Isla Mountain Central, Puerto Rico

The Abandoned Ruins of Henry Barracks

UPDATE: It turns out, this is not the place I thought it was. It is actually the remains of an old Penal Camp. I’ll let the story stand ‘as is’ since it mostly covers the grounds and what we found there. A complete rewrite is not practical. As always, If I’m wrong, I want to know about it. Sorry for the delay in passing on this info. Seems I still need to visit Henry Barracks. More details in a comment at the bottom. Thanks, Joseph.

A pal of mine recently told me about a set of ruins up in the mountains near Cayey. After a bit of planning we met in Cayey and headed off to check it out.

As it turns out, this old US Army fort has a long and colorful history.

The ruins are located on Highway 184. Coming from San Juan, it’s the Guavate Exit, which is the first exit before Cayey, off Expressway 52. After you exit, head under the Expressway going left, into the mountains. It’s a typical Puerto Rican mountain road so you will not be doing 60mph, but the views are stunning so why push it. I took a lot of photos along the way.

The actual coordinates are- 18º06’49.63”N, 66º03’49.82”W.

We had a perfect day… the weather was mostly clear with a nice breeze. After a couple of false turns, we found ourselves at what looked like the main entrance. The sign at the main gate was gone, but you could still see where it once stood.

On the Grounds..

It would be an understatement to say that the overgrowth had taken over the place. If it were not for the [Read more…] about The Abandoned Ruins of Henry Barracks

Cacao to Chocolate and a Little Coffee too

Like Coffee, growing Cacao is very popular here in Puerto Rico. Basically, if one can grow coffee, then one can grow Cacao. It needs the shade of overgrowth and protection from strong wind that large trees can provide.
This makes Cacao perfect for planting among taller things.

So when a Cacao seminar in English was scheduled for Hacienda Buena Vista, we had to go!

Hacienda Buena Vista Revisited

I did a pretty detailed story about Hacienda Buena Vista awhile back. I also did a short YouTube video shot ‘from the road’ showing how to get there. Simply, once you get on Highway123, you cannot miss the place. It will be on the left. Parking is still an issue. Get there early to get in line or you might find yourself parking in the road. I would normally penalize a place for this issue, but parking is almost always an issue, no matter where you go in PR.

Hacienda Buena Vista is up above Ponce and dates back to the days of slavery. When slavery ended a few decades later, it became uneconomical to maintain. They grew coffee for export and made corn meal for the local market which they ground themselves. The corn was imported and hauled from the port in Ponce in sacks of whole kernel corn. The restoration of the facility by the Puerto Rico Conservation Trust (Fideicomiso de Conservación) is quite remarkable as it is fully functional. They fire up the water wheel driven mill for every tour. It’s quite impressive. For those [Read more…] about Cacao to Chocolate and a Little Coffee too

Montoso Gardens in the Mountains of Maricao

In my quest to track down other sources of tropical plants from within Puerto Rico, I stumbled onto the Montoso Gardens Website. The site has many photos and details about their effort. They also feature guided and unguided tours of the grounds.

Sounds like a fun afternoon to me so I had to check it out.

After trading emails and meshing schedules, we set a date in late July. Though this part of the island at this time of year gets lots and lots of rain, we lucked out and had a wonderful day.

Montoso Gardens is owned and operated by Bryan Brunner and his brother Dave. Bryan is a horticulturist who works at the Agricultural Experimental Station of the University of Puerto Rico in Lajas. He moved to PR in 1987 to the mountains of Maricao and started with 9 acres. Over the years, he’s been able to expand the ‘little patch’ to 70 acres. Dave joined the effort in 2001 and runs the day to day operations. A couple of great guys.

Their farm was originally part of the 137 acre coffee Hacienda el Cerro, and was owned by another horticulturist, Dr. Frank Martin of the Tropical Agriculture Experimental Station (TARS) in Mayaguez.

Getting there

Finding the place was not hard. It’s the same route we had covered to take in the Coffee Festival of Maricao which also took us past the observation overlook of la Torre de Piedra. The turnoff to Montoso Gardens was a few miles after that. If you plan to visit, their website has details about how to set up an appointment and how to find the place.

Basically, we exited Highway 2 at Sabana Grande and headed to town via Highway 121, then took Highway 120 out of town, into the mountains. We still managed to make the same wrong turn in town, but at least I knew where I needed to be. [Read more…] about Montoso Gardens in the Mountains of Maricao

El Yunque Forest.. A Northwest Approach

Most folks visit the El Yunque US National Forest via a formal tour and I highly recommend that. I took the half-day tour from San Juan on my first visit. There are links to half day and day trips in the Sidebar. That was great, but now I had an opportunity to see it from a different perspective.

The San Juan Photo MeetUp group was celebrating their 100th trip and chose this spot for their picnic. We caravanned from San Juan to the site since some of us had never been there. It’s a typical drive up into the mountains on paved, but narrow twisty roads. We took Highway 3, then 186 to 9966.

The road literally turns to garbage upon entering the park.

It is paved, but crumbling in places with growth literally in the road. It looks more like a paved path than a road.

The US Forest Service sign marking the entrance is overgrown. It says: Caribbean National Forest. Which BTW, is the only Tropical Rainforest in all the US park system. El Yunque peaks at 3,543 feet. On the opposite side of the road, there had been a huge chunk of the hill that sluffed off (from heavy rains), into and across the roadway. I got my boots muddy simply getting out of the car. [Read more…] about El Yunque Forest.. A Northwest Approach

The 42nd Indigenous Festival of Jayuya, PR

An event worth the trip, no matter where you live.

We were there on Saturday, but the festival was spread across 4 days, ending on Sunday.

Activities included a conference dedicated to La Flor de la Guasabara, lighting of the Taino Fire, a special presentation of indigenous music and dance, the presentation of a documentary dedicated to Taino Indians, crowning of the Indigenous Festival Queen, music workshops, a variety of local contests and tons and tons of live music!

I’ve now made the run to Jayuya 3 times. The first time was on Palm Sunday to check out the town and the second was for the Tomato Festival last May.

On the drive up, I stopped at a stand of magnificent Pine trees to score some seeds in hopes of getting a few to germinate. This was old growth over 40 feet tall.. not something you see all the time.

The weather on Saturday was mild… it’s always a little cooler up in the mountains so it was quite nice. In the plaza, all the best places to sit in the shade were taken. Ya snooze ya lose.

Good idea to bring your own folding chairs… most folks do. [Read more…] about The 42nd Indigenous Festival of Jayuya, PR