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Humacao, Puerto Rico

Humacao /u.ma.'ka.o/ is a city in Puerto Rico located in the eastern coast of the island, north of Yabucoa; south of Naguabo; east of Las Piedras; and west of Vieques Passage. Humacao is spread over 10 wards and Humacao Pueblo (The downtown area and the administrative center of the city).

Humacao has three secondary care hospitals (HIMA-San Pablo Humacao, Dr. Domínguez (Clínica Oriente), and Ryder Memorial). Ryder Memorial is the largest hospital complex on the Southeast coast of Puerto Rico.

Humacao is famous all over Puerto Rico for its granitos, a greasy snack food which is composed of fried rice flour with cheese in its center. People have for years driven to Humacao from other cities just to taste this snack food. Locals joke about this tastiful 'fritura': el granito es EEE: engorda, estriñe y embrutece.

History

Humacao was founded on April, 1722 and became autonomous (town) in 1793. Humacao derives its name from a local Indian Chief Jumacao, a beautiful monument of whom welcomes visitors from the east. Humacao's mayor is Marcelo Trujillo Panisse, a big, chubby, albeit peaceful, soft, and assertive leader (formerly an outstanding basketball player and community leader).

On March, 2008, a new Roman Catholic diocese was established as the Fajardo-Humacao diocese. Its first bishop is Monsignor Eusebio 'Chebito' Ramos Morales, a maunabeño who was rector of the Humacao's main parish in the 1990s.

Flag

It consists of three horizontal stripes: gold that stands for Chief Jumacao's crown, red that symbolizes the Coat of Arms and the green that represents the arrows used by the Taínos.

Coat of Arms

The coat of arms consists of two colors, gold and green. The gold represents the sun, Humacao is located in the island were the sun rises. Green symbolizes our native Indian heritage as well as the natural tropical valley where the city is located. The shield itself represents Humacao's native and Indian name origin.

Geography

Barrios (Districts/Wards)

Antón Ruiz
Buena Vista
Candelero Abajo
Candelero Arriba
Cataño
Collores

Junquito
Mabú
Mambiche (Blanco and Prieto)
Mariana
Punta Santiago
Río Abajo
Tejas

Topography

Rivers are: Antón Ruíz, Candelero and Humacao
Gulches are: Cataño, Del Obispo, Del Inglés, Frontera and Mariana
Two islands belong to Humacao:

Cayo Santiago (Monkey Island) (including Cayo de los Algodones)
Cayo Batata

Economy

Tourism

Palmas del Mar, the island's largest resort, makes Humacao its home. This megaresort is composed of over 3,000 acres (12 km²) of land and occupies the entire south eastern portion of the municipal territory. The resort contains over 20 tennis courts, two world-class golf courses, miles of unspoiled beaches, several restaurants and a world class riding center.

Landmarks and places of interest

Astronomical Observatory
Buena Vista Beach
Casa Roig
El Morrillo Beach
Guzmán Ermit
Punta Santiago Beach
Teachers' Monument
Wildlife Refuge

Festivals and events

The Fiesta patronal dedicated to the Immaculate Conception is held at the beginning of December. It has lost most of its religious content to become a popular festival with live music, food, drinks and verbenas.

The Breadfruit Festival (Festival de la Pana) is celebrated during the first weekend of September. It is organized by the Mariana's Recreational and Cultural Association (ARECMA), a community organization of the Barrio Mariana. Its main theme is about the preparation of dishes whose main ingredient is breadfruit. Typical Puerto Rican music, crafts and foods as well as other cultural and sports activities can also be enjoyed. Most years it has been held at one of the highest places of the sector with a spectacular view to Humacao, Las Piedras, Naguabo, Vieques and Yabucoa.

One of Puerto Rico's most important charity fund-raising activities, La Buena Vida Festival, takes place in Palmas del Mar every year. Now in its 14th year, La Buena Vida gathers several hundred good-hearted Puerto Ricans and visitors from abroad, to enjoy fine art, excellent food from our foremost chefs-de-cuisine, and the best wines available in Puerto Rico. A silent art and wine auction is held at the peak of the activity. Lead by chairlady María Dolores 'Lola' González Keelan, last year's LBVF was able to collect close to $100,000.00 for four of our Eastern region service organizations.

Transportation

Humacao's airport is no longer used for daily flights to Vieques and Culebra as it was in the past. It is now used for charter flights and for skydiving. The skydiving facilities located in Humacao are of the most actively used on the island.

Humacao is served by two freeways and one tolled expressway, therefore is one of a few cities in Puerto Rico with good access. Puerto Rico Highway 30 serves as the main highway coming from the west (Caguas, Las Piedras), while Puerto Rico Highway 53 serves from the north (Fajardo, Naguabo) and south (Yabucoa). Puerto Rico Highway 60 is a short freeway located entirely in Humacao, and has exits serving downtown Humacao and Anton Ruiz.

Puerto Rico Highway 3, the main highway bordering the east coastline of Puerto Rico from San Juan, passes through Humacao and has its only alt route in the town, known locally as the Bulevar del Rio (River Boulevard) where it has access to the main judiciary center of the city, as well as a future Theatre that is being built, the Centro de Bellas Artes de Humacao (Humacao Fine Arts Center). The alt route allows people to pass by the downtown area, as PR-3 enters into the downtown and business center of the town.

Puerto Rico Highway 908 is another important highway, which begins at PR-3 and intersects PR-30 and has access to the University of Puerto Rico at Humacao, as well as some main schools.

Humacao, together with San Juan and Salinas, is one of three municipalities in Puerto Rico that has controlled-access highways leaving its boundaries in all directions (in this case north to Naguabo and south to Yabucoa via PR-53 and west to Las Piedras via PR-30)

Education

There are various excellent elementary and high school facilities, three of which were recognized by the Middle States Association of Secondary Schools and each has their own National Honor Society chapters.

The University of Puerto Rico at Humacao educates over 4,000 students and is well known for its sciences, producing many of the island's most skilled microbiologists, marine biologists, wildlife biologists and chemists at the undergraduate level. It also manages an astronomical observatory where many tourists and locals come visit and view the stars and planets and the Museo Casa Roig were arts expositions and cultural events are celebrated.

Sports

The Grises basketball team (Humacao Grays), founded in 2005, belongs to Puerto Rico's National Superior Basketball league. The Grises is a Double A class amateur baseball team that has won one championship (1951) and four sub-championships (1950, 1960, 1965 and 1967).

Notable Humacaeños

Jumacao - Taino chief
Cosculluela - Reggaeton and Hip Hop Singer-Songwriter
Adamari López- actress
Mayra Ivelisse Flores- Medical Assistant
Carlos Ponce - singer
Emilio E. Huyke - "father of Puerto Rican basketball"
Dr. Ernesto Arroyo López, well beloved and dedicated Obstetrician
José Parés - ballet dancer/choreographer
Luis Antonio Rivera (aka Yoyo Boing) - actor
Luis Rafael Sánchez - dramatist/novelist
Osiris Delgado - artist
Rita Moreno - Oscar, Tony, Emmy and Grammy-winning actress
Jerry Rivera - Singer
Rafael A. 'Ralph' Soto Soto, a successful businessman and civic leader
Antonio Roig Ferré, philanthropist and mescenas of the arts
Gabriel Esteban Vicéns Quiñones
Miguel A. "Tony" Cáceres Cruz - community leader viciously murdered by Puerto Rico Police on 11 August 2007
Wandy Soto- cantante musica sacra
José Carlos Vicéns Rodríguez, distinguished, young Orthodontist
Javier Menéndez - un charlatan que se pone en wikipedia