This Is The Despacito Neighborhood

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

The well-known neighborhood of La Perla in San Juan, which has become famous for being the scene of the best-selling video "Despacito", has been unrecognizable after Hurricane Maria.

The violent storm that hit the Isla del Encanto with winds of up to 155 miles per hour has filled with debris, fallen trees and cables on the ground the streets where Daddy Yankee and Luis Fonsi appeared with the beautiful Zuleyka Rivera singing the song composed together to the Panamanian Erika Ender, and with whom they made history on the Internet.

"For decades, tourists visiting Puerto Rico had avoided the La Perla neighborhood of San Juan," CNN explained. "It was considered a crime and drug center."

The residents of the neighborhood have worked hard to change that perception and have taken advantage of the explosion of the video of “Despacito” with samples of urban art and new layers of paint that gave a new air to the neighborhood located in a privileged place between the walls of the Old San Juan and the Atlantic Ocean.

The popularity achieved with the success of the Fonsi theme, added to its excellent location near one of the most touristic areas of the Puerto Rican capital, has triggered the interest of visitors to La Perla.

Due to its location facing the sea, the neighborhood is one of the areas of San Juan that is first ordered to evacuate before the arrival of a cyclone. This situation exposed to the storm surge also makes it very vulnerable.

The images that have come after Maria's passage show that some of the brightly painted buildings have been damaged, homes have been flooded and none of the trees appear to have survived the strong winds. There are light poles and cables lying everywhere. The same panorama that is repeated throughout the island.

Given the magnitude of the years, the authorities have warned that the return to normality and reconstruction can take months. Waiting for that help to come, residents of La Perla have already been seen trying to bring order to the neighborhood that hosted the world's most watched music video.