Explore Paradise The Smart Way!!!
Twenty twenty-three has been a busy year at Puerto Rico By GPS. We started with an ambitious goal: “to visit all 78 municipalities in Puerto Rico to produce a video and however many blog posts were warranted for each township”. The idea was —and still is— to end up with the most comprehensive collection of photographs, video and articles about Continue reading…
Are you sick and tired of the freezing cold, shovelling snow and being trapped inside? Or maybe it’s the opposite situation: it’s 125° outside, your air conditioner just can’t keep up and —once again— you’re sick and tired of being trapped inside. Did you know that there’s a place, just off the eastern coast of the United States, where the Continue reading…
Gurabo is one of those little towns in Puerto Rico that many people just ignore. It’s east of Caguas, a larger city, and south of San Juan, the Island’s capital. So it’s on the way to something, next to somewhere, but not something in itself. Right? Wrong!!! Gurabo is great. I actually spent an entire day there with my wife Continue reading…
In Puerto Rico we have a saying: “Los pueblos que no conocen su historia están condenados a repetirla” (People who don’t know their history are doomed to repeat it). However, it’s not a local phrase. It was first coined by the Spanish poet George Santayana at the dawn of the 20th Century. However, that’s one of the first questions that Continue reading…
You never get a second chance to make a first impression. Marketers have known this for years. And it goes for good and bad ones (first impressions, that is). So, if this is the case, and we’re all on the same page on this basic marketing principle, why do we see so many poor images both in digital and printed Continue reading…
Millions of habitual tourists have decided to stay close to home or even stay put altogether. Can you blame them? It’s called virtual tourism. According to “Recommend” magazine only 44% of Americans are planning leisure travel in 2020. Of those, 81% will take a day trip and 72% expect to take overnight vacations. Most importantly, the overwhelming majority don’t expect Continue reading…
We need to repave Old San Juan. It’s overdue and the city is falling apart. We also need to convert Old San Juan into a pedestrian city. So here’s a 10 step plan to do just that. My name is Orlando Mergal. Think of me as a guy with a camera, a computer and the Internet. I’ve been visiting Old San Continue reading…
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…
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…
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…