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Location | Rincon Beach Resort in Puerto Rico

After an early morning dip in the ocean and pool, we were off to Boquerón. Apparently it’s one of the best beaches in Puerto Rico, but tourists rarely make it out there. In the low season (and on a Thursday) it was only about 10 people on the beach. Quiet, ours, it was pretty great. We drove along the peninsula trying to find the perfect stretch of beach. At the end of the peninsula there was a resort, but it was boarded up (closed for the season?). We decided to offroad a little and check out the beach. Unfortunately there wasn’t much beach at the end of the peninsula and the only part we’d want to swim in was across a small channel. At least there was a small convenience store where we bought some Coronas. We headed toward the giant parking lots back toward where we came in.

Boqueron Peninsula

The beach was nice, but underwhelming for the description our tourbook had given us. We swam around in the water, lay out on the beach, I took a nice nap after reading a magazine… then it began to rain and we were running back to the car.

Boqueron Beach

We decided we were going to head southeast toward Ponce to find dinner. We ended up offroading to figure out what was on this strip of land I had spotted from the highway.

Random Lagoon, Random Strip of Land

The exit was very strange, as it lead to a hotel (that was closed?) and then to a racetrack (which was very full). Then there was the deserted racetrack and parking lot that was dilapidated and falling apart. We couldn’t find a way in since all the roads were blocked, so we exited, but right as we were about to get onto the freeway, I spotted a dirt road leading away from the exit. Greg thought we should turn around, so we turned around on the freeway and took this dirt road which was along the wall to the race track. The wall was very long, made of cement and the top had barbed wire. We might has well have been driving along the walls of a prison.

Tall Cement Wall and Barbed Wire...

There was a small cluster of houses which seemed deserted or closed for the season, and we got to the end of the road where we found a group of people running and training along the shore. Greg and I headed to a mangrove to take some photos. Unfortunately I left very quickly due to myself being attacked by mosquitoes.

Fishing Boats near Ponce

After driving out, we headed to Ponce. Ponce looks like any other town. Strip malls, some narrow roads, a lot of dilapidated old buildings. A mix of Detroit, Los Angeles, and a little bit of a Charleston/Havana feel. We ate dinner at an Argentinian-Italian restaurant. For an appetizer, we ordered fried yuca. Greg got a skirt steak, I got chicken stuffed with shrimp. Dessert? Dulce du leche crepes.

We drove back to the hotel and took a dip in the completely deserted beach (also, completely unlit dark ocean). I have a slight fear of the dark (more of the fear of the unknown) but it was liberating to swim out there without freaking out. After a dip in the pool and hot tub it was up the stairs to pass out.