(Click each picture to make it larger)
This was my first visit to La Parguera. My parents bought a little townhouse there for the weekends and they freely admit that this was the best purchase they ever made. If you are looking to get away from the tourists in San Juan, the congested Ponce, and the always busy Mayaguez then this is the place where you might spend your entire vacation.
La Parguera is a sleepy little fisherman’s town on the southwestern part of the island which is about 45 minutes from the much larger Ponce. When we drove into town my parents stopped at a look-out point so we could check out the entire view. A few boats, kayaks, and not much else….my kind of place.
When I got off the plane one of the first things I wanted was an empanada, my dad told me to wait until we got to La Parguera and, wow, was he ever right. Blue crab stuffed empanada found at La Tarraya. The place is only open from Thursday through Sunday and is run by two elderly women. If one of them can’t work for some reason then they just close down for the day. You order and wait for a little bit but the wait is totally worth it. Best empanada on the planet. What makes it the best? I’ve been eating these for 27 years and even make my own, I need to go back to the drawing table because of this.
Do you like to swim in the ocean at night while the water glows around you? Well if you do then La Parguera is the place to go! Glowing what? Eric, what the hell are you talking about? Vieques is the tourist destination for swimming in the biolumescent bay (click here) but La Parguera does this on a much smaller scale (I’m giving you the insider scoop here so listen up). At night, especially really dark overcast nights with no moon in sight, a little phenomenon happens in the water near La Parguera and in Vieques. There are little micro-organisms in the water that glow bright blue when they are agitated. I jumped in the water and I was swimming around and with each stroke I took the dark water would glow blue and green, it was amazing. It’s something that my dad has told me about and he said he hasn’t gone there in over 33 years so it was awesome to jump in and do something like that with my dad.
What else can you do in La Parguera? Relax………….. There is no time there, just treat it like you’re on a deserted island on the island. You can rent a kayak and just float around all day or you can just eat the catch of the day from the local fishermen or you can get a nice book or take 250 pictures and think about your blog and culinary school. Whatever floats your boat!
(Click here for more of my Puerto Rico Travel Guide)
Eric
