Ponce

After a great week by Gilligan’s Island, we headed East to Ponce – Puerto Rico’s ‘second city’ (after San Juan).  In Puerto Rican history, San Juan was the military and industrial center while Ponce became the home of artists, poets, musicians, and other ‘free thinkers’.

To get to Ponce, we left Gilligan’s in the middle of the night so we could arrive in Ponce first thing in the morning – taking advantage of the light winds at night while we motored right into the wind.  After a quick stop at the fuel dock, we anchored in the harbor, rested a bit, and headed out for town mid-morning.  It was a long(ish), hot walk from the port to the main shopping area.  For the first time in I can’t remember how long, we went to the mall, as we needed to look for some new shoes for the girls. I hate malls – and this was a full-on mall – Sears, Macy’s, Forever 21, tons of kiosks selling iPhone covers and cheap jewelry, etc…  My dislike of malls notwithstanding, the air conditioning was really, really nice.  After the mall, we headed to the bank, a few hardware stores, and the grocery store.  Not the most exciting day ever – but not every day is…. We did, however, get a few jobs done (minus new shoes) – so it was a success.

The next day, we decided to explore the ‘old town’ via a trolly tour.  Once we got to the center of the old town, we learned that the trolly wasn’t running – the driver didn’t show up for work that day….  While that would have probably bothered me a few months ago – I pretty quickly chalked that up to being on ‘island time’ and was OK with it.  So, we headed to the tourist office, a few hotels, and a souvenir-type shop looking for guide maps, do-it-yourself walking tours, or any other way to learn about the city.  Armed with a little more information, we walked through a pedestrian arcade and got some kids shoes and other stuff at one of the many stores there. We then made our way to the Ponce history museum which provided a pretty good overview of the history of the city.  The only issue was that all of the exhibits were entirely in Spanish – so, while we learned something, we surely didn’t get the full picture. After lunch at a neat little outside eatery, went to the best ice cream ever.  Not kidding – best ever (ok, the Ferris Acres Creamery in Newtown CT is the best – but this is a very strong #2).  It was described to us a ‘Chinese ice cream’ by the guy at the tourist office – which I think just meant that the owners of the shop were Chinese (not the most progressive way to describe it, but I digress…).  Anyway, the ice cream was like a combination of the best Italian gelato and really tasty sorbet.  We all ended up getting double scoops so we could each have two different flavors.  I can’t overstate this – if you ever find yourself near Ponce PR – go to King’s Ice Cream – you will not regret it!

Struggling with what to do for the rest of the day, we found some information on a guided walking tour of the city.  We hemmed and hawed for a while on whether to do it (it seemed relatively expensive) – but decided to go for it.  We met our tour guide Melina outside the Parque de Bombas – the ‘must-see’ attraction in the city.  It is a shrine to the city’s firefighting history and to the heros of the great fire of January 25, 1899.

Right away, we knew that we had made the right decision with the tour.  Melania was super friendly, very knowledgeable, highly energetic, and incredibly passionate about Ponce.  She had recently returned to Puerto Rico after many years abroad, and was on a mission to revive the entrepreneurial spirit of Ponce with the folks of her generation (25 to 30 ish).  Melania showed us around the city for about 2 hours – explaining its great architecture, artistic past and current renaissance, its role as the birthplace of Salsa music, and more.  It was a great tour – worth every penny.

Along with the great ice cream and the great tour, my favorite part of Ponce was the people.  Ponce is not a typical tourist spot – especially for non Puerto Ricans – so we stuck out like a sore thumb.  I can’t count the number of times people came up to us to welcome us to Ponce and wishing us a great time in their city.  It was amazing.  Old folks, young folks, folks somewhere in the middle – everybody was genuinely friendly and truly happy that we decided to visit their city.  It was very cool to see.

Well – that’s all for Ponce, as we headed out the next morning for Salinas and parts further east.

Until next time,

Mark