Hola from San Juan!

More when I get back -- including an exciting video! -- but a few things I've learned thus far on my trip to Puerto Rico:

Stopping over in Newark, N.J., I thought it was simply a myth that New Jersey folks were stuck in the '80s. Then I saw a Swatch watch store in the airport and listened to Poison tracks in the nicest airport restaurant, and my fears were confirmed.

It is so hot and humid here that even the TSA agents strip. Literally: I saw one peel off his shirt right at the checkpoint.

People from the Dominican Republic are apparently one of the last ethnic groups on Earth that can be bashed with impunity. After hearing "It's those Dominicans!" so many times, it brought back memories of May, when my big black car driver in N.Y. was bashing Dominicans.

If Puerto Ricans liked Mexican food or drink, they wouldn't admit it. Though you gotta love any culture that eats a bunch of appetizers to fill up. Last night, served by a waiter who claimed ignorance of all Mexican cuisine and beverages, I had Medalla, the Puerto Rican beer, along with fried cheese with guava/chocolate essence sauce, and chorizo sauteed in white wine and onions served with crusty bread and chunky garlic butter. Here, the chorizo is served whole link, not the regurgitated (but tasty) style scrambled with eggs or potatoes.

And then, of course, there was Marcos the cab driver. Besides being hotter than the guy on the El Pollo Loco commercials, Marcos told me that he had fled Venezuela and made a new home in Puerto Rico. "Hugo Chavez is ... a ... dumb!" he emphatically stated as my heart soared. Is there anything hotter than an anti-Chavista?