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Puerto Rico

An Outdoor Discovery of Puerto Rico’s History & Heritage

Program No. 15635RJ

Learn the story of Puerto Rico through its archaeological sites, ancient forts, seaside villages, a historic coffee plantation and the grand architecture and monuments of Old San Juan.

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8 days

7 nights

17 meals

7B 5L 5D

In Transit to Program, Check In, Orientation, Welcome Dinner

San Juan

Old San Juan, Santurce (Cerra Street)

San Juan

Ponce, Hacienda Don Manuel, Ponce Walking Tour

Ponce

Coffee Hacienda, Free Afternoon

Ponce

Transfer to San Juan, Serralles Castle Museum, PR Art Museum

San Juan

El Yunque Rain Forest, Pinones Village

San Juan

Hacienda La Esperanza, Free Time, Farewell Dinner

San Juan

Program Concludes

San Juan

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At a Glance

Experience Puerto Rico’s colorful culture and history from pre-Columbian times to present U.S. stewardship. Led by local experts, explore a fascinating blend of historic cities and museums, beaches, seaside villages and natural wonders. Ponce, known as "the Pearl of the South," is a charming town with magnificent Spanish colonial architecture. Walk through its elegant historic district and top-notch museums, and enjoy galleries and historic sites in San Juan where the Puerto Rican culture is uniquely portrayed.

Activity Level

On Your Feet

One mile of walking over varied terrain.

Small Group

Love to learn and explore in a small-group setting? These adventures offer small, personal experiences with groups of 13 to 24 participants.

Best of all, you’ll…

Venture to El Yunque for a short hike through the only tropical rainforest that is part of the U.S. National Forest System.
Enjoy a walking exploration of the San Felipe del Morro Fort and La Muralla (city wall) in Old San Juan, as well as one of Puerto Rico’s best preserved coffee plantations.
Visit Hacienda Don Manuel, located in Santa Isabel, and enjoy a ride among the pineapple, papaya and plantain fields. Get an up-close look at the wind turbines on the farm.

General Notes

For a more challenging program, check out "Hike, Kayak & Snorkel Puerto Rico’s Reefs, Rainforests & Reserves" (#15638).

Featured Expert

All trip experts

Andrea Torres

Andrea was born and raised in Puerto Rico and studied at the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico. She has been an active travel educator for over four years, leading trips through the only tropical rainforest in the United States, El Yunque, where she met her first Road Scholar group. “Being outdoors and leading travelers is my way of life,” she says. “It brings me joy to share my passion with others and to educate individuals on some of the amazing wonders of the world.”

Please note: This expert may not be available for every date of this program.

Andrea Torres View biography

Suggested Reading List (5 books)

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You can find many of the books we recommend at the Road Scholar store on bookshop.org, a website that supports local bookstores.

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An Outdoor Discovery of Puerto Rico’s History & Heritage

Program Number: 15635

Stories from Puerto Rico

by Robert L Muckley and Adela Martinez- Santiago

The book will fill you in on how the natives discovered the Spaniards weren’t Gods, and other local legends.

Divided Borders: Essays of Puerto Rican identity

by Juan Flores

Juan Flores dissects in greater detail the Puerto Rican struggle to define and maintain indigenous identities as the island becomes more homogeneous. Flores also wrote From Bomba to Hip-Hop, a wide-ranging series of essays.

Puerto Rico: Culture, Politics, and Identity

by Nancy Morris

This book uses historical and interview data to trace the development of Puerto Rican identity in the 20th century. It analyzes how and why Puerto Ricans have maintained a clear sense of distinctiveness in the face of direct and indirect pressures on their identity. After gaining sovereignty over Puerto Rico from Spain in 1898, the United States undertook a sustained campaign to Americanize the island. Despite 50 years of active Americanization and another 40 years of continued United States sovereignty over the island, Puerto Ricans retain a sense of themselves as distinctly and proudly Puerto Rican. This study examines the symbols of Puerto Rican identity, and their use in the complex politics of the island. It shows that identity is dynamic, it is experienced differently by individuals across Puerto Rican society, and that the key symbols of Puerto Rican identity have not remained static over time. Through the study of Puerto Rico, the book investigates and challenges the widely-heard argument that the inevitable result of the export of U.S. mass media and consumer culture throughout the world is the weakening of cultural identities in receiving societies. The book develops the idea that external pressure on collective identity may strengthen that identity rather than, as is often assumed, diminish it.

From Bomba to Hip-Hop: Puerto Rican Culture and Latino Identity

by Juan Flores

Neither immigrants nor ethnics, neither foreign nor "hyphenated Americans" in the usual sense of that term, Puerto Ricans in New York have created a distinct identity both on the island of Puerto Rico and in the cultural landscape of the United States. Juan Flores considers the uniqueness of Puerto Rican culture and identity in relation to that of other Latino groups in the United States -- as well as to other minority groups, especially African Americans. Architecture and urban space, literary traditions, musical styles, and cultural movements provide some of the sites and moments of a cultural world defined by the interplay of continuity and transformation, heritage and innovation, roots and fusion. Exploring this wide range of cultural expression -- both in the diaspora and in Puerto Rico -- Flores highlights the rich complexities and fertile contradictions of Latino identity.

Puerto Rico Mio: Four decades of change

by Jack Delano

It is a sizable picture book

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An Outdoor Discovery of Puerto Rico’s History & Heritage

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At a Glance

Best of all, you’ll…

General Notes

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