Author Nicholas DeRenzo Photography Gabriela Herman
San Juan is just five years short of its 500th birthday, but the old city shows no sign of slowing down. In fact, the rainbow-hued, salsa-fueled energy that hums through the Puerto Rican capital is spilling over into rough-edged areas like Santurce, which is emerging as an incubator for artistic and culinary talent. Beyond the city limits, meanwhile, in tropical forests teeming with birds and flowers, you’ll see that the city’s spellbinding energy and color have an even older precedent. It’s an essence that infuses every aspect of life here, and visitors are often surprised to find that, within hours of their arrival, it’s in them, too.
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