I remember that I was very surprised to be served ''arroz con habichuelas'' when I traveled to Santo Domingo many years ago (9 years old). It tasted pretty much the same and they called it ''habichuelas'' not frijoles. Cuban food was very similar too specially ''moros con cristianos'' which we do eat in my family though not as regularly. There are some notable differences though. For example our ''arroz con gandules'' does not have coconut while the ''arroz con guandules" domincans make does. Musically Cuba and PR have lots of similarities too while our music springs from the same roots (Guracha Espa~nola, Son rythms, and our respective Salsa though the latter is more PR than Cuban) they developed mostly in isolation and grew apart till they reunited when Cubans started accepting Salsa's overthrowing of Son Montuno. Dominicans however influenced us culturally so greatly with their Merengue making it a staple on the Island just as it is happening with Bachata and happened over there with reggaeton. In that sense, I see more hybridization between DR and PR, specially after the 80's. Accents overlap with both islands. Average PR's speak more similar to Cubans while there are some regions in PR where people speak faster more like the Dominicans.