Coamo

Founded in 1579, Coamo is among the oldest surviving towns on the island and sits on the dry southern side of the cordillera, where the landscape turns to scrub and the light is harder than in the green north. The plaza is anchored by the church of San Blas de Illescas, largely eighteenth century, with a museum in an old family house alongside holding local material from the Taíno period onward. The town is best known nationally for the San Blas half marathon, run every February since 1957 on a brutal hilly course, which draws elite runners and effectively shuts the town for a weekend. The thermal springs are a short drive below.

History

Taíno villages stood here before the Spanish arrived, and the town was founded on 15 July 1579 as San Blas de Illescas de Coamo, the third oldest settlement of the colonial period after San Juan and San Germán. Twenty families lived here by 1582, it became a town in 1616 and a villa in 1778, and in the early nineteenth century pools were built at its hot springs (Wikipedia, Coamo, Puerto Rico).

The main sights

• San Blas de Illescas - the eighteenth-century church on the plaza.
• The town museum - local history in an old family house.
• The San Blas half marathon - each February, on a famously hard course.
• The southern landscape - dry scrub hills, unlike the green north.

When to go

November to April is cooler; the south is hot and dry the rest of the year. The half marathon weekend in February fills every room for miles and closes the roads. Otherwise the town is quiet and easily seen in a morning.

Good to know

It is a small working town rather than a preserved showpiece, and there is not a great deal to see beyond the plaza and the church; an hour or two covers it. Most visitors come for the springs below rather than the town. Museum hours are limited.

Nearby

The Coamo hot springs are five minutes; Ponce is 40 minutes west.

Key facts