The Travels of Eric and Lorna

Long story short, Rincon is really cool.  There is, really not a whole lot to do that is not ocean related.  They are famous for surfing and the like.  I don't surf, and am not a fan of swimming in the ocean (do you know what lives in there?) but even so, I really liked it.  It's a very laid back kind of town, and every body seems to live and let live there. Down near the hotel was this small marina which had long since had the sand close off its access to the sea.  I can't imagine that made the locals really happy. I am sad to say that we didn't try this place until our last full day there.  This is called Steps Quick Lunch.  Steps is the name of one of the beaches, and this place is on the short spur to the beach.  They sold empanadas, which were pretty good, and also the ubiquitous PR snack food pinchos, which is grilled meat on a stick.  We tried the steak and the chicken and they were both amazing.  At $14, it was the cheape...

After having one last breakfast at the fabulous Café Café CocinaCriolla Espresso Bar we checked out of Hotel Melia and headed west on Highway 2 for the drive to Rincon.   The southern coast of PR is very dry compared to the rest of the island, and it was very interesting how much different it looked.   Nothing like a desert by any means, but you could certainly tell it was dryer. We stopped for a bit in the little town of San German which has a very cute town square, which comprises the San German Historic District . We also walked through the small religious museum in the main church on the square Iglesia Porta Coeli , which is supposed to be one of the oldest churches in the Americas. After walking around for a while, we were hungry, although it was only about 11:30.   We could not find anywhere in town to eat, since restaurants in PR seem to open right at 12 for lunch.   We had planned on driving part of the Ruta Panoramica (Panoramic R...

We also went to the Ponce Museum of Art , designed by Arkansas' own Edward D. Stone .  Personally, I think the building is butt ugly, but that's just me, YMMV.  That said, it is a fantastic museum, one of the best I have visited. It's not huge, but it is very well organized and have a fantastic collection.   They have a very extensive collection of works by  Emilio Sanchez , who I was not familiar with, but now am a huge fan of. We were allowed to take pictures without flash, so here is a picture by E Sanchez.  As you can see he was primarily concerned with the interaction of light with objects in the environment. We also went down and saw the coast.  There were brown pelicans there, and some very large fish.  I don't know what kind they were, but the one in this picture is about three feet long. Overall, Ponce was fine.  It was not the greatest place we visited in PR, but we are glad we went.  In retrospect, two nights (ins...

We arrived at Ponce and checked into our hotel, which was Hotel Melia .  This place is very old, and has been run by the same family for over 100 years.  The rooms were a little dated, but it was clean and affordable, and the people working there were great.  It also has an absolutely unbeatable location right on the main square.  The main square is, of course, dominated by the cathedral.  Ponce also has a lot of really cool architecture in the historic center.  Here is a typical street scene.  The main attraction is the Parque de Bombas , the old firehouse.  This structure was built for an agricultural exposition, and later served as a firehouse for a long time.  It is said to be one of the most photographed buildings in PR, and you can see why.  Inside is a small museum to local fireman. We also took a tour offered by the museum which took us around the historic part of the city by bus, while a tour guide explained the sights...

We flew into San Juan, and just stayed in the San Juan Airport Hotel the first night, since we wanted to make picking up our rental car easy.  The airport hotel was fine, if a little dated. We rented through Charlie Car , a local Puerto Rican business, and they were really great.  We took their free shuttle from the airport, and picked up our rental car. We had originally rented a small SUV, but thought better of it, and changed to a compact car, in this case a little white Ford Fiesta. We then left San Juan and headed south on Highway 52, which goes though the central mountain range and towards Ponce, our first city.  On the way, however, we took a detour and drove down the famous 'Pork Highway' located in the middle of the mountains in a town called Guavate.  If you have seen any cooking or travel shows where they go to Puerto Rico, you have no doubt heard of this place. Every weekend, people come from all around to these little restaurants called lechoneras t...

Well, it's been a long time, but we will soon be heading to Puerto Rico for our 20th wedding anniversary.  Please check back here in the next couple of weeks for pictures and tales from beautiful Puerto Rico.

Another major sight on the Appian Way is the Circus of Maxentius . Maxentius was an emperor for a short time, and had this large circus (i.e. chariot racing track) built for his pleasure, along with a huge palace (of course). It is almost as large as the famous Circus Maximus in Rome. Here's another nice shot along the road. Here is a shot of me on the top of the Appian Gate. This is called the Arch of Drusus . It's right next to the Appian Gate.