Sabado: La Guancha

The beach in Ponce--not really for swimming

 Flash back to last week where winter meant 80s and sunny.  On Saturday I worked until noonish and then had some Pollo Tropical--a local fast food place where they serve chicken cooked on the grill.  So good, too bad I hadn't tried it earlier in the week.  I went back to the hotel and did some computer work and called Greg up around 3 to see if he wanted to explore. 

 The crew leader at work, Manuel, suggested we head to La Guancha, so Greg and I headed that direction.  I was under the impression it was a restaurant, but turns out it was an entire area.  A boardwalk with a marina and restaurants and lots of local color, and we had a good time.  It was a great way to wind down our week.

The fish were huge!

 We pulled up and first headed to the observation tower where we got a view of the harbor, the beach, and the boardwalk.  From the tower we could also see there giant fish around the dock where people were feeding them.  They were at least 3 feet long.  Huge!  And right there by the shore!  It made me wonder if they were ever the "catch of the day".

 We then walked on the beach a while, but it wasn't really an amazing beach.  Just a little bit of sand and lots of rocks and seaweed.  We checked out the local park--no swings--and then headed back to the boardwalk.  There were quite a few restaurants and bars on the water so we tried the tropical drinks.  Very good.

The tower from ground level

 We ended up eating supper here--very good, though we weren't very adventurous--and watched the sunset on the boardwalk.  After the sun went down the locals came out and the music was loud, and we watched them dance the night away.  We ended up going home around 9; we were exhausted from the long week of work.  But all in all, it was a lot of fun.  Definitely my favorite evening of the trip.  And the drinks didn't hurt.