NotiPR :: That's All Folks! :: The REAL Caguas, Puerto Rico

2.18.05

The REAL Caguas, Puerto Rico

By Keith W. Tyras Romanello 2004: 10.22 10.29 11.5 11.12 11.19 11.26 12.3 12.10 12.17 12.24 12.31

2005: 1.7 1.14 1.21 1.28 2.4 2.11 2.25 3.4 3.11 3.18 3.25 4.1 4.8 4.15 4.22 4.29 5.6 5.13 5.20 5.27 6.3 6.10 6.17 6.24 7.1 7.8 7.15 7.22 7.29 8.5 8.12 8.19 8.26 9.2

If you have never visited Puerto Rico for business or pleasure, chances are pretty good that you have at least heard of Puerto Rico. Like everywhere else in the world, you probably heard things both good and maybe not so good.

If you have never visited Puerto Rico for business or pleasure, it isn't likely you have ever heard of anything good or maybe not so good about Caguas, Puerto Rico. It's unlikely you have ever heard of Caguas, Puerto Rico.

If on Valentine's Day week, you happened to read a story online or in your local English-language newspaper, you may have read an article that "SHOWCASED" Caguas, Puerto Rico.

No, it WASN'T an article about one of the many good, descent people who do amazing things for their community. No, it WASN'T an article about one of the great doctors or lawyers that save lives or help someone with a custody issue. No, it WASN'T an article about one of the great restaurants serving the best Puerto Rican food anywhere on the Island. No, it WASN'T an article about one of the many students who excel in a private or public school.

No, it WAS a BS article about the sex motels that are abundant in one area on the outskirts of Caguas.

Here's the entire article as it appeared on The New York Times website:

«'Highway of Love' Sex Motels Very Discreet

By STEVENSON JACOBS
Associated Press Writer

CAGUAS, Puerto Rico (AP) -- Billboards tout love machines, whirlpools and water beds and a saleswoman pitches an energy drink to help couples through Valentine's Day on Puerto Rico's "Highway of Love.''

It's the busiest day of the year on the darkened stretch of road where adventurous couples looking for a discreet and special way to say "I love you'' join in a long-cherished tradition among islanders who pride themselves on their passion.

Couples in cars speed into open garages marked with signs like: "junior suite -- $25 for eight hours.'' Uniformed attendants rush over, close the garage door halfway and take a wad of cash from an anonymous outstretched hand.

"You go in, spend a few hours and come out. You don't see anybody and nobody sees you. It's wonderful,'' said Delfín Romero, a 63-year-old divorcee who used to frequent motels to spice up his marriage.

While the "Ruta del Amor,'' or Highway of Love, failed to save his relationship, it continues to provide a long-cherished rite of passage for Puerto Ricans, elevating the act of stealing away for an hour or two of furtive intimacy.

The road is home to more than a dozen motels with names like "Bambú,'' "Rainbow'' and "The Fountain,'' all nestled among a throng of tile stores in the otherwise unassuming town of Caguas, about 20 miles south of San Juan, the capital.

"There's a saying here that goes if you're coming to Caguas, you're looking for one of two things: to buy tiles or go to a motel,'' said a smiling Yvonne Rodríguez, the owner of the 30-room Rainbow motel, one of Caguas' oldest and most respected.

Customers stop at all hours, lured by billboards touting numerous amenities like king-sized beds, whirlpool baths and "No. 1 in hygiene.''

A buzzer triggered by a motion detector alerts motel attendants that they have a client, who pays by slipping a few bills underneath a garage door or through a special window in the room upstairs.

Prices vary from $25 to $65 for a suite with mirrored ceilings and various contraptions advertised as sexual aids. Among them are "love machines'' -- a kind of sex chair with stirrups that allows the more adventurous to experiment with Kama Sutra-like positions. Some come with dildos attached.

All rooms have an eight-hour time limit, though most clients use less than half that time. A single room can be used by five or more couples in a night.

While the motels guard their clients anonymity, security guards in golf carts roam the properties to ensure a prohibition on illegal drug use, children and parties of more than two.

The clientele ranges from young lovers who don't have a place of their own to businessmen on lunch breaks.

Some visitors are not concerned about being recognized.

"We get a lot of famous people here, too,'' said Cano Alicia, a 38-year-old handyman at the Rainbow. "But it doesn't matter who you are, the same rule applies for everyone: what happens here, stays here.''

He said the motels serve an important function for islanders with big sexual appetites who need to maintain appearances in the socially conservative U.S. Caribbean territory of 4 million people.

"Puerto Ricans will come here with their girlfriends, spend a few hours and then go home and make love again with their wives,'' he said.

While Valentine's Day is the busiest time of year, motels also experience a rush during Christmas, Mother's Day and Secretaries' Day, owners said.

The Rainbow stocked up for a hectic holiday with champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries, while the energy drink company, Red Bull, did special promotions at motels "to make sure everyone has enough strength to get through the holiday,'' said one plucky sales representative handing out drink samples.

The motels first became popular in the 1950s, driven by demand among married couples looking for a few hours' respite from work, children or household chores. Today, they're strictly regulated and are an important contributor to the local economy.»

It also appeared on the following online news websites that Yahoo! tracks: First Coast News, RedNova, WINK TV Southwest Florida, Boston Globe, The Ledger, Kansas City Star, AP via Yahoo! Asia News, AP via Yahoo! News, newsobserver.com, The Daily Comet, WJLA-TV Washington D.C., The Fresno Bee, Macon Telegraph, Miami Herald, Centre Daily, TimesLeader.com, Pioneer Press, Modesto Bee, Tri-City Herald Online and New Orleans Times-Picayune.

I have no way of knowing which print newspapers throughout the United States and globally carried the article. The article was NOT available anywhere in Spanish. Luckily, The New York Times website removed the article from their search engine when searching "Puerto Rico" and "Caguas." Hopefully soon, others will as well.

In fairness to The New York Times, they regularly present both the good AND not so good regarding Puerto Rico. This past week, they featured two beautiful articles on Bernie Williams, "Off The Field, Call Him Ambassador Williams" and "Plucking At Bernie Williams's Heartstrings." They also reported on some of the very best restaurants in the Caribbean, "Puerto Rico, Flavored With Contradictions," and they have a permanent TRAVEL section for Puerto Rico. Now that The New York Times is buying About.com, they have the opportunity to continue spreading the word -- the good word -- about Caguas and Puerto Rico.

If I were the Mayor of Caguas, besides inviting journalists throughout the United States to visit Caguas for a few days giving them a tour of everything positive Caguas has to offer, I would level these motels and build at least a dozen community centers as something very POSITIVE for my city -- or at the very least, impose a hefty "chilla" tax and build at least a dozen community centers. These motels actually cost Caguas many times the amount of money people think they generate in revenue for the city. Just think about it for a few minutes.

There are obviously many who would disagree with my point of view. I would think that they are the type who would either visit such motels or feel they are just fine. That doesn't mean that they are wrong or bad people, unless of course, they are married and are visiting these motels with someone other than their own spouse. Then they are wrong AND bad.

The only thing I can think of worse than reading this article regarding Caguas, would be reading a similar article on Valentine's Day 2006. That would only mean that no one did anything.

Again, my point of view.

Here's the deal. If there were many articles written and published on a variety of subjects concerning Caguas, Puerto Rico AND on a regular basis, the above article would have been ONE article that highlighted something VERY WRONG with Caguas, as I see it. It would have been no big deal.

That's not the case. This was an extremely ISOLATED article about something NO ONE would think of as positive as the ONLY thing a reader might remember about Caguas, Puerto Rico.

That's the problem!

As far as I am concerned, it isn't a coincidence that Stevenson Jacobs and the Associated Press chose to write and publish such an article. I haven't traveled throughout the entire United States, but I am certain that these motels exist EVERYWHERE, some places more than others.

So, this Valentine's Day week, with so many tens of thousands of very happily married people living and loving in Puerto Rico -- many from Caguas -- raising their children correctly, giving to their communities, attending Church, doing positive things for their families, friends, neighbors, etc. -- Stevenson Jacobs and the Associated Press DECIDED it was time to "SHOWCASE" Caguas, Puerto Rico in the most NEGATIVE LIGHT with a BS story.

The Puerto Rico I know, and have known now for 20 years, is full of some of the very best people I have ever met in my entire life. For me, the very best place in Puerto Rico is Caguas, Puerto Rico. Most of my children were born in Caguas, Puerto Rico -- NOT by chance, but BY CHOICE.

Well, that's all folks! Until next Friday.

Keith

For motivational speeches, conferences, media requests and other things such as eating disorders, you'll have to contact someone else. My only qualifications for writing a weekly column are based solely upon having a lot of free time, unlimited Internet access and very little else.