Puerto Rico's Pork Highway Is Still Here - For Now

The first thing you should know about Puerto Rico's pork highway is that it almost doesn't exist at all. This is hard to believe after seeing both Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern salivate so much they needed to rehydrate intravenously, but it's true.

It's no problem to find fast-food chains anywhere in San Juan. In Old San Juan, you can indeed find very nice restaurants, but they're all Italian or Sushi or fusion cuisine... Finding local, authentic food though - that was something we weren't able to do for many days.

The coffee of Puerto Rico is supposed to be something of legend. It's so good, say the guide books, that it's almost impossible to buy off the island because the locals drink it all. Well in San Juan, we couldn't get Puerto Rican coffee - not because it was all taken, but because no one knew what they were serving.

Luckily for us, the answer lay with our trusty wheels. If you're going to find real Puerto Rican food, you're going to have to get away from the cities and head for the mountainous interior. This is where you'll find your Puerto Rican Foodie destination: the porcine nirvana - La Ruta del Lechon, aka the Pork Highway.

Basically, if you want authentic, genuine Puerto Rican food, you're going to have to get out of San Juan and go look for it. It's hidden back in the mountains and jungles and it can be hard to find, but it's there. Happily the pork trail that is La Ruta de Lechon is much easier to find than most other local cuisine.

Head towards the town of Guavate. This is the town that highway 184 leads to, but it isn't your destination - you're just going towards it. No, you read correctly, the town isn't your destination - Highway 184 is and its cadre of lechoneras is.

As soon as you turn off of Hwy 52 to 184, you'll find lechoneras all along the road serving the most delicious spit-roasted pork you've ever come across. If there is a pig on a metal tube in the window, chances are good you've found a lechonera.

Now that you've arrived at your destination, you just have to order up some pork. Tell them at the counter how many pounds you'd like, and they'll get you a wide assortment of different parts of the pig to enjoy. After that, just get a tall, cold refreshment, and enjoy.