What is Puerto Rico Known For? 13 Things Puerto Ricans Love About Themselves

Puerto Rico is an unforgettable island. This culturally rich place is a territory of the United States, but it feels like a completely different entity. The Puerto Rican people are full of pride, warmth, and love. They celebrate many different holidays and eat delicious foods like mofongo, arroz con gandules, pernil, and more. Not a lot of people, even Americans, know what or where Puerto Rico is, although it’s growing in recognition with the popularity of Latin trap, pop, and reggaeton. So, let’s learn more about this stunning island and the vibrant people that call it home. Keep reading to discover things Puerto Ricans love about themselves and their island.

Where is Puerto Rico?

Before we learn some fun facts about this island and its people, let’s discover where Puerto Rico is located. Puerto Rico is in the Caribbean. This unincorporated U.S. territory is about 1,000 miles away from Miami, Florida. Technically, Puerto Rico isn’t just one island. Instead, it’s made up of over 140 islands, keys, islets, and cays.

13 Things Puerto Ricans Love About Themselves and Their Island

Now, onto the fun part: we have a list of the 13 things Puerto Ricans love about themselves and their home! Some of these are about the general island, while others are about the culture and personalities of the people. Honestly, though, this list could be endless.

1. Friendliness

The moment you step foot in Puerto Rico, you’ll feel something different. Almost everyone you meet is friendly! Puerto Ricans are known for their friendliness. They are easy to talk to and often start conversations first. It’s not uncommon for someone in a panaderia (bakery) line to start chatting with the first person in front of them. As an outsider looking in, you might even believe they know each other!

2. Delicious Food

Puerto Rican cuisine is unique and a blend of cultures. Depending on the season or region, you’ll see different foods. For instance, if you travel to the coastal parts of Puerto Rico and spend time at the beaches, seafood is a common item. You can find fried foods like rellenos de papa (stuffed potato balls), empanadillas (fried turnovers), alcapurrias, bacalaitos, mofongo, and more. These foods can be stuffed with anything, including iguana meat, shrimp, octopus, beef, pork, chicken, cheese, and veggies/roots.

If you go towards the mountains and more inland, the food changes again, although you’ll still find fried fritters. Mountain food in Puerto Rico consists of bacalao (salted codfish) and vianda (steamed/boiled roots).

These are just a few of the foods you can find on the island. During the Holidays, which can stretch from November to January/February, you can find pasteles, arroz con gandules, coquito, lechon asado, and more.

3. Mixture

Another thing to know about Puerto Rico is the island’s history and unique mixture. Many Puerto Ricans are tri-racial. Long before the Spanish came to the island, Tainos, the indigenous people, lived off the land. They were peaceful and lived off of seafood, small mammals, and lots of roots and vegetables.

The Spanish arrived in Puerto Rico in 1493, which had detrimental effects on the indigenous people of the island. Many were killed or died from diseases, while others escaped into the mountains. Although the culture has been nearly wiped out, the average Puerto Rican (although this varies) has about 10 to 15% Native American ancestry. 

The Spanish brought African slaves to Puerto Rico, where they were forced to work on ginger and sugar plantations or in the gold mines. Slavery was abolished in Puerto Rico on March 22, 1873.

4. Blend of Cultures

This fourth point connects with the one above. Puerto Ricans are a mixed-race people. But it doesn’t stop there. Puerto Ricans aren’t just indigenous, Spanish, and African. There are other ethnic groups on the island. For instance, during the 1800s, many people from Corsica, Ireland, England, Lebanon, and Scotland immigrated to Puerto Rico to work.

During the same time, Chinese immigrants also moved to Puerto Rico. Even more moved to the island from the United States after the Chinese Exclusion Act was in effect. Chinese immigrants have influenced Puerto Rico’s culture and food. For instance, throughout the island, you can find many Chinese-Puerto Rican restaurants.

5. Vibrant Music Scene

Because Puerto Rico is a mixture of cultures, there is also a lot of music derived from the blend. Two of the most popular folk music styles in Puerto Rico are bomba and plena. Bomba has African roots as it was developed by enslaved Africans on the island. They danced and played percussion to communicate, celebrate, and even as an act of rebellion. The instruments used in bomba are barriles de bombas, maracas, and cuás. Sometimes, the güiro is used.

The more recent music styles are salsa, Latin trap, and reggaeton. Latin pop is also popular, although not as much anymore. Famous recent Puerto Rican artists include Ricky Martin, Daddy Yankee, Bad Bunny, Ozuna, and Annuel AA.

6. Dialect

Another thing Puerto Ricans love about themselves is their language. It’s different from how other Latin American countries speak Spanish. Puerto Ricans are known for their speed, rhythm, and how they drop the letter ‘s’ at the end of a word. A lot of words used also have an American influence, which isn’t surprising considering the island’s relationship with the U.S. More Puerto Ricans live in the U.S. than in Puerto Rico. Some of these words are hanguiar/janguiar (when you want to hang out), parquear (to park), and tripear (like ‘you’re tripping’).

7. Kindness

Friendliness is not the same thing as kindness, which is why we’ve listed these separately. Puerto Ricans love that they are friendly and kind. Not only do they strike up conversations with anyone, but they will also stop all they are doing to help someone up. If they see you struggling on the side of the road with a dead battery or flat tire, someone is coming to the rescue, and sometimes multiple people stop. Puerto Ricans are known for their sense of community and also are kind to their neighbors, bringing them food and inviting them for coffee.

8. Stunning Beaches

Something most Puerto Ricans love is the beach, and there are so many stunning ones to visit on the island. Puerto Rico has a coastline of about 270 miles. You can stick to the main island or branch out to a smaller island like Vieques or Culebra. The beaches in Puerto Rico are known for their crystal clear and sparkling warm waters and soft sand. There is also plenty of shade with palm trees everywhere, some even producing delicious fresh coconuts, although being careful staying under one as a falling coconut to the head can be fatal. Not only is the water nice, but there is usually a food truck or bar with great food nearby!

9. Resilience

Something to know about Puerto Ricans is that they are tough. The Puerto Rican people have been through many things and continue to do so. They’ve been colonized by Spain and, more recently, the U.S., placed under the Jones Act, which makes affording groceries expensive.

Not only this, but at one point, Puerto Ricans were under attack by Americans during a period when the independence movement was growing. The flag was banned, and the language was limited. Puerto Ricans, though, fought back, and now the flag is flown everywhere. It’s stitched on clothes, hung outside of homes and businesses, and placed on accessories.

Puerto Rico is also in a tough spot geographically. Hurricanes are no joke, and they’ve been hit many times with strong ones. The recent worst one was Hurricane Maria, which claimed the lives of over 2,000 people and left many of the island without power for up to a year, if not more.

10. The Coqui

We can’t talk about Puerto Rico without mentioning the coqui, and Puerto Ricans love this little iconic animal! The common coqui is a small frog native to the island. It’s an invasive species, though, in Hawaii.

The common coqui is known for its beautiful but loud call that sounds like its name. This nocturnal predator has a healthy diet and consumes ants, small frogs, snails, spiders, and more. The common coqui is often only about 1.3 inches long, sometimes even smaller. While most people think of the common coqui first, there are more than 16 species on the island.

11. Natural Beauty

Also on our list of things that Puerto Ricans love about themselves and their island is the island’s natural beauty. It’s hard to resist the call to Puerto Rico. On one hand, the island has spectacular beaches with soft golden sand and turquoise waters, but they also have green luscious mountains. You can hike tall mountains, take a dip in a cool river by a waterfall, or swim with marine life in the sea.

One of the most beautiful and well-known spots on the island is El Yunque, a national forest and mountain on the island. This national forest is a must-visit if you’re on the island. It’s filled with stunning swimming holes and wildlife. If you want great views of the forest, you can travel to the Yokahú Tower.

12. Instruments

We’ve already talked about the island’s love for music, but what about the instruments? The instruments deserve their own recognition and are seeing a revival in young people learning to play them. Some traditional Puerto Rican instruments include the cuatro (a ten-string instrument), el guiro (a percussion instrument made by drying squash and carving lines), maracas, panderos, congras, and more. If you visit any festival on the island, you’re likely to see many people playing these instruments. They might even join other people playing.

13. The Many Holidays

Last but not least are the island’s many parties, holidays, and celebrations. Puerto Ricans love dancing, good music, and food, so combining all of these is a blast. There is so much to celebrate other than birthdays, graduations, anniversaries, and baby showers.

Some Holidays celebrated on this lively island are Three King’s Day, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Fiestas de la Calle San Sebastian, Las Octavitas, and more. During the Fiestas de la Calle San Sebastian, people gather to play music together and sometimes adorn costumes and wear cabezudos.

The photo featured at the top of this post is © Radames Valentin/iStock via Getty Images