Tag Archives: Day trip

Lares Adventure to Haunted La Rambla and Cafe Lareño

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This week for our adventure we headed to Lares. I had heard about a beautiful place that I just had to check out: La Rambla, also known as The Levy Mansion. There are so many legends and stories about this place, but some consensus says that it was at one point in time going to be a hotel/casino, but then became the island’s first bottled water company because of the sweet spring water that came from a blessed source: La Santa Rosa spring. But there is much more to this story, from a wonderful start to complete abandonment. What happened exactly is unclear, but there are some theories including the violent death of a beloved daughter.


At the Famous Original Lares Heladeria

We started our journey traveling with our friend Anthony from Rincon to the Lares Plaza where we stopped in at the Famous Lares Heladeria. It had been MANY years since we stopped in there, but not a whole lot had changed except, that a copy-cat shop opened up just a few doors down selling the strange concoction (rice and bean, garlic, sausage flavor among others) ice creams as well!


With friends at the new El Grito Heladeria also


Fun with friends in Lares!

Then we rambled on down to La Rambla. Even though it is marked as “No Trespassing” we asked around downtown and they said there was a boquete in the fence that everyone uses and no one cares as long as you are respectful of the area. So we walked from downtown a couple of blocks and spotted the beautiful mansion from the road.



Details of the house

The mansion and grounds were themselves amazing, but the area over the spring was something altogether magical! It was a great place for a photoshoot and I am glad I brought along a skirt to add a little elegance to the photos and to honor what an amazing place it is!

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(these two awesome photos above thanks to Anthony Perez)

Finally afterward, we met up with more friends drove up the hills and checked out the Cafe Lareño factory. It was not officially open to customers, but we met the very nice owner, Don Luis Alcover who showed us around and let us eat and drink a picnic lunch at his place. It was very interesting to see that much of the coffee doesn’t come from Puerto Rico, but rather Mexico! It is depulped, roasted, ground and packaged in Puerto Rico mainly. There were some premium bags of purely Puerto Rican coffee, but not many. I hope that the Puerto Rican coffee industry is able to get stronger and stronger over time.


With my friend Berkley and the owner of Cafe Lareño, Luis Alcover


In the rest area below the newly opened coffee shop (that was closed but available to us courtesy the owner)


A beautiful tour of the coffee grounds (haha pun intended)!


A wonderful day in Lares, Puerto Rico!

Check out the video for more about La Rambla and our awesome day!

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Maricao Coffee Festival

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We took a last minute trip up the mountains to the Maricao Coffee Festival (Fiesta del Acabe de Cafe). Along the way we stopped for the beautiful vistas and some wild plants. We had gone up in years past and things seemed to have been revived since Maria. It’s about an hour drive from Rincon along very curvy roads. We took longer because we made several stops.


Me and Aeden at the Festival


Mountain views along the way


Lots of people


Some info on coffee types and growth


Along the way we met this friendly man who wanted to meet Aeden


He had on a shirt from the coffee festival 30 years ago!


People selling bags of local oranges


Kids playing the traditional game of “gallitos” or little roosters with the seeds of the Algarrobos tree. They hit the seeds at each other until one of them breaks. Sort of a pre-cock fight game for children in the countryside


Family fun!


Vendors selling traditional art


Bomba music and dancing


Beautiful flowers


It’s always a nice change of pace to go up into the mountains of Puerto Rico!


We stopped and briefly checked out Hacienda Juanita, an old restored hacienda turned resort

Overall it was a fun little day trip and we recommend you check out the local festivals if you come to Puerto Rico!

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Salto Curet: A Hidden Waterfall Gem

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We thought we’d round out Summer’s first time in Puerto Rico by doing something in the interior mountains. The beaches get much of the fame, but the mountains and what they contain are hidden gems. We asked if she would rather check out a cave or a waterfall, and the choice was emphatically: waterfall! So we decided to try a new one to us: Salto Curet in Maricao.

Standing beside the salto curet
Salto Curet and me (for scale and fun)

It wasn’t easy to find, however. We were able to make it to the end of the road that it was supposed to be on and then down a very rocky dirt road. But then it crossed the river again and we weren’t about to get the truck stuck, so we set off hiking to find the waterfall.

Bamboo summer and Britton
Britton, Summer and I were walking and walking through bamboo groves- up and up!

We walked and walked, hauling our food, water and clothes. And we kept hiking until both Summer and I had to take a pit stop in the woods (not so easy for women as it is for men). So Britton kept walking ahead to see how much further it was. He was able to move much faster without us and all the crap to carry. Summer and I waited and waited and waited. Finally he came back and said that the road ended at a small house but that there was no waterfall. We ate lunch from the cooler in the middle of the trail and thought about what to do.

Finally, we walked all the way back to the truck and then backtracked but we didn’t see anything. We were just about to leave when we saw another truck full of young guys jumping out. I asked them if they would mind us walking with them to the waterfall since we weren’t having any luck finding it. They were happy to walk and talk (in Spanish) with us. They showed us where the hidden sign was that we had missed along the way.

Salto curet sign
Salto Curet- Oh, that way!

This is a very hidden waterfall. To access it, you actually have to walk in the river! How cool is that?!

Walk down a river
Walk straight down the river

And you will eventually find this:

It was so beautiful and tranquil. When we got there it was raining which made it even more slippery to walk but it also amplified the scene with the rain falling along with the water from the fall. There were shallow parts and deep parts to jump into. The helpful boys hung out and cliff jumped for about an hour and then they left. We had the waterfall and pool all to ourselves, it was pretty amazing. We enjoyed jumping, swimming, climbing and taking photos. It reminded me a little of gorgeous Gozalandia, but not quite as well known and much more off the beaten path.

Cassie In the water Cassie and Britton waterfall

Cassie Green jungle

At one point in the day we didn’t think we would ever find it, but we didn’t give up and that lost and long hike made the crisp water of the cascade even more sweet. A fantastic day.

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