Puerto Rico, Day 4

Now the morning of the next day we spent doing the last activity we just had to do before leaving Ponce. We visited the Cruceta del Vigila. Back when Ponce was the major trading center of Puerto Rico (17th through 19th century), a large wooden cross was erected on top of the tallest hill. A lookout was always posted at the top of the cross to watch out for incoming pirates or British invaders! The cruceta became a symbol of the city and in the mid- to late-20th century, it was rebuilt as an enormous white stone structure that I forgot to take a picture of. Here's someone else's. It over looks the entire city and you can go up to the very top.

Below is a display from the History of the Cruceta area. On the left it says "Old Cross with a Shack" and on right it was "Old Cross with a Model". Lulz.Here's the view of the city from the top. Or, part of the view. In the center you can see the Cathedral as the Plaza las Delicias that I posted a picture of yesterday. Just in the foreground of the Cathedral is the Hotel Fox Delicias!
On the other side of the Cruceta you have a great view of this abandoned building. It was the old InterContinental Hotel, from back when Ponce was a more major plantation trade center and when rich U.S. Americans visiting didn't want to have to mingle with the Puerto Ricans, so they hid themselves away in their tall fancy hotel in the hills. It's been completely abandoned for decades. The automated display in the Cruceta had a voice that was explaining the history of the hotel and said in a funny voice, "ACTUALLY, the government is looking for a buyer." It was kinda hi-larious, one because of the funny voice, and two because it's such an awkward sentence. The "ACTUALLY" was a mistranslation of "actualmente" which means "currently."
Here's Evan overlooking the city.
On the way out of Ponce we drove by this crazy building facade. There were SO MANY buildings in Ponce that looked more or less like this. ACTUALLY, the city is undergoing huge renovations. Like I mentioned, it was a very important city in colonial times, but decayed considerably in the 20th century when San Juan took more prominence. The city is investing well, methinks, in restoring its history and promoting tourism. MOST of the tourists we saw and met in Ponce were from other parts of Puerto Rico, interestingly...
Ok, so then we drove back to San Juan. It took about 2 hours, or a little more, to drive South to North across the island. We turned in the car at the Ritz Carlton and took a taxi to Old San Juan where we were staying for the final night. We stayedin the Guest House Castro RIGHT in the middle of Viejo San Juan. We spent $30!, but that was pretty appropriate, really, considering the accomodations. They were $30 accomodations, no more, but appreciably no less either. Anyway, it was like a 17th century building, which is neat-o, yes?

We walked around for a while and finally found this lovely little snackbar right on the bay. It was owned by a CHARMING young gal from Argentina. We spent hours there.
The snack bar overlooked the port where all the cruise ships come in. The snackbar muchacha said she loved to just stare at the cruise ships coming in and going out. It was pretty nice, actually.
We saw these strange palms all over Puerto Rico. What are they??
It got later. We walked around a bit more. Here's me in front of some of the old 16th century fortifications. Earlier that day we'd try to go on a tour of the Moro, but they only took cash and the nearest ATM was, well, non-existent. Afterwards we went to a Rastafarian Bar which was the bees-knees. We had the greatest time. It was a great way to end the trip.
And in the end, we came back with one more backpack than we'd brought with us. Not bad.