This morning we left Manatí early to drive along the coast to the northwest of Puerto Rico.  The views of the water and the waves were magnificent.  We stopped several times to take pictures and just admire Mother Nature. 

On the way, we saw this huge sculpture in the distance.  We stopped at a gate to take a picture through it.  We found out later that it is the biggest sculpture in North America.  It’s 360 feet.  It’s called Estatua de Colon (Statue of Columbus). They had a difficult time finding a place to put it even after deciding on Puerto Rico.  It actually sat in the bay area of Arecibo rusting for quite a few years.  They finally erected the sculpture under some controversy (Columbus is not highly regarded here), but then they never completed the area in which you can go and visit it!  The picture that you see is the best you can do unless you have a drone. 

We also tried to stop at this lighthouse that you see in the distance.  It would have been about $14 a person to go inside.  

La Chocolatería Aguadilla was a neat little shop with some tasty looking treats. The chocolate pieces were quite expensive. The cheapest you could buy were two pieces for $8.50.  We tried this mousse dessert instead with all three chocolate flavors. 

The Ponderosa Lighthouse ruins were really beautiful for an area of ruins.  I loved reading the story about the earthquake in 1918.  It was a 7.5 quake and it caused a tsunami wave that destroyed the lighthouse.  The wife of the lighthouse keeper had a premonition that something was wrong (birds stopped chirping, the air was oppressive, and the dogs were wildly barking) and fled the lighthouse before the earthquake happened. The lighthouse keeper fled before the tsunami hit it.  

We stopped briefly on our drive out at Playa Punta Borinquén.  It was a beautiful beach, but quite windy that day. 

On the way back to our hotel we made a stop at this Banyan Treehouse.  It was really neat to climb up and around since you were right next to all the branches.  

Our drive home was a bit harrowing. We decided to reroute ourselves from the traffic and ended up on this mountain road. There was barely enough room for one car and it was a two lane road.  I was so happy not to be driving.  We came very close to a lot of cars that seemed not to have a care in the world if we were trying to get by too!

We found a delicious Mexican restaurant near our hotel for dinner.  It is called Poco Loco and the happy hour special of two mojitos for $10 was all we needed to try some local rum.  The queso fundido appetizer was so good. I had to stop myself from eating most of it!