Puerto Rico - El paisaje y lugares importantes

The countryside and important places.
Puerto Rico's capital city is San Juan (left). San Juan is known as "La Ciudad Amurallada", the walled city. It was founded in 1521 by Juan Ponce de León. San Juan has 47.5 square miles of land and 29.11 square miles of water. San Juan is the center of Caribbean shipping and, after New York City, is the largest sea port in the area.







Below is a picture of mountains near Cayey, Puerto Rico. Many people enjoy visiting these mountains to hike and explore. The island of Puerto Rico is very green and lush.

Jungles and forests can be found on the island of Puerto Rico. If you decide to take a hike though these tree covered lands you might find some amazing things to see. Below is a picture of a waterfall in El Yunque Forest. I think it is really quite bueatiful.

Puerto Rico - Comida

Puerto Rico has many differnet types of food. One is a dish called fricase (left). It is a made with stewed chiken or goat. Fricase is a fancy and yummy dish. Another thing eaten in Puerto Rico is mangos (above). They are very common on the island and are a great snack. They also serve as side dishes or
ingredients in cooking.

A dessert in Puerto Rico is bread pudding (left). It is made with white bread, butter, sugar, milk, eggs, and a few other ingretients. This is a common desert for Puerto Ricans and a yummy one, too. Bread pudding can be mad with rasins, carmel, coconut shavings, or a topping called polvo de amor. Polvo de amor (love powder) is prepared with grated coconut meat after the milk has been drained. It is mixed with a lot of sugar, cooked, and then served golden-brown. Also the national drink of Puerto Rico is rum (below). In fact 80% of the U.S.A.'s consumed rum comes from the island. Another common drink is coffee.

Polvorones
Ingredients
2 1/4 to 2 1/2 c. flour

1/2 c. butter

1/2 c. Crisco shortening

1/2 c. sugar

1 tsp. almond extract

non-pareil sprinkles

Directions
Pre-heat oven to 350 F. In a deep bowl, cream together the butter and Crisco. Add the sugar slowly to the mix and mix well. Now add the almond extract and mix well. Now add the flour little by little until the mix is hard to stir. Take the dough, form small balls until all is used. Place the small balls on an ungreased cookie sheet and press the center to make a very small well. Place some (grageas)non-pareil sprinkles in the center of the cookie well. Place the cookies in the oven and cook for 15-20 minutes or until golden. DO NOT over cook. Let them cool before eating them.
Enjoy!!!

This was easy to make but takes some time to roll into balls.

Source: http://www.ricanrecipes.com/recipes/detail.php?category_id=10&id=137

Puerto Rico - Gobierno

The government of Puerto Rico is in association with the United States of America. The president of the U.S.A. is the chief of state in Puerto Rico. They do not have a president of their own, but the head of government is an elected governer. The house of Representatives has 51 seats and the Senate has 27 seats. Below is a picture of the governor of Puerto Rico, Luis Fortuño.

Since 1948, the governor of Puerto Rico has been elected by the people. Before that, he was elected by the King of Spain or the President of the United States. In 1579, Juan Ponce de León II became the first Puerto Rican governor. Luis Fortuño is the current governor. He is the ninth Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. This means that he is the ninth elected governor. The governor is the head of government. Luis Fortuño was born on October 31, 1960. He is the president of the pro-statehood New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico and a member of the United States Republican Party. He is the oldest of four children and graduated Colegio Marista of Guaynabo in 1978. He also received a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service degree from Georgetown University. Then he received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1985. He is married to Luce Vela and they has triplets. Luis Fortuño became the governor of Puerto Rico on January 2, 2009.