Puerto Rico (Man Made) City of the Dammed (Holiday Resorts in Gran Canaria in general)

Member Name: Steve Alderson

Product:	Holiday Resorts in Gran Canaria in general
Date:	23/07/08 (298 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: There is a road out

Disadvantages: There is a road in

Having read the recent reviews of others on line about Puerto Rico in Gran Canaria i had to go and get an atlas out to see if there were two identically named places; one of which was wonderfull and the other which i visited last week. But no, they were talking about the same place.
I guess i may be at fault for not appreciating the finer points of spending ones holiday in an open air shopping mall being pestered by strangers and ripped off by all and sundry, but if this is not what you envisage as the perfect holiday, then take heed and read on.

As you drive in to puerto rico, you see hotels, as you go further, you see hotels, further in you see the epicentre of all these hotels which is an absolutly awful looking shopping mall in which all entertainment outside of the hotel entertainment in puerto rico resides. this really is an awful place which we gave various names such as hell valley, village of the dammed or the gauntlet. And believe me, entering this monstrocity really was like running the gauntlet as you were pestered by vultures perched outside their restaurants beseeching, shouting and threatening you to come in. One particularly repellant norman wisdom look alike took delight in shouting after people and abusing them if they declined his cringing entreaties to go into his restaurant.
one evening we went for a meal and decided to answer all such requests/demands by telling them that we were meeting some one in the resturant we had been recommended, thinking that this should stop the leeches pestering us. unfortunatley this was met by one of the locusts with "who are you going to meet, i'll be watching you". the little shit even had the temertiy to challenge us as we left with "i was watching you, you never met anyone" at which point he was informed that if he wished to remain standing upright and unbloodied that he had better get out of our way.
We did think that it would be nice to wander around the back streets, meet some locals etc. but, there are no streets, and no locals. Please believe me, puerto rico has no streets, and no where to meander, just hotel after hotel and a shopping mall which would put the one in Cambuslang to shame. There is nothing Spanish about Puerto Rico. there is nothing cultural about puerto rico. Indeed, there is nothing civilised about Puerto Rico. It is a man made ripoff centre purporting to be a holiday resort.
An example of this is how they treat you if you need medicine. My partner needed an inhaler and pain killers and went down to the local pharmacy to buy them, as we knew they were readily available over the counter in Spain. On two occasions, i was told she would have to go to the medical centre for a prescription. Of course we found out from the reps that the local pharmacy had a deal with the private medical centres and creamed off 10 euros of the 35 euros they expected you to pay unecessarily rather than provide you with the medication you may desperatly need. we had to travel to a near by village to buy pain killers and an inhaller due to this and when i complained to the pharmacy that we could buy medicines without prescription outside puerto rico she told us "go there then".
If you want to spend your holiday in a shopping mall, save yourself the price of a flight and do it at home. This really is a god forsaken, god awful, man made hell hole of a place where they rip you off at every opportunity, give it as wide a berth as you possibly can.
I beseech you dont do it to yourself or your family.

Summary: If god was going to give the world an enema, this is where he'd stick the tube