Puerto Rico Blog 5

I guess you don't always realize how much diversity there is around the world until you either visit there or speak with a native. Surprisingly, I learned a lot more in Thursday's class time about Puerto Rico than I had expected.
Puerto Rico is an island near Cuba that in past years has had a movement towards independence. More recently, this movement has come to a halt because they are afraid of having the same amount of poverty as their neighbors Cuba. Today, they have no relationship with Cuba.
Within Puerto Rico's government there are a few guidelines unlike most governments. Puerto Ricans are born as US citizens, however, they can't vote for our president or pay taxes. Instead, they are allowed to vote in primaries and pay taxes to their local government. They hold elections every four years, but vote for a governor instead of our president during election time. Puerto Rico has three political parties including PNP, PPD, and PIP. Their capitol is San Juan.
When asking about the climate in Puerto Rico, we were informed that it always feels like summer, the beaches are pretty with warm waters, and there is a very high chance for hurricanes during the late summer months.
I found it interesting that Puerto Rican's celebrate all of the US holidays, as well as a few of their own. Also, they don't eat the typical Mexican spicy foods, (because they are not Mexico of course. On their dinner plates you will find lots of rice and beans on the side with meat, but no spicy foods or salsa.
I'm not sure that I ever gave it too much thought on how Puerto Rico was, the government works, or what they eat on a daily basis. However, learning about somewhere new is always fun and interesting and I'm glad we had a day of culture.