Puerto Rico

A vote was recently held, in which Puerto Ricans chose to join the United States as the 51st state. I am not entirely sure what the vote means, whether it was a legally binding vote or merely a referendum to gauge public opinion. For Puerto Rico to become a U.S. state, the approval of Congress would still be required. But anyway, this would be a good time to have a look at Puerto Rico.

San Juan, the capital and largest city of Puerto Rico, is on the island's north coast. It is a very old city, having begun in 1521 as a Spanish colonial settlement. Old San Juan is built on a small island. In the oldest part of San Juan, there are two major castles from Spanish colonial days. El Morro castle is to defend against attacks from sea, and San Cristobal is more to defend against attacks from land. The governor of Puerto Rico lives in another old fortress, called La Fortaleza.

Cannon shots were exchanged from here with U.S. ships in 1898, during the Spanish-American War after which Puerto Rico became a U.S. possession. But, as of yet, it has not become a U.S. state. There are, however, more Puerto Ricans living on the "mainland" than in Puerto Rico itself.

The following scenes begin at the other end of Old San Juan, in Plaza Colon.

There are multiple scenes following. To see the scenes, after the first one, you must first click the up arrow, ^, before you can move on to the next scene by clicking the right or forward arrow, >. After clicking the up arrow, you can then hide the previews of successive scenes, if you wish.

https://www.google.com/maps/@18.4662025,-66.112031,3a,75y,255.72h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sh3juAzTzTWWFuBt-PyxDyA!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3Dh3juAzTzTWWFuBt-PyxDyA%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D254.97679%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

This is another old part of the city, known as Isleta, just east of Old San Juan.

https://www.google.com/maps/@18.464669,-66.0981437,3a,75y,137.19h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1spX1gyGGQyvSowYZap8VV-g!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DpX1gyGGQyvSowYZap8VV-g%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D138.69772%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

Condado, a destination for tourists, is further east in San Juan.

https://www.google.com/maps/@18.4539498,-66.0696684,3a,75y,124h,88t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-lzj_FEno-wU%2FVM6hc80NVFI%2FAAAAAAAASAE%2Fb0lZXHHcXZQRQEEGpRIa2LIvIZUJNngNQCJkC!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh3.googleusercontent.com%2F-lzj_FEno-wU%2FVM6hc80NVFI%2FAAAAAAAASAE%2Fb0lZXHHcXZQRQEEGpRIa2LIvIZUJNngNQCJkC%2Fw203-h100-k-no-pi-2.9999962-ya114.50001-ro-0-fo100%2F!7i5656!8i2828

Here is the main business district of San Juan, known as Hato Rey.

https://www.google.com/maps/@18.4274835,-66.0589006,3a,75y,101h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sfAk9cP8u-OxDUlriGAmenQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DfAk9cP8u-OxDUlriGAmenQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D101.580795%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

This is a mostly-residential area in Bayamon, just west of San Juan.

https://www.google.com/maps/@18.3848495,-66.1627051,3a,75y,315h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1skycxCdSBM3mNeMBEkeFOMQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DkycxCdSBM3mNeMBEkeFOMQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D315.0703%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

Carolina is just outside San Juan, to the southeast.

https://www.google.com/maps/@18.380988,-65.956846,3a,75y,79h,79t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-bzpuLPmHwQc%2FWBncSTq6S8I%2FAAAAAAAABTc%2F2T52wodhTz468yXW9wPZCru-LJtBYWpTQCLIB!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh3.googleusercontent.com%2F-bzpuLPmHwQc%2FWBncSTq6S8I%2FAAAAAAAABTc%2F2T52wodhTz468yXW9wPZCru-LJtBYWpTQCLIB%2Fw203-h100-k-no-pi-11-ya3.5000012-ro-0-fo100%2F!7i7680!8i3840

Proceeding southward across the island, from San Juan, we come to the city of Caguas.

https://www.google.com/maps/@18.2364855,-66.0350009,3a,75y,220.13h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sJ0z2opPqwwEL3G5DA6EstQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DJ0z2opPqwwEL3G5DA6EstQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D218.67784%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

The major urban area of Puerto Rico's south coast is Ponce. it is pronounced with a long "e", as in "pon-say". This city faces toward the Caribbean. Remember that the first governor of Puerto Rico was Juan Ponce de Leon, who is mythologized as searching for the "Fountain of Youth", in Florida. His tomb is in San Juan Bautista Cathedral, in San Juan.

The following scenes are in central Ponce.

https://www.google.com/maps/@18.0116297,-66.6143347,3a,75y,43h,77t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sJ7koDZmQUEuA3kl1mTA7Sw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DJ7koDZmQUEuA3kl1mTA7Sw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D43.229168%26pitch%3D-13.541667%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

This is a residential area in Ponce, Villa Del Carmen.

https://www.google.com/maps/@17.9824255,-66.6050595,3a,75y,275h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1spUiyHoD9iuqCHzXL2lWy6w!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DpUiyHoD9iuqCHzXL2lWy6w%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D275.58105%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

In the field of science, Puerto Rico used to have the best-known radio telescope in the world. It is now closed and is near the town of Arecibo. The dish was built in a natural hollow, and focused radio waves from space onto the antenna structure that is suspended above it. The dish was not steerable, but was pointed in different directions in space by the daily rotation of the earth. Also the earth faces different directions in space during the course of the year, and the dish moved relative to the plane of the earth's orbit around the sun due to the earth's tilt on it's axis, which also brings the seasons.

Smaller radio telescopes are steerable, but these may miss radio waves that are of very low frequency and long wavelength, which the vast "dish" of the radio telescope at Arecibo would be more likely to catch.

To really understand what is in space, it is necessary to examine it in every section of the electromagnetic spectrum. Objects in space may appear to be not very active in visible light, but may be very active in the radio, infrared or ultraviolet ranges. The spectrum of visible light that we can see is only a few percent of the entire electromagnetic spectrum.

The following scenes are of the Arecibo Radio Telescope. It is now closed but has been so important to our understanding of the universe.

https://www.google.com/maps/@18.3466171,-66.7525267,3a,75y,265h,72t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sAPYtzUU6MgtDQQtrwDn8tA!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DAPYtzUU6MgtDQQtrwDn8tA%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D265.5%26pitch%3D-18.941883%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656