Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
days when the restaurant is closed and there may be no other guests. Their loss could be
your gain.
Getting There & Around
While a few públicos pass this way, they can be infrequent. Getting to the insanely popular
restaurant strip of Guavate may be your best bet - the forest's northern gate (plus trails and
camping access) is less than half a mile from here. The most popular way of seeing the
mountains in their entirety is still a rental car.
GUAVATE
Puerto Ricans invariably speak of Guavate in reverential tones. During the week, it's
just an unkempt strip of scruffy, shack-like restaurants abutting the Carite Forest. But
come on weekends for a heady transformation - a free-wheeling atmosphere united
around good food, spontaneous dancing and boisterous revelry that earns it the desig-
nation of the 'Ruta del Lechón,' Hwy 184.
A cherished place for traditional Puerto Rican cooking, Guavate is the spiritual
home of the island's ultimate culinary 'delicacy,'
lechón asado,
or whole roast pig,
locally reared and turning on a spit. But first impressions can be deceiving. Although
the myriad of
lechoneras
that pepper the roadside might look a little rough around
the edges (Styrofoam plates, plastic forks, Formica tables), the crowds tell another
story. Everyone from millionaire businessmen to cigar-puffing
jíbaros
(country
people) congregate for the best in authentic Puerto Rican cuisine and culture. If it's
the island's uninhibited 'soul' you're after, look no further.
The best action takes place on weekend afternoons between 2pm and 9pm, when
old-fashioned troubadours entertain the crowds and live salsa, meringue and reg-
gaetón music brings diners to the makeshift dance floors for libidinous grooving.
With over a dozen restaurants and stalls all offering similar canteen-style food and
service, your best bet is to come hungry and follow the crowds. Standards include
ar-
roz con grandules
(rice and pigeon peas),
pasteles
(mashed plantain and pork) and -
brave, this one -
morcillas
(rice and pigs blood).
If you can't choose which
lechonera
, try
El Rancho Original(Rte 184 Km 27.5;
plates $6-7; 10am-8pm Sat & Sun, with variations)
, where they serve consist-
ently perfect pork that's heavenly, smoky and covered in crispy skin. But, truth be
