We boarded our van at 9:15am for the all-day El Yunque Rainforest and Luquillo beach tour. Carlos, our host, is originally from New York and was a DJ before moving down here. There were 9 of us, a couple from Boston, a couple from San Francisco, a couple from Miami and another guy, but I'm not sure where he is from.
History Lesson & facts for today:
1) What is a Puerto Rican? A Puerto Rican consists of Spanish, African and Indian heritage.
2) El Yunque's original Indian name was Yuque, which meant white and sacred lands.
3) Rum, Tourism and Coffee do not make the top 3 industries in Puerto Rico. The #1 industry believe it or not is pharmaceuticals.
4) El Yunque is the only tropical rain forest in the U.S. National Forest system (I would have thought Hawaii would have had one).
5) Bacardi Rum is actually Cuban rum.
6) Inpatients grow all over the place in the forest, they came from Africa, and are an important ingredient in childhood leukemia and cortisone drugs.
7) Cops cruise the city of San Juan with their lights on, you only pull over if they put the sirens on.
8) PR is kind of a hybrid Island. They measure speed in m.p.h., yet distance (like on road signs) are in km. Gas is sold by the liter not the gallon. Temperature is read in Fahrenheit if talking about the weather, yet medically (like body temp or thermometers) are in Centigrade.
Our first stop was at a small waterfall, La Coca Falls. Here we were shown one of the most poisonous plants in the area (worse than poison ivy) and were given the rundown on what would happen if any one of us got lightly brushed with this plant. The "itchy, itchy" plant spreads really fast and if one of us touched one, we would be quarantined from the group, burned with alcohol and slathered in cortisone, so thick it would be like a white paste, then if it got too out of hand, we would have to cut the tour short and go to the ER. Thankfully, no one ran into it.
After the lecture, we went to get up close and personal with the small waterfall. It was sprinkling a bit and started to pour as I was climbing up the rocks. I, trying ever so carefully to not lose footing and fall here, got wet. We did find some cover under a rock, where we stood/sat for about 5 minutes waiting for the rain to pass. It did lighten up to the point where we could get some more photos. Thankfully I did NOT fall (but did get soaked).
From there, we hopped back into the van and stopped at the Yunque Delight Cafe to order our lunches. They didn't have much for vegetarians, so my only option was rice & beans with plantains (I opted for the sweet ones b/c those are my favorite). This dish cost me $11 (and it was cashed only which sucked b/c I didn't bring as much cash as I thought and there are no BoA's or any other US mainland banks which I belong to, here on the Island and I still have to figure in some cab fare for the airport and public transportation for the trip into Old San Juan later).
Anyway, we ordered then hopped into the van and were driven to the Big Tree Trailhead where we got dropped of and hiked .7 miles down [I just noticed this, but distance here was in miles vs kms...probably b/c it's a US National Park? hmm...] to get to La Mina Falls. I've hiked rain forests before, but I've never swam near a waterfall (I've never gotten into water by ANY waterfall). So, since it's humid and I was sweaty from the hike down, I took off my clothes and went for a dip. [I wasn't naked, I had my swim suit on under my clothes silly :p - though, I'd like to do that sometime, it's on my bucket list.] The water was cool and it was rocky (like big rocks not river rocks or pebbles), but it was refreshing. The current from the falls was pretty strong, so it was tough to get close to the falling water. There were quite a few people and this one older guy kept getting in my shots, totally pissing me off, but whatever, I went in, I got some photos and I got out. Didn't have a towel (one less thing to carry) so I put on my shorts and hiking shoes and kept my top off as we made our way back up .7 miles to the top of the trail.
We hopped in the van and went back to the cafe where our food was waiting for us. It was tasty but certainly not worth the $11 I paid. After we ate we got back into the van and we went to the Yokahu Tower, where we climbed just 98 steps to the top for a gorgeous view at 1575 feet above sea level.
We hopped back into the van and were taken to Rio Grande where we went to Luquillo Beach. At this time it was 3:30-4ish and it was overcast. We probably should have done the beach thing first, but whatever. Wasn't the most spectacular beach, BUT I was able to get my piña colada made with 151 rum AND drink it on the beach. The water was warm, but not as warm as the water at the resort's beach (probably b/c it was overcast). I did lather up the sunblock though b/c I've gotten 2nd/near 3rd degree sunburns from being on the beach in SoCal on an overcast day AND the sun is stronger down here in the Caribbean since it's closer to the equator. There were nasty sand bugs (ants and flies) and I did get a few what I think are mosquito bites. I did use one of my OFF wipes after changing into dry clothes at the beach, but it may have been a little too late for that to work.
I was super excited to see coconut trees! These palm trees had real coconuts growing on them, and some had even fallen to the ground. I kept thinking of Zazu from The Lion King and singing in my head "I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts, deedle lee de)". This truly did excite me (the coconut trees with coconuts in them).
We left the beach at 5:15ish, we hit traffic going back into San Juan and missed another sunset (but mostly bc it was too cloudy for one tonight). We got back to the hotel close to 6:45pm and were exhausted. I had every intention of going down to the pool and ordering a drink, but felt so dirty, I was ready for a hot shower to scrub the days elements off of me and just couldn't get myself to get back into my suit.
For dinner we walked to Mike's Pizzeria, which we walked by last night and thought it looked good and was told by our host today that it's the best pizza close to NY style in the area. We ordered some cheesy garlic bread, which were huge, thick rosemary sliced bread topped with melted mozzarella and lightly garlic-ed. That would have done the trick, but we didn't know they would be that big. So we split a half pie of 4 cheese pizza, we could only eat one slice each and ended up taking 2 back with us. The pizza was delicious and the crust was really tasty, I haven't had pizza crust like that in a very long time. Yummy! On our walk back I had a guy driving by in a car (of course) yell out the window "you look beautiful". Of course he's of the latin flavor...and I should just accept that the latin's are attracted to me. I forgot to mention we had a some guys on our way over to the pizza place saying very similar comments. However, it didn't make me feel uncomfortable like when you have the Mexican's yelling at you in California...they're just creepy.And yes, I did think of Latin Lover today, I kind of miss him after being around all these pretty cute Puerto Ricans. And man I want to dance!! The hotel had some latin music playing and I couldn't keep my hips still while waiting for the elevator. I think I'll be coming back to PR again and I'll have to bring my "latin" dress!
On the itinerary for tomorrow: brunch, public transportation into Old San Juan to board a cheap ass ferry (50 cents each way) so we can go to the Bacardi Factory for a free tour and 2 free tastings, before making our way back to take the free trolley to tour Old San Juan, hopefully get some cash from a Walgreen's or something using cash back while picking up a few souvenirs and maybe some coffee to bring back home.
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