Me and a HUGE bromeliad

This week we decided to check out the Aibonito Festival de las Flores (Flower Festival) with a friend. We have wanted to check out this festival for a long time, but Aibonito is a looong way from Rincon as it turns out (about 2 1/2 hour drive). We went the south way through Ponce and then through a panoramic route through the mountains to reach it. Since we came during the week it wasn’t too crowded and we found free parking close to the festival. The entrance charge was $6 per person. We bought quite a few flowers, though I was expecting a lot more crazy and exotic plants. Maybe it’s because I am a plant person, but there wasn’t too much that I haven’t already seen. I would say it was worth it to go at least once if you haven’t seen it before!

The flowers we were most interested in: Gingers and Heliconias

We got some of these cool varieties

These carnivorous plants are so cool

Hanging out under the shade

Quite a few booths and vendors

Nice bridge and pond in the permanent Festival area

Cool Aibonito sign -Aibonito supposedly was named that when someone arrived and said “Ay, que bonito” or “Oh, wow, how pretty!”

Lots of orchids!

Live music and carnival rides. The Gran Combo is coming to play on Sunday which is a big deal! Also check out how much harder this area of the island was hit by Maria -the trees are still stripped of leaves!

Some music of El Gran Combo

The drive to Aibonito is spectacular!

On the way back we stopped at the Holiday Inn in Ponce for dinner.

Overall, it was an exhausting yet fun day and now we have a bunch of plant starts to get in the ground!