Cayey is my hometown, a city of ~90,000 people in the island of Puerto Rico, about 40 kms. south of San Juan. It is located within a valley between the "Cordillera Central" (Central Range) and the "Sierra de Cayey" (Cayey Range). Its name comes from the Taíno indian village of the same name that was located there. The name means "place of water".

The city as it is known today was founded in 1773 by Juan Mata Vázquez and then-governor Miguel de Muesas (the town was named Cayey de Muesas after the governor, later shortened to its current form), and occupied an area larger than it does today (52 square miles). The cities/towns of Caguas, Cidra, and Aibonito, amongst others, were formerly part of Cayey before being incorporated into separate municipalities.

It is a university town, thanks to the presence of one of the University of Puerto Rico's campuses there. Two very important roads run through this city: PR-1 (which dates back to the 1850's), and PR-52 (the first limited-access highway of PR, built to US Interstate standards). The one Intelsat downlink of the island, formerly operated by ITT but now owned by AT&T, is located there, with its three huge dish antennae, alongside PR-1. Cayey is the birthplace of many very important personalities, like artists (Ramón Frade), writers (Miguel Meléndez Muñoz) and others that I can't recall right now.

There is more that I could write about Cayey, but nothing comes to my mind right now; perhaps because I now live in Pennsylvania.

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