Near the eastern entrance of El Yunque National Rain Forest-is a 500 year old settlement called Naguabo. This small town is populated by about 28,000 people. It’s here that a friend of mine lives. Jose Rivera is a fellow blind Veteran of the Vietnam era I met Jose during my stay in the Gulf Coast Blind Rehab last October. It was good to see him again on his own turf. He seemed happy to be able to show it off.
Not having a vehicle in which to run around in, we hired an UBER to take us to Naguabo, about 45 minutes drive away. As UBER drivers are scarce in Naguabo, we made a deal with our driver to be our tour guide for a while before taking us back to Luquillo Beach. So we picked up Jose and headed for the beach and to lunch.
Things worked out quite well. We were able to drive around and have Jose show off his town as well as slow down and watch him call out to some of his friends and cousins as he laughed and cut up with them.
Lunch was good although a little costly for us buying lunch for Jose and Matthew, our driver. But all in all it was worth it. Puerto Rican restaurants do not cook food ahead like we find in the states. After ordering, the cook prepares the food fresh; no fast food here, nor any food fast. Except on our way back from Naguabo we had our driver run through the KFC drive-thru so we could take home a box of fried chicken. Luckily it was already cooked.
After lunch we toured the area a bit more. It was good to get to see where my friend lives before we go home Tuesday. It was sad to still see a lot of Hurricane Maria damage. This community may take many more years to rebuild and get back on their feet.
A quick run through KFC and we headed home. We tipped our driver quite generously for his kindness and took a nap.
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