitchens throughout Puerto Rico comes from adobo and sofrito -- blends of herbs and spices that give many of the native foods their distinctive taste and colour. Adobo, made by crushing together peppercorns, oregano, garlic, salt, olive oil, and lime juice or vinegar, is rubbed into meats before they are roasted. Sofrito, a potpourri of onions, garlic, and peppers browned in either olive oil or lard and colored with achiote (annatto seeds), imparts the bright yellow colour to the island's rice, soups, and stews.

Pastelon de carne, or meat pies, are the staple of many Puerto Rican dinners. Salt pork and ham are often used for the filling and are cooked in a caldero (small cauldron). This medley of meats and spices is covered with a pastry top and baked.

Other typical main dishes include fried beefsteak with onions (carne frita con cebolla), veal (ternera) a la parmesana, and roast leg of pork, fresh ham, lamb, or veal a la criolla. These roasted meats are cooked in the Creole style, flavoured with adobo. Chicharrónes -- fried pork with the crunchy skin left on top for added flavour -- is very popular, especially around Christmas time.

Puerto Ricans also like such dishes as sesos empanados (breaded calves' brains), riñones guisados (calves' kidney stew), and lengua rellena (stuffed beef tongue).

A festive island dish is lechón asado, or barbecued pig, which is usually cooked for a party of 12 to 15. It is traditional for picnics and alfresco parties; one can sometimes catch the aroma of this dish wafting through the palm trees, a smell that must have been familiar to the Taíno peoples. The pig is basted with jugo de naranja agria (sour orange juice) and achiote colouring. Green plantains are peeled and roasted over hot stones, then served with the barbecued pig as a side dish. The traditional dressing served with the pig is aji-li-mojili, a sour garlic sauce. The sauce combines garlic, whole black peppercorns, and sweet seeded chile peppers, flavoured further with vinegar, lime juice, salt, and olive oil.

Puerto Ricans adore chicken, which they flavour with various spices and seasonings. Arroz con pollo (chicken with rice) is the most popular chicken dish on the island, and it was brought long ago to the U.S. mainland. Other favourite preparations include pollo al Jerez (chicken in sherry), pollo en agridulce (sweet-and-sour chicken), and pollitos asados à la parrilla (broiled chickens).

Most visitors to the island prefer the fresh fish and shellfish. A popular dish is mojo isleno (fried fish with Puerto Rican sauce). The sauce is made with olives and olive oil, onions, pimientos, capers, tomato sauce, vinegar, and a flavouring of garlic and bay leaves. Fresh fish is often grilled and perhaps flavoured with garlic and an overlay of freshly squeezed lime juice -- a very tasty dinner indeed. Caribbean lobster is usually the most expensive item on any menu, followed by shrimp. Puerto Ricans often cook camarones en cerveza (shrimp in beer). Another delectable shellfish dish is jueyes hervidos (boiled crab).

Many tasty egg dishes are served, especially tortilla española (Spanish omelet), cooked with finely chopped onions, cubed potatoes, and olive oil.

The rich and fertile fields of Puerto Rico produce a wide variety of vegetables. A favourite is the chayote, a pear-shaped vegetable called christophine throughout most of the English-speaking Caribbean. Its delicately flavoured flesh is often compared to that of summer squash.

Fried tostones are made with both breadfruit and plantains. In fact, the plantain is the single most popular side dish served on the island. Plantains are a variety of banana that cannot be eaten raw. They are much coarser in texture than ordinary bananas and are harvested while green, then baked, fried, or boiled. When made into tostones, they are usually served as an appetizer with before-dinner drinks. Fried to a deep golden yellow, plantains may accompany fish, meat, or poultry dishes.

Coffee

It is customary for most Puerto Ricans to end a meal with the strong, black aromatic coffee grown here. Originally imported from the nearby Dominican Republic, coffee beans have been produced in the island's high-altitude interior for more than 300 years and still rank among the island's leading exports.

Puerto Rican coffee, in the view of many connoisseurs, rivals that of the more highly touted product from Colombia. Coffee has several degrees of quality, of course, the lowest-ranking one being café de primera, which is typically served at the ordinary family table. The top category is called café super premium. Only three coffees in the world belong to super-premium class: Blue Mountain coffee of Jamaica, Kona coffee from Hawaii, and Puerto Rico's homegrown Alto Grande, coffee beans sought by coffee connoisseurs around the world. The best brand names for Puerto Rican coffee are Café Crema, Café Rico, Rioja, and Yaucono. You can ask for your brew puya (unsweetened), negrito con azúcar (black and sweetened), cortao (black with a drop of milk), or con leche (with milk).

Rum

Rum is the national drink of Puerto Rico, and you can buy it in almost any shade. Because the island is the world's leading rum producer, it's little wonder that every Puerto Rican bartender worthy of the profession likes to concoct his or her own favourite rum libation. You can call for Puerto Rican rum in many mixed drinks such as rum Collins, rum sour, and rum screwdriver. The classic sangria, which is prepared in Spain with dry red wine, sugar, orange juice, and other ingredients, is often given a Puerto Rican twist with a hefty dose of rum.

Today's version of rum bears little resemblance to the raw, grainy beverage consumed by the renegades and pirates of Spain. Christopher Columbus brought sugar cane, from which rum is distilled, to the Caribbean on his second voyage to the New World, and in almost no time rum became the regional drink.

It is believed that Ponce de León introduced rum to Puerto Rico during his governorship, which began in 1508. In time, there emerged large sugar-cane plantations. From Puerto Rico and other West Indian islands, rum was shipped to colonial America, where it lent itself to such popular and hair-raising 18th-century drinks as Kill-Devil and Whiskey-Belly Vengeance. After the United States became a nation, rum was largely displaced as the drink of choice by whiskey, distilled from grain grown on the American plains.

It took almost a century before Puerto Rico's rum industry regained its former vigor. This occurred during a severe whiskey shortage in the United States at the end of World War II. By the 1950s, sales of rum had fallen off again, as more and different kinds of liquor had become available on the American market.

The local brew had been a questionable drink because of inferior distillation methods and quality. Recognizing this problem, the Puerto Rican government drew up rigid standards for producing, blending, and aging rum. Rum factories were outfitted with the most modern and sanitary equipment, and sales figures (encouraged by aggressive marketing campaigns) began to climb.

No one will ever agree on what "the best" rum is in the Caribbean. There are just too many of them to sample. Some are so esoteric as to be unavailable in your local liquor store. But if popular tastes mean anything, then Puerto Rican rums, especially Bacardi, head the list. There are 24 different rums from Puerto Rico sold in the United States under 11 brand names -- not only Bacardi, but Ron Bocoy, Ronrico, Don Q, and many others.

Puerto Rican rums are generally light, gold, or dark. Usually white or silver in colour, the biggest seller is light in body and dry in taste. Its subtle flavour and delicate aroma make it ideal for many mixed drinks, including the daiquiri, rum Collins, rum Mary, and rum and tonic or soda. It also goes with almost any fruit juice, or on the rocks with a slice of lemon or lime. Gold or amber rum is aromatic and full-bodied in taste. Aging in charred oak casks adds color to the rum.

Gold rums are usually aged longer for a deeper and more mellow flavour than light rums. They are increasingly popular on the rocks, straight up, or in certain mixed drinks in which extra flavour is desired -- certainly in the famous piña colada, rum and Coke, or eggnog.

Dark rum is full-bodied with a deep, velvety, smooth taste and a complex flavour. It can be aged for as long as 15 years. You can enjoy it on the rocks, with tonic or soda, or in mixed drinks when you want the taste of rum to stand out.

PLACES TO DINE IN SAN JUAN

Bodegón de Gaspar
282 F.D. Roosevelt Avenue
San Juan, PR
00907
Phone: +1 787 763 0990
Fax: +1 787 763 0650

Casita Blanca (La)
351 Calle Tapia
Santurce
San Juan, PR
00907
Phone: +1 787 726 5501

El Hipopótamo
880 Muñoz Rivera Avenue
San Juan, PR
00925
Phone: +1 787 767 2660

Parrot Club
363 Fortaleza Street
Old San Juan
San Juan, PR
00901
Phone: +1 787 725 7370

Il Perugino
105 Calle Cristo
San Juan, PR
00901
Phone: +1 787 722 5481
Email: webmaster@ilperugino.com
Website: http://www.ilperugino.com/

Los Chavales
253 FD Roosevelt Ave
San Juan, PR
00917
Phone: +1 787 767 5017
Fax: +1 787 764 4794

Mallorquina (La)
207 Calle San Justo
San Juan, PR
00901
Phone: +1 787 722 3261

Prime 787 (Ritz-Carlton San Juan)
6961 Avenue of the Governors
Ritz-Carlton Hotel
San Juan, PR
00979
Phone: +1 787 253 1700

Siglo XX (El)
355 Calle Fortaleza
San Juan, PR
00901
Phone: +1 787 723 3321
Fax: +1 787 724 2820
Email: info@elsigloxx.com
Website: http://www.elsigloxx.com/sigloxx/

Zabó
14 Calle Candina
Condado
San Juan, PR
00907
Phone: +1 787 725 9494

SHOPPING IN PUERTO RICO / PUERTO RICO SHOPPING (SAN JUAN)

Puerto Rico Info — Fri Nov 17, 2006 6:35 am

Author: Puerto Rico Info

Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2006 6:35 am

SHOPPING IN PUERTO RICO (SAN JUAN)

The streets of Old Town, such as Calle San Francisco and Calle del Cristo, are the major venues for shopping. Malls in San Juan are generally open Monday through Saturday from 9am to 9pm, Sunday from 11am to 5pm. Regular stores in town are usually open Monday through Saturday from 9am to 6pm. In Old San Juan many stores are open on Sunday, too.

Native handicrafts can be good buys, including needlework, straw work, ceramics, hammocks, and papier-mâché fruits and vegetables, as well as paintings and sculptures by Puerto Rican artists. Among these, the carved wooden religious idols known as santos (saints) have been called Puerto Rico's greatest contribution to the plastic arts and are sought by collectors. For the best selection of santos, head for Galería Botello, Olé, or Puerto Rican Arts & Crafts.

Puerto Rico's biggest and most up-to-date shopping mall is Plaza Las Américas, in the financial district of Hato Rey, right off the Las Américas Expressway. This complex, with its fountains and modern architecture, has more than 200 mostly upscale shops. The variety of goods and prices is roughly comparable to that of large stateside malls.

Old Lace

Another Puerto Rican craft has undergone a big revival just as it seemed that it would disappear forever: lace. Originating in Spain, mundillos (tatted fabrics) are the product of a type of bobbin lace making. This 5-century-old craft exists today only in Puerto Rico and Spain.

The first lace made in Puerto Rico was called torchon (beggar's lace). Early examples of beggar's lace were considered of inferior quality, but artisans today have transformed this fabric into a delicate art form, eagerly sought by collectors. Lace bands called entrados have two straight borders, whereas the other traditional style, puntilla, has both a straight and a scalloped border. The best outlet in San Juan for lace is Linen House .

Grotesque Masks

The most popular of all Puerto Rican crafts are the frightening caretas -- papier-mâché masks worn at island carnivals. Tangles of menacing horns, fang-toothed leering expressions, and bulging eyes of these half-demon, half-animal creations send children running and screaming to their parents. At carnival time, they are worn by costumed revelers called vegigantes. Vegigantes often wear bat-winged jumpsuits and roam the streets either individually or in groups.

The origins of these masks and carnivals may go back to medieval Spain and/or tribal Africa. A processional tradition in Spain, dating from the early 17th century, was intended to terrify sinners with marching devils in the hope that they would return to church. Cervantes described it briefly in Don Quijote. Puerto Rico blended this Spanish procession with the masked tradition brought by slaves from Africa. Some historians believe that the Taínos were also accomplished mask makers, which would make this a very ancient tradition indeed.

The predominant traditional mask colours were black, red, and yellow, all symbols of hellfire and damnation. Today, pastels are more likely to be used. Each vegigante sports at least two or three horns, although some masks have hundreds of horns, in all shapes and sizes. Mask making in Ponce, the major centre for this craft, and in Loíza Aldea, a palm-fringed town on the island's northeastern coast, has since led to a renaissance of Puerto Rican folk art.

The premier store selling these masks is La Calle . Masks can be seen in action at the three big masquerade carnivals on the island: the Ponce Festival in February, the Festival of Loíza Aldea in July, and the Día de las Mascaras at Hatillo in December.

Laundromat cum Art Gallery

The hippest and most surreal laundromat in Old Town, La Lavanderia, Calle Sol 201 (tel. 787/717-8585), occupies a street-level room that's jammed with coin-operated washing machines and dryers, beneath the massive ceiling beams of a battered-looking building that's at least a century old. At its present location since at least the early 1960s, it's both a neighbourhood institution as well as a magnet for the arts crowd throughout the island. On the soaring plaster walls above the machines, you'll find paintings, etchings, or photographs, each of which are for sale, and which seem to project themselves outward to art lovers above the roar of the spinning dryers and the blare of the recorded Latino music. Liquid refreshments derive from an espresso machine and a small bar set up in a corner. Art exhibitions, each with a celebratory opening ceremony-cum-fiesta party, change about every 2 weeks. Phone ahead for venues, or simply pass by with a load of wash ($1.50 per load, plus the cost of soap) for insights into what's probably the most unpretentious art gallery in Puerto Rico. It's open Monday to Thursday 7am to 9pm; Friday to Saturday 7am to 8pm; and Sunday 8am to 8pm.

The Coffee of Kings & Popes

Of all the coffees of Puerto Rico, the most popular one seems to be the Alto Grande, which has been a tradition in Puerto Rican households since 1839. Over the years, this super premium coffee has earned a reputation for being the "Coffee of Popes and Kings," and is hailed as one of the top three coffees in the world. A magnificently balanced coffee, Alto Grande is a rare and exotic coffee with a sweet, pointed aroma and a bright sparkling flavour. The bean is grown in the highest mountains of the Lares range. This coffee is served at leading hotels and restaurants in Puerto Rico.

Santos

The most impressive of the island's crafts are the santos, carved religious figures that have been produced since the 1500s. Craftspeople who make these are called santeros; using clay, gold, stone, or cedar wood, they carve figurines representing saints, usually from 8 inches to 20 inches (20cm-51cm) tall. Before the Spanish colonization, small statues called zemi stood in native tribal villages and camps as objects of veneration, and Puerto Rico's santos may derive from that pre-Columbian tradition. Every town has its patron saint, and every home has its santos to protect the family. For some families, worshipping the santos replaces a traditional mass.

Art historians view the carving of santos as Puerto Rico's greatest contribution to the plastic arts. The earliest figures were richly baroque, indicating a strong Spanish influence, but as the islanders began to assert their own identity, the carved figures often became simpler.

In carving santos, craftspeople often used handmade tools. Sometimes such natural materials as vegetable dyes and even human hair were used. The saints represented by most santos can be identified by their accompanying symbols; for example, Saint Anthony is usually depicted with the infant Jesus and a book. The most popular group of santos is the Three Kings. The Trinity and the Nativity are also depicted frequently.

Art experts claim that santos making approached its zenith at the turn of the 20th century, although hundreds of santeros still practice their craft throughout the island. Serious santos collectors view the former craftsmen of old as the true artists in the field. The best collection of santos is found at Puerto Rican Arts & Crafts .

Some of the best santos on the island can be seen at the Capilla de Cristo in Old San Juan. Perhaps at some future date, a museum devoted entirely to santos will open in Puerto Rico.