We woke up early today to drive to Ponce, which was about an hour and a half from our hotel.  We wanted to check out the Museo Castillo Serrales.  We arrived right at opening time and bought a combination ticket so we could also view the Japanese gardens and the panoramic view.  

The Museo Castillo Serrales was built by the Serrales family in the 1930s.  The couple who lived there lived alone since all their children were already grown.  The mansion was then handed down to their son and his wife. They also lived there alone because their children were also grown.  In 1980, the wife offered the mansion to any family member, but no one wanted to take it because of the cost of upkeep and repairs.  Instead she sold it to the city for $400,000 including a lot of its contents.  It was probably worth 4 million.  However, the city did not restore it or manage it in any way and it fell into disrepair until a management company took over.  Although the house is not in a pristine state (as with any other almost 100 year old structure), it is well maintained.  The tour started in a theater (built for the tours in the basement of the house) that explained how Ponce and the Serrales family earned their money with sugar cane and rum. 

Sadly, we were unable to take any pictures inside the house.  We were very lucky that they were filming in the museum that day because they opened the fountain area and removed the hurricane shutters (which they do on very few occasions). We were able to take pictures of this central area of the museum.  A lot of the furniture is original to the house and is in excellent condition. The most impressive room is the formal dining room.  It has carved mahogany ceilings that were also painted by hand. They display some of the many tools they used to craft that room. The table and chairs were also very impressive. We have leaves we add to tables to make them bigger. This table had end tables around the room that you could add to it to make it longer.  It was really neat. 

Along with the beautiful wood furniture, including a wardrobe that has never left the room it is in due to it’s size and weight (it had to be brought in originally in three pieces), and a bed that is worth $25,000 today, I was also impressed by the beautiful lamps.  My favorite were matching table and floor lamps that imitated the leaves of a weeping willow tree in beautiful blues and purples.  I really wish I had a picture of it!

The family was also responsible for Don Q rum, so they have a collection of Don Quijote items.  You are also able to buy drinks with that rum and bottles of the liquor in the gift shop.  

After our tour, we wandered around the gardens and took pictures of the gorgeous views. 

The Japanese gardens were ok, but I would not have paid $10 to see them alone.  We took the elevator up the cross to see the panoramic views of the city and mountains.  When we tried to get the elevator down, it wouldn’t come.  My husband called to let them know.  I walked down the stairs.  It turns out that the elevator got stuck on the way up and had to be shut off.  Luckily my husband also came down the stairs after waiting to hear from anyone.  We were very lucky we did not get stuck inside.  It was sweltering hot in there!

Before we headed home, we stopped at Banco Popular to see if what we read on the internet was true and we could pay our parking ticket there.  We could not pay it online because we had a rental car.  It turns out that you can pay it there, but it must be in cash or with a Banco Popular credit card.  We received a 30% discount because we paid it within 15 days. It was a lot of money, but at least the car rental company will not be charging us extra for it. 

On the way home we had to deal with some more crazy mountain roads. These were wider than the one we were on yesterday, but the curves were tighter.  We had some amazing views as we drove. 

We also drove right by this beautiful waterfall. It was called Cascada Chorro de Dona Juana.  

We searched for this next waterfall and had to walk a little ways in order to view it.  It was called Las Delicias.  We were on this tiny mountain road and there were two other cars parked next to this waterfall.  We could also hear cars go by as we walked up to it.  The traffic in Puerto Rico is unreal.