Isabela, Puerto Rico

Isabela, Puerto Rico is a city located in the northwestern part of Puerto Rico. The city's nickname is Ciudad de los Gallitos or City of the Bantams.

Table of contents

1 History
2 Industry
3 Professional sports
4 Topography

History

Isabela was formed on May 21, 1819. Since then, the city has had continuous growth. A 2000 census demonstrated that there are 41,000 people living in Isabela.

Industry

One of Isabela's main industries is tourism, because Isabela is a coastal city. Most tourists who visit Isabela each year are domestic tourists; however, a number of international tourists use Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in San Juan, about four hours by car from Isabela, to reach the city. A smaller number use the Rafael Hernandez Airport in Aguadilla, about one hour away by car, to reach the city. Other nearby towns include Mayagüez, Utuado and Aguada.

Apart from tourism, Isabela is also known for its Puerto Rican plates and for other economic resources.

The Isabela Bantams of the BSN play basketball in Isabela. The team has not had much success; yet in 1984, they made an unsuccessful run at the championship, losing four games to two to the Canovanas Indians, four games to two. During the middle 1980s, the Bantams were considered serious title contenders; diagnose of a heart disease to one of its superstars, Frankie Torruella, in 1987, and the trading of another of it's superstars, Edwin Pellot, in 1989 to the Coamo Marathon Runners, however, hastened the team's fall-out.

Isabela was the home birth of Puerto Rico's first (and Latin America's third) world boxing champion, boxing Hall of Famer Sixto Escobar. Escobar was world Bantamweight champion; and the nickname Bantams was adopted for the city after him. What is believed to have been the first statue ever erected to a boxer was placed in Isabela to honor Escobar. The statue has caused controversy since 2003, since a group of persons want it removed.

Isabela has amateur baseball teams too.

Topography

It could be said that Isabela is a hybrid town of sorts, with the rarity of being a coastline city that has beaches but is also known for it's mountains.