Puerto-Rico-Glossar
Die Wörter, Orte und Institutionen, die bei der Planung einer Puerto-Rico-Reise auftauchen, verständlich erklärt. Jeder Eintrag sagt, was es ist, warum es zählt und was man damit anfängt.
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Unterkunft
Unterkunft
Hospedería endosada
Lodging with official endorsement from the Tourism Company, which verifies quality, safety and registration...
Unterkunft
Impuesto de habitación
A lodging tax added on top of the room rate and collected by the Tourism Company. The percentage varies by type of...
Unterkunft
Parador
A small inn endorsed by the official parador program of the Tourism Company, created in 1973 to send travelers beyond...
Unterkunft
Posada (hospedaje pequeño)
A small no frills lodging, usually family run, more informal than a parador and with no official endorsement...
Handwerk
Handwerk
Artesanía de higüera
Objects made from the dried fruit of the higüera tree, hollowed out and then carved or painted. It yields güiros,...
Handwerk
Careta de vejigante
The mask of the vejigante character, horned and painted in strong colors. In Ponce it is made of papier mâché with...
Handwerk
Mundillo
Bobbin lace woven by hand over a cylindrical cushion, inherited from Spain and preserved above all in Moca, in the...
Handwerk
Santos de palo
Religious figures carved in wood by artisans called santeros, a tradition centuries old on the island. They are...
Handwerk
Sombrero de pava
A wide brimmed straw hat worn by mountain farmers that became a symbol of jíbaro identity. It appears in monuments,...
Getranke
Getranke
Café puertorriqueño
Arabica coffee grown in the central mountains, above all around Yauco, Adjuntas, Jayuya and Maricao. It is roasted...
Getranke
Chichaíto
A shot of white rum with anise liqueur, served very cold and usually poured from a bottle kept in the freezer. It is...
Getranke
Coquito
A Christmas drink of coconut milk, condensed milk, spices and rum, served very cold in small glasses. It is the local...
Getranke
Malta (bebida de malta)
A dark non alcoholic malt soda, sweet and thick, that goes with fritters at any kiosk. It tastes like unfermented...
Getranke
Maví
A fermented drink of Afro Caribbean origin made from the bark of the maví tree with sugar and spices such as anise...
Getranke
Medalla Light
A light beer brewed in Puerto Rico that works as the island's default beer, especially at the beach and at roadside...
Getranke
Piña colada
A cocktail of rum, cream of coconut and pineapple, and the official drink of Puerto Rico. Two venues, one in Old San...
Getranke
Pitorro
A high proof artisanal rum, traditionally distilled outside the legal system, that appears in island homes at...
Getranke
Ron puertorriqueño
Cane rum produced on the island under its own rules, with mandatory oak aging for the aged categories. Puerto Rico is...
Kuste und Meer
Kuste und Meer
Bahía bioluminiscente
An enclosed bay where the water lights up blue green when disturbed, thanks to a dense population of light emitting...
Kuste und Meer
Bahía Mosquito
The bioluminescent bay on Vieques, recognized by Guinness World Records as the brightest in the world. It is visited...
Kuste und Meer
Balneario (playa pública)
A government run public beach with restrooms, showers, parking and lifeguards during set hours. There is usually a...
Kuste und Meer
Cayo
A small sand and coral islet with no services and often no shade, reached by boat. They sit off Fajardo, around La...
Kuste und Meer
Corriente de resaca
A narrow channel of water rushing back out to sea that drags swimmers away from shore. It is the real hazard on north...
Kuste und Meer
Dinoflagelado
A single celled marine microorganism that fires a flash of light when the water is stirred. It is what makes the...
Kuste und Meer
La Parguera
A coastal village in Lajas, in the southwest, home to the island's third bioluminescent bay and a maze of cays and...
Kuste und Meer
Laguna Grande
The bioluminescent lagoon in Fajardo, the easiest to reach from San Juan since it is under an hour and a half by car....
Kuste und Meer
Marea roja
A massive bloom of microalgae that stains the water red or brown and can affect fish and swimmers. In Puerto Rico it...
Kuste und Meer
Paseo tablado
A wooden walkway over the shore or the mangrove, built so people can walk without stepping on fragile ground. Some...
Kuste und Meer
Playa Bandera Azul
An international award granted each season to beaches, marinas and boats that meet water quality, safety and...
Kuste und Meer
Playa Flamenco
A horseshoe shaped beach on Culebra with white sand and very calm water, ranked among the best in the Caribbean by...
Kuste und Meer
Protector solar seguro para arrecifes
Sunscreen with mineral filters and no oxybenzone or octinoxate, which is what nature reserves and snorkel operators...
Kuste und Meer
Sargazo
A brown seaweed that arrives in floating mats from the Atlantic and piles up on the shore, mostly between spring and...
Kultur
Kultur
Aguinaldo (canción navideña)
A Puerto Rican Christmas song, played on cuatro, güiro and frame drums, sung house to house during parrandas. It is...
Kultur
Barril de bomba
A drum originally built from a rum barrel with a goatskin head, the rhythmic base of bomba. At least two are played:...
Kultur
Bomba (música y baile)
An Afro Puerto Rican genre of drum, song and dance born among enslaved communities on the coast. What makes it...
Kultur
Cuatro puertorriqueño
The national string instrument, with ten strings in five double courses and a body shaped like a violin. It is the...
Kultur
Danza puertorriqueña
A nineteenth century ballroom genre, elegant and slow, that was the music of urban society in Ponce and San Juan. Its...
Kultur
Décima
A sung ten line stanza that trovadores improvise over jíbaro music, often as a verbal duel between two singers. The...
Kultur
Güiro
A percussion instrument made from the dried hollowed fruit of the higüera gourd, with grooves scraped by a metal...
Kultur
Jíbaro
A mountain farmer of Puerto Rico and, by extension, the symbol of the island's rural identity. The classic image...
Kultur
Pandereta de plena
A round hand drum with no jingles that gives plena its sound. It is played as a set of three sizes: the largest keeps...
Kultur
Plena puertorriqueña
A genre of hand frame drums and voice born in Ponce in the early twentieth century, known as the sung newspaper...
Kultur
Reguetón
An urban genre shaped in Puerto Rico in the nineties out of Panamanian reggae en español and rap, coming up through...
Kultur
Salsa (género musical)
A Caribbean genre that crystallized in New York with Puerto Rican musicians at its core and came back to the island...
Kultur
Trulla (parranda)
A surprise late night visit to someone's house with instruments, singing aguinaldos until they open the door. The...
Kultur
Vejigante
The masked character of Puerto Rican festivals, in a bright costume with many horns and an inflated bladder used to...
Feste
Feste
Carnaval de Ponce
The historic carnival of Ponce, on the south coast, held in the days before Ash Wednesday. Its central figure is the...
Feste
Día de Reyes
January 6, when children receive gifts from the Three Kings, a bigger day than Christmas in many island households....
Feste
Festival Casals
A classical music festival founded in 1957 by cellist Pablo Casals, who spent his last years in Puerto Rico. It runs...
Feste
Fiestas de la Calle San Sebastián
The island's biggest urban festival, in January, when Old San Juan fills for several days with music, giant headed...
Feste
Fiestas de Santiago Apóstol
The festival of Loíza, on the north coast, held in late July and regarded as the liveliest expression of Afro Puerto...
Feste
Fiestas patronales
The yearly festival of each of the 78 municipalities in honor of its patron saint, set up in the town plaza with...
Feste
Navidades boricuas
The island's Christmas season, which starts in late November and does not end until the San Sebastián Street Festival...
Feste
Noche de San Juan
The night of June 23, when half the island heads to the beach and at midnight walks backward into the water several...
Essen
Essen
Alcapurria
A torpedo shaped fritter of green banana and taro root dough stuffed with seasoned ground beef or with land crab. It...
Essen
Amarillos (plátano maduro frito)
Slices of ripe plantain fried until the edges caramelize and the inside turns soft. They are the sweet counterpoint...
Essen
Arroz con dulce
Rice cooked in coconut milk with ginger, clove and cinnamon, served cold and cut into squares. It is denser and more...
Essen
Arroz con gandules
The national dish of Puerto Rico: rice cooked with pigeon peas, sofrito, annatto and often pork. It shows up at every...
Essen
Arroz mamposteao
Day old white rice sautéed with stewed beans, sofrito and often bacon or ham. It started as a way to use leftovers...
Essen
Asopao
A soupy rice halfway between stew and soup, usually with chicken or seafood, built on sofrito, annatto and olives. It...
Essen
Bacalaíto
A wide flat fritter of batter and shredded salt cod, fried until the edges turn thin and crisp. Along with the...
Essen
Chillo frito
A whole red snapper fried with crisp skin and served head on, almost always with tostones and rice. It is the...
Essen
Empanadilla
A half moon of thin dough stuffed with beef, cheese, pizza filling or seafood and fried to order. In many areas it is...
Essen
Jibarito
A sandwich that swaps bread for two large flattened plantains, with meat, cheese, lettuce and tomato in between. Its...
Essen
Kioskos de Luquillo
A row of beachfront food stalls at Luquillo on the northeast coast, dozens of them in a line running from fry...
Essen
Lechón asado
A whole pig marinated and roasted for hours over charcoal on a turning spit until the skin turns to crackling. It is...
Essen
Lechonera
A roadside restaurant built around roast pork, almost always cafeteria style with communal tables. The meat is carved...
Essen
Limber
A homemade frozen treat set in a small plastic cup that you eat by pushing it up from the bottom. Flavors include...
Essen
Mallorca (pan dulce)
A soft coiled sweet bread dusted with powdered sugar, descended from the Majorcan ensaimada and adopted as its own on...
Essen
Mofongo
The signature dish of Puerto Rican cooking, made from fried green plantain mashed in a wooden mortar with garlic, oil...
Essen
Mojo isleño
A sauce of tomato, onion, olives, capers and peppers served over fried fish. It is associated above all with the...
Essen
Pan sobao
A soft, faintly sweet white bread that comes out of island bakeries several times a day. It is the base of local...
Essen
Pastel de masa
A dough of green banana, taro and pumpkin wrapped around seasoned pork, tied in a plantain leaf and boiled. It is not...
Essen
Pilón (mortero de madera)
The wooden mortar and pestle used to mash plantain, garlic and pork cracklings. It is the tool that defines mofongo,...
Essen
Piononó
A strip of ripe plantain coiled into a ring, filled with seasoned ground beef, battered and fried. It comes out sweet...
Essen
Pique criollo
A homemade hot sauce of chili peppers in vinegar, often with garlic, pineapple or fruit, living in a reused bottle on...
Essen
Piragua
A cone of hand shaved ice topped with fruit syrup, sold from brightly painted carts in plazas and at beaches. In...
Essen
Quesito
A puff pastry roll filled with cream cheese and glazed with sugar, baked in every bakery on the island. You eat it...
Essen
Recao (culantro)
A long serrated leaf herb, stronger than cilantro and in the same aromatic family. It is the ingredient that gives...
Essen
Relleno de papa
A ball of mashed potato stuffed with stewed beef, breaded and deep fried until golden. It is the heaviest item on the...
Essen
Ruta del Lechón
The stretch of route PR-184 through Guavate, in Cayey, where the island's best known roast pork restaurants sit one...
Essen
Sancocho
A thick meat stew loaded with root vegetables: taro, yam, cassava, plantain and pumpkin cooked until they thicken the...
Essen
Sazón con achiote
A spice blend built on annatto that turns rice, stews and fritters that familiar orange. Annatto is the seed that...
Essen
Sofrito
A raw aromatic base blended in advance and kept on hand to start almost any stew: sweet aji peppers, onion, garlic,...
Essen
Tembleque
A dessert of coconut milk set with cornstarch, served cold and dusted with cinnamon. It wobbles when you move it,...
Essen
Tostones
Green plantain slices fried once, flattened and fried again until crisp. They are the default side with almost any...
Essen
Trifongo
A mofongo variant that mashes three bases in the same mortar, normally green plantain, ripe plantain and cassava. It...
Essen
Tripleta
A sandwich on soft sobao bread with three meats, usually pork, ham and beef, with fries inside and mayoketchup. It is...
Geschichte
Geschichte
Adoquín azul
A block of iron slag with a bluish sheen that has paved the streets of Old San Juan since the late nineteenth...
Geschichte
Casco urbano
The historic center of a Puerto Rican town, always laid out the same way: the plaza in the middle, the church on one...
Geschichte
Castillo San Cristóbal
The largest Spanish fortification built in the Americas, raised to defend San Juan by land while El Morro faced the...
Geschichte
Castillo San Felipe del Morro
A sixteenth century fortress raised on the headland commanding the entrance to San Juan Bay, with six levels and a...
Geschichte
Cemí
A sacred Taíno object, usually of stone or wood and often triangular, representing a deity or an ancestral spirit. It...
Geschichte
Garita
A stone sentry box with a domed roof and narrow windows, set into the walls of San Juan. It became the visual symbol...
Geschichte
Hacienda cafetalera
A mountain coffee estate, many of them from the nineteenth century, with a main house, drying platforms and sometimes...
Geschichte
La Fortaleza
A sixteenth century building that started as a fortification and ended up as the governor's official residence, in...
Geschichte
Murallas de San Juan
The sandstone defensive belt that ringed the old city, largely preserved on the seaward side. The red painted Puerta...
Geschichte
Observatorio de Arecibo
A radio telescope built in 1963 inside a natural karst sinkhole near Arecibo, for decades the largest single dish in...
Geschichte
Parque Ceremonial Indígena de Caguana
A Taíno site in Utuado, in the mountainous center, with ceremonial plazas called bateyes framed by carved monoliths....
Geschichte
Petroglifo
A carving made on rock by Indigenous peoples, with faces, round eyes and figures, found in rivers, caves and...
Geschichte
Plaza de recreo
The central square of every town, with trees, benches, the church facing it and the town hall alongside, working as...
Geschichte
Taíno
The Indigenous people who inhabited Puerto Rico, which they called Borikén, when the Spanish arrived in 1493. Their...
Geschichte
Viejo San Juan
The historic core of San Juan, founded in the sixteenth century on an islet and still partly ringed by its walls. It...
Lokaler Slang
Lokaler Slang
Boricua
The word Puerto Ricans use for themselves, derived from Borikén, the Taíno name of the island. It carries pride and...
Lokaler Slang
Borinquen
The Taíno name of Puerto Rico, also written Borikén, still alive as the island's poetic name. It appears in the...
Lokaler Slang
Chévere
An adjective meaning good, nice or great, common in Puerto Rico and across much of the Caribbean and South America....
Lokaler Slang
China (la naranja)
In Puerto Rico a sweet orange is called a china, and orange juice is jugo de china. The word comes from the historic...
Lokaler Slang
Chinchorreo
Hopping between several chinchorros in one day, eating and drinking a little at each stop. It is a well established...
Lokaler Slang
Chinchorro
A simple roadside or neighborhood bar with fritters, cold beer and loud music. It is not a lesser venue, it is its...
Lokaler Slang
Janguear
To go out or hang around with no fixed plan, a direct adaptation of the English hang out. The noun is jangueo and it...
Lokaler Slang
Pana (amigo)
Friend or buddy, in an informal and affectionate register. It appears in the phrase mi pana for someone you trust and...
Lokaler Slang
Wepa
An exclamation of joy and approval, the local shout of celebration. It comes out when the good song starts, when...
Lokaler Slang
Zafacón
A trash can or bin, in the Spanish of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. It is one of the words that most...
Natur
Natur
Arrecife de coral
The living coral formation that rings much of the coast and the smaller islands, and the reason for almost all...
Natur
Bosque Seco de Guánica
A subtropical dry forest on the south coast, designated a biosphere reserve and considered one of the best preserved...
Natur
Cavernas del Río Camuy
A cave system carved by one of the largest underground rivers in the hemisphere, in the island's north. The public...
Natur
Charco (poza de río)
A natural freshwater pool in a mountain river, often with a waterfall or a rock to jump from. They are the weekend...
Natur
Coquí
A tiny frog endemic to the Caribbean that sings at nightfall and is named after its own two note call, co-kee. Puerto...
Natur
Cotorra puertorriqueña
A green parrot endemic to the island and one of the most endangered birds in the Caribbean, with a very small wild...
Natur
Cueva Ventana
A cave near Arecibo whose mouth opens like a window over the Río Grande de Arecibo valley. The visit is guided, with...
Natur
El Yunque
The tropical rainforest in the island's northeast, managed by the federal Forest Service and the only tropical forest...
Natur
Flamboyán
A broad crowned tree that fills with red or orange flowers through the summer months. It is not native, but it is the...
Natur
Manglar
A coastal forest of trees that grow with their roots in salt water, forming narrow channels and fish nurseries. In...
Natur
Mangle rojo
The mangrove species that grows at the water's edge on those unmistakable arching prop roots. It forms the tunnels of...
Natur
Región cárstica
A belt across the island's north made of eroded limestone, with rounded hills called mogotes, sinkholes and caves. It...
Natur
Ruta Panorámica
A linked chain of mountain roads crossing the island east to west along the central range, from Yabucoa to Mayagüez....
Natur
Tabonuco
A large pale barked tree that gives its name to the lowest and wettest forest zone in El Yunque. Its aromatic resin...
Praktisch
Praktisch
Agua de la llave
Tap water in Puerto Rico is treated and generally drinkable, and people drink it normally in urban areas. After heavy...
Praktisch
Apagón
A power outage, common on the island because of the state of the grid and worse since 2017. It can last minutes or...
Praktisch
AutoExpreso
The electronic tolling system on the island's highways, built on a sticker tag linked to a prepaid balance. The main...
Praktisch
Cobertura móvil y roaming
For a United States line, Puerto Rico falls inside the domestic plan and most tariffs charge no roaming. For a...
Praktisch
Código de área 787 y 939
The two area codes of Puerto Rico, which coexist across the whole island rather than splitting it into zones. You...
Praktisch
Estatus de territorio
Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the United States, with its own government and US citizenship for those...
Praktisch
Hora del Atlántico
Puerto Rico runs on Atlantic Standard Time all year and does not change clocks for daylight saving. That means it...
Praktisch
Huracán María
The major hurricane that crossed Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017 and caused the island's worst recent crisis, with...
Praktisch
Inspección agrícola de salida
A luggage check carried out when leaving Puerto Rico for the rest of the United States, run by the federal...
Praktisch
IVU (impuesto sobre ventas)
Puerto Rico's sales and use tax, 11.5 percent, made up of 10.5 percent commonwealth and 1 percent municipal. Prepared...
Praktisch
Propina
Puerto Rico tips like the rest of the United States, between 15 and 20 percent at table service restaurants. For...
Praktisch
Temporada alta
High season runs from mid December through April, with drier weather, less heat and higher flight and lodging prices....
Praktisch
Temporada de huracanes
The official Atlantic season running from June 1 to November 30, with peak activity between August and October. Most...
Verkehr
Verkehr
Aeropuerto Luis Muñoz Marín
The island's main airport, in Carolina next to San Juan, and the gateway for nearly all international and mainland...
Verkehr
Alquiler de carro
Renting a car is the practical way to see Puerto Rico beyond the metro area, because intercity public transport is...
Verkehr
Aplicaciones de transporte
Ride hailing apps work well across metro San Juan and its tourist areas, with short waits and predictable pricing....
Verkehr
Autopistas principales
The island's fast network rests on two toll corridors: one running west from San Juan along the north coast and one...
Verkehr
Carro público
A shared van or car running a fixed route between towns, stopping at the plaza or the municipal terminal, and the...
Verkehr
Ferry de Ceiba
The boat service linking the Ceiba terminal in the east with Vieques and Culebra, which replaced the old departures...
Verkehr
Guagua
The word for bus in Puerto Rican Spanish and much of the Caribbean. In metro San Juan the transit authority runs them...
Verkehr
Tapón (atasco)
A traffic jam, in island Spanish. Metro San Juan gets heavy jams at rush hour and also on Sunday evenings coming back...
Verkehr
Tren Urbano
A single line metro connecting Bayamón, Guaynabo and part of San Juan, with stations at office districts, hospitals...
Verkehr
Vuelo en avioneta
Short hops in light aircraft between San Juan or Ceiba and the islands of Vieques and Culebra, taking roughly 10 to...
