| Old San Juan
There is much beauty, history and culture in this, the oldest city in the United States, which is not in the US mainland. It lies at the edge of the Caribbean Sea, its northern coast bathed by the Atlantic Ocean. Racially, 70% of all Puerto Rican males have inherited Y chromosome DNA from a male European ancestor, 20% from a male African ancestor, and fewer than 10% from a male Amerindian ancestor. This suggests that the largest components of the Puerto Rican genetic pool are European/Caucasian, Amerindian, and African, in descending order. We have always wondered about the effect of such variety on genetic polimorphism.
The earliest settlers arrived in 1508. They named the tiny island Puerto Rico (Rich Port) because of its beautifully serene natural port, that shelters from the fury of the North Atlantic the moment that ships enter the harbor. It lies just north of the larger island that the Spanish settlers initially called San Juan. Soon they swapped names.
 Columbus discovered Puerto Rico in his second voyage on November 19, 1493. The Spanish crown refused to grant his son, Diego, the privileges that Columbus had requested for his heirs. Instead, the governorship of the island was given to Juan Ponce de Leon, the discoverer of Florida.
The drawn map to the right shows features in the layout of the walled city in the year 1625. (You may find this illustration helpful when you read The Calling.
Click on the map to see it from a satellite, where Marker "A" is at the origin of Calle del Sol. Zoom out to see the whole island ). The drawn map higlights three landmarks: El Morro Fortress is at the tip and the entrance to the bay. It was a heavily armored fort that repelled numerous attacks. The San Juan Gate is the only break in the solid walls that surrounded the city. The gate was protected by another fortress - La Fortaleza - the current official residence of the governor.
The picture below gives an interesting point of view, with "El Morro" in the foreground and "El Yunque," Puerto Rico's largest mountain and home to a lusciouos rain forest, in the distance. Click on the picture for more.
Puerto Rico is also home to great coffee, rum and great music - from salsa to classical.
Maestro Pablo Casals, whose mother was Puertorican, chose it as his home while on self-imposed exile during the Franco Regime in Spain. The virtuoso lived the rest of his life in the tiny island he loved, where he founded the local Symphony Orchestra and started the world-renowned annual Classic Festival that bears his name:
Festival Casals
A walking tour by Américo Boschetti Aponte
Santurce
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