Isla Mountain Central, Puerto Rico

42nd Annual Aibonito Festival of Flowers

The best place to be on
the 4th of July weekend

I had been looking forward to this short trip for several months. Like the San Blas Marathon of Coamo, this event draws folks from all over the island. Like any event of this size, traffic sux! We did real well until we hit Aibonito proper. Then it turned into a slow crawl as we passed through town. Part of the traffic issue was due to a bunch of activity at the local cemetery. The entourage had to be a quarter mile long. Fortunately, it was going in the other direction.

The Flower Festival was easy to find and there were plenty of cops directing traffic. The turn off of Hwy 14 lead directly to the main gate. There were about as many exhibitors and concessionaires along this route as there were on the festival grounds.

Weather for the day was broken clouds with heavy haze. So much so that it seemed pretty muggy out. It was also much warmer than I had expected, but not bad. Nothing a cold Medalla couldn’t fix.. Arrg!!!!

It cost $7 per adult to go through the gate, which seemed a little high at the time. The grounds were laid out like a county fair with dedicated gardens and an area along the back for flower, plant and tree vendors. [Read more…] about 42nd Annual Aibonito Festival of Flowers

The Botanical and Cultural Gardens of Caguas

Jardin Botanico y Cultural de Caguas

This most beautiful, lush park covers 60 acres.

Another, much larger botanical garden is located in San Juan on the grounds of the University of Puerto Rico. There is a 3rd botanical garden located near Mayaguez, also run by the University. Both of which I plan to visit sometime down the road. There are also several smaller private gardens as well.

Getting to the Caguas Botanical Gardens is pretty straightforward. From San Juan, you take Hwy 18 South to Hwy 52 South and get off at Exit 18. Take Hwy 196 to the right. Hwy 196 ends at the driveway to the Jardin Botanico y Cultural de Caguas where it intersects Hwy 156. [Read more…] about The Botanical and Cultural Gardens of Caguas

Toro Negro.. a Sunday Drive into the Mountains

One of the most overlooked and under-reported areas of Puerto Rico is the Central Mountain Area. I’ve explored less than 10% of it at this point. There is plenty to see here. The vistas can be quite grand. I would describe it as being very hilly… lots of ups and downs with lots of ‘paved’ narrow messed-up roads. I love driving it, but you do have to stay on your toes. [Read more…] about Toro Negro.. a Sunday Drive into the Mountains

From the Road: Degetau’s Rock to Coamo, Part 2

Video Part 2 – Aibonito to Coamo

My visit to the Garden with a View at ‘Mirador Piedra Degetau’ was such a gorgeous perfect day! This is the video I shot driving back down the road from Aibonito and it was a great way to end that day. You can see where we stopped and had a Pincho and beer before heading on down the mountain.

Video From the Road: Downhill to Coamo

Or as I like to call it – “The Aibonito Speedway”

This ‘From the Road’ video was ‘squashed’ to double speed (2X) with iMovie (edited in Final Cut Express), allowing me to include more footage without going over YouTube’s time limit.

Background music was courtesy of the Free Music Archive a great resource for my videos!

Yes – the uphill video was a calmer, more leisurely and scenic route. You can see the Coamo to Aibonito Video next, if you missed it..

Degetau’s Rock was covered in a previous post as well as being the subject of my first QTVR Panorama. A carefully handcrafted virtual reality image – which unfortunately does not translate to YouTube format. It worked beautifully as a QuickTime image. You could manually turn the image to see the view from every direction. I had to remove that link since there currently isn’t a convenient way to experience it. Progress isn’t always progress.

It’s been somewhat cooler and wetter here in Coamo. I’m doing catch-up with the material I have and will post up more as soon as it is ready to roll.

From the Road: Coamo to Degetau’s Rock, Part 1

As promised, here is Part One of the run from Coamo to the
‘Mirador Piedra Degetau’ located in Aibonito. It was featured in a previous post.

The Ride to Mirador Piedra Degetau

This is the first ‘From the Road’ video where I squashed it to double speed with iMovie (then into FinalCut Express to edit). This allowed me to include more footage without going over YouTube’s 10 minute limit. My background music sound track was courtesy of the Free Music Archive. I’ve used this great resource often and truly appreciate their work!

Editing HD video from a laptop is very, very time consuming.

This 9 minute, 21 second video is actually 18 minutes, 42 seconds in length. I tried it at 3 times actual speed, but it was just too intense – it made me dizzy! As usual, it was shot with my VadoHD videocam mounted to the roof rack of my SUV, giving you a great vantage point to observe from.

VadoHD VidCam Mounted Inside Custom Bracket and Clamped to Roof Rack of SUV, Back View Showing Bubble Level in Puerto Rico

Up Next – Coming Back Down

Part Two is the return trip via a different route and it’s even more hair raising than any I have shot to date. The mountain roads of Puerto Rico are a blast to drive, but you do have to stay on your toes!

You can see that Road Video next!

I made another run into San Juan about a week ago and have new material from that trip as well, AND an HD video shot from the open trolley making the rounds from El Morro, through Old San Juan to the docks. Soo much to do – soo little time. Arrg!!!!!