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Published: February 29th 2008
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Buddah Imagery
Along the same walk in southwestern PR Since this blog is so old I will just add a short description. This was our (mine and haley's) second trip to Puerto Rico and we really wanted to explore as much as possible. On our first trip, we did what everyone seemed to recommend and stayed in the north eastern corner, where we took in the rain forests and the white sand islands. This time we wanted to try to see a side of Puerto Rico that most travelers miss. So I bought a detailed map, we rented a car, and went off on one hell of an adventure. I'll just include the highlights here:
(1) Ruta Panoramica - This is a series of curvy roads that link the island's east and west coasts, similar to skyline drive (here in VA). It was a great drive along the top of (remove a ) hills, mountains, and high passes. We got out of the car constantly and had a number of small excursions - eating in local shacks, hiking in the jungle, and even swimming in emerald pools. Much to Haley's delight I often got lost or missed a turn --which lead to some interesting interactions 😉 We actually didn't
Boat
Driving along the coast we discovered this little boat do the entire route, (that would have taken days) but if you check out the map that I have included in the photo section you can see what portion of this road we did.
(2) Ponce - The original capital of Puerto Rico. We were a little disappointed by this city. We spent our time here walking around the central parque and relaxing. We did have a fun time at dinner when a salsa band took the stand and everyone seemed determined to get us out on the dance floor (everyone being all 3 people that were there). "Twist our arm"...so we got up and tried our version of salsa...which ended up being a lot like swing with a little extra hip shaking. We did have a lot of fun that night but left early the next morning eager to get on our way.
(3) We spent the entire next day on a windy beach road the followed the coast for a distance equivalent to 1/3 of the entire island. It was truly gorgeous. We went through many different landscape changes, from lush jungle to barren desert. This day included my favorite part of the trip: the
PR Pro's
PR Pro's coast line around a secret lighthouse (see pics). While researching this trip - I was scoping things out using Google's satellite imagery - I saw a huge crescent beach with turquoise blue water. Well I made a little note of this on one of our maps. While driving we decided to check it out and were very pleasantly rewarded. Huge rock cliffs with private little beaches, a huge light house, and only a couple other people in the entire area.
(4) Rincon - Haley and I stayed at a nice bed and breakfast in Rincon (see pics). We enjoyed our down time here. We had plenty of cervesas and got a chance to do a bit of reading. Typically, this is a huge surfing area, but we were there during the off season so we basically had the place to ourselves. The highlight of this portion of the trip was the bit of snorkeling that Haley and I did (well mostly me, Haley was working on getting the perfect tan!). I actually saw the most amazing little octopus s/he would swim along and then attach itself to a rock and change the color of its skin (like a chameleon)
Coast Line
Amazing (again) Southwestern PR to match perfectly with its surroundings. It was almost impossible to keep up with--so much so that Haley couldnt even get a glimpse after I called her into the water to check out my new friend.
All in all this trip back to PR was quite an experience. I think that Haley and I can both say that we have at least seen almost the entire island. I'm not sure which trip i preferred because they were both so different. This one was a little less beach-oriented and more geared towards exploration which, thankfully, we both enjoy (although we did get plenty of beach time in).
-Chris
(The reason for me sending this blog out so late is because I am leaving for South Africa tomorrow and wanted to make sure to have my blog site ready for this upcoming trip)
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Hails
Hails
So great!
This was such a fun trip. I'm ready to go back there again (After SA, that is ) xoxox Where to next ?!?!