Ponce is a city on the south coast of Puerto Rico.
Understand
Ponce is the second largest city in Puerto Rico. The city was founded by Ponce de Leon's grandson Juan Ponce de León y Loayza in 1692, but not much seems to have happened since then, and it's far less touristy in character than San Juan.
Get in
By car
Ponce is on Highway 1 from San Juan. The drive takes just over an hour on a good day.
By público
Ponce has a large público terminal at the intersection of Calle Union and Calle Vives, a few blocks north of Plaza las Delicias. Públicos to San Juan (1-2 hrs, $15) depart from pier 5A, mostly early in the morning. Call Chóferes Unidos de Ponce at 787-764-0540 to make a reservation; they can also pick you up for a small extra fee.
Get around
Public transportation in Ponce is pretty much non-existent, although there's a touristy choo-choo train that does a loop of the downtown.
See
Most of Ponce's sights are tightly packed around the main square of Plaza las Delicias.
Do
Buy
Eat
Drink
Central Ponce has a number of bars around the main square. Note that many are closed Monday nights and Holidays.
Sleep
Most hotels are clustered around Plaza Degetau, easy walking distance to the downtown sites and museums but far from the water and beach. Most have private parking.
Budget
Mid-range
Splurge
Get out
The Autonomous Municipality of Ponce (PON-sai), known simply as Ponce, is a municipality of Puerto Rico located in the Southern Coastal Plain region of the island, south of Adjuntas, Utuado and Jayuya; east of Peñuelas; and west of Juana DÃaz. It has a total of 19 wards, including the historic Ponce Pueblo (the downtown area of the city).
Ponce, the second largest city in Puerto Rico outside of the San Juan metropolitan area, is named after Juan Ponce de León y Loayza, the grandson of Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León. It is located a few miles from the Caribbean coastline of the island. Ponce is often referred to as La Perla del Sur (The Pearl of the South) and La Ciudad Señorial de Puerto Rico (Majestic city of Puerto Rico).
History
Ponce, nicknamed Ciudad de los leones (City of the Lions) after Ponce de León, Ponce is also called "La Perla del Sur" (The Pearl of the South), has one of Puerto Rico's richest histories, dating back to the 17th century.
In 1692 Juan Ponce de León y Loayza (Juan Ponce de León's great-grandson) obtained a royal permit (cédula real) to formalize the founding of a hamlet around what was a small chapel at the time, raised and dedicated in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The hamlet was declared a villa in 1848, and obtained its city charter in 1877.
Ponce's elite
A strong influx of immigrants from Cataluña, the Balearic Islands and other regions of eastern Spain, as well as from the United Kingdom (one of Vanna White's ancestors was mayor of the city once), Germany and France, as well as wealthy Spaniards who fled from the independence revolts in Cuba, Colombia and Venezuela assured the city's progress. Some of these immigrants made considerable fortunes in coffee, corn and sugar cane harvesting, rum production, banking and finance, the importing of industrial machinery, iron foundries and other enterprises. At a given time during the late 19th century, Ponce had more inhabitants and its many financial institutions were better capitalized than those of Puerto Rico's capital city, San Juan.
The Big Ponce Fire of 1883
In 1883, Ponce was ravaged by an enormous fire. The fire threatened to destroy much of the south coast, but thanks to the firemen of Ponce (who operated from Ponce's Parque de Bombas fire station) Ponce and the south were saved. The Parque de Bombas fire station in the central plaza has since become a museum and tourist attraction. The station continued serving the Ponce community until 1990, when it was closed and the building's activities were entirely dedicated to a museum, which is still open to the general public.
The Ponce Massacre
In 1937, Ponce was the scene of an incident dubbed the "Ponce Massacre" in which many unarmed Nationalist protesters, peacefully celebrating the 64th Anniversary of the Abolition of Slavery, were fatally shot by police.
The Mameyes Landslide
In October 1985, Ponce suffered a great tragedy, when at least 129 people lost their lives to a mudslide in an area known as Mameyes. International help was needed to rescue people and corpses. The United States and many foreign countries, such as Mexico, France, and Venezuela, sent economic, human, and machinery relief.
Recent history
Ponce's mayor for fifteen years (since 1989), Rafael "Churumba" Cordero, died on the morning of January 17, 2004, after suffering three successive brain strokes. He was succeeded by Francisco Zayas Seijo, the city's current mayor.
Flag and coat of arms
The coat of arms of Ponce cotains a red and black coloured shield. There is a five tower gold crown that indicates that Ponce is a city by royal decree. As an exterior frame to shield, there is a sugar cane plant on the right of the shield, and to the left a coffee tree branch.
The shield of Ponce is divided by a diagonal line that crosses straight from the superior end to the left inferior end. In this divided field is the color red (for the fire that almost destroy the city), that covers the superior right portion and the color black (for the ashes after that fire). On that black and red background is a yellow lion with black mane, walking towards the left of the shield, facing right of the shield. The lion is on a bridge, meaning that you must cross a river to enter the city by any region. The shield is bordered by a coffee plant branch and a sugar cane plant, in which the early economy of the city was based.
Demographics
The city of Ponce is itself sub-divided into several sectors or districts:
The main urban zone is also composed of several sections.
Tourism
Ponce's tourist appeal has not gone unnoticed, since its peculiar architectural styles are unique to Puerto Rico. Many of the city's features (from house façades to street corners) are modeled on Barcelona's, given the city's strong Catalonian heritage.
Since the 1970s, the Holiday Inn hotel branch located there has become almost as famous as Ponce's touristic attractions. Newer Hotels include Hilton Ponce Golf & Casino Resort, home to the new Costa Caribe Golf & Country Club, featuring a 27-hole PGA championship golf course.
Some sites worth visiting are the Serralles Castle and the Cruceta El Vigia, a 100-foot observation tower which overlooks the city, as well as the street corners and 19th century domestic architecture in the blocks surrounding the central plaza. One popular legend is that scouts first used El Vigia to scan for attacking ships.
Ponce is the home of the Ponce Museum of Art, which was operated by Puerto Rico's former Governor Luis A. Ferré until his death at the age of 99. Designed by Edward Durrell Stone (Museum of Modern Art, NY), it is the only international museum of stature on the island, housing the most extensive art collection in the Caribbean. Its best-known painting is Flaming June, by Frederic Leighton.
Ponce is also home to the Serralles rum distillery (home of the Don Q and Captain Morgan, and Parrot Bay rums).
Plaza Las Delicias is the town's main square. It features several fountains (namely the "Lions Fountain"), the Ponce Cathedral and Parque de Bombas.
Other buildings around Ponce's main plaza include Casa AlcaldÃa (city hall), the oldest colonial building in the city, dating to the 1840s. Nearby sits Casa Armstrong-Poventud, an example of the neoclassical architectural heritage of the island.
Nearby is the Tibes Indigenous Ceremonial Center discovered in 1975 after hurricane rains uncovered pottery. The center is the site of the oldest cemetery uncovered up to date in the Antilles. With some 200 skeletons unearthed from the year 300 it is considered the largest and the most important archaeological find in the West Indies.
Hacienda Buena Vista was built in 1833 originally devoted to growing fruits, converted into a coffee plantation and corn mill in 1845 and was in operation until 1937, and restored by Fideicomiso de Conservación de Puerto Rico. All the machinery works (the metal parts are original), operated by water channeled from the 360m Vives waterfall; there is a hydraulic turbine which makes the corn mill work.
"La Guancha Paseo Tablado", the boardwalk, is a place where local Ponceños can usually be spotted. "La Guancha" also has kiosks which sell food and alcoholic beverages. A 45-minute boat ride is available to Caja de Muertos (Coffin Island), a small beach island that features an old lighthouse built in 1887.
Climate
Ponce has winter highs averaging 87°F and summer highs, 93°F. It has a record high of 100°F, which occurred in August, 2003, and a record low of 51 °F in 2004.
Police Presence
At night Ponce is characterized by an overwhelming police presence. The main square has a police officer on each corner from around 11:00 p.m. until the early hours of morning.
Transportation
International flights were once flown there into Mercedita Airport, coded PSE, by Eastern Air Lines and American Airlines, while intra-island operations were conducted by Prinair. These days Mercedita is strictly a domestic airport, with Cape Air dba Continental Connection flying from Luis Muñoz MarÃn International Airport in Carolina, Puerto Rico; JetBlue flying nonstop from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in New York City; and Continental from Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR). They fly large A320s, and 737s, respectively, into PSE. Connections from San Juan (SJU) are easily available.
Ponce is also home to the Port of the Americas, a shipping port currently under expansion to convert into an international shipping hub.
Education
Ponce counts with several public and private schools distributed through several regions. Public education is handled by the State Department of Education.
There are also several colleges and universities located in the city. Some of them are:
It also has several other technical institutions like the Instituto de Banca y Comercio, POPAC and others.
Sports
Most of Ponce's professional teams are called the Ponce Lions (or Lionesses) regardless of the sport.
The Ponce Lions basketball team is one of the leading teams of the island winning a total of twelve championships during their tenure. The team's venue is the Juan PachÃn Vicéns Auditorium.
The teams of baseball and volleyball (male and female) have also been fairly successful. The baseball team venue is the Francisco Montaner Stadium. The stadium is located right next to the Juan PachÃn Vicéns Auditorium.
In 2007 Ponce became host to River Plate Puerto Rico futbol team, which currently plays in the Puerto Rican Premier League. They play at Francisco Montaner Stadium and are expected to play in the United Soccer Leagues, Division 1 in 2008. Becoming the second professional soccer team in Puerto Rico after the Puerto Rico Islanders.
Ponce was the site of the Central American and Caribbean Games in 1993.
Notable "Ponceños"
References
External links
