Guayama

Introducing Guayama

A few miles up the hill from the coast is Guayama, the bigger, less attractive older sister to little Arroyo. The two cities have been linked since the colonial days when the shadowy brokering of Arroyo’s ports – illegally bringing in goods from across the Americas and sending out sugarcane and rum – fattened the wallets of Guayama’s society families. In the century since, these sister towns have grown apart, with the sprawling asphalt parking lots of big box stores and commercial development offering evidence of how Guayama has left ragged little Arroyo behind.

Today, Guayama’s 45, 000 residents pay the rent with jobs at pharmaceutical and light industrial factories that lie west of town, and the place once called the ‘City of Witches’ (a result of Santería worship brought here by African laborers) suffers from the typical contemporary spells of hasty development and heavy traffic. The jewel of the city is the fountain at the center of the plaza, which was imported from France in 1918.

During the first weekend of March the upscale Feria Dulce Sueño (The Fair of Sweet Dreams; 787-834-1988) bring thousands of equestrian zealots to town for a Paso Fino horse race.

Last updated: Feb 17, 2009