Urban Life in Puerto Rico, c. 1910
"The islet of San Juan is almost three miles long and one half mile wide, but less than one-third of this area lies within the city walls. This has compelled…
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From Down in Porto Rico by George Milton Fowles, 1910.
In Porto Rico, as in the United States, there are great differences in modes of living, dependent upon the place of the home and the economic condition of the occupants. We shall discuss the homes under two heads: the homes of the poor and the homes of the higher classes. Among the poor, there is the life in the "patios" of the larger cities, in the shanties of the suburbs, in the smaller towns and villages, at the "haciendas" or plantations, and in the country.
There are no great cities on the Island, only two, San Juan and Ponce, having a population of over 30,000, and neither of these exceeds 45,000. In the minds of the Islanders, however, San Juan is a great metropolis, and they speak of "La Capital" in much the same way as Americans refer to New York. San Juan has always been as it is now, the chief commercial port. The frequent attacks upon it by pirates and by hostile powers at war with Spain early demanded fortifications. In 1533, the construction of El Morro was begun in order to guard the entrance into the harbor. In 1630 was begun the wall which completely enclosed the city. Early in the eighteenth century, the construction of San Cristobal was begun to guard the city on the landward side.
The islet of San Juan is almost three miles long and one half mile wide, but less than one-third of this area lies within the city walls. This has compelled the inhabitants to live in crowded quarters. There are probably not a dozen detached houses in the city. The buildings are all constructed of brick and stone covered with plaster or cement. On the principal streets most of these are two stories high, with an occasional three-story house, and perhaps a half dozen that are four stories high. On the less important streets, the one-story type prevails. The whole city is a solid mass of masonry. There are no vacant lots or breathing places and no back yards. The two chief plazas or squares of the city are the Plaza Baldorioty at the center of the city, and the Plaza Colon on the eastern side, adjoining San Cristobal. These are both quite small and are cemented.
To give an idea of home life in this city, it is necessary to describe a typical two-story house. On the second floor, the large front room, usually extending the full width of the house, is the parlor, which has the only outside openings of the building. These are called windows, but in reality they are double doors with full-length shutters. There is no such thing as glass windows in Porto Rico, except a few that have been introduced by Americans. Adjoining the parlor are one or two bedchambers and a dining-room into which the stairs lead. The width of the house from the dining-room to the kitchen at the rear is about equally divided between an inner court or "patio" and bedrooms. The hallway is a corridor outside the wall, overlooking the court, and is either entirely open on this side or has lattice work to protect it.
The kitchen and a small room leading into it occupy the same relative position at the rear of the court as the dining-room and bed-rooms do at the front of it. As there are no spaces between buildings, the rear of the house touches the rear of the one adjoining, and thus prevents either light or ventilation from that direction. The only openings to any of these rooms are the large double doors which open into the court. When these are closed, the inmates have neither light nor ventilation, except, as in some cases, a door opens into the adjoining room, or a little pane of glass has been built in the flat roof and furnishes a few rays of light.
The general plan of a house is an oblong from thirty to forty feet wide and from 125 to 150 feet deep, with a court about one half the width and two thirds the length cut out of one side. The plan of the lower floor is similar to that of the upper except when it is used as stores. Then the space as far back as the court or "patio" is used as a store, and the rooms opening into the court are rented to families.
In these "patios" we find filth and poverty that cannot be described. Each of the small dark rooms, with no opening except a door, and that admitting only the foul air of an overcrowded and dirty court, is the home of a family sometimes numbering a dozen persons. There is little or no furniture in the room. Where they all sleep is a problem! In some of the rooms there is a tier of berths along the side, but in many cases the children sleep on the bare floor, disputing this space with rats, roaches and fleas. There is no need for a table, because they have no regular time for meals. They eat when they feel like it if they are able to procure food, otherwise they go hungry. Almost any hour of the day you can see adults and children chewing a piece of dry bread, or a stick of sugar cane, or eating fruit in a more or less advanced state of decay.
If they should want a fire to warm water or prepare food, they buy a few cents' worth of charcoal, put it into one of the rectangular oil cans that have become such a universal utility article throughout the Island, place a kettle upon the coals, and the kitchen is complete. It is hardly necessary to state that these improvised stoves are not in the rooms, but in the "patio."
A view of these "patios" gives impressions that cannot be forgotten. An inner court perhaps forty or fifty feet long and fifteen or twenty feet wide; several lines filled with clothes that have just been hung up to dry and incidentally to limit the light and air of the enclosed yard; a number of dirty, naked babies of all ages up to six or seven years; lazy men sitting against the side of the house, asleep or talking to their neighbors; women with but a single garment on, and that very filthy, either washing or cooking, or sitting on the ground, and like the men gossiping and smoking some cigar stumps they have picked up in the streets; boys and girls with scarcely enough clothing to cover their nakedness running errands, quarreling among themselves, and following quickly in the footsteps of their parents in helping to increase the population of the Island; odors of all kinds, the garlic and onions of the cook, the tobacco fumes from the smokers, the fetid atmosphere caused by the filth strewed about on the ground, and the exhaustion of the oxygen caused by the many inhabitants, are merely suggestions of the unsanitary condition of the homes, of the squalor, filth and abject poverty of the thousands who live in the "patios" of the city.
We pass from the city to the suburbs. Near San Juan there is a stretch of marshy land facing the bay. Here are built several large villages composed entirely of shanties placed close to each other. The frame work of these dwellings is square timber when it can be obtained, but more often poles answer the purpose. The siding is varied ac- cording to the ability of the owner to secure materials. Occasionally it is all made of new lumber. Oftener it is made up of old boards that have been picked up, store boxes that have been taken apart, tin cans that have been straightened out, advertising signs of either tin or wood, and, in many cases, the bark of the palm tree or the leaves of the sugar cane are used. For a roof, discarded pieces of corrugated iron or tin or boards are made to do service, but frequently thatch is used. When the ground is marshy, the buildings are elevated on posts and a floor is built as rapidly as boards enough can be secured for that purpose.
These shanties have usually one or two rooms. When there are two, the partition is very often made of canvas or some other cheap material. In the front room, the chief article of furniture is a hammock, in which the man of the house spends much of his time. Children abound, and the little naked youngsters are everywhere in evidence. The kitchen is the same open-air-charcoal-oil-can arrangement that has been previously noted. Many of the women earn money by washing for persons in the city, and almost any hour of the day they can be seen going to and from the city with their bundle of clothes carefully poised on the head.
Life in the shanties is in some respects an improvement over that in the "patio." Here they have at least the fresh air from the sea. This is indicated by the very suggestive name of one village, "The North Pole." On the other hand, they live in these marshes, where there is no drainage and no sewers. All the filth and excrements mingle with the marshy soil which sends forth its poisonous gases to be inhaled by the people. The name of another of these villages, "Venice," gives a strong suggestion of its watery surroundings.
The conditions that obtain among the poor of the "patios," and of these conglomerate shanties of the marsh, are more local than general in their character, and are found chiefly in San Juan and vicinity. Our further description of the homes will apply almost equally well to all the other towns and villages of the Island.
The general plan of the Porto Rican town is a central plaza, facing which the Church is the most imposing structure. The public buildings, if there are any, are on this square, and the chief stores and hotels are here also. Away from the plaza and its immediate vicinity, nearly all the houses are detached. While in every town there are many comfortable and a few elegant houses, the great majority are cheap, little cottages and tumble-down shacks. In many of the villages, the Catholic Church is the only substantial building to be seen, the rest being little wooden structures or thatched cottages. These houses are built in very much the same way as those described before. The materials used are seldom new, and the completed dwelling, with its leaky roof, uneven floor and scanty furniture, is far from attractive or comfortable. It would seem, however, that life among the poor of the smaller towns and villages is not attended by so many disadvantages and distressing conditions as are found among those of the larger cities.
Fowles, George Milton. Down in Porto Rico. Jennings & Graham, 1910.
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