Ponce is the second-largest city in Puerto Rico, and is on the South coast. There is a highway, called Route 10, that supposedly runs across the island from Arecibo to Ponce. However, a large section of the highway in the middle of the island is missing. Rather, they haven't gotten around to building it yet. So when we drove to Ponce, in a 2-car expedition with Andrew, Martin, Sam, and me in one car and Shikha, Rebecca, and Danielle in another, we had to take very windy roads through the mountains until we reached the other half of Route 10. The road ran along the sides of various cliffs, and barriers on the side were falling apart in some places. Road signs were scarce. We met a group of bicyclists riding dangerously close to our side of the road, followed by a Mack truck that narrowly missed us.
When we found Route 10 again it took us into Ponce, but we still had to drive around for some time to find the center of town. Our only map of Ponce was a pathetic hand-drawn tourist map that was hardly better than guessing which way to go. Eventually we found a charming plaza with a Catholic church, an exquisitely sculptured red and black fire house (now a museum), a fountain, and vendors selling their trinkets. After waiting in front of the church for the other group to catch up, we went to a Burger King in a Spanish-style building. We strolled around the plaza for a bit, and then wandered into a market where a multitude of cheap junk was for sale.
We wanted to see the Castillo Serralles, or Seralles Castle (which is not actually a castle but a mansion). We saw where it was on the map, so we walked in that direction. At first we were in a somewhat shabby area (Ponce deteriorates as you get farther outside of the central square). Then we found ourselves walking up a hill, and the houses got nicer as we went farther up. By the time we were almost at the top, the houses were luxurious and surrounded by fences with mean-looking dogs inside to deter burglars. Getting to the castle was much more of a hike than we'd anticipated, but I enjoyed it, although not everyone agreed with me. When we got to the top of the hill we went to El Vigia, a giant cross that is a concrete reconstruction of the original cross that had been put there as a lookout point to watch for smugglers. The elevator was broken, so we climbed the stairs to the top and looked out over Ponce.
Next we went to Castillo Seralles, where we walked around the garden while waiting for the English tour. The garden contained a very impressive tree and a delightful fountain on the side of the house. Meanwhile, Martin and Andrew appreciated the beautiful grounds.
Our guide was a bit hard to understand since he had a heavy accent, but the tour of the castle was interesting, and the rooms contained lots of beautiful furniture, decorations, and artifacts of the rich and famous to look at. We learned that the Serralles family owned much of the sugar cane and rum industries in Puerto Rico in the early twentieth century. No photography was allowed inside the house, but I could take a picture of this fountain in the patio. Andrew and Martin commemorated the occasion by purchasing Don Q Rum, a brand produced by the Serralles rum factory.
After walking back down the hill, we went to a couple of souvenir shops, and then went in search of dinner. Danielle's guidebook suggested a Mexican place, but the cook was away on holiday. After wandering fruitlessly for a bit, we got the cars and drove towards the waterfront. We stopped at a tempting-looking cuban restaurant. The food was good, and the waiter was helpful in providing the vegetarians (Shikha and myself) with a list of everything on the menu that we could eat.
After dinner we went looking for the boardwalk along the water that Ingrid had told us was a happening place. After finding a dead end, we asked some people standing outside a swanky restaurant, who gave us directions. We parked in the large parking lot just behind the boardwalk, which we were told is called La Guancha. It was lined with food and beverage kiosks and vendors selling crafts on little tables. Music was playing loudly in one area, and couples were dancing to the beat. We walked up and down the boardwalk among all the people out for an evening of fun. Several members of the party bought jewelry from a vendor, especially rings that were made out of a very hard, black seed.
Leaving Ponce turned out to be a very difficult task. We (Andrew, Martin, Rebecca, and I) took an exit off a freeway, but Shikha's car didn't follow. There was nothing we could do, so we left them to their own devices and consulted our nearly useless map. We drove around for half an hour, following several false leads, until Martin remembered that the Route 123 we saw a sign for and Route 10 were actually the same road (a deduction he made on the way in), so we followed 123 on its windy way across the mountains, until we came to a town we recognized and were able to decode the road signs (in one case hidden by a tree) to point ourselves in the right direction. We learned the next morning that Shikha and crew had spent an additional hour being lost in Ponce, and arrived home at an even more wee hour of the morning.
