Puerto Rico, Clockwise

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I spent a few days in Old San Juan and decided to rent a car and drive around the big island of Puerto Rico. I drove east along the Caribbean Sea towards El Yunque rainforest. The rainforest was closed due to a day of rain from a tropical depression that later formed into Hurricane Earl.

I noticed a road just outside the entrance to the rainforest that headed further up the mountain, so we drove up the mountain since the entire area is a natural rainforest and we wanted to watch the heavy rains in the middle of a rainforest. It was spectacular.

On the way down the mountain, the road was washed away so I backtracked over the mountain and found our way out of the rainforest.

From El Yunque rainforest we next visited the colonial town of Fajardo which is on the northeast corner of the island. It had a lovely town square and many yachts moored in the harbor. It was raining so we stayed in the car observing as we drove around the NE corner of the island.

I continued our counterclockwise exploration of the island along the coast on highway 53 as we headed south along the east coast of the island. At Yabucoa we stayed on the coast even though the highway turned inland. Eventually I found my way to Guayama. In Guayama, storm warnings were issued for Hurricane Earl, so we purchased some food and water at the grocery store in case I was trapped for a few days by washed out roads.

There was some very violent wind and rains as we drove over the mountain, but the roads never washed out and we made it to the beach in Guayama. I spent the night at a beach front hotel since the storm surge warnings had ceased by that afternoon. The storm had moved on to Ponce.

In the morning, we followed the storm along the southern coast of the island to Ponce. Ponce has a separate blog post. After a few days in Ponce, I continued west on Hwy 2 through Sabana Grande before heading north to Mayaguez. The weather was no longer a factor.

I spent the night in Mayaguez at the colonial city center. We enjoyed Mayaguez as much as Ponce.

In the morning we headed north along Hwy 2 until we reached Aguada. There, I headed west to the beaches where we spent a few days in Rincon. That was a very touristy area which meant many food choices and conveniences. After a few days in Rincon, I continued north along Hwy 2 until it headed east and took us back to Old San Juan. It was a lovely drive around the island.

The highlights of the island drive: El Yunque mountains, the beach front hotel www.caribeplaya.com, the Ponce colonial city center, homes, and architecture, the Mayaguez city center. San Germain looked interesting but I didn’t have time to explore. I am back in Old San Juan for the next week, and then, not sure what is next.

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Puerto Rico
Nice place