We decided to take a drive to Ponce, the political seat of its area, named for Ponce de Leon. It is along the south coast, about two hours west of Humacao. We drove through much beautiful countryside, with views of both the cordillera (mountain range) and the coastline, passing quite a few small towns along the way.
We were interested to see businesses and schools closed with huge lines of cars and people gathering at all the schools. In fact, it was hard to get through the streets. Then we remembered that it was Puerto Rico's election day as well. The schools were clearly voting places, but the numbers of people just milling around seemed unusual.
We stopped to take photos at a cemetery, marveling at how they bury people above ground, like they do in New Orleans. This is probably partially due to the fact that we are at sea level and the coast is in danger of tsunamis.
I loved looking at all the small iglesias (churches) as that is the center of much community life here in Puerto Rico. I also loved looking at all the gates in front of windows. We had wondered if there was a theft problem and if these were actually bars, like on windows in Miami and some of Southern California. Our other thought was that this may be cultural, and folks actually thought the wrought iron made the home more beautiful.
Jim called this one a poker style. I asked why and he said, "That's what would happen if you tried to climb over it."
We were impressed by several wind farms, producing green energy here in Puerto Rico.
Another interesting aspect of our drive was all the baseball fields and elaborate stadiums, even in small towns. Baseball must be highly popular here. When we went through Salinas, PR, we found that Roberto and Sandy Alomar, baseball legends, were from Salinas.
We finally arrived in Ponce and stopped for lunch. We were told that we could not buy anything alcoholic in Puerto Rico as Election Day was a National Holiday, and folks were off work, except for
gas stations, restaurants and hotels. This explained some of our questions about the crowds near the schools.
We had massive problems with traffic as we entered Ponce and tried to get to the main plaza, the
Plaza de Delicias. As we got closer, the streets were jammed, almost to a stop. At least every other car had people waving flags for their candidates. The cars all had drivers who were leaning on their horns. We found a place to park near the plaza and were absolutely amazed!
Cars, trucks, quads, motorcycles, scooters, bicycles, etc. all jammed the streets barely moving. Everyone in the city seemed to be on a vehicle out in the streets, waving flags. They were sitting on windows outside of cars, on the hoods or the tops of cars, standing jammed in the beds of trucks, etc. all were yelling, singing or dancing. All vehicles were constantly blaring their horns!
They made their vehicles backfire and squealed their brakes. Many did "burn-outs," something I didn't know about, but Jim enjoyed. Jim watched in amazement and said that it was a good thing that alcohol was banned today!
At one point there was a one-way street filled with basically non-stop cars going one direction. They were forced to make a turn at a corner, because another one way street (also one-lane) was filled with vehicles coming toward them and had to turn on the same street. What a potential for disaster!
We were walking along the narrow sidewalk, when eight motorcyles decided to come down the sidewalk to avoid the lines...forcing us up against the wall!
It was chaotic and exciting. There was tremendous enthusiasm from everyone! Jim thought, "Wow! What if Obama could generate this much excitement!". We would never allow the sort of danger involved with the activity in Ponce, but the people were certainly enthused!
We had massive problems getting out of Ponce, but we persevered, of course. For awhile, we were caught in the parade, unable to get out due to the slow movement, one-way streets, and closed-off streets.
As we drove back to Humacao towards dusk, everywhere we saw people gathering in the street, still waving their flags.
The iron railings are called "rejas." They are both decorative and a security feature. As you know, they are found throughout Mexico, also, probably throughout all Latin American countries. The wealthier the community, the more ornate and elaborate are these iron railings and are usually quite beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI guess this is equivalent of an American picket fence. Beats an electric fence or one strewn with razor wire, doesn't it?