Arroyo, PR… ‘Pueblo Grato’ (Grateful Town)

The Old Sugar Mills & Plantations of PR, Part 3

As mentioned in my 2 previous posts, the area in South East PR was home to the last Sugarcane haciendas (plantations) and sugar mills.

If Guayama was the epicenter of this climatic chapter in PR’s history, then Arroyo was its ‘port of call’ on the coast. The commercial port at Aguirre Central did not come into being until the early 1930’s.

The ‘Welcome to Arroyo’ sign is a sculpture commemorating buccaneers of the sea and days gone by.

Profiteering & smuggling were very much a part of its past!

As per the last post, we were there on a Thursday. It was hot and humid but there was a little bit of a breeze down by the sea. That did take the edge off the +90F heat.

Arroyo is a sleepy little town about 1/4 the size of Guayama. It was formally founded on Christmas day, 1855, but was a Spanish settlement long before that. Its always been a popular rest stop on the way to other destinations. However, Arroyo has a checkered past. Legend has it, that a ship wrecked individual washed up at Arroyo. They thought he had Cholera so they tossed him back into the sea. At the time, Cholera was widespread across the island. Another story claims a local known for his generosity, came down with Bubonic plague and was reportedly burned alive to protect its citizens. It was known back then as ‘Pueblo Ingrato’. These events have haunted Arroyo ever since. Hence its desire to clean up its reputation and declare itself, Pueblo Grato.

Believe it or not- Samuel Morse set up the first telegraph line on the island and all of Latin America, here in Arroyo. It stretched from Hacienda La Enriqueta (his daughter’s home), a sugarcane plantation, down to the docks at Arroyo. Morse did this while visiting his daughter and son-in-law in 1859. This event inspired the government of PR to run telegraph lines connecting the rest of the island and was completed in the early 1870’s. Well before the Spanish-American War of 1898.

We drove on down to the boat harbor in hopes of scoring a couple of Cervezas (beers) to cool us off. As luck would have it, there were several bars to check out. We stopped at ‘Bar El Barco’. It had a juke box in the corner blaring out up-beat Latin ballads. The Puerto Rican gal behind the bar spoke perfect English and seemed to be amused by our presence. With all the doors swung wide open, there was a nice breeze through the place.

The mid afternoon sun is quite harsh. The locals always avoid this time of day.

As a gringo (well, Scurvy Dog) in Paradise, it was a perfect time to shoot. I had the place to myself.

The small sheltered harbor across from the bar looks like it’s slowly filling in with sand. Thanx to Global Warming, that may not be much of a problem. Arrg!!! As can be seen in the wide shot, small fishing boats still tie up here. It was a beautiful spot.

There were signs of serious infrastructure improvements going on. A series of cement kiosks were being built along the boardwalk, including a rather interesting cement sculpture down at the far end. I guess this area gets more traffic in the evenings.

Arroyo’s beaches are very popular and draw large crowds on the weekends too.

From here, we headed up Morse Street a couple of blocks to the newly renovated U.S. Customs Office. It’s a museum in its own right, Museo Antigua Aduana. We were somewhat pressed for time, but I did stop and take the opportunity to shoot it.  It has a gorgeous facade around the front door, an interesting steel sculpture in the front yard and a very nicely maintained private garden in the back. The sculpture looked like a water fountain of sorts, but was not turned on. Just inside the entrance are several old photos from Arroyo’s past.

A few more blocks on up Morse was Arroyo’s central Plaza. It was on the smallish side. There was a central water feature with a couple of bronze plaques. One of them was dedicated to Morse by the Daughters of the American Revolution. Go figure. Several large trees with park benches rounds out the Plaza.

On an adjacent corner is a most magnificent Catholic church. In fact, the grounds of the church are larger than the city’s Plaza. The small gardens out front were beautifully maintained. Services are held here weekly.

As we headed out of town, Morse Street becomes Hwy 178. We took this to La Valentina, then a right onto ‘Camino Vecinal’ which turns into Calle Cangrejos (street). I spotted yet another abandoned sugarcane mill so I stopped to check it out.

Great shots!!

Further on down, we hit the open beaches. No facilities, but perfect for a picnic or bar-b-que. By this time, it was starting to rain. We did run on down to the guard shack just outside Faro Punta de las Figuras (lighthouse). Since the weather had gone bad, we decided to turn around and go home. There is a beach resort located a little further up the road. I’ll have to come back for that another time.

Remnants of the last narrow gauge railroad on the island can be found if you know where to look.

All the commercial travel guides make reference to the ‘Tren del Sur de Arroyo’ sugarcane train tour (established in 1984). They also state that its currently suspended for ‘service’. I did get a peek at the facility and it looks like it’s been abandoned since it was shut down in 2005. Grass was growing in the parking lot and shrubs were taking over. One of the little narrow gauge diesel electric Plymouth switcher engines is on display outside the fence.

It was raining pretty hard by the time we got there (on our way back home) so I was limited with what I could do. You can just barely make out the train engine on the far right of the panoramic shot.  Of the many photos I saw online from folks who did get to ride the train, it looked kind of ‘rugged’.

Not the ‘Six Flags” ride most folks are familiar with.  It still seems like something worth resurrecting, if only on a smaller scale.  Current plans are in play by the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueño to do just that.  I’ll update as I find out more.

Unfortunately things went bad after we hit the highway on the other side of Guayama.

The Isuzu shredded a fan belt, over heated and blew a hose.

No kidding!

We were stranded on the side of the road until I flagged down a cop. He called a ‘Grua’ (tow truck) for us. It showed up about 40 minutes later. All together, we lost 2 hours on the side of the road. The operator was a real nice kid in his late 20’s. He was driving an old Chevy wrecker from the late ’60’s. A real clunker.  The thought of a tow truck, towing a tow truck crossed my mind. It took another hour to get home from there. It was a little after 8PM by the time we pulled into the driveway. The tow set me back a $100. I had all three fan belts replaced for a total of $60.

Cramming two towns into one trip was a bit much.

I plan to come back to Arroyo for a 2nd pass at the boat harbor, beaches, lighthouse, museum and abandoned sugar processing facilities.  Whew!  There is plenty to see if you make the time.

ARRGGG!!!!!

My Name is Earl: This post was made early on Monday, ahead of the the impending arrival of Hurricane Earl. It should pass well North of San Juan so us folks on the South coast are pretty safe. That said, the power goes out in Puerto Rico on a weekly, almost daily basis (as does the water). I anticipate it going off any time. Internet service will be sporadic at best. Things should be back to normal by the end of the week. The Scurvy Dog, Arrg!