Ponce

Ponce is the the second largest city in Puerto Rico. It is situated on the southern side of the island and is nicknamed "the Pearl of the South". As you could probably guess, Ponce was named after Ponce De Leon. Ponce was the first town in PR, built in the late 1600's. Joe and I headed down for a day of exploration and fun. If you meet a native of PR they always tell you, you have to visit Ponce. If you meet someone from the US who has moved here they will say, I can't figure out the hype! It was fun to see how well preserved many of the building were and it only took us an hour and a half to cross the island. Unfortunately we got to Ponce about 10:30 and everything shuts down from 11- 2 in Ponce. So we enjoyed the outdoor scenery and then explored some of the local beaches. The sand on the southern part of the Island is dark grey/black. We also learned that no matter where we are most likely we are going to stick out like a sore thumb! So us trying to drive into a local hang-out all inconspicuous-like...NEVER works, I haven't figured out what gives it away. We had fun!