Day 5 cycling from Salinas to Ponce, Puerto Rico

Just like the previous days, we’ve been fortunate to wake up to sunny skies with beautiful clouds. The humidity was quite noticeable, but fortunately so was the tail wind. 

It was a little more effort getting packed up today because our room was on the second floor and we had to carry the bikes up the stairs. That required us to fully unload the panniers to make it more manageable. The opposite is also true going down the stairs. 

 

Soon after we were on the road we made an almost immediate detour  to a pastry shop that also serve breakfast. It was a very  popular and busy spot with the locals. 

We passed by lots of banana plantations. These have plastic bags on the banana bunches.  My AI research tells me:   Bananas are covered with plastic bags to protect the developing fruit from insects, birds, and animals while also protecting them from sunburn, wind damage and cold. This practice creates a warm microclimate that accelerates growth, reduces harvesting time, and ensures a cleaner, more cosmetically perfect product for market. 

All along our route, we’ve been seeing tsunami evacuation signs … each is better than the last. 

Yesterday we saw a lot of solar power stations that went on for miles. Today we saw lots of  wind turbines humming along.    “Puerto Rico is rapidly transitioning to renewable energy, focusing on solar panels and wind turbines to achieve 100 renewable energy by 2050.”

11:11 shot of  the day… when we were taking an electrolyte break in the shade.

We got to our very fancy looking hotel in Ponce before 1:00. We were thrilled to be able to check in early and even better, we had the opportunity to pack up a bag of laundry to be done for us while we toured around! Yay! 

First stop was Kings Ice Cream right next to our hotel.! 

Second stop was finding a bicycle shop to repair Tim’s rear wheel broken spoke. 

Now we have time to tour. 

Ponce was founded in 1692 and is Puerto Rico’s second largest city and a major cultural hub. 

   

Ponce Cathedral

Inside Ponce Museum of Art checking out the papier- mache of Louis Armstrong and all the papier-mâché masks on the wall

Parque de Bombas - historic firehouse

Plaza las Delicious

It was nice that we also had time to lounge in the small poolside courtyard.

Hooray… the bike is repaired and Tim is happy thanks to  Luis and Anthony. 

A short walk from our hotel was a wonderful restaurant with ideal outdoor patio dining. We can highly recommend Rincon Argentino.  The sangrias were great and the huge platter of 6 different varieties of meat for two in addition to the veggies and mashed potatoes was so, so tasty. We must have been really hungry because we finished it all! 

Upon our return to the hotel, our laundered clothes were waiting for us.  What a great end to a great day. 

Day 4 cycling from Emajagua to Salinas, Puerto Rico

We were happy to enjoy a  hot breakfast included with our stay prior to getting on the road on this beautiful warm Sunday morning.  Breakfast was in the same dining room where we had dinner the night before, but we were much more energetic today. 

We chose to take the coastal roads instead of the inland hilly choice. The cars on the road were thoughtful. We thought many were probably going to church or to a baseball game. We saw lots of cars at  both locations in each city we rode through. Most every town has at least one newer looking, well maintained baseball field. 

Outside this stadium, infront of the statue, are 5 feral dogs. All the homeless dogs we’ve encountered are very mild mannered and definitely non aggressive. It’s the fortunate ones that have a home to protect that make us nervous. 

As the day progressed we saw, or more accurately, we heard many cars with the extra deluxe, massive sound system cranked all the way up. The bass is so loud we could feel the vibrations prior to seeing them.  Puerto Ricans really take pride in their cars and sound systems. 

We have been seeing a large cross draped with the purple cloth in many of the towns in preparation for Lent and Easter. 

This photo shows the new power poles. 

“The longest blackout in American history was the nearly yearlong blackout Puerto Rico suffered after Hurricane María in 2017. This was a result of Puerto Rico’s poorly maintained power grid, the severity of the storm, and massively inadequate and inhumane response by the U.S. government to the hurricane. The situation was so dire that many citizens taught themselves basic electrical skills and began risking their lives climbing electrical poles in order to begin reconnecting loose or damaged power lines and restoring power, sometimes to entire towns.” Rolling Stone

11:11 Shot of the day. 

After we checked in and cleaned up we had look around and late lunch… that included a pina colada! 

Went to the highly recommended seafood restaurant El Dorado for dinner. The loud lively energy of the locals and the great food and cheerful service made this place special. What made it even more memorable was the feel of a very happy and jovial community. When a drink was spilled everyone would clap in unison and loudly hum a familiar tune and this one guy, we think maybe it was the owner, grabbed a stack of cocktail napkins and toss it like confetti at the “trouble causing” table. It got such a reaction that this repeated itself 4 more times in different area of the bar. 

Our rental for the evening had a coffee maker but no coffee and no store or coffee shop near by.  Tim was desperate for his morning fix, so he asked our waiter if he could resolve this problem. Our server gathered up some ground coffee and gave it to Tim- now that is much appreciated, over-the-top service!

 

Day 3 cycling from Las Crosbas to Emajagua, Puerto Rico

We earned these margaritas today!

I’m writing this at 7 PM after we had our dinner and are ready to collapse … we are both exhausted! Today had its high points and it’s “what the …” moments. 

Again this morning Tim was enjoying the sunrise as I was just getting going. We each had a granola bar (saved from last night’s after paddle snack) and a coffee that Tim purchased nearby. 

 Packed ourselves up and turned on the RIDE GPS app to help guide our way. We followed the turn by turn directions that within the first mile led us up an incredibly steep road. Yes,  it was so steep that neither of us could even get close to riding up it.  2 miles later we realize that we were retracing an easy portion of the previous days route. Our takeaway is that RIDE GPS does not always provide the path of least resistance!  That being said, we decided to look into Google maps, but it seems that Google maps does not have a bike option in Puerto Rico, but they do have a walking option. So guess what we used the walking option… very successfully for the most part, more on the not so successfully later. 

It’s nice to “stop and smell the roses” once in awhile. Tim will pull out his SEEK app to identify plants or critters or MERLIN app to identify bird calls.

11:11 shot of the day. 

The weather was gorgeous, low 80s with high humidity, and beautiful skies to go along with the lush terrain.

By the time we stopped for some food it was 11:30. We found an open air beachfront restaurant where we enjoyed lemonade and burritos. They had a couple murals to honor these hometown (Naguabo)  brothers in big league baseball Alexis Diaz and Edwin Diaz.

While at the restaurant we had to correspond with our overnight stay since we had received a message that the room was not available due to water leak. We decided to arrange a room in a town further down the road since the conditions were so favorable. 

The wind really started picking up and we felt raindrops, which was fine until it seemed a little risky. We found a Walgreens to take cover until the rain mostly subsided.

We got back on the road with only about 6 miles to go… those 6 miles would be the most challenging and intense in our collective cycling years. 

The first 2 miles were busy and not well maintained.  We then took the “walking” route provided by Google Maps. That was great for half a mile … then the climb started. It sort of twisted and turned so we could not see what was ahead.  There was no way we could cycle it. Neither of us could have cycled it feeling fresh and on a super light bike. So… it really was a “walking” route that lasted a mile and a half of one step at a time shlepping the loaded bike onward. 

Me hoping Tim is taking a photo from the top…. But NO, not even close! 

A well needed break to get a shot of these beauties. 

If you look real close you could see the ocean down below. At this point we still had more climbing! It was a 2 mile screaming downhill when we finally got to the top . 

We found our overnight stay and shortly after getting to our room the rain and wind came with a vengeance. The generators started and we hunkered down safe and sound in our room. 

The skys opened,  we walked to dinner and enjoyed our well-deserved margaritas.