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Ponce, the second largest city in Puerto Rico outside of the San Juan
metropolitan area is named after the Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León.
It is located a few miles from the Caribbean coastline of the island. Ponce is
often referred to as "The Pearl of the South."
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Aguadilla is a small beach town in Northwest Puerto Rico.
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Aguadilla was once the site of the US military's Ramey Air Force Base. Though
the infrastructure still exists, it was handed over to the city of Aguadilla in
the 1970s and is now civilian controlled. The hangars and runway of what was once
the Ramey Air Force Base now make up the Rafael Hernandez International Airport.
Aguadilla is most famous for its world class surfing beaches.
Aguadilla's beaches host a variety of amateur and professional
level surfing events every year. They have also hosted a variety
of championships including the ISA world championships in
1968 and 1988. Famous surfing spots in Aguadilla include,
"Surfer's Beach", "The Table", "Gas
Chambers", "Las Ruinas", "Crash Boat",
and "Survivor".
Aguadilla was once primarily a fishing village, but has changed with the times.
Although there is still a great deal of commercial fishing in Aguadilla, the city
is now also home to a variety of industrial plants ranging from Wrangler Jeans,
to Wolverine boots, and Hewlett Packard. The retail sector has flourished with
the building of the Aguadilla Mall and local tourism has been boosted by the creation
of the water park "Las Cascadas" (the waterfalls), and the Caribbean's
only ice skating complex.
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Famous Aguadillans include poet Jose de Diego, composer and singer Rafael Hernandez,
and BSN player Jerome Mincy.
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