Caguas, Puerto Rico | Seven Smiles And A Frown

“Our Experiences Exploring The “Center And Heart Of Puerto Rico””

Today we’re going to talk about Caguas, Puer­to Rico, “cen­tro y corazón de Puer­to Rico” (cen­ter and heart of Puer­to Rico). Well, let’s just set the record straight, I’m all for moti­va­tion and “pep­per uppers” but, for those of you vis­it­ing from the main­land, the geo­graph­i­cal cen­ter of Puer­to Rico is actu­al­ly in the “Pelle­jas” ward of the town of Con­tin­ue reading…

Four Great Shots And A Day’s Work… All Before Breakfast

Last Mon­day my wife and I got up ear­ly. I was going to shoot a cou­ple of build­ings in Cabo Rojo for a New-York-based cus­tomer. The idea was to catch the sun­rise, so we got up at 3:00am and had left by 4:00am. By sev­en we had shot both build­ings, had break­fast and were on our way to the coastal Con­tin­ue reading…

46 Things To Know Before Driving in Puerto Rico

Dri­ving in Puer­to Rico has always been hec­tic. Road con­di­tions on the Island are in a deplorable state due to the depres­sion (yes, the cor­rect word is depres­sion, because there’s no such thing as a 10-year reces­sion) that has affect­ed the U.S. ter­ri­to­ry for close to a decade. Throw in the way many Puer­to Ricans dri­ve like mani­acs and it’s Con­tin­ue reading…

The Puerto Rico Heineken JazzFest Comes Full Circle

Twen­­ty-sev­en years ago, in the balmy month of June, a group of vir­tu­oso musi­cians from Puer­to Rico and abroad got togeth­er to hon­or cuban sax­o­fon­ist Paquito D’Rivera and raise mon­ey for the Inter-Amer­i­­can University’s Jazz Pro­gram. The event took place at Plaza Dárse­nas in Old San Juan. Through­out the years the event has tak­en place at oth­er venues includ­ing the Six­to Con­tin­ue reading…

The Puerto Rico Heineken Jazzfest 2016 In Pictures

It all end­ed last night. The 26th edi­tion of the Puer­to Rico Heineken Jaz­zfest came to a close yes­ter­day evening with three excit­ing acts and the “doc­tori­fi­ca­tion” of one of Puer­to Rico’s most pro­lif­ic artists doc­tor Ray San­tos. Ray San­tos is bet­ter known for his arrange­ments for music greats like Mario Bauzá, Machi­to, Tito Rodríguez and Tito Puente, but he is also Con­tin­ue reading…

12 Shows, 4 Days And A Whole Lotta Jazz!!!

The 26th edi­tion of the Puer­to Rico Heineken Jaz­zFest will take place from Thurs­day, March 17 to Sun­day, March 20, at the Tito Puente Amphithe­ater in San Juan. This year, the fes­ti­val will have a var­ied musi­cal offer­ing, includ­ing the intro­duc­tion of HEINEKEN THE LAB, an exper­i­men­tal pro­pos­al that will com­bine jazz with oth­er musi­cal gen­res on the first night (Thurs­day). Con­tin­ue reading…

Ray Santos To Be Honored At PR Heineken Jazzfest 2016

Jazz is in the air in sun­ny Puer­to Rico! Why? Because the 26th edi­tion of the Puer­to Rico Heineken Jaz­zfest is just six weeks away at the Tito Puente Amphithe­ater in San Juan. When? From March 17 thru the 20th. Accord­ing to Luis Álvarez, Vice Pres­i­dent of the Liquors Divi­sion at Mén­dez & Co., the orga­ni­za­tion spon­sor­ing and orga­niz­ing the Con­tin­ue reading…

Old San Juan Is For Walking

I’ll nev­er under­stand how there are peo­ple who jump in their cars and waste hours dri­ving around Old San Juan.  That’s the idiot’s way to see the Old City!  But there does­n’t seem to be a short­age of those.  Just vis­it Old San Juan any Sun­day after­noon and you’ll see the long line of cars going from Fort San Cristo­bal Con­tin­ue reading…

Puerto Rico Heineken Jazzfest 2015 in Pictures

On Wednes­day, March 18th I wrote about the upcom­ing 25th Anniver­sary of the Puer­to Rico Heineken Jaz­zfest.  So rather than bore you with all the details of who played when, or how good they were (because they were all out­stand­ing), I thought it would be bet­ter just to show you.  After four days of per­fect weath­er I end­ed up with Con­tin­ue reading…

Puerto Rico Heineken Jazzfest Turns 25!

It’s that time of year when jazz lovers from every cor­ner of Puer­to Rico, and many oth­er coun­tries, gath­er at the Tito Puente Amphithe­ater, in San Juan, Puer­to Rico to enjoy four con­sec­u­tive days of the best music in the world! And this year it’s going to be even bet­ter, as the fes­ti­val cel­e­brates its 25th anniver­sary bring­ing the best Con­tin­ue reading…