Isla South Region, Puerto Rico

The Ponce Museum of Art

‘Museo de Arte de Ponce’

I’ll stop right here and say, this is a must see!

It rates in MY Top Ten of Puerto Rico’s best travel attractions.
It’s that good.

It is a ‘world class museum’. I have no doubt about that.

Even if you have never been to an ‘art museum’, this one is worth the trip.

I had read about the Ponce Museum of Art before, but it was still being renovated when I first got here. I did get over to Plaza las Americas to see a small sampling of the museum’s collection and reported on it back then.

After having been closed for major renovations, it reopened in November of 2010.

To be fair, $30 million was spent over 3 years to renovate and add 40% more floorspace. More about that, a little later in.

What I saw was amazing.

The arrangement of art and the placement of lighting fit perfectly. OK… I’m not an art critic, per se, but this was really nice. Very inspiring.

We’ve driven past the Museum on several occasions because it’s on a busy, popular street… Avenida Las Américas (Highway 163). [Read more…] about The Ponce Museum of Art

Salinas Speedway, a Day at the Races

I’ve been wanting to cover this venue, ever since we drove by it, 2 years ago.

Racing and showing off your car is very popular here in Puerto Rico.

I’ve spoken before about the interest in big bikes and jeeps.

Well, little ‘souped-up’ imports are also very popular.

Auto parts stores and tire shops do a brisk business.

On to Salinas-

It’s a straight shot out of San Juan via Highway 52. There is an off ramp to Highway 1 for Salinas, after that, turn east on Highway 3. A huge sign marks the entrance to the Salinas International Speedway.

I should say up front, I’m not a ‘motor-head’, never was, but I do get the attraction.

Some of these rides were absolutely beautiful!

This was another Photo MeetUp, though it was on our side of the island. [Read more…] about Salinas Speedway, a Day at the Races

433rd Anniversary of Coamo with Fireworks

This is an editorial.. I take full responsibility for it.

I was there… I was the guy with the camera, funny hat and ponytail.

When I saw the the schedule of events on Coamo’s official Facebook page, I thought this would be a great opportunity to get more shots of life in Coamo…

A historically significant date, full of potential.

There is much said about Puerto Rican culture and the need to preserve it, protect it.

I saw none of that on display at the event on Saturday night. Nothing that said, we are proud of who we are or of our past.

Instead, it felt more like an effort to leave it all behind.

No, I don’t speak Spanish well. But there was nothing in the presentation that spoke to ‘what it means to be Puerto Rican’. No respect for the past… it felt sterile at best. [Read more…] about 433rd Anniversary of Coamo with Fireworks

Video Part 2- 50th San Blas Marathon Runners

This final video is an edit of about 2 hours of runners down to 40 minutes. That 40 minutes was compressed to fit in about 14 minutes so the runners really scramble by.

At 14 mins 17 secs it is the longest short I’ve produced to date.

I used some of the same ‘free’ music as in Part 1 to save editing time. My first attempt at uploading (12.5 hours) a 2.16 GB file ended with it ‘hanging’ at 86% complete. This required starting over so I resampled it to just under 1 GB and it uploaded just fine. Because of how long they take to upload, I do these at night after we go to bed. [Read more…] about Video Part 2- 50th San Blas Marathon Runners

Video Part 1- Parade of 50th San Blas Marathon

There was Heavy Attendance for the 50th Annual Marathon

Once I started editing the video, I realized I had too much stuff.

So I split it into two. This first one shows the passing parade of traffic and activity near the 15th Kilometer mark on Highway 150, prior to the Marathon run. 8 minutes, 29 seconds run time. It has an upbeat music score too! Shot using me trusty VadoHD from a good tripod.

After you watch this pre-event parade, be sure to watch the video showing the runners or read about the big 50th Annual Half Marathon San Blas of Coamo after this parade.