Author: jtoews

yauco is a regular little town in southern puerto rico which has fashioned itself into a street art destination!

mayaguez is the third largest city in puerto rico, out on the west coast. i spent 2 nights here, and worked a bit on my research for fellowship. i stayed in the creaky hotel colonial in what used to be a convent, in the essentially deserted downtown. it has recently been 3 kings day, which occurs in january in the spanish-speaking world and is almost as big as christmas.

the biggest thing that happened to me in mayaguez was a motor vehicle collision, and it was my fault. thankfully no one was injured. the very nice woman i accidentally ran into and i had to go down to the local police station, and a lot of bureaucracy occurred in spanish. i spoke no spanish and she minimal english, so she called in her boyfriend. i though “oh no.” but he was a really nice guy, and used to live in pennsylvania, and we hit it off; she may have even regretted calling him because he wanted to be my friend more than talk about the accident. it all ended up working out ok, and her car got paid for.

the western tip of puerto rico. a surfer’s paradise, i’m told. best sunsets, i saw.

 

lares is a unique hillside town, with some of the best ice cream in puerto rico at heladeria el grito.

further east are the gozlandia waterfalls, which are a great place to stop for a swim.

 

a picturesque cave/cliff/sea ensemble, just east of arecibo, puerto rico. $5 to get in; definitely worth it!

 

the city of arecibo on the north coast of puerto rico isn’t particularly noteworthy, but there are some interesting things in the area. one is the “statue of the new world.” it is a massive statue of christopher columbus arriving via ship in the new world that no one wanted, yet the puerto rican government bought it. thus, people don’t seem to like it very much, and it is deserted and fenced off.

another interesting thing south of arecibo is the arecibo radiotelescope. this is the largest radiotelescope in the world, and is operated by the u.s. government. unfortunately, just a month before i was there, the central part of the telescope which was suspended via cables over a large dish collapsed, and they announced that the site would be closed down forever. it is currently closed to visitors, so this was as close as i could get. you can see the towers that held up the suspension cables.

later, on our last day in puerto rico, my friend jake and i returned to the area to go ziplining at toro verde adventure park, which was epic! for $100, you get to ride about 8 different impressive ziplines, back and forth over a large jungle valley. their piece de la resistance is called the monster, which is over 2 miles long, making it the second longest zip line in the world. you do this one lying on your stomach and face first, which was exhilarating!

route 181 south of san juan, puerto rico is a very scenic and tortuous drive with many verdant vistas. at the end of the road, i turned east, and made a stop at the el hippie waterfalls on the south edge of el yunque national park, and then had a seaside dinner of red snapper in naguabo, which is known for its great seafood.

ron del barrilito is one of puerto rico’s oldest rum distilleries, in the suburbs of san juan. i went on a tour of their premises, which was interesting, and they provide a nice cocktail at the end as well. the most famous rum distiller in puerto rico and the world is bacardi, but their massive complex was closed due to the covid pandemic. ron del barrilito famously has a barrel of rum from the 1930s which they do not plan to open until puerto rico gains its independence, at which time they plan to give the rum out for free in the town square. however, rum evaporates with time so the barrel is likely almost empty by this point. the staff was very knowledgeable about the distilling process. they lamented the fact that any alcohol exports from puerto rico has to go through the continental u.s., raising their costs and essentially limiting their market to the united states.

san juan is a great city. check out my posts on old san juan / el morro and santurce. here are some other pictures i took around the city.

a cool museum in the santurce area of san juan. they even let me in for free! the outdoor art installations are great to look at as well.