Wednesday, October 23, 2019, Rain Forest, Puerto Rico

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PUERTO RICO (SAN JUAN), USA

Puerto Rico encompasses the most alluring qualities of the Caribbean: White sand beaches, lush rain forests, and inspiring Spanish colonial archi-tecture.  Compact and elegantly planned, Old San Juan, or El Viejo San Juan to the locals, spans the centuries.  El Morro fortress has been standing watch over San Juan Bay since the 16th century.  Its 20-foot thick walls rise straight from the roiling sea waters, and its formidable cannons peer out to sea.  The dense streets of the centuries-old city, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, are paved with steel-blue adoquin stone, used to ballast the Spanish galleons that brought settlers and goods here.  These colorful, narrow byways lead to picturesque multi-hued facades and townhouses with neo-classical balconies.


US Coast Guard Station short way from our docked cruise ship.
 Ferry boat dock next to our cruise ship.


El Yunque Rainforest

We discovered Puerto Rico’s lush rain forest, covering 28,000 acres.  After a coffee and pastry break an hour into our bus ride this morning, we traveled to El Yunque, which contains 75 percent of the virgin forests in Puerto Rico and is the only tropical rain forest in the US national forest system.  On this guided tour, we admired some of the forest’s 240 tree species and 150 types of ferns.  We also spotted some of the 20 orchid species that thrive here.  We heard the tiny endemic coquí tree frogs and spotted the Puerto Rican parrot.  We stopped at El Portal to gain a better understanding of the tropical forests and the practices needed for their sound management and preservation.  We enjoyed a photo stop at La Coca Falls, then head to Luquillo Beach.  We savored the taste of local fritters while relaxing in the shade of palm trees and took a leisurely dip in the warm, calm waters.

 Bakery we stopped at for coffee and sweet rolls.

 US Forestry Department building with video of the rain forest.
 Large creek where we made our first stop in the rainforest.


 One of our guides made a hat from a large tree leaf.

When the large leaves of this tree are blown downside up, the indigenous people say it will rain that day.



Bamboo with large stalks; Asian bamboo was introduced by early settlers to control erosion.

Ninety-eight inside steps to the top.




Hotels way below.

Ah, the magic of telephoto lenses.




Downside up "Hat" leaves in center of picture.







Bird of Paradise.
Relaxing at Luquillo Beach after a snack of local fritters.


Tomorrow we will take a 2-3 walking tour of the old town area next to our docked cruise ship.

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