Undaunted Travelers: Ruta Panoramica (Panoramic Route)

Guidebooks about Puerto Rico mention a small series of roads which traverse across the heart (and mountains) of the country. Since the whole island is less than 200 miles across, I figured, 'How hard could it be.'

Ruta Panoramica owned me.

Slapped me like an angry step dad.

Made my GPS look like a Fisher Price toy...

(This was when I still had service and the road was like a highway. See that mountain ahead of me - GULP- yup, went over it)

But there is a story to be told first.

OBSERVATIONS - PUERTO RICO

Now that I have been driving all over the country, I feel like I have a good feel for things. And I have noticed that while some things look very much like the USA I left behind:

Other things look more like Latin America:

OH, and I noticed things seemed different and couldn't put my finger on it - till I realized THERE ARE NO PEOPLE BEGGING FOR CHANGE at intersections (or anywhere else). But there are plenty of poor folks to be had...

So I decided to wander across the interior of the Island. I drove to the East side (I have now been to the North, West, South, and Eastern shores). I started in the Southeast corner.

As I worked my way up the mountains a few things struck me,

There are a LOT of people in Puerto Rico. The guide book says that it is MUCH more dense than we are used to, and all day I turned corners and saw houses. And I mean ALL DAY. (there was one stretch where I was on a road I had no business traversing where there were no houses, people, or anything else). But that was probably only forty five minutes).
This is a REALLY pretty place
It is easy to get lost when your GPS doesn't get a signal any more
I will drive in circles SEVERAL times for roasted pig.

This is what the road looked like BEFORE I hit the stretch where the fauna was hitting both sides of my car (thank God there was no oncoming traffic).