Coconuts, Mountains, Ponce and a Rum Sangria

Back to Fajardo and the rental car I go, to find it freshly side-swiped. No time to cry in my Medalla beer, I get on the road and head south now along the eastern coast of Puerto Rico toward more serene and less utilized beaches. At Playa Hucares I imagine Paul Kemp, Hunter Thompson’s fictional character in The Rum Diary, downing a rum and writing his stories for The Daily News of Puerto Rico. (This coconut-lined shore was a filming location for the recent Johnny Depp movie.)

Southward I go, hugging the curvy coastline under the shade of green velvety mountains. Soon I’m climbing through Maunabo and Patilla with their pretty cliff houses and sea view restaurants. The sun lowers toward dusk and the rosy sky turns the palms purple along the highway. The environment has changed on this stretch of the island, without sprawling cement malls and fast food drive-thrus, but instead lots of green between the occasional seafood café, Bed & Breakfast or elegant home. Here and there are earthy remnants of mossy wooden structures decaying in the tropical breeze. Shabby Chic is the coined name for the rustic and weathered look.

Waters of Youth

Early in the morning I meander into the hills again and find the therapeutic waters of Coamo. For only three dollars I can dip into the mythical fountain of youth right at the source. This public mini spa of sorts offers spacious dressing rooms and the cover of shade umbrellas. I slip into the sparkling waters alongside two elderly couples who laugh and joke, occasionally glancing over at me to give me a happy wink. A 60-something man from the country tries his English and soon we’re having language lessons in the hot pool. “Sombra – shade,” “piscina – pool,” and “salud – bless you” when he sneezes. I then enjoy a long cold shower, and before I drive to a lower elevation I do a quick drive through “Aibonita.” It is just as it appears. The Spaniards came, took a look and said “Ai! Bonita!” (wow, how pretty!)

In and Around Ponce

The express toll highway gets me into Ponce in no time, and to my surprise, it’s an easy entry. I quickly find a parking space for the rental car and tote my things to the vintage Hotel Belgica off the central Plaza Las Delicias where the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe’s  spires provide a nice directional marker for the newby in town.

Ponce, La Ciudad Señorial or the Noble City, is known for its mountains and shade trees, cattle-raising, and sugarcane because of its fertile flatlands, and in the old days, maritime contraband because of its location on the Caribbean. Today, Ponce seems a well-rounded commercial hub with much more than just tourism to keep it going. The architecture is grand, and even the forlorn and crumbling back streets reveal an extraordinary past in every stately column and ornamental Victorian cornice.

The Hacienda Buena Vista coffee plantation is an historic site that sits just above Ponce in the fertile and shady hills. I decide to take a look, and am lucky to get a personal tour by Luz, the most sweet and knowledgeable guide. She takes me up the trail in the forest canopy, pointing out various plants along the way, to view the extensive water canal system built by slaves in 1853, when the coffee processing company was established. It is ingenious engineering, with filtration systems and tunnels and even a showy oxygenation shoot that creates fountain-like waterworks at the entrance to impress visitors and officials.

There is a coffee bean processing machine run by waterwheel, and a corn grinder that turns by hydraulic turbine. The Barker hydraulic system was made by the West Point Company in New York and this machine is the only remaining system of its kind. I watch, fascinated as the docent lets the water work its magic! Luz then takes me past the fermenting chocolate beans, which have a strange and pungent odor, to the restored residence where the family of the hacienda’s founder, Don Salvador de Vives, would spend their summers.

In Ponce Centro I meet Nelson, history expert at the Museo de la Historia de Ponce. Immediately we are engaged in a fun conversation that starts with the phenomenon of Puerto Rico being on its own independent tectonic plate with the deepest marine trench just to the north, and how that may very well contribute to the “Bermuda Triangle” effect that stumps ship captains and aeronautics experts to this day. We then continue on to other topics including Taino Chieftan smoking ceremonies that were thought to bring solutions from the spirits about everything from finding a plentiful food source, to healing sick tribe members. The museum is dazzling in its coverage of pre-Columbian to modern day history.

The most profound mural depicts the pre-United States influenced Puerto Rico, with hunger and joblessness, to the productive period of US-enabled building and engineering feats, and on to modern day over-consumption, Burger King sign apparent in the background. Nelson and I talk at length about the idea of progress, and saving a culture that’s slipping away. Nelson targets me as a “Natural Explorer” and I say “It takes one to know one!”

As I ready to check out of my wonderful Hotel Belgica room, Dolores the curious housekeeper introduces herself and inquires about my travels. She hopes to take her first plane ride to visit her son in Florida later this year. We wish each other “Buen suerte y viajes seguros!"

As I continue my journey westward, I begin to see signs I’m nearing the dry forest. This flatter and rockier coast of Puerto Rico is where there are several Nature Reserves with their scrub forests and mangrove islands. I hope to do some light hiking and take in some views. I drive along the narrow paved coast road that follows a gorgeous shoreline of rocky outcrops and pristine little bays. Soon I find the Reserve entrance, flanked by the prerequisite Burger King and McDonald's. Even inside the designated Bosque Guanica Reserve I compete with lines of cars pulled up to the sand, shoulder to shoulder. I decide to go with the flow, since my search for alone time in nature seems doomed, and stop at the high end Copamarina Resort for a cool beverage. Bikini-clad vacationers stroll the groomed shoreline under rows of manicured palm trees and curving cement walkways. I nurse my disappointment with a cool Rum Sangria.

In La Parguera, a seaside vacation village for locals and lazy expats, I succumb to the nightly show at the carnival-like waterfront. A Caribbean salsa band gets couples, toddlers and grandmas dancing in the street, and vendors sell their conch shells, plastic jewelry and pinchos, or kabobs. After the sun goes down I board the glass bottom boat to see the bioluminescence in the nearby bays. While loud Latin pop music blasts from speakers, families carrying ice creams line up along the boat’s rails. Motoring slowly through the darkness, past mangrove islands and lit-up fishing boats in the hot thick night feels like an adventure. Our boat stops in a little bay and two divers jump from the boat and splash into the sea. They swim under the boat’s glass, kick their feet and wave their arms to provide a lightshow. Soon we’re back at the dock and I’m ready for bed.  

Next, I’m off to the land of surf and expats on the western coast…

East Clockwise - El Yunque, Las Croboas y Culebra

El Yunque Rainforest

Just 25 miles east of San Juan, Puerto Rico is the only tropical rainforest in the U.S. National Forest System. I reluctantly leave my comfortable room with a fabulous view, down my café con leche, check my island map, and get on the highway early. The tangle of San Juan highways can be intimidating, but I maneuver out of the city without a hitch.

The tropical rainforest called El Yunque, after the mountain spirit Yuquiye, is a small band along the ridge of the Sierra del Luquillo mountains in northeastern Puerto Rico, and sees up to 200 inches of rain each year. Topped with clouds most of the time, the drive up the 13-mile long forest road weaves through sunny valleys, waterfall-slicked ledges, and fogged-in lush green hillsides with a stunted dwarf forest at the highest elevations.

Well-developed with designated picnic areas, the park provides visitors with paved pathways and vendors selling chips, ice cream sandwiches and hot dogs at several stops. The ever-singing cochi frogs provide a jungle soundtrack, while tour shuttles come and go from the El Portal Visitor’s Center. The more wilderness-seeking hiker can venture off the beaten path in search of the endangered Puerto Rican parrot.

From the Yokahu observation tower I see a view across the island to the blue shores of Luquillo, my next destination. Leaving the national park, I get a whiff of something on the grill and pull into an open air BBQ restaurant on the river. There is a one-man band playing his keyboard with all the bells and whistles, including a digital trumpet section for his rendition of "Unchained Melody" that fills the palm grove. Three couples sit sipping pina coladas, arm in arm, obviously regulars for the romantic show. I choose the alitas de pollo, juicy and plump chicken wings, that fill me up for the drive further east.

The distances between sites are not far on the island of Puerto Rico, and soon I’m pulling up to my first full on Kiosco experience…

The Northeast Coast

Puerto Rico Highway 3 leads to Balneario (bathing beach) Monserrate, a most inviting family beach with the prerequisite purple and green bath houses, lifeguard stations and showers, but before I reach the entrance, my eye catches the mini-city of food stalls (nearly 60 of them!) called “Kioskos!” I do a quick pull off and park near the Tattoo Bar, Pincho Palace, Ceviche Hut and El Jefe Burger. The open air shacks are all customized with tables and bars, and attract rowdy crowds and relaxing families. Right on the shoreline, bathers stroll in for a beer and a bite. I watch two women select live crabs from a seafood kiosk, safely tuck them away in their car trunk, and hit the road.

I spend a long afternoon at Monserrate beach, reveling in the warm salt water, before rolling into Luquillo town proper. A definite cement and vacant lot eyesore, Luquillo is famous for its surf break they call La Pared (The Wall). I find Boardriders Rum Shack, one of three open businesses in town, and have a two-dollar Medalla beer to cool off. As my Lonely Planet guide promises, a few homely blocks away there is the most unexpected and curious establishment. I suspiciously approach a ramshackle shack, not much more than a pile of plywood, and see a charming young hostess serving nothing less than gourmet Italian dinners. It is exquisite.

The next day I am happy to arrive at the sweet little community of Las Croboas and Playa Seven Seas. Another colorful family bathing beach, Seven Seas is a long stretch of white sand with picnic shelters and a bathhouse on one end, while the central shoreline runs along the main drag and provides a pretty view when seated at “Costa Mia,” the seafood restaurant bar and gathering place at sunset. My favorite stretch is way to the east where Playa Escondido (Hidden Beach) begins. This is where I spend a few hours floating in clear warm water, watching giant iguanas crawl out of the cover of tropical foliage to take a drink at water’s edge.

I stay at the Passionfruit B&B with it’s cool swimming pool and homemade granola in the morning, and then think of heading into Fajardo, where the ferry to the island of Culebra departs.
 

Isla Culebra with a view of St. Thomas

Fajardo, just a few minutes from Las Croboas, is not a pretty place, but necessary to wade through to the ferry terminal. I’m on my way to Isla Culebra, just east of Puerto Rico’s “Big Island” and much, much less congested.

  

On the ferry I meet a stereotypical Puerto Rican with his East Coast accent he uses loudly, muscle shirt proclaiming Atlantic City, New Jersey, gold chains and tattoo portraying Bugs Bunny waving the PR flag. Just like a character out of Seinfeld! There are plenty of “Jersey Shore” wanna-bes and "Real Housewives of Alabama” in this neck of the woods.

We motor east for 1 ½ hours, passing pretty islets of green, before landing in the quaint ferry town of Dewey. Colorful and slow, I settle into Culebra with no trouble. My room at the Hotel Kokomo is cheap and central and simple, and I chat with the manager at length about travels and favorite places. He proudly shows me pictures of his favorite place on the island where he plans to settle one day. Soon I’m checking out the handful of restaurants, strolling along waterways, snorkeling above coral reefs and enjoying long stretches of white sand beaches. The island pace is slow, only quickening each time a ferry arrives, tour shuttles are filled and tourists are taken out to the gem of the island, Flamenco Beach.

Sipping coffee and swatting no-seeums in front of my Hotel Kokomo, I meet Culebran Rick and am given the grand tour of the island. We stop at Zoni Beach with gorgeous views to the east and the island of St. Thomas, then meander from site to site, before we get settled at the perfect snorkeling spot. In we go and hover over colonies of fish in all shapes and colors. Rick points out a big feisty lobster protecting his cave.

Puerto Rico, the Free, Rich and Valiant

Part of the Greater Antilles archipelago, Puerto Rico (or in Spanish, "Rich Port") keeps company with Cuba, The Dominican Republic, Haiti and Jamaica. Estado libre, or "free state" is how the U. S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is known. Locals still refer to the tropical island as Borinquen or "Land of the Valiant Lord."

The historic district of Old San Juan, Puerto Rico sits inside the massive San Felipe del Morro and San Cristobal forts, and is a puzzle of narrow and twisty cobblestone streets, all lined with colorful Spanish style edifices with balconies overlooking plazas, courtyards or the blue Atlantic. Established in 1521, it’s the second oldest city in all the U.S and its Spanish history blends with Taino (native islanders), African, French, and Dutch influences. Known as “The Nest of Pirates” in the days of Spanish trade, Puerto Rico still has its share of rum-lovers.

Cars cruise slowly by in dense traffic, better to people watch and appreciate the sights and sounds of the city. Tourists fresh off the cruise ships stick to the waterfront chain restaurants and 5-star hotels with recognizable names and casinos, while locals and the more savvy travelers mingle just a few blocks away in the multitude of cafes and music clubs found by strolling up and down the callejones (little alleys).

Plazas, museums and government buildings are grand and in perfect condition with bright fresh paint and shiny ironwork. Public spaces feature statues of famous founders, modern art, or waterworks the kids love to play in. Because the expansive grounds of the stony forts are open and well-maintained, they serve as picnic, kiting and dog walking spaces on all corners of San Juan’s peninsula.

Puerto Rico, the island next to the Dominican Republic and not far from Cuba, brought Ricky Martin, Raul Julia and Benicio del Toro to the world.

Cristobal Colon, or Christopher Columbus, discovered the island on his second Caribbean journey in 1493 and named it after John the Baptist. That began the long and far-reaching Spanish push that would wipe out native populations all through the Americas.

Nowadays, the Puerto Ricans retain their Latin formal and polite interaction with a “bue’ dia’” (buenos dias or good day) as you approach, or “permiso” as you pass, and a “buen provecho” tossed out whenever there is food in sight. The Puerto Rican style is casual but put-together, with a seemingly natural sense of ease.

My first three days are filled with getting to know the lay of the land by walking up and down every narrow lane, atop fort walls and along the waterfront. Every step brings another inspiring view. Cats watch me from rose and pistachio-colored balconies, hibiscus flowers spill over sky blue walls, fort turrets protrude over gentle ocean waves, and fancy ruffled dresses peak out from shop windows. Since the sea breeze keeps me comfortable in the 86-degree weather, I forge ahead, covering a lot of ground from The Arsenal of the Port and miracle Chapel of the Doves, Fort Cristobal’s cool stone tunnels, the formidable old convent, and Casa Blanca (Juan Ponce de Leon family residence), to chic and mod cocktail lounges and Reggaeton music clubs in the SOFO (South of Fortaleza) blocks.

Back at my Posada San Francisco hostel, I enjoy the idyllic scene from the fifth floor balcony. The sweeping view takes in the outer fort walls of San Cristobal, the Ponce de Leon parkway that connects the old city to modern San Juan, the Port of Puerto Rico and its array of commercial ships and pleasure boats, the Plaza de Colonel and busy restaurants below, and rows of residences in every color of gelato.

In La Bombonera diner I get a glimpse of the old San Juan, as native, Mary Ann, tells me stories of several generations of community gatherings, music lessons, weddings and funerals held in this space. The traditional Mallorca Danishes are delectable. We talk of travels and family, and she confides her hopes of finding her family roots in Barcelona, Spain.

At the best lunch spot in the old city, St. Germaine, I have a ginger lemonade so stuffed with clumps of fresh ginger I have to use a spoon! The breezy corner café serves all fresh dishes, just-squeezed juices, and is all white-washed, summery and comfortable for hanging out. Long ago the western half of Puerto Rico was known as San German, named after King Ferdinand’s new wife, and the historic town of San German (established in 1573) still is found in the southwestern hills of the island.

My shrimp mofongo (Puerto Rican mound of fried plantain and yucca with creollo, or creole, sauce) was a hearty dinner at Café Berlin, and in the morning I frequent Caficultura, the elegant café just below my Posada San Francisco room, with its European style, perfect coffees and just a bit of Boho for the local youth. The outside tables look onto the Plaza de Colonel with its statue and fountain and shade trees. Feels much like New York’s Washington Square cafes, or even Seattle’s Pioneer Square sidewalk bars on a summer day.

One morning I bravely ventured out by car into the paralyzing traffic of San Juan to see the modern stretches of beach condos and towering hotels of the Condado district. Much like a Spanish-speaking Waikiki, Gucci-donned tourists and business people rushed from Luis Vuitton to Rolex storefronts. I did enjoy strolling through the ultra-posh La Concha, with its glassy lobby, breezy sushi bar and shell-shaped Perla restaurant with stupendous views of the waves. There are still plenty of funky beachy joints to grab a cold soda and sit at water’s edge in the shade of a palm. I made it back to my “secret” and very much coveted parking spot in Old San Juan without a dent!

Next post: the Tropical Rainforest of El Yunque