Cycling day 9 Hatillo to Manati

It was great knowing today our mileage and the amount of climbing would be easy compared to the last few days. YAY!   Discovered I had a flat rear tire before we ever started this morning, but even that was not a so bad because we had the spacious front patio to replace the tube. 

Smooth sailing for first half hour to our breakfast stop in Arecibo. The town was filled with beautiful murals throughout and had a wonderful beach promenade to the popular breakfast spot. The mochas with whipped cream and cinnamon were awesome! 

It really felt special riding along the ocean. There was some sandy beaches, but most of this coastline had a lot of volcanic rock jetting out. 

11:11 shot of the day. At the entrance to the Cueva del Indio, an important site within indigenous Taíno culture. 

We walked the volcanic grounds to get a view of the arches, but chose to not to venture into the risky caves that were home to about 80 petroglyphs done by the Taíno people between 1200 and 1500. 

This 360’ tall statue of Christopher Columbus called the Birth of a New World  has not been completed because of disputes between the sculpture and the landowner. It is visible from afar, but cannot be viewed up close. 

An awesome stop today.  In  his very broken English (way better than our Spanish), this guy told us how he climbs the coconut trees on his father’s property  to harvest and bring fresh coconuts to his roadside stand.  It was fun watching him use the machete to open the perfect hole for a straw. Once the liquid was consumed he whacked it in half and we devoured the coconut meat.  So good! 

We’ve been noticing throughout Puerto Rico the vast number of abandoned homes and businesses. It really is shocking and sad .  It seems most of the newer construction that we’ve seen are American brand fast food, restaurants and businesses. Places where there is a lot of tourism have more authentic Puerto Rican restaurants available, but most towns we rode through have many local food trucks or roadside stands with some plastic chairs set up for their patrons to grab a bite. 

Beautiful countryside. 

We are in a modern hotel today.  We didn’t get our Pina colada yesterday after our challenging ride,  so we had one today with our  Don Q rum to celebrate finishing yesterdays ride, enjoying today’s ride and having one more cycling day left in Puerto Rico.  🇵🇷 

Cycling day 8 Rincon to Hatillo

Ready to check out (depart) of the Coconut Palms Inn, the beautiful grounds and beach front access. 

After sharing breakfast burrito at a local popular bakery place,  we got on the Ride GPS route to Hatillo,  only to have to road workers indicate we had to  take a different route. Of course the route we found was steeper than we expected. Beautiful views as we neared the first peak  about than 3 miles into our journey! 

This was at the top  of the first peak and Tim took the opportunity to rest before lots more climbing. 

Many of our beginning roads today were quiet and rural. 

One of the first larger cities we went through was Aguada. This beautiful mural was being completed today.  It honors the Taíno people, the indigenous people of Puerto Rico. 

Our route took us on some pretty rough and abandoned roads, thankfully they didn’t last long. 

This is shortly after we started the big climb of the day. It was nice when the climb was out of neighborhoods and more in where the large trees canopied the narrow road. 

11:11 shot of the day… we were taking a break!  You can see on my app that we are  about halfway up the climb. 

Tim is rejoicing because he thinks he done with the climbing for the day…. NOT!

We had sweated so much that we were desperate for electrolytes and cold water… and Tim was excited about the Hawaiian Punch (a childhood favorite).   We found a little table in the shore near the motor oil and cleaning supplies.😆

The hills kept coming and the head wind started picking up. 

It was great to be at ocean level and see and hear the waves crashing against the shore. 

 

As we neared our destination we were surprised by the green bike lane. 

We saw this Hatillo signage and were thrilled we were almost done for the day. It had been a challenging one!

As we got closer, we plugged in our VRBO  address into Google Maps and kept peddling, just wanting to be done. Unfortunately, we followed the directions and stood on the street in front of a house that clearly was not the correct location.  A minutes later, a man came out of the house with two cold bottled waters and asked us in English if we needed help. He gave us a suggestion and we followed it to a different location 1/3 mile away. Still confused and standing in front of an another place, we see that same helpful man drive up to check on us and see if we found our destination. Fortunate for us, he translated our intent with neighbors of the possible VRBO residence and discovered it is indeed the one we were looking for. The very helpful neighbors are the cousins of the owner, Nydia.  Upon talking to NYC based Nydia, we were so grateful to be upgraded from the tiny studio on the back patio to the  3 bedroom house.  Many thanks Nadia!❤️

It felt so, so great to clean up. We were ready for a well deserved dinner and a nice drink, but due to the challenges of the day, we were not up for a 3 mile walk…. So we reluctantly settled on American fast food! 

Cycling day 7 La Parguera to Rincon

We were eager to get back on the road again after having a day off.  Beautiful weather (like always) as we climb out of the touristy coastal town.  In this first photo, a huge unmanned blimp ballon continuously hovers in the sky. It is a US customs and border protection vessel used for surveillance to detect low-flying aircraft and surface vessels in the Caribbean.

We were only on the 303 for about 5 miles, but were looking out for any UFO’s. This area is a hotspot for sightings. And has become known as the “UFO Route”.

Newly planted pineapple field . 

Another example of the lengths some Puerto Ricans will go to be the loudest on the road. 

One town that we road through had this large sign posted : 

Cute tourist town of Boqueron, right on a large bay. 

Another hill top 😆

Tim calls me the “mother tucker”, but it’s hard to be aerodynamic when descending with the extra  baggage. 

11:11 shot of the day. 

Riding past the Estadio Isidoro García stadium in Marquez, named after Isidoro “El Cholo”  García, a local pitcher who threw the first ever no-hitter! 

Yikes… how to cross a speedy highway in a construction zone timing it just right with the cars that are also making the same move…. I was balancing until I wasn’t!!! Yes, I tipped over when I couldn’t unclip fast enough!  Long story short, construction workers, people in cars and of course Tim were all very concerned about my well-being. I could only laugh. I was fine. The bike needed a few adjustments, but all was well. 

Once in town, we went to the Harbour  restaurant for lunch while waiting for our room to be ready. There we started a conversation with Riley and her dad Ryan from Colorado, here for The Tropical MTB Challenge, an international mountain bike race. We’ve been seeing a lot of fast moving mountain bike bikes on the road, but  the competition is all off-road. Riley is still in high school and also competes on her high school mountain bike team. 

Yay! At our cute beach front casita. 

The grounds are so beautifully maintained. 

Tim was thrilled to find a boogie board to borrow. 

Water was warm and the beach smooth. 🤩

Walked to town and passed some beautiful murals . 

 

Our destination was Rincon Beer company, but we got to partake in the weekly Thursday evening Art Walk. Local vendors and artisans as well as crowds of people flocked to the scene. While having a beer and dinner at the  brewery we shared a table  and lively conversation with Russ and Diana, a couple from  Florida. 

We were pooped by the time we walked back to our casita.