Ponce.. Pearl of the South!

If you have a week or more to spend in Puerto Rico, then you must spend a couple days of it here. I promise you will not regret it. I will be back to Ponce myself, to shoot more of the local color.

Before I arrived in PR, I had this “vision” of what I thought Puerto Rico would look like and I found it here in Ponce.

As the locals say- “Ponce is Ponce”

Why they say that is open to debate. Ponce has its own attitude about things and goes its own way. A magnet for real characters… artists, thinkers, the independent types.. my kind of place.

It is the largest city on the south coast of Puerto Rico, but without the sprawl of greater San Juan. It has a very busy commercial port, a large marina and boasts many tourist attractions. Among those are a world class Art Museum, a large central plaza with grand Cathedral, the Serralles museum and the “Cross”. There are many other attractions besides these.. I’ll get around to them at another time.

My first stop was at the giant letters of PONCE, announcing your arrival. Ya can’t miss ’em. As can be seen in the letter “O”, they attract a lot of attention.

The first monument I came across was dedicated to the Decree of the Abolition of Slavery in Puerto Rico on March 22nd 1873. A date that is still celebrated. The statue and obelisk was created by the artist, Victor Cott. It IS magnificent.

I drove directly from there, to the ‘Lookout Cross’, La Cruceta del Vigia. A 100 foot cement monument and observation tower dedicated to the brave souls that once watched for in-coming ships. A replica of of the original observation “Post” stands just off the parking lot. It literally was a simple wooden post. From there, they would observe with a crude brass telescope. If they did spot something, they would hang a ‘flag of nationality’ so the town’s folk would know how to respond.. ‘friend or foe’. I took the elevator to the top.. Its a grand view to be sure. You can see all of Ponce, the port and Coffin island from there.

Unfortunately, you cannot open any windows for an unobstructed view. They were all screwed shut. Kind of limits your photo opportunities. Once back downstairs, I tried a glass of ‘Mavi’ at the little concession stand. Mavi is hard to describe… very sweet, sightly fermented and made from local roots and bark. It was good over ice. Nothing like root-beer.. a very light, slightly ‘yeasty’ flavor.

I walked up the path to the Japanese Garden to find a beautifully manicured setting. It did seem a little out of place, but who cares.. It was very nice. It would be a great place to stage portraits or group shots. There was a reflection pool, a Coi pond with lilly pads in bloom and several large Coi, a little babbling brook, a Bonsai tree display, a couple of foot bridges and a beautiful rest area.

The ticket for admission to Lookout Cross, the Japanese Garden and the guided Serralles Museum tour was only $9 plus tax. They did not charge for parking! At the Serralles Museum, I could have waited for the English tour, but I opted for for the earlier Spanish one. I’m sure I missed a lot of details because of it. The presentation started with a short video about the old days of milling sugar and distilling Rum. Lots of classic shots. The family founder, Sabastian Serralles was from Spain and eventually returned there never to come back. He left his son, Juan Eugenio in charge of the plantation. He imported a French still to make Rum in 1865.  The Serralles family (of Puerto Rico) turned the sugar and distillery operation into a major enterprise, over the next 150 years.

The Castle is a grand structure build in 1930. It was ‘state of the art’ for the times, incorporating many advanced features.. among those is an elevator, electricity and lights in all the rooms, telephones and bathrooms white bread Americans could relate to. The main dining room with fully dressed table and the indoor garden area was most impressive. We were allowed to shoot outside the structure, but not inside. To be fair, some of it was too dark to shoot anyway. The grounds outside were as well maintained as the Japanese Garden I had just visited.

Several generations of the Serralles lived here until it was sold to the city of Ponce and converted into a museum. Their fortune is synonymous with sugar (Snow White brand) and the distillation of Rum. Through an assortment of brands, they produce 60% of the rum sold in Puerto Rico. They are marketed here under the names of DonQ and Captain Morgan and under the Ronrico label on the mainland.

I’ve been drinking their Rum for ever and did not know it.

Go figure. They did emphasize the use of oak barrels for aging their Rums.. creating a very smooth product.

I was also able to put to rest my question about locally produced wines. The tour guide stated that they did produce a wine here up until about 8 years ago, but no more.

At the end of the Serralles tour, I proceeded to Ponce’s town square, Plaza de las Delicias where I stumbled onto a small museum across the street from the Cathedral. Museo Casa Armstrong Poventud. It is a classic example of 19th century English Victorian architecture. At $3, it was worth the short run through. They have spent a lot of money renovating the place, restoring it to much of its original condition. The court yard in the back and the view of the Cathedral from the second floor was fantastic. Easily worth the 3 bucks! Interior shots were hard to do so I’ll be back.

After that, I went and checked out the second most photographed place on the island, Parque de Bombas. It was built in 1882 as an agricultural fair and then converted into a fire house the following year. Its painted in a garish black and red color.

You cannot miss it.. its right on the main Plaza. The Plaza itself was very nice, but none of the fountains were turned on. Kind of hurt the aesthetic appeal. There were monuments and statues everywhere.

The most prominent art museum, Museo de Arte de Ponce is closed for renovation. They have a select set of paintings and sculpture on display in San Juan at the Plaza Las Americas. As mentioned in an earlier post, I did get to walk through this small collection.. it was very impressive. Another attraction I’ll want to see on my return.

I had good light for this final part of my trip. I’ll make several more post once I get back to Alaska. Coamo is a beautiful, but crowded little town, I will write about it soon.

I fly home tomorrow… Arrg…