Aibonito & Around

Introducing Aibonito & Around

Once the de facto capital of Puerto Rico, after the Spanish Governor Romualdo Palacios González established residence here in 1887, Aibonito has long been a retreat for the island’s political leaders, its devout people, and the most wealthy. The town has a number of other claims to fame that include being the island’s highest town (at about 2000ft), the site of the island’s lowest recorded temperature (40°F in 1911) and the home of an ­impressive flower festival. For all these reasons, and because it’s on the Ruta Panorámica, Aibonito is the most visited mountain town in Puerto Rico.

The town has a euphonious name that suggests a Spanish exclamation meaning ‘Wow, how beautiful, ’ but the name is probably derived from a Taíno word that the first Spanish settlers heard when they arrived here in the 1630s. Today, travelers should associate Aibonito with beauty only in very specific ways. The town itself, which shelters a little less than half of the municipality’s 25, 000 residents, is something of a mixed bag. It sprawls across a high plateau in a slight rift between surrounding peaks. There are traffic jams every day on the narrow roads at the center of town, as rural families gravitate here for shopping, banking and – naturally – a visit to the drive-thru McDonald’s. Thriving flower-growing, poultry-raising and poultry-processing industries have brought prosperity to the region, with little thought to urban planning and only belated attention to the area’s natural gifts.

Yet there are two extraordinary natural treasures here. One, Mirador La Piedra Degetau, is a cluster of boulders on a peak bordering the Ruta Panorámica; there are great views from this place. Even more spectacular is the Cañón de San Cristóbal (St Christopher Canyon), which lies north of town in a deep volcanic rift cut into the rolling fields between Aibonito and the neighboring town of Barranquitas.

Aibonito-lovers claim that the weather in their town is perpetually spring-like. They are not exaggerating: the average temperature is 72°F. Gentle showers are common.

Most drivers approach Aibonito via the Ruta Panorámica. A less-traveled and more dramatic route (if you like hairpin turns) is to take Hwy 173 and Hwy 14 south from Cidra.

Last updated: Feb 17, 2009