Adventure in Puerto Rico: Day 4

On Saturday we visited El Yunque National Forest.


(See the green symbols for Saturday)

El Yunque is the only tropical rainforest in the US National Forest system.  Note the word "tropical"--we live next to a temperate rainforest here.  And we stayed close to the tropical rainforest in Puerto Rico, too.

Prepare for lots of pictures.  I can't identify most of these plants, but it was amazing to see them just growing there.

Instead of the fir trees and ferns in our temperate rainforest, El Yunque has tree ferns.  See that fiddlehead in the middle?

 

We began at the El Portal visitors' center, where we entered for free with D2's fourth-grade national park pass.  There we learned about the different layers of the forest.  There are four distinct zones as you go up the mountain, each with its own flora and fauna.

 

We also spoke with a helpful man who sat at a round desk, surrounded by plant samples.  He showed us how to cut up sugarcane, and let us suck on some pieces.  He also showed the boys how to tickle mimosa leaves to make them fold up, and he showed us a map of the trails.

We drove to the top of the road.

 On the way we saw thickets of bamboo,

 vines that looked swingable,

big leaves,

dew-covered berries,

tree snails,

cascading rivers,

and more big leaves.

 Parking along the loop at the top, we sat in the car, eating our sandwiches, hoping to wait out the rain that met us there.  Again, that didn't work.  So we got out our jackets and the new umbrella, and headed up the trail.  It was a rainforest, after all.  Rain was not a surprise.

We hiked along a river.  Sometimes small tributaries crossed our path.  Dandelionslayer and I splashed through happily, wearing our water shoes.

 We ascended between the palms,

with their weird roots,

 and we found more, and bigger, epiphytes everywhere.

 We didn't see many birds, but we found plenty of snails

and a few lizards.  The stars of El Yunque are the coquí frogs.  We never saw one, but we heard them chirping all through the forest.

Sheltered by the canopy, I wasn't sure when the rain stopped. But soon we closed the umbrella and removed our jackets.

 This reminds me of juniper,

 and this looks like parsley growing on a tree.

Some of the air plants were blooming.

 Eventually we moved out of the palm forest

and into the cloud forest.

 Here we found a new set of flora,

 still beautiful

 and intriguing.

 We spotted some butterflies,

 and their flowers.

 Finally we reached the top of El Yunque Peak,

 where stands an observation tower at 3,543 feet,

apparently built by the Spanish.

 On a clear day, I'm sure you can see forever,

but we arrived at a more typically cloudy time.

 Down we went again,

spotting more flowers on the way.

 The sun came out again.

 And we found a little lizard,

that liked the Caterpillar's sock.

 Then we drove down the mountain to another trail

 that took us to La Mina Falls.

Rollo elected to stay nominally dry,

but the rest of us took the plunge.  The water was not too cold.  The basin was full of slippery rocks, and the water pounded down.

There wasn't really any room behind the falling water, but Dandelionslayer found a way to get under the right side.

I wore the new rash guard and board shorts I'd made--perfect for such occasions.

The river left a weird taste in my mouth.  But it sure was a thrill to get in it!  It was a beautiful day in the rain forest.


For more of the adventure, see:
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 5
Day 6

Adventure in Puerto Rico: Day 3

On Friday we drove west to Arecibo.

(See the yellow star on the map)

After our Thursday evening kayak tour, we spread our wet things out to dry on the terrace.  I admired the stars, then went downstairs to read a bit.  Soon I heard something other than the chirping of the frogs.  Looking out, I saw rain pouring down.  I rescued the now really wet things and popped them in the dryer, then went to bed concerned.  What would the weather be like in the morning?

It was about the same.  Clouds, pouring rain, clearing, repeat.  Rain interfered with one of our plans, but the other worked out all right.  The GPS, with its terrible Spanish pronunciation, led us up some windy roads to the largest operational single-dish radio telescope in the world. (I see that it is about to be superseded by a similar structure in China, but Arecibo's dish was the largest when we visited.)  You may have seen it in a movie or two. 

Taking advantage of Puerto Rico's natural karst topography, the dish sits in a sinkhole.  It is 1,000 feet in diameter, and consists of perforated aluminum panels.  So the whole idea of disguising the dish as a lake in GoldenEye really wouldn't work.

James Bond was definitely not wearing the special shoes the staff uses when they must go out on the dish.  But I'm sure the observatory was well compensated for the inconvenience of resetting the delicately balanced plates, and cleaning them up in the first place.

The moss doesn't actually interfere with the signals, so they let it alone most of the time. 

This is the receiver, suspended above the dish with really strong cables.  While the dish cannot move to focus on a specific area, the receiver can.  When maintenance must be done, technicians bravely walk along that catwalk to reach the receiver.  We saw some doing so.  Certain members of the family decidedly crossed that off their lists of dream jobs.

Well, maybe not too far off.  In case any of our Dear Readers were unaware, I'll mention that Dandelionslayer studied radio astronomy at another videogenic observatory for his master's degree.  So we had a pretty good handle on how things work at Arecibo.  We were surprised to learn about their broadcasting capability, though.  The dish also performs active radar observations to study the ionosphere, asteroids, and other planets.  We were impressed.

When our family picture was taken, a light mist cooled us off and helped us feel right at home.  Moments later, though, the rain came pouring down again.  We ducked inside to purchase a souvenir umbrella, enjoy the interior exhibits, and wait out the rain.  That didn't work, though, so we put the umbrella to good use.  But I can tell the frequent rains are good for the observatory's gardens.

 I think this is an African tulip tree.  They were everywhere.

 

There was a nice collection of orchids along the walkway.

I don't know what these are, but don't they have interesting leaves?

I was excited to point out this tree.  Last summer, D2 acquired an air plant, nestled on a geode fragment.  It is a nice addition to the kitchen windowsill.  This summer, Dandelionslayer added a couple more epiphytes to the collection.  So when I looked into this tree and saw familiar-looking leaves that contrasted with the other leaves on the tree, I knew I was onto something.  D2 was thrilled to see the huge air plants in their native environment, and wanted to bring one home.  We had fun spotting them around the observatory, not knowing how many we would see in the near future . . .

Times are hard in Puerto Rico.  Their economy has been in the news even here.  We saw plenty of empty buildings (and closed museums), and lots of people standing on the side of the road.  But not one of those people stood there miserably, holding a cardboard sign.  Every one had something to sell.  Fruit, mostly.  Something that looked like very large grapes seemed to be in season.  We stopped on the way back to the highway to buy some tiny bananas from a man by the road.  They were absolutely delicious.  This man had an awning and several fruits on display, not just a bunch in each hand like many vendors did.

I expect, though, that very small business is usual in Puerto Rico.  They have big box stores and supermarkets and fast food joints and pharmacy chains, many with familiar names.  But there were also a lot of fresh-air eateries under simple roofs by the side of the road.  We saw car washes consisting of a couple of awnings and some barrels (they weren't open on Friday with all that rain blowing around).  Hand-painted signs advertised all sorts of services.  A guy showed up at the beach every day with a truck full of kayaks, though he didn't stay long on Friday, either.  I don't know if recent hard times send more people out to sell fruit.  But in a land where such fruit grows all over the place, it seems like a good step toward self-reliance.

We also noticed that it was time for a new school year to begin in Puerto Rico.  Uniforms were on sale in "Regresa a clases" sales (which just means "back to class" but looks a lot like regressing to me), and billboards everywhere announced registration for everything from pre-school to universities.  I'd read in a guide book that police cars in Puerto Rico routinely drive around with flashing lights.  I don't know if that is completely true, but the school buses sure flash a lot as they drive down the highways.  It looks like an exciting way to travel.


For more of the adventure, see:
Day 1
Day 2

Day 4
Day 5
Day 6

Adventure in Puerto Rico: Day 2

On Thursday, we drove through the lush green hills of the interior to reach Ponce, on the southern coast. 

(See the orange symbols on the map for our Thursday activities)
The GPS in the rental car took us through some twisty back streets between expressways in the San Juan area.  It was probably not the most efficient route to take.  But it did show us some of the real Puerto Rico.  And real Puerto Rican driving.  Sorry, no photos from our hurtling along and playing dodge-car.  Sailing was smoother on the expressways, except for some creative passing.  While frequent signs dictate the appropriateness of the right lane for slow or heavy vehicles, a lot of people drive slowly in the left lane.  So there's passing on the right almost as often as on the left, with little use of turn signals.  We did not let Scoot practice driving in Puerto Rico, and he didn't mind.

Anyway, the scenery was just gorgeous.  The southern side of the island is in the rain shadow, a little more arid, but still green.

And the town of Ponce is quite colorful.  We found a good parking lot next to the Ponce Historical Museum, which seemed like a good place to start. 

The museum is housed in Casa Zalazar, built for a local doctor in 1911.  This lovely window is in the central atrium. 

The town's architecture hasn't always been neoclassical.  Here's a model of an earlier village.  The area has been populated and influenced by indigenous groups, Spaniards, Africans, and various other immigrants.

There were displays about sugar processing, education, politics, and medicine.  The Caterpillar spent some time trying to tune a three-stringed cello that belonged to someone famous.  It was a nice, cool museum, free of charge and even free of gift shop.  It must have a pretty good support system.  Sadly, the Puerto Rican Music Museum next door was closed for unknown reasons.

 This is the outside of an amphitheater. 

And here's Teatro la Perla.  Ponce is the Pearl of the South, but there seem to be things named la Perla everywhere.

Sculpture and palm tree next to la Perla.  Did I mention that it was pretty hot in Puerto Rico?  Temperatures were in the 80s, with similarly high humidity.  Great conditions for growing palm trees . . .

 and flowers.

I love the bright colors of the buildings.  Less historical houses on the island are colorful, too.

The central square in Ponce is the Plaza Las Delicias, which helped put the town on the Spanish map by fulfilling the requirements for a church and a town hall.  This is the cathedral, with the silver domes typical in Puerto Rico. 

Right behind the cathedral is the eye-catching Parque de Bombas.  It was built as the main pavilion for an exhibition in 1882.  After the exhibition, the fire brigade took over.  After a century of service, the Moorish-Victorian-Gothic building was turned into a firefighting museum, including portraits of all the fire chiefs and lists of notable fires.  Very interesting.

 The Plaza also includes the Lions Fountain, which was purchased from the New York World's Fair.  Lions are the mascots of Ponce, which was named for a descendant of the conquistador Juan Ponce de León.  Apparently the fountain looks lovely with water and colored lights, but it was empty when we went by.

These complex trees lend the plaza some welcome shade.  Apparently they are a type of fig.

 There are more interesting buildings around the square,

like this one, which began as a theatre, then became a nice hotel.  Currently, it is empty.

I told the GPS to take us back along the coast.  We went along the coast, and on a winding road around one of the big hills, and across flat lowland with palm orchards.  We ran into a spate or two of heavy rain, and saw a lovely rainbow. 

I'm not sure where we saw this house, but I like it.  We made our way to Fajardo and ate some tacos before setting out for our evening's adventure.  Unfortunately, this is where the GPS let us down.  We were trying to find a nature reserve called Cabezas de San Juan ("St. John's Heads"--don't you love Hispanic names?).  I had left the written directions and information in the apartment.  I tried every search I could think of, but the GPS did not seem to know where it was.  Finally we stopped to ask for directions.

Puerto Rico is a bilingual island.  More or less.  Names of places and businesses may include English.  Road signs are all in Spanish.  Dandelionslayer and I are willing to speak Spanish, but we're pretty obviously gringos.  So the man at the museum offered us English brochures.  The man at the pizzeria in Ponce approached us with an extra rapid Spanish narrative, then switched to flawless English when he saw our blank stares.  I found two ladies in the gas station, and addressed the one in the uniform shirt.  The other said, "Hi."  So I asked my question, in English.  Both listened.  Then the employee told her friend in Spanish, who talked to me in English.  It wasn't really easy to describe, so we went outside so the English speaker could consult our GPS.  "Oh, it's not in Spanish," she said.  It was also different from the GPS on her phone, so she checked that, and gave us directions.  We followed the directions until we found the closed gate to the reserve, then asked the gate guard.  He listened in English, then came out to point the way.  And asked if Spanish was all right.  So he gave us the rest of the easy directions in Spanish.  So, bilingual?  I think most Puerto Ricans understand both languages.  Many have spent time in the United States, at college or in the military, and speak English without any accent.  Most are more comfortable with Spanish, though.

Finally we arrived for our kayak tour of Laguna Grande, a bioluminescent bay.  This was actually one of the major factors in our choice of Puerto Rico.  A couple of years ago, the Caterpillar made a travel brochure about Puerto Rico for his Spanish class.  And this is one of the cool things he told us about.

Thanks to EcoAdventures for the photos!

The lagoon is inhabited by dinoflagellates, a type of plankton that will glow when disturbed.  This effect is visible only on dark nights, and only in a few places in the world.  When the Caterpillar told me this, I imagined the whole bay softly glowing.  Some of the other tour companies post pictures showing neon blue smears around the boats.

It's not like that.  It was better.  We paired up in kayaks, with one red light in the front, and one red light on the back of the rear paddler's life jacket (which didn't always work).  Then we paddled in single file (more or less) through a narrow channel lined by mangrove trees.  We took the late tour, so it was fully dark.  We couldn't see the trees very well.  Scoot and I got stuck in one at the beginning, but proceeded smoothly after that.  It felt like a Disney World ride, lighted boats moving quietly through the dark water.  But we moved under our own power (and Scoot is so powerful that it was pretty easy for me, at least!).  Several other tour companies were there as well.  One brought a motorboat with an obnoxious spotlight, and a kayak in front of us ran into it and capsized.  But the channel is shallow, and the passengers were able to get back in easily.

Then we emerged into the lagoon.  The sky was full of stars, and when we looked at our paddles, we saw little stars in the water.  More like blue sparks, really, as the paddle swished or we stirred the warm water with our hands.  The tour guides gathered the group and told us about the phenomenon, and we paddled around by ourselves a bit.  Then we paraded on back through the channel.  It was a beautiful night, and a great adventure.


For more of the adventure, see:
Day 1
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6

Adventure in Puerto Rico: Day 1

We decided to go on a grand adventure this summer.  After plotting and planning, we finally packed our bags and flew away to Puerto Rico!

We took a red-eye to Atlanta, then a morning flight to San Juan, and spent the afternoon settling into our apartment in Luquillo.  Zoom in on the northeast corner of the map, and you'll find it.

Here's a view of the complex from the beach.  Yes, we were that close.  We arranged our rental through VRBO, where you can find vacation rentals all around the world.  Besides price and number of beds, two of my main criteria were being very close to the beach and having a washer and dryer in the apartment.  Those categories aren't available in the initial search, but I quickly found the amenities list and map in each listing, and narrowed down the possibilities.  Each property is as individual as its owner, but we found one that was perfect for us.  Two air conditioned bedrooms, two bathrooms, full kitchen, even a rooftop terrace.  The owners were nice, and it was just lovely.

See, even the parking lot was pretty.  We drove out to find lunch in the neighborhood and buy some groceries.  Lunch was at the Kioscos of Luquillo, just down the road.  Most of the kiosks featured the same assortment of rice and fried food, so we picked out a few to try.  The rice was good.  The fried things were not quite as good as they looked.  But it was interesting to try them.

 

Now that I've made the above map, I see that we didn't need to go as far as we did to find a grocery store.  But we found a good one.  And while cart corrals were few, far between, and neglected, we felt better knowing this safety officer was looking out for our car.

We picked out some exotic fruit to try, from left to right: sugar cane, mamey (I think), guanabana, starfruit, papaya, and coconut.  Over the next few days, David loved the starfruit.  I preferred the papaya, though no one else seemed to appreciate it much.  Dandelionslayer finally beat the coconut open, and it was good.  The mamey and guanabana were pretty sour.  Without internet access in the apartment, I never found out what to do with them.  We weren't sure how to approach the sugar cane until someone showed us.  Then we saved it for a souvenir, but weren't allowed to bring it home.  Oh, well.

 With the kitchen stocked, we headed for the beach.

 The water just outside the gate was warm and shallow, all the way out to where the waves were white.  Scoot and Rollo tried their snorkels and enjoyed looking at the weeds and rocks that tormented our feet as we walked along.  I was more comfortable doing a shallow swim.  The farther out we went, the farther out the waves seemed to be.  Eventually I backstroked back to the sand, and the others came along.

 I wonder what made these tracks.

 The sun is up from about seven in the morning until seven in the evening.  Kind of a short summer day for us northwesterners.

After our swim, some of us were more interested in showering and sleeping than cooking.  Not D2.  He took charge and fixed us some pasta with marinara sauce and sautéed Pavolami--an interesting turkey sausage, solid but not cured.  It was tasty.  Thanks, D2!


For more of the adventure, see:
Day 2 
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6