#441 - Puerto Rico, Woke(r) history, and the King of Reggaeton
I'm back from Puerto Rico, and so glad I went. Comparing its relationship to the US vs that of my 2021 home Hawaii was immensely insightful for me.
The main differences are perhaps obvious - the Caribbean is far more humid and hotter, and far more plugged into the many islands around it, compared to tradewind-cooled Hawaii 2000 miles from everything.
History wise, this was one of the first places Columbus landed and was Spanish for 400 years before being American for 125, so the nationalist movement here is more complicated. It feels very, very Spanish.
Travel tip wise, Gillian Morris has a great Wanderlog here that I don't have much to add to, honestly. La Placita was a fun local area to go out outside of old San Juan, and 15 Knots kitesurfing had a jet ski on hand which accelerated my learning greatly.
Some other facts:
Their Spanish endonym is 'boricua' which come from Borikén, the native Taino name for the island. There are over 6 million boricuas on the mainland and around 3 million on the island.
Some Taino derived words in English today: hurricane, hammock, maize, guava, mangrove, mahogany, potato!
The island voted to remain a territory of the US recently (as opposed to becoming a state or free association), but the voter turnout was 45% so actual voter majority opinion is in dispute.
The guy the airport is named after, Luis Munoz Marin, was one of the key figures who opposed the nationalist movement in the mid century, during a time when sentiment was more tilted in its favor.
The tax incentives cut ones tax rate down to between 0-4%, which is why we see so many crypto rich folks moving there to escape up to 37% federal income tax. Those incentives require you to donate to local nonprofits and to be there a certain number of days of the year, which I hear have plenty of loopholes being exploited.
Depending on who you ask, these tax laws do nothing but drive up housing prices as absent rich mainlanders hoard real estate.
The #gringogohome movement one sees in graffiti is more visible on Instagram, though a fringe position, from the locals I spoke to. Perhaps comparable to seeing the anarchist A on the mainland?
Tech
Email Deliverability Checklist & Toolkit for Marketers | HelloInbox — www.helloinbox.email
If you want to send a lot of emails to strangers to sell your business without getting blocked, this is the way to do it. Took me months to learn how to do this effectively, while here are all the things you need to know in one place!
Lifehacks
World History — www.youtube.com
Reader Misha taught me that the author of teen lit hit Fault in Our Stars John Greene was also a major vlogger during web2.0, and hosted this ongoing YT series about world history that puts more of a focus on feminism and plurality than the textbooks I grew up with.
Great way to refamiliarize oneself - his opening shtick about how the test for this info is the ability to comprehend the rest of your life is a good one too.
Fun
Daddy Yankee - Dura (Video Oficial) — www.youtube.com
One of Puerto Rico's biggest culture exports is the genre of reggaeton, which is hugely popular the Latin world over.
The man who coined the term in the 90s is Daddy Yankee, who grew up in the projects and turned to music from a baseball career after getting hit by a stray bullet at home(!)
You may know him from 2004's Gasolina, being half of the duo behind 2017's megahit Despacito, or any of the more recent TikTok hits Con Calma (remixed with Katy Perry) or a sexy Spanish version of Camila Cabello's Havana. The guy is everywhere!
And his music videos are supremely entertaining audiovisual spectacles of women, dancing, and colors - here's my current fave 'Dura'.