Adjuntas

Adjuntas sits at around six hundred metres in the western Cordillera surrounded by peaks, and the temperature difference from the coast is enough that the town has traded on it for a century. Coffee is the crop, and small farms around the town roast and sell their own. Casa Pueblo, a community organisation founded in 1980 to fight open-pit mining in the mountains, is based here and runs a solar-powered building, a radio station and a coffee brand from the plaza.

Background

The name most likely shortens "tierras adjuntas a Coamo", lands attached to Coamo, since the territory first belonged to Villa de San Blas de Illescas, among the island's oldest settlements. After 20 families had settled in the area and asked for recognition, the town was founded on August 11, 1815. From the mid-19th century many immigrants came from Corsica and Mallorca, and late in that century local coffee was shipped to Europe, the United States and even the Vatican. The town lies at 2316 ft and recorded Puerto Rico's lowest temperature, 38 °F, in 2018. No standard ZIP code in the United States is lower than its 00601. The 2020 census counted 18,020 people.

Source: Wikipedia, "Adjuntas, Puerto Rico"

Highlights

• Casa Pueblo - a community organisation with a solar-powered base on the plaza.
• The coffee farms - small producers roasting and selling around the town.
• The mountain setting - green peaks on all sides of the valley.
• The plaza - the town square with the church and Casa Pueblo on it.

When to go

December to April is the drier season and the most comfortable. Coffee harvest runs roughly from August to February. Nights in the mountains are genuinely cool.

Practical notes

Farm visits should be arranged rather than assumed. The roads up are winding and slow. There is little formal sightseeing beyond the plaza and Casa Pueblo.

Nearby

Ponce is south, and Jayuya is east in the mountains.

Key facts