Day 4: Ponce

We woke up to the sounds of a band playing at city square. The sound penetrated our earplugs and disturbed what was supposed to be our first jet lag-free night. We didn’t really have any plans, so we decided to try to get to the Indigenous Ceremonial Center, an archaeological site with findings from the local communities that lived on the island prior to the arrival of the Europeans. We couldn’t find anything to eat for the longest time until we found an Italian restaurant where we had some decent pizza. We got lost on our way out of the city, driving through some of the rougher areas, and found ourselves in a park. In hindsight we know this was in the vicinity of the cemetery. Anyway, we parked and went to explore on foot.

We then saw a horse that was tied to a tree. The rope was tied to her neck, but her foot was also entangled in it. This way, her head could not go any higher than her back. She was obviously in distress. On the one hand, we really wanted to help her, but on the other hand, neither of us had ever really dealt with horses, and we were afraid she might panic. Moreover, what if her owner did this to her on purpose, and just as we’re helping her he would pop out of nowhere and beat the shit out of us?

We pet her while I tried to figure out how hard it would be to release her. Then I realized that the rope split and her foot got stuck between the thread. Raising her leg was not easy but I finally managed to get her to help me. I pushed and pulled and all of sudden it worked. “Now we run away” I said in the calmest voice I was able to produce. We walked very quickly to the car and split. “Are you sure you don’t wanna blog about this?” Julia asked as we drove away. 

We drove on to the Indigenous Ceremonial Center, but because of all our distractions, by the time we got there the site was closed. We drove back to the city and headed to the beach, where we heard there were supposed to be some things to do, but we found nothing. We were tired and hot, so we stopped in a shopping center where I had my first Cold Stone ice cream. It’s o.k. After that we had a beer in the tiniest bar in the world, just across from the shopping center.

From there we went back to the hotel. The events to commemorate the Ponce Lion Blue marching band would not stop. Now there were some local dance troupes in the city square, featuring some of the tiniest little girls I have ever seen. “Let’s try the beach again,” Julia said. “I don’t think we were in the right place”. 

This time we found it. There were merchants selling stupid swag for kids, pimped cars that people had parked in a row to show off, some restaurants, and a few stages where musicians were playing salsa music and a bunch of people were dancing. We sat in one of the restaurants. It had a duo of a guitarist and a female singer playing, and they were really good. We had mofongo, a popular local dish made from fried plantain. I had mine made with shrimp. Julia had hers with the conch she was was so eager to try. She found it meh.

Day 3: Vieques->Ponce

We hardly slept at all. We were jet-lagged, and as falling asleep wasn’t hard enough, roosters from all around the guest house woke us up before dawn. We decided it was time for our vacation to feel like a Caribbean one, so we headed to the beach. We wore bathing suits and even took with us a snorkeling mask that we found in our room. The walk to the beach took longer than we expected, and we forgot to bring water. We passed by a small shack, and there was a guy who looked like he was opening the place for some sort of business. We asked if he sells water, and he said that he’s not open yet, and the water is not cold. He then walked to the back of the shack and came back with two bottles of water, and he wouldn’t take money for them. We walked on, passing many stray horses and chicken. Vieques is full of them.

We finally got to the beach. It was pretty and mostly empty, but neither Julia nor me are very good with beaches. We went into the water, appreciated how nice they were, but didn’t really know what to do next. We tried the snorkeling mask but there was not a lot to see. We decided to try another beach that was closer to our hotel.

This one had a pier. We tried the snorkeling mask again. I have never snorkeled or dived before, so I was very disappointed at first, but then I tried to swim under the pier. Suddenly I was surrounded by countless little fish. A few meters below me, bigger fish were swimming. It’s really hard to describe the feeling of experiencing this for the first time. It’s so beautiful and new, and for a reason I can’t really put in words, scary.

We were running out of time. We walked quickly back to our room, packed and left. A taxi driver who was looking for other passengers that didn’t show up took us to the town of Vieques, where we had lunch in a tourists’ bar and boarded the ferry back to the main island.

From Fajardo we drove with our rented car to Ponce. We asked the receptionist in the Hotel Belgica why so many streets in the city were either blocked or restricted for parking, and he said that there’s no good reason. Surely there’s a parade or festival soon, we said, but he insisted. 

It was very hard finding a place to eat, but we finally found a hidden family restaurant, where we had tapas that was excellent, and we left to wander around the city.

No parade my ass. It wasn’t a very big parade, but it had marching bands and dancers and floats. We learned that the parade is one of several events to take place in the city square over the coming days to celebrate the anniversary of the local marching band Ponce Lions Blue. Indeed.

We found some ice cream, because it was very hot, and then looked for a place to have drinks. We found a dance club that was almost empty and had a second floor with a porch that overlooked the city square. From the porch we watched the weekend night traffic. Everybody has to be loud in Puerto Rico. The volume of music that comes out of cars makes you wonder how the drivers still have their internal organs intact. In some cases, the answer is obvious: they mount towers of speakers on top of the car, producing the desired effect without compromising their own hearing. The cops don’t seem to mind. From where we were sitting, we could see how they were able to direct traffic, wave and chat to their friends who passed by, and dance - all simultaneously.

There Are speakers, in case you were wondering.

Back in our room, we were excited to realize how big our room was, but let down by how close the hotel was to the city square, with our window facing a main street. I wasn’t so proud of myself for bringing earplugs to this trip since the ferry ride, just a few hours before.