Camping, beach and mangoes...

Sick of concrete jungle, we decided to pack up the car and head down south for a couple night of camping. The truck needed to be tested for sleeping and showering, and since gas is dirt cheap here (.67 c/liter on average) - we thought, why not?

Our first stop was Arroyo, at a beautiful campground called Centro Vacational Punta Guilarte. We arrived after 6pm, so we were asked to pay our fees the next day as the office was already closed. We were the only ones there - and the security guard put on the lights just for us. Unfortunately he didnt have keys to the bathrooms, so we did our toilet trips "camping-style" and travelled to the far end of the campground where the cabano's (cabins) were to shower.

The sunset was beautiful as we toasted our hotdogs on sticks and took Alpen for a walk along our beachfront campspot.

When we settled down for the night, we got ourselves comfortable in the back of the truck, which Geoff worked on so hard to get ready for sleeping... well, that lasted no more than 5 minutes because it was SO HOT and stuffy in the canopy that the windows were already getting condensation on them before we had a chance to fix the sheets! Luckily we brought the tent along with us...

Our little puppy slept and behaved so well that first night - although a little curious of all the noises in the dark, she settled down really quickly and woke us up when she needed to go potty.

The three of us slept so well, and we were woken by birds chirping and the sun the following morning. A dip in the ocean first thing before packing up and heading off on the brand new 'Ruta Agricola' (Agricultural Route) launched by Tourism Puerto Rico. This ended up being a HUGE disappointment. I guess that things down here in Puerto Rico happen very differently from other parts in the world... lets launch a new tourism product and THEN work on it... advertised was six farms, all offering tours of the orchards, open-to-public fruit selling and information, but we only saw a sign for one farm, and were interrogated by the security guard at the front, who only let us in after telling him that we were buyers.

I must say though, once we were inside this farm, we were greeted by a very nice man who went by the name Roy, who was apologetic that nothing was set up for the public and said that we were the first people to stop by. He ushered us into his own truck, and took us on a little tour of the orchard (3000 ha!) and explained to us everything they grow there- mangoes, bananas, avocado and palm trees for landscaping. I think he felt sorry for us, because he let us out and pick some mangoes to take with us. Fresh off the tree - yum!

After the end of the Agricultural route, we ended up in Ponce, which we were told was now a very safe city after having such a dark past with crime. We didnt get a good vibe from the place at all, with locals following us giving us the "thumbs down". Because of this, we didnt end up sticking around for Carnaval, and instead headed out past Playa Santa to where we read was another beautiful camping spot. It was actually just a tiny, dirty beach right near a town, and we decided to keep searching... until we came across Department of Natural Resources's land...and found the most beautiful beach - serene, quiet - and we were the only ones there - in the middle of nowhere!

We watched the sunset and ate our sandwiches, followed by a shower that Geoff installed in his truck. It worked very very well - and we didnt need the 'heat' function as the water heated up itself just from being in the tank in the warm weather!

As we settled down in our tent for the night, the stray dogs started to come out - we werent going to stay here! By this time it was 9pm and we were exhausted from lots of sun, swimming and driving, so we bit the bullet and stayed the night in a hotel in Yauco, called El Cacique - it was cheap and nasty and we do NOT recommend it. It was right next door to a "6-hour Motel" and even though we stayed in the hotel area, it was loud, crowded and the rooms were awful. We had to sneak Alpen in - but of course we had very nosy neighbours so it proved to be a little more difficult.

The next morning we decided to go back to our magical beach in La Jungla (Department of Natural Resources) and go for a swim before heading back home. It was a Saturday (beach day for locals), but we were the first ones there and had the beach to ourselves for a good half hour before more people started rolling in.

All in all, a great camping trip and all three of us had fun! Ponce was disappointing, but the rest of the south was quiet, unspoilt by tourism and beautiful beaches. It was extremely dry, and hotter than the north. Now that we know how well behaved Alpen is whilst camping - and how much she enjoys it, we'll do many more camping trips! In fact, we're already planning our next one...

(I've had to break up the pictures on several posts because Blogger only allows 5 at a time - and I have so many beautiful pics from our camping trip!)