Days 1 & 2: Yabucoa and the east coast
There's really nothing special about the town of Yabucoa itself, but we stayed about 3 miles outside of the town in a very plain, but clean hotel that was about 100 yards from the beach you see above. The place had a very rural feel about it.
It was also only about an hour's drive from
El Yunque, which is a small, but real tropical rain forest, where we spent most of Saturday afternoon. It was steamy and hot, but it's amazing to see the variety of animals....
and plants...
that can live in such a small place. All of this rain also makes some nice waterfalls.
Day 3: South Coast and Ponce
After leaving Yabucoa around noon on Sunday, we headed off toward our next destination of Ponce. We started out on the
Ruta Panoramica (the series of roads that traverses the mountains from coast to coast). The mountain roads are curvy, narrow, and generally difficult and slow to drive on, but I think it's worth the effort for several reasons: First, the small mountain towns are a place where P.R. really feels like a foreign country (not a strip mall or chain restaurant in sight). Second, the views are terrific! Third, the elevations are high enough (3000-4000 feet) to provide some relief from the afternoon heat. Unfortunately, I took almost no pictures during either of our mountain excursions, because it's difficult to stop anywhere on the narrow roads that have no shoulder, and pictures taken out the car window don't usually turn out very well. I'd like to drive the entire Ruta Panoramica some day (according to most of the stuff I've read, you should really allow 3 days to do that).
After a while of driving through the mountains, we cut down to the south coast. It's amazing how different the climate is down there, even though it's only about 40 miles from the north coast.
As you can see from the golden tone of the mountain in the picture above, this area of the island is almost as dry as the rainforest is wet. It looks quite similar to California in the summer.
At around 3pm we arrived in Ponce. If you only drove into the periphery of Ponce, you'd probably be under the impression that it's just another unexceptional town full of strip malls and fast food joints. The downtown, however, is another story altogether. Ponce is a city that has it's origins in Puerto Rico's Spanish colonial days, and it still feels very much like a European city.
We stayed at the "Hotel Meliá", which was built in the 1890s (when P.R. was still a colony of Spain). It may not be quite as "nice" as some of the new luxury hotels that on the periphery of Ponce, but it has much more charm, and it's located right on the town plaza where we were treated to live Latin music that went on until about 11:00 in the evening (on a Sunday!).
Day 4: Las montañas y Rincón
On Monday morning, we headed out on another excursion through the mountains. We sort of got lost, but it's hard to really get "lost" when you're on a small island, so we made it to our evening destination of Rincón by about 4:00. Rincón seems to be quite popular with mainland Americans (especially the hippie and surfer types). It's hardly a cultural experience, but it's a nice place to hang out for a while nonetheless. The Lazy Parrot, the inn we stayed at in Rincon is neat and homey. We enjoyed a fancy seafood dinner that evening.
Day 5: San Juan
When planning the trip, we honestly never gave San Juan a whole lot of thought. It was our flight destination, and we got a really cheap rate at a resort hotel (the Caribe Hilton) through Priceline, so I really figured that this would just be a place to relax on the beach a little before getting on the plane to go home. What we learned after we got there was that San Juan by itself really warrants several days (if not more).
San Juan, which was established in the early 1500's is the oldest city under U.S. jurisdiction. This means that if Puerto Rico becomes a state, it will be the oldest city in the country... even older than Boston (I have no doubt, however, that Bostonians, who are often capable of emitting a reality distortion field larger than Steve Jobs, would quickly find a reason to claim that this isn't actually true... or at least doesn't matter).
The original part of the city (Old San Juan) looks like a cross between Boston and San Francisco (complete with cobblestone streets _and_ steep hills) and is surrounded by a wall that was built several hundred years ago as a barrier against potential invaders. Nowadays, the area inside is full of restaurants, various shops, and lots of really nice apartments. We ate at a restaurant called Barrachina, which claims to be the place where the
piña colada was invented, however, the Hilton where we stayed also has a plaque on the wall proclaiming that their bartenders invented it 9 years earlier than the date that Barranchina claims. After dinner, we took a short walk to the gates in front of the governor's mansion. Most of the government buildings have long since been moved outside of the walls and into the more modern part of the city, but the governor, not surprisingly, still prefers to live in Old San Juan. Unfortunately, aside from that short 15 minute walk, we didn't really have any time to explore Old San Juan.
Other Random Notes:
I should probably mention something about the street signs, which have several unusual attributes. Speed limits are always posted in miles per hour, but distances are always given in kilometers. For the most part, the shape and format of the signs is exactly what you'd see in the mainland U.S.... except that they're always in Spanish. Generally, the Spanish on the signs is pretty basic... most people who have taken a couple years of classes in high school would have no problem understanding them. One notable exception to this: Before you try to drive in P.R., be sure to memorize the fairly obscure Spanish word "ramal". It means "branchline", and it can often make the difference between getting on the right road or getting lost!
Puerto Rico has something of a reputation for being crime ridden and dangerous. For the most part, we found this to be an exaggeration, but you do have to be careful sometimes... looks can be deceiving. If you zoom in on one of the previous pictures of Old San Juan from across the water, you'll notice a set of colorful buildings quaintly perched on the side of the hill that leads down to the ocean. This picturesque scene is actually the district of "La Perla", which has a reputation for being one of the most dangerous slums in the Carribean.
If you ever go to San Juan, however, don't worry too much about this. It would be very difficult to accidentally end up in La Perla, as it's almost completely separated from the rest of the city by the wall.
On a different subject, there seem to be dogs all over the island, and people don't generally seem to keep them chained up, behind a fence, or indoors like people in the mainland. On the first morning in Yabucoa, we took a walk down to the beach after breakfast. As we started walking down the road, we were approached by three scruffy looking mutts, one fairly large; the other two pretty small. They accompanied us on the entire walk and acted like they'd known us forever... I think they were actually just hoping we'd give them something to eat, but they were friendly nonetheless. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me that morning, so as we pulling out of the parking lot to leave for Ponce on Sunday, Jessica said we should try to get a picture of the dogs. Well, the best I could manage to do was get a picture of the large dog's butt. Here it is:
Conclusion:
When I was a kid, I had "map of the United States" puzzle. For some reason, the makers of this puzzle decided to include Puerto Rico (maybe they thought statehood seemed inevitable at that time). I was always intrigued by the 3 pieces that didn't fit into the continental 48 part of the puzzle, but especially interested in that little orange island that was even more different than the others since it wasn't actually even a state. So I've wondered for a long time what this place was actually like.
So is visiting Puerto Rico really just another part of the U.S. at this point? There's no denying the American influence.
They use the same currency, drive the same kinds of vehicles, and their stores are mostly stocked with exactly the same items that you'll find in mainland U.S. stores. I found this disconcerting at first... whenever I'm in a different country, I always get a kick out of having to use different money, and seeing labels on products that look a little different from the ones that I'm used to. You'll get none of that in Puerto Rico, but if you can look beyond all of this superficial stuff, it really does start to seem like a different and interesting place, that has its own culture and way of doing things. We tried quite a bit of the traditional food, and both liked it quite a bit. I don't know why there aren't more Puerto Rican restaurants in the mainland U.S.
Oh, and did I mention that it was really nice to get out of the cold Boston weather for a few days?
