First, I wanna say thanks to forum member Pete for looking out for me when I was in PR. This data sheet wouldn’t be complete without mentioning him.
PR is a place that I have had an interest in since a young age. I had always enjoyed what I knew of the food, music and culture from the PR communities on the East Coast. I was also fairly sure that the weather and beaches had to be nicer, on average, than the places of my upbringing on the East Coast. Furthermore, I enjoy boxing and the island is known to have some of the best training and fighters in the world.
Until lately, I decided to put off any type of trip to PR until later because Colombia and Peru presented better opportunities to meet my previous goal of becoming more proficient in Spanish in the shortest time possible. I knew that PR is not a great place to study Spanish, because there is a lot of Spanglish and slang spoken there.
Now I do speak Spanish at a level that I am cool with, and since I had the month of January free from “brick and mortar” obligations, I decided it would be an optimal choice, especially over freezing my ass off in my NYC base of operations.
I rented out a furnished apartment in a one of the most walkable sections of San Juan. I put myself close enough to the beach and nightlife, but far enough away from other tourists to get an idea of how the city really moves. Adding to my experience of the city and its people was the fact that I trained at a boxing gym in a municipality on the peripheral of the San Juan metro area, while living in the center. This let me experience a few very different areas of the metro area on a daily basis.
I also got the opportunity to travel around the east side and interior of PR a bit, and it was magnificent enough that I am sure to come back here for another trip just to see more of it.
Everything that I have written here is from my experience; I mostly leave the speculation out of it, in favor of actionable intelligence, developed by I have seen with my own eyes. If write about a hotel, and I did not stay there, then I at least chilled in the bar or casino.
Before You Think About Going
The beaches and nature are top notch.
The boxing gyms are killer.
The people, music and party vibe are all easy to enjoy.
These alone are all excellent reasons to come to PR, and they were plenty for me, before I got on the airplane in NYC.
As far as the girls go: It’s not Colombia, but there are plenty of pretty and friendly girls.
However, if you are a foreign man, with no local connections, looking mostly to come for a short period of time to hook up with Puerto Rican girls, you must ask yourself two questions before you go:
The first is “Do I speak Spanish?”
If the answer is “Yes”, go to the next question.
If you do not speak Spanish, the deck will be stacked hard against you here. They see a million boring, drunk, cruise ship type tourists come and go every day that don’t speak Spanish and dance like complete retards when Salsa comes on. PR chicks will automatically lump you in with them until you prove otherwise.
The second is “Are you operating at a high level of game, yes or no?”
When I say game, I mean the whole package, in the conventional sense. I mean looks, style, money, worldly experience, conversational technique and confidence. If you are not playing strong, you are going to have a hard time with the chicks here. If you have at least 4 of these things, I’m still going to be honest and tell you it’s not easy.
There are places in the world where the fat, ugly, broke slob in flip flops gets to walk around with a reasonably hot chick. Puerto Rico is not that place.
Entry
Although Puerto Rico is a distinct nation with its own culture, it is an American Territory; therefore American citizens do not need a passport to come here.
Non-American citizens will need to follow all of the same rules and visa requirements that they would have to follow to go to any other part of the US.
Language
PR is a Spanish speaking island and some important things are worth noting.
English is widely spoken here, but DO NOT expect it.
If you are a native English speaker, but you know Spanish, you can think of the English speaking Puerto Ricans that you will frequently run into as a treat that makes your life a little easier. If you show them that you speak some Spanish, they will respect you for it, probably more so than in any other Latin country I have been to.
People don’t expect you to speak or understand Spanish, so if they don't speak English, they may try to avoid talking to you. When you do speak Spanish, they are often very happy about it and open up quickly.
Breakdown of Urban Social Geography of San Juan Metro Area
Touristy Areas
Old San Juan- This is the breath taking colonial center of the city, a place that is packed with people from cruise ships, but is also packed with party people from all over the metro area and the rest of island on the weekends. A good portion of these people will be people from the barrios (bad neighborhoods and public housing). A good portion of those chicks are hot and friendly toward anybody who breaks the monotony of the guys they are used to.
The thing you need to do to make moves with these girls is differentiate yourself from the majority of the non-dancing, no game having, non-passport holding, non-Spanish speaking, shorts and flip-flops wearing tourists that she is used to seeing around there. If you can do that, it will cause a short circuit in her brain.
Condado, Isla Verde- These areas are in slightly different locations, but are pretty much the same. They have lots of hotels, some nightlife, lots of rich Puerto Rican people and Puerto Ricans trying to act rich, tourists, and nice beaches. They are also extremely Americanized, and English is most widely spoken in these places.
Wealthy Local Residential Areas:
Ocean Park- This place lies between Condado and Isla Verde. It is partially a gated beachside community of single homes and mansions. It is also my favorite beach in San Juan, both because of the beach itself, and the ease to meet hot local chicks.
Guaynabo- I only passed through here, but I met a lot of people in other parts of the city who are from here. It is basically the rich suburb of San Juan. Not many Americans live here, or ever see this place, yet a good portion of the signs are in English. Many of the local people in the Metro area hate on this municipality, and everybody who comes from it.
Santurce:
Santurce- This place gets its own mention, because it is so different from the other places I mention here. Think of it as the modern-day Brooklyn of modern-day San Juan: There is a lot of cultural and nightlife capital in this neighborhood, a good feel for what Puerto Rico is really like, lots of cool old people and artsy people hanging around, but there are also large areas where you do not want to be walking around alone at night if you don’t need to. If you go to Santurce, make sure you have an idea of where you are going before you go wandering around.
Hato Rey, Rio Piedras, Catano, Bayamon and the rest of the island:
First let me say that no matter where I went, I encountered friendly and amazing people in Puerto Rico. The vast majority of my experiences with regular Puerto Ricans have been positive.
Even in my boxing gym, which is located in one of the roughest parts of the metro area (Bayamon), the guys I trained with were all complete gentlemen and seemed very pleased that a White-American cat would come to train at their gym.
Just about every section of San Juan, and municipality in PR, has its housing projects and poor neighborhoods; the geography of PR is dominated by them. These areas have a high murder rate. People do get killed on the regular. It’s just a fact of life here. Make all of your moves while aware of that fact, and you should be okay.
If any of the venues I mention are in an area that is likely to be a ghetto, or have a rougher clientele, I will mention it.
Transportation
Public transportation in San Juan is not the greatest.
The metro area, and the rest of the island, have been built on car culture to a degree that makes it a serious disadvantage to not have a personal vehicle or a limo on your payroll.
Taxis:
The only taxis in the city are primarily used by tourists, not locals, and they cost $15 and more a ride just to go from one neighborhood to another. There are not many taxis that just ride around in the streets looking to pick people up.
It is best to just call Metro Taxi at 787-725-2870.
Tell them where you are, and where you want to go, and they will send a car.
Tren Urbano:
San Juan does have a very clean, safe and efficient train line that runs through a large portion of the Metro area. There are security guards and cool customer service people in every single station. These customer service people will have no problem to give you directions to where ever you want to go by foot from the station, as long as you speak Spanish. It is definitely a switch up for anybody who is used to NYC’s public transport and the rude or non-existent service there.
The problem with the train system is that it was erected well after city had already been constructed and urban sprawl had taken hold.
With this in mind, you can still use it to get to many parts of the city, if you are willing to walk a little distance from the train station in the area that you want to get to.
Car rental:
This is, hands down, the best way to see the Island. I rented a car from Hertz at the Marriott for a few days to go explore, and it was more than worth every dime. There are numerous Hertz car rental stations throughout the city.
Lodging
Hotels:
In Condado, you can stay in the Marriot or la Concha on Ashford Drive. These both have hotel bars and casinos with cute chicks hanging around downstairs. They are also located on the beach.
In Isla Verde, you can stay at el San Juan, which also has a Casino and club called “Brava”, which I will talk about in a moment. This is also located of the beach.
Hostel:
For people looking for something cheaper and more social, I recommend the San Juan International Hostel, located in Santurce. This hostel is several blocks from the beach, but within walking distance. It located in the middle of a working-class neighborhood that is adjacent to Condado, so you will not see any other tourists around, but you will be able to walk to everything that you could do in Condado, plus take advantage of some things in the neighborhood itself.
Nightlife
Here I will break down which places I have experienced to be the best to meet chicks on each night of the week (with one exception, which I will note). This list is by no means exhaustive; I could not be in every place on every day of the month. Furthermore, this list does not include every place I have been. I have left some places out, for various reasons.
What I can say about this list is that if I have it written here, it was at its best on the night that I have it listed on. If you are coming to the city with plans to have a good time, this list will give you a reliable battle plan to start from.
To be continued...
PR is a place that I have had an interest in since a young age. I had always enjoyed what I knew of the food, music and culture from the PR communities on the East Coast. I was also fairly sure that the weather and beaches had to be nicer, on average, than the places of my upbringing on the East Coast. Furthermore, I enjoy boxing and the island is known to have some of the best training and fighters in the world.
Until lately, I decided to put off any type of trip to PR until later because Colombia and Peru presented better opportunities to meet my previous goal of becoming more proficient in Spanish in the shortest time possible. I knew that PR is not a great place to study Spanish, because there is a lot of Spanglish and slang spoken there.
Now I do speak Spanish at a level that I am cool with, and since I had the month of January free from “brick and mortar” obligations, I decided it would be an optimal choice, especially over freezing my ass off in my NYC base of operations.
I rented out a furnished apartment in a one of the most walkable sections of San Juan. I put myself close enough to the beach and nightlife, but far enough away from other tourists to get an idea of how the city really moves. Adding to my experience of the city and its people was the fact that I trained at a boxing gym in a municipality on the peripheral of the San Juan metro area, while living in the center. This let me experience a few very different areas of the metro area on a daily basis.
I also got the opportunity to travel around the east side and interior of PR a bit, and it was magnificent enough that I am sure to come back here for another trip just to see more of it.
Everything that I have written here is from my experience; I mostly leave the speculation out of it, in favor of actionable intelligence, developed by I have seen with my own eyes. If write about a hotel, and I did not stay there, then I at least chilled in the bar or casino.
Before You Think About Going
The beaches and nature are top notch.
The boxing gyms are killer.
The people, music and party vibe are all easy to enjoy.
These alone are all excellent reasons to come to PR, and they were plenty for me, before I got on the airplane in NYC.
As far as the girls go: It’s not Colombia, but there are plenty of pretty and friendly girls.
However, if you are a foreign man, with no local connections, looking mostly to come for a short period of time to hook up with Puerto Rican girls, you must ask yourself two questions before you go:
The first is “Do I speak Spanish?”
If the answer is “Yes”, go to the next question.
If you do not speak Spanish, the deck will be stacked hard against you here. They see a million boring, drunk, cruise ship type tourists come and go every day that don’t speak Spanish and dance like complete retards when Salsa comes on. PR chicks will automatically lump you in with them until you prove otherwise.
The second is “Are you operating at a high level of game, yes or no?”
When I say game, I mean the whole package, in the conventional sense. I mean looks, style, money, worldly experience, conversational technique and confidence. If you are not playing strong, you are going to have a hard time with the chicks here. If you have at least 4 of these things, I’m still going to be honest and tell you it’s not easy.
There are places in the world where the fat, ugly, broke slob in flip flops gets to walk around with a reasonably hot chick. Puerto Rico is not that place.
Entry
Although Puerto Rico is a distinct nation with its own culture, it is an American Territory; therefore American citizens do not need a passport to come here.
Non-American citizens will need to follow all of the same rules and visa requirements that they would have to follow to go to any other part of the US.
Language
PR is a Spanish speaking island and some important things are worth noting.
English is widely spoken here, but DO NOT expect it.
If you are a native English speaker, but you know Spanish, you can think of the English speaking Puerto Ricans that you will frequently run into as a treat that makes your life a little easier. If you show them that you speak some Spanish, they will respect you for it, probably more so than in any other Latin country I have been to.
People don’t expect you to speak or understand Spanish, so if they don't speak English, they may try to avoid talking to you. When you do speak Spanish, they are often very happy about it and open up quickly.
Breakdown of Urban Social Geography of San Juan Metro Area
Touristy Areas
Old San Juan- This is the breath taking colonial center of the city, a place that is packed with people from cruise ships, but is also packed with party people from all over the metro area and the rest of island on the weekends. A good portion of these people will be people from the barrios (bad neighborhoods and public housing). A good portion of those chicks are hot and friendly toward anybody who breaks the monotony of the guys they are used to.
The thing you need to do to make moves with these girls is differentiate yourself from the majority of the non-dancing, no game having, non-passport holding, non-Spanish speaking, shorts and flip-flops wearing tourists that she is used to seeing around there. If you can do that, it will cause a short circuit in her brain.
Condado, Isla Verde- These areas are in slightly different locations, but are pretty much the same. They have lots of hotels, some nightlife, lots of rich Puerto Rican people and Puerto Ricans trying to act rich, tourists, and nice beaches. They are also extremely Americanized, and English is most widely spoken in these places.
Wealthy Local Residential Areas:
Ocean Park- This place lies between Condado and Isla Verde. It is partially a gated beachside community of single homes and mansions. It is also my favorite beach in San Juan, both because of the beach itself, and the ease to meet hot local chicks.
Guaynabo- I only passed through here, but I met a lot of people in other parts of the city who are from here. It is basically the rich suburb of San Juan. Not many Americans live here, or ever see this place, yet a good portion of the signs are in English. Many of the local people in the Metro area hate on this municipality, and everybody who comes from it.
Santurce:
Santurce- This place gets its own mention, because it is so different from the other places I mention here. Think of it as the modern-day Brooklyn of modern-day San Juan: There is a lot of cultural and nightlife capital in this neighborhood, a good feel for what Puerto Rico is really like, lots of cool old people and artsy people hanging around, but there are also large areas where you do not want to be walking around alone at night if you don’t need to. If you go to Santurce, make sure you have an idea of where you are going before you go wandering around.
Hato Rey, Rio Piedras, Catano, Bayamon and the rest of the island:
First let me say that no matter where I went, I encountered friendly and amazing people in Puerto Rico. The vast majority of my experiences with regular Puerto Ricans have been positive.
Even in my boxing gym, which is located in one of the roughest parts of the metro area (Bayamon), the guys I trained with were all complete gentlemen and seemed very pleased that a White-American cat would come to train at their gym.
Just about every section of San Juan, and municipality in PR, has its housing projects and poor neighborhoods; the geography of PR is dominated by them. These areas have a high murder rate. People do get killed on the regular. It’s just a fact of life here. Make all of your moves while aware of that fact, and you should be okay.
If any of the venues I mention are in an area that is likely to be a ghetto, or have a rougher clientele, I will mention it.
Transportation
Public transportation in San Juan is not the greatest.
The metro area, and the rest of the island, have been built on car culture to a degree that makes it a serious disadvantage to not have a personal vehicle or a limo on your payroll.
Taxis:
The only taxis in the city are primarily used by tourists, not locals, and they cost $15 and more a ride just to go from one neighborhood to another. There are not many taxis that just ride around in the streets looking to pick people up.
It is best to just call Metro Taxi at 787-725-2870.
Tell them where you are, and where you want to go, and they will send a car.
Tren Urbano:
San Juan does have a very clean, safe and efficient train line that runs through a large portion of the Metro area. There are security guards and cool customer service people in every single station. These customer service people will have no problem to give you directions to where ever you want to go by foot from the station, as long as you speak Spanish. It is definitely a switch up for anybody who is used to NYC’s public transport and the rude or non-existent service there.
The problem with the train system is that it was erected well after city had already been constructed and urban sprawl had taken hold.
With this in mind, you can still use it to get to many parts of the city, if you are willing to walk a little distance from the train station in the area that you want to get to.
Car rental:
This is, hands down, the best way to see the Island. I rented a car from Hertz at the Marriott for a few days to go explore, and it was more than worth every dime. There are numerous Hertz car rental stations throughout the city.
Lodging
Hotels:
In Condado, you can stay in the Marriot or la Concha on Ashford Drive. These both have hotel bars and casinos with cute chicks hanging around downstairs. They are also located on the beach.
In Isla Verde, you can stay at el San Juan, which also has a Casino and club called “Brava”, which I will talk about in a moment. This is also located of the beach.
Hostel:
For people looking for something cheaper and more social, I recommend the San Juan International Hostel, located in Santurce. This hostel is several blocks from the beach, but within walking distance. It located in the middle of a working-class neighborhood that is adjacent to Condado, so you will not see any other tourists around, but you will be able to walk to everything that you could do in Condado, plus take advantage of some things in the neighborhood itself.
Nightlife
Here I will break down which places I have experienced to be the best to meet chicks on each night of the week (with one exception, which I will note). This list is by no means exhaustive; I could not be in every place on every day of the month. Furthermore, this list does not include every place I have been. I have left some places out, for various reasons.
What I can say about this list is that if I have it written here, it was at its best on the night that I have it listed on. If you are coming to the city with plans to have a good time, this list will give you a reliable battle plan to start from.
To be continued...
