Puerto
Rico 2008
Contents
Friday, May 23, 2008 – San Juan
Saturday, May 24, 2008
– San Juan, El Yunque
Sunday, May 25, 2008 –
Caving, Casa Grande
Monday, May 26, 2008 –
Arecibo Radio Telescope
Memorial
Day weekend 2008 saw us flying to Puerto Rico for 3 ½ days. We enjoyed the old
town of San Juan, hiked up to the top of El Yunque, the only tropical
rainforest of the United States National Park Service, rappelled down 250 ft to
explore a cave with an underground river and visited the world’s largest radio
telescope in the hills near Arecibo. This is the story of one busy weekend…
Friday, May 23, 2008 –
San Juan
In
the morning Jill and I drive to my office in Fort Lauderdale. I will work for a
few hours in the morning but take the afternoon off. Our flight leaves from
Fort Lauderdale at 12:30pm.
We
arrive in San Juan just after 3:00pm. In the airport there are big posters of
the attractions of San Juan, including the forts of El Morro and San Cristobal.
Our
first destination is the old town of San Juan. We will stay at a little hotel
within walking distance of all major attractions, so we park our rental car. We
check in our room and quickly head back out to take advantage of the sunny
afternoon. We start out at San Cristóbal, one of the forts of the old town in
San Juan. (For more information and a historic timeline, see the Wikipedia
entry on San
Cristóbal.)
Perfect
evening light for photography greets us as we walk up to this National Historic
Site. Here is a panoramic view from the top of this impressive fort. Note the
rain shower to the South over the islands mountain range and sunshine and
trademark Carribean breezes from the East.
It
is the perfect contrast to the office just a few hours ago. No question this
view and the historical details at display here help to quickly switch us into
a vacation mood for the long weekend.
With
it’s massive stone walls and several levels the fort provided defense in depth
for the old town of San Juan roughly for the last 500 years. At the corners
these forts have small sentries (“garitas”) which allowed guards to look out for
landward and seaward approaches as well as the base of the fort walls.
The
silhouette of the garita is often used as a symbol of Puerto Rico – for example
many license plates show a garita as well.
Looking
out of the garita provides a perfect photo opportunity with long shadows and
the sun in the back. (Note the mountain range in the background, which is the
tropical rain forest of El Yunque, our destination for tomorrow afternoon.)
The
fort closes at 6:00pm. Shortly thereafter we walk over to the West corner of
the city wall to El Morro. On the way is a small group of houses below the city
wall called “La Perla”. For tourists we read it is not advised to walk in there
– this place and the adjacent cemetery have the dubious distinction of being
called the slum / cemetery with the nicest view on the planet.
The
fort El Morro is closed, but we can still enjoy the city wall bathed in
beautiful evening light by the setting sun.
Below
is the city wall with the red-white La Puerta, the main entrance for ship-bound
travelers over the centuries. The inscription reads: “Benedictus Qui Venit in
Nomine Domini” – which is Latin for “Welcome to those who come in the name of
the Lord”.
From
the base of the magnificent tree there is a beautiful sunset shot looking West:
As
we stroll around the city wall and back into the old town, we pass the seat of
today’s government.
Shortly
thereafter we find our way to one of the oldest restaurants on the Island, the
Mallorquina, established in 1848 and serving food ever since for 160 years!
The
giant wall-clock you can see through the doorway is interesting, as it shows
mechanical dials for the month of the year, day of the month, hour and minute –
it is also shown on the several decades old black-&-white photos inside.
The food is delicious and we’re having a great time.
With
this evening there is no wonder we are already in Island and vacation mode when
we fall asleep in our small but central and cozy hotel room.
Saturday, May 24, 2008 –
San Juan, El Yunque
The
next morning we weave through the streets of old San Juan.
We
have breakfast at a local Puerto Ricon café. Everything here follows a certain
rhythm, waiters are dancing or tapping spoons on plates to the rhythm of some
music coming from somewhere. And the coffee is excellent.
Now
fully awake, we continue to the plaza of the San Juan Cathedral.
This
cathedral was built in 1540 and is the burial site of Ponce de León.
From
here it’s just a short walk to El Morro, the main attraction and historic site.
We
spend the next 2 hours or so within the walls of this fort. For information on
this historic site, visit the Puerto
Rico website or the Wikipedia
entry on it. The historic timeline dates back to early 1500, with multiple
attacks by the British and Dutch (most successfully defended by the Spanish)
and ultimately by the Americans in 1898.
The
view towards the harbor entrance with the multiple decks for canons is quite
spectacular.
After
this extensive visit to the fort we stroll back to old town across the lawn
where kids traditionally fly their kites in the seabreeze. Coincidentally there
is an event on this lawn later today with Barack Obama visiting and giving a
speech. For a moment, we consider staying here and waiting for a few hours.
However, this would prevent us from visiting our next goal, the El Yunque
National Forest. So we keep going and drive out to the East heading for El
Yunque.
Heading
East, we seem to be driving into the only rain on the island. Obviously, it
wouldn’t be called rain-forest if it didn’t rain a lot, practically every day.
First
we stop at the Visitor Center to get some orientation and watch some movie
about the flora and fauna of this rain forest.
Later
we continue on the road up the mountain, passing some impressive waterfall
along the way.
Shortly
thereafter we park the car at the trailhead and set out in a mix of rain and clouds.
The
trail is not steep, but quite slippery and we need to be careful. Water and mud
everywhere.
As
we’re getting higher and near the top, the canopy gives way to sweeping views
of the surrounding island.
A
bit further still and the clouds are lifting, as seems to happen most days in
the later afternoon.
We
get to the top of the El Yunque mountain at 3500 ft (1100m) and are lucky
enough to see the surrounding island.
Unfortunately
we can’t afford to linger here, as we need to be back down and out of the park
before 6:00pm as they are locking the park gates of the road. So we are heading
back down, even more careful as coming up not to slip on the wet and muddy
rocks.
One
last view of the canopy and the surrounding lush greens:
We’re
heading back to San Juan and stop at a grocery store to buy drinks and food for
our trip tomorrow. For dinner we first try another local restaurant in old town
San Juan, but find it to host a private wedding party. Plan B is an Indian
restaurant which also works quite well, especially with our appetite after El
Yunque.
Tomorrow
we need to get a really early start to drive 1 hr West to Arecibo and meet a
tour group for our caving expedition…
Sunday, May 25, 2008 –
Caving, Casa Grande
At 5:15am we
leave our parking garage in old town San Juan.
We need to
drive about 1 hr West to Arecibo, where we will meet with the tour bus from Aventuras, a Puerto Rico adventure
company.
The roads are
empty, as expected. At 6:30am we pull into the gasstation which serves as our
meeting point. We pack our gear and soon the Aventuras bus pulls in.
Tour guide
and entertainer Rosanno explains the logistics, equipment and safety of the
caving excursion while his partner is driving the bus (and mixing the sounds
for the entertainment).
We stop at
another café to finish up some paperwork and buy some last minute sandwiches or
food items. Everything we bring needs to go in zip-lock bags – nothing will
stay dry as the cave features a river which we apparently will cross and/or
float in.
Once on
location, Rosanno and his partner guide explain the equipment and some of the
team rules of hiking as a group.
We get all
equipment for the upcoming rappelling and caving, ranging from climbing harness
to helmet with head-lights to backpack and life-vest. Of course, putting on and
explaining the gear for a total of 17 clients takes a long time, but they
entertain with a lot of jokes and fun little stories.
Eventually we
get ready for the first section: A Tyrolean traverse on a zip line across a 100
ft steep gorge to a rocky promontory on the other side. Here Jill takes a few
steps and glides away in good form:
On the other
side, they have 3 fixed ropes to rappell down about 250 ft. Everything is well
anchored and organized, they have good equipment and abseil-brakes, so nothing
to worry about.
From the top
it looks like this:
From the
bottom, however, it looks like this:
The last 100
ft or so it is vertical under a big overhang, down to the cave entrance.
Jill tells me
she has never done anything like this before – pretty steep to get started! At
the bottom of the rappell we need to wait for everybody to come down, which
naturally takes a while. Perhaps the group size is a bit too big for this kind
of technical move. On the other hand, there is strength in numbers, and the
many head-lights in the cave will certainly provide some amount of redundancy
and safety.
Here Jill and
I pose in front of the cave entrance while waiting for the entire group to get
ready.
As one of the
first tasks we need to jump from a boulder into the dark river. The first girl
jumping in lets out a screem as if the water was very cold – however, air and
water are around 75 F (22 C) so it’s not really too cold. Here is Jill taking
her last dry step of this trip:
Looking back
to the cave entrance shows the last rays of daylight and some head-lights on
their way in.
Continuing
on, we often walk submerged in water, or even float or swim between big
boulders and stalagtite formations.
Good thing we
brought the water- and shock-proof Olympus Stylus 790 SW camera – just like
many other clients. At times the ground is muddy and the rock is slippery. In
one spot we learn that there is a lake when there is a lot of water, but today
there is only a long mud-flat which they refer to as Lake Nutella. It’s so
slippery that one has trouble not falling. Furthermore, the mud seems to suck
your shoes from your feet due to the vacuum under your boot when you try to
pull out your foot. Speaking of boots, bring sturdy footwear that can handle
the dirt.
At other
times, the rock is calcite and offers a lot of friction and excellent purchase
on the ground.
There are
also plenty of critters underground. Of course we see plenty of bats as well as
their droppings, which surprisingly allow small ingested plant seedlings to
grow from the residual energy of the bat dropping. But there are also lots of
cockroaches, spiders, and even the occasional scorpion. Don’t believe it? Well
here you go:
We have lunch
in a large hall with 150 ft or higher ceilings and candle-light. It’s a bit
like in a church due to all the candle-lights.
Slowly the
wet cold is creeping under my skin, and with just sitting there for lunch I’m
getting a bit uncomfortable. So we pack everything away and start moving again.
Unfortunately we need to get in the water again, this time floating on our back
facing the low rock ceiling overhead.
Once past
this narrow passage we get to a large column of beautiful stalagtites that
double as photo background for all couples in the group.
After a
little while we see the cave entrance again and soon we emerge into the
black-green half-light in front of the cave.
Everybody is
busy getting the gear sorted and taking in the experience. I think it is
interesting how we are all soaking wet and shoes and cloths are muddy – but we
feel great. Compared to floating in an underground river or wading through a
mud lake “nutella” this is pretty good right here. Everything in life is relative…
A short and
steep trail leads back out to the beginning of our trip.
After 20
minutes or so we are back where our bus is parked and where the dry cloth and
towels are waiting for us.
While we are
feeling fairly clean after a short fresh shower, the tour guides and helpers
are cleaning and sorting the equipment in the background.
We enjoy some
drinks and snacks and play with Max, the adorable local Husky dog puppy. ½ hr
later we hop on board of the bus and drive back to the meeting point. There the
plastic bags with our wet and muddy cloths are sorted out and we say goodbye
for the day.
Great
outdoors, friendly staff and a perfect organization make this an unforgettable
trip. Later at home, Jill shows me in the National Geographic coffee table book
“Journeys
of a Lifetime: 500 of the World’s Greatest Trips” a photo taken while
rappelling down to exactly this cave with Aventuras. Well, another one down, we
have some 495 or so to go…
For this
evening we drive to a mountain retreat called Casa Grande south of Arecibo. The
drive is quite scenic. First there is a big Highway literally cutting straight
through the hills of the socalled Karts Country.
Once we get
past the town of Utuado the roads narrow considerably and we occasionally drive
slowly behind some horsemen trotting down the road.
East of
Utuado we reach the “Lago Caonillas”, a small lake created by a dam in the
river.
A very short
drive from here brings us to the Casa Grande, a resort built on the grounds of
a former coffee plantation.
Other than
the occasional horse or car passing by we only hear birds and the Coqui frogs
in this lush mountain forest. When was the last time you had this view while
waiting for dinner on the balcony?
The resort
has no air condition, no phones or TV. So you definitely unplug – also no
reception on the BlackBerry… We use the fan to create some airflow and hope
that the morning sun will dry out our wet shoes and cloths.
Monday, May 26, 2008 –
Arecibo Radio Telescope
We
wake up to the first rays of sun reaching over the nearest ridge.
The
mountain air has cooled off considerably over night, which is quite comfortable
even without air-conditioning. The balcony is flooded with light and warmth.
The
short walk-way between our room and the restaurant takes us 15 minutes today as
there are so many photo opportunities along the way.
After
a breakfast buffett we drive back towards Arecibo. Once on the big highway, we
soon depart from it to take a shortcut on a very small and windy single-lane
road. Even 20 mph seems like a fast pace in places along this road. By many
measures, we are in the middle of nowhere here.
It
feels all the more astonishing that this place is home to the worlds largest radio
telescope. As we come close the structure with its three suspension towers
reaching high above the tree tops comes into view.
The
observatory was built in the 1960’s and has been used for scientific
experiments for more than 40 years.
After
parking the car and walking up about 500 stairs the view to the gigantic
structure opens up.
The
reflector on the ground has a diameter of 305m and consists of nealry 40,000
aluminum panels adjusted with great spherical precision to reflect all
radio-waves to the secondary reflector in the dome-shaped structure in the
middle, which then concentrates the radio-waves on measurement instruments.
I
am actually surprised by what seems lack of maintenance and onset of decay of
the structure. From photos I envisioned this thing to be spotless and bright
white. In reality, it’s a dark gray with plants growing in some places, some
small sections missing and lots of garbage in the form of plastic cups or small
sticks littered in the middle of the big reflector.
The
visitor center has some interesting exhibits and recounts the many Nobel price
winners who studied astronomy and used this instrument. There is also a very
interesting exhibit about the life of a star and various exotic stellar objects
like neutron stars, pulsars, quasars, and black holes. Fascinating science -
makes me want to turn the clock back and become a physicist!
On
the way back from the telescope we stop briefly at the light house at Punta
Morillos just East of Arecibo.
It
is very hot and we need to get back to the airport for our flight in just 3 ½
hours. For now, we narrowly escape the rains of a huge dark black cloud forming
over the Karst Country – but other rain catches up with us along the way.
We
get back to San Juan airport with no problems and return the rental car.
Unfortunately
this is the moment where I forget to retrieve the TrackStick from the car – so
our GPS recorded route can not be uploaded…
A
2 ½ hr flight brings us back to Fort Lauderdale, and another 1 ½ hrs later
we’re back in Palm Beach Gardens. What a trip in just 3 ½ days! If you want to
see a lot of variety, throw in splendid natural environment, good food, a fun
adventure and some high tech sight-seeing, then Puerto Rico might be just the
right destination for you, too!