Ponce, Puerto Rico

February, 2006

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Ponce is Puerto Rico's "second city" and is located roughly in the middle of the southern coast.  It is a large city and industrial port.  Located west of the mountains that are home to the tropical rain forest, it gets relatively little rain and the hills are covered in low shrubs and cactus.  Driving west of Ponce, you will encounter more mountains where the rainfall is sufficient to support the famous Puerto Rican coffee industry.

Ponce is well known for its boardwalk ("La Guancha") where you can walk along the harbor eating empanadillas, drinking cerveza, and listening to free live music - salsa or rumba - on the weekend evenings. 

The downtown of Ponce has a gorgeous plaza on which sits the famous firehouse painted in red and black stripes.  The architecture all around the town square, including the cathedral in the square, is gorgeous.

Ponce is also well known for its Art Museum, which boasts the largest collection of European art in Latin America. Here (below) is a photo of the lovely courtyard fountain in the patio restaurant of the museum.