Wednesday, May 19, 2021

La Ruta del Lechón (Pork Highway): Lechonera Los Pinos

We intentionally drove to Ponce from Ceiba via the La Ruta del Lechón (Pork Highway) so that we could have lunch at one of the lechoneras on that famous segment of Route 184 in Guavate. This route took us around the southern end of of El Yunque National Forest with some majestic views. It was also an interesting rural route that went through small towns and countryside.

We passed several lechoneras and got hungier as we smelled the delicious scents.

We had seen Lechonera Los Pinos highly recommended in multiple blogs and articles and decided to try it.

As we gained elevation on Route 184, we passed several lechoneras, many of which seemed to only have small parking lots and pull-out areas, but Lechonera Los Pinos had a decent size parking lot.

Lechonera Los Pinos offered multiple types of meats and several sides.

Most of us were there for the lechón.

And the lechón was front and center.

Lechonera Los Pinos is an open-air restaurant and we originally set toward the outer edge of it, but one of Puerto Rico's common quick and heavy rain storms moved in and the cool wind and occasionaly blowing mist motivated us to move a little further under the covered area. Because it was a weekday, it was easy to find another spot for our party of five. There was a steady stream of patrons, but only a very short line to order the food. Because it was a weekday, the atmosphere was relatively quiet, but we could see a stage area was present and can imagine the described music and party atmosphere of the place on weekends and holidays.

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