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Ponce

Puerto Rico

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Firehouse museum at dusk Parque de Bombas, Plaza Las Delicias, Ponce, Puerto Rico

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Overview

Ponce es Ponce (Ponce is Ponce), runs a simple yet telling Puerto Rican saying: the explanation given as to why the nation's haughty second city does things, well, uniquely – and in defiance of the capital. Native son and author Abelardo Díaz Alfaro went further, calling Ponce a baluarte irreductible de puertorriqueñidad – a bastion of the irreducible essence of Puerto Rico. Strolling around the sparkling fountains and narrow architecturally ornamented streets of the historic center certainly evokes Puerto Rico’s stately past.

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