We Might Not Be Back: Guavate Lechoneras

Since our trek to El Yunque we’ve been taking it easy because of the holiday. We spent all of New Years Eve on our little island. Sadly Dan was the only one able to make it till midnight. When he tried as promised to wake the rest of us up for fireworks, we all begged to go back to sleep. New Years Day we took another trip to Luquillo and the kioskos. I think we’ve officially had our fill of all things fried.

Our next BIG adventure was heading out to Guavate for the lechoneras. We’d been warned that getting there early is essential for finding parking. We naturally got a later start than expected. We then made a grocery pit stop and got more than a little lost. I think we were there about 2 hours after our planned time. Luckily we still made it before noon and were able to park at the Los Pinos Lechonera which had come highly recommended. This area is like a huge street party. Pigs are roasting in every restaurant with a multitude of sides and beverages. We tried a little of everything: pork, arroz con gandules, botata, blood sausage, regular sausage, cassava, cod salad, tres leche, and arroz con dulce. It was pretty fabulous, although Puerto Rican blood sausage is not as good as black pudding. The music was just starting and the parking lots were just getting packed when we finished eating. We walked around in a downpour to check out the vendors and see what the other lechoneras were serving up. By the time we left cars were lined up for spots. We thankfully did a little better driving back with the exception of a minor detour for a flooded road. Had the weather been a little better we could’ve walked around a lot longer watching the dancing and browsing.