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[cue announcer's voice]
In a world...
with beaches...
there lives...
a man and a woman...
who would soon have visitors.

No, no, no... too corny.

Let's start again.

[cue announcer's voice]
A world-famous assassin,
a power-hungry villain,
a beleaguered hero,
a plot to take over the largest country on earth.

No. That's the tagline for the book I read on the plane.

One last time, and if that doesn't work, I'll call it quits.

[cue announcer's voice]
Two hard-side suitcases,
one camera backpack,
one bookbag,
one attache,
and a kite
all begin their journey in the back of a station wagon.

Now, that's what I'm talking about.

On Sunday, May 6, 2007, our adventure began like any other with a frenzied flurry of last minute packing. We packed shorts, we packed swimming suits, we packed camera gear, and we packed a kite. We were preparing for an adventure to the tropics, an adventure that would have us walk till our feet ached, sweat till our shirts displayed salt rings, sleep in the tropical mountains, swim with da fishes, and nearly drive off the road five, six or maybe thirty times.

All good adventures have a beginning, and ours began in Wall, South Dakota. We loaded our Ford Focus station wagon with our five bags and kite and began the drive to Puerto Rico. What a lovely drive, the drive to Puerto Rico. On the way, we stopped and saw Carhenge. I highly recommend this stop to anyone who happens to be near Alliance, Nebraska.

IMG_8704 A little rest area we saw near Carhenge.

IMG_8707 No one knows exactly how these cars were transported to this location. However, scientists believe that several eons ago, an ancient civilization aligned the cars in such a way that they could observe the location of the great constellation Cadillacus.

IMG_8711 Mysterious cars found their ways from all over the North American continent. No one really understands the technology necessary for transporting cars in this way. Some have predicted they were rolled on large logs. Others guess that they floated in strange magnetic methods. Still others say that the cars came under their own power.

IMG_8717 Cars were not the only media at Carhenge. Here car parts form another sculpture known as The Spawning Salmon.

IMG_8715 The spawning salmon's eye.

IMG_8723 The urge to spread graffiti is unbearable, even on a historic monument like Carhenge.

IMG_8708 It's just that cool, just that cool.

IMG_8725 Alliance, Nebraska has a nifty drug store exterior.

We arrived in Denver late on Sunday evening, and were scheduled for a 12:55 AM flight for Monday morning. We dutifully parked our car at our friend Stacey's house, and loaded up for the airport.

May 7, 2007

Have you ever flown at one in the morning? It's my first time. Let me just say. Don't plan on sleeping. I certainly didn't sleep much. At least I brought the aforementioned book for the reading. Thankfully, after three bumpy, cold (ironic, huh?) flights, and 12 hours, we arrived in beautiful Puerto Rico.

IMG_0693 It's our first view of Old San Juan from the air. If you look closely, you can see features that you will see in photographs later. The sand spit on the left side of the peninsula towards the middle of the photograph is actually Playa Escambron, which will come into action later on in our story. The airport runway which you are looking directly down is actually the runway for Isla Grande, the smaller airport out of which Aaron flies. The blue stuff is either ocean or sky.

IMG_0696 At this point, we realized our English skills were not going to be particularly handy. Not many signs in Puerto Rico have the English translation neatly printed below the Spanish.

We met Aaron and Tanya right away after we got our luggage. The first thing that surprised us was that to exit the airport with luggage, you must show your claim ticket. Good thing I kept them. I imagine it'd be a surprise to not have the claim tickets or lose them, and find out you cannot actually leave the airport.

But we escaped the airport and Tanya and Aaron whisked us away to the east.

Now, Tanya and Aaron had warned us via their blog that the traffic in Puerto Rico was congested and sometimes scary. We were about to experience that first hand. They left the typically western airport and whisked us onto the expressway. Quickly we were surrounded by raged, insane driven drivers trying their best to run us off the road and push us into the ditch or the other cars in front of us. At least, that's the way it felt.

Pretty quickly, we arrived at our first balneario. Balneario is the Puerto Rican word for a beach that has public facilities for bathing. It was beautiful. Playa Luquillo is the name. Soft sand met very gentle waves. The waves were amazingly calm, and little did we know, it was the calmest we'd see the ocean the entire time we visited. The water felt wonderful, especially consider the lack of showers for Alison and I for the last 30 hours.

IMG_0697 Aaron found a live sand dollar. "Ouch," he exclaimed as he played in the sand underneath the water. "Ouch," he kept exclaiming as he dug. Finally he discovered what was causing the ouch. The little spiny bits on the sand dollar, which are closely related to the sea urchin.

IMG_0700 The public showers were particularly refreshing.

After playing at the beach for an adequate amount of time, we headed over to the Northeastern tip of Puerto Rico so that we could do our kayak tour. Before we could kayak though, as it wasn't dark yet, we had to have supper. We enjoyed a nice mixture of Puerto Rican seafood as well as our first taste of mofongo (mashed, fried plantains) and tostones (fried plantains). We also experienced mayoketchup, which, as you may guess from the name, is a mixture of mayonaisse, ketchup and a third secret ingredient. Know what it is?

IMG_0708 Garlic. At least we know Aaron's not a vampire. Here he's enjoying mayoketchup on a tostone.

IMG_0707 Tanya gives Aaron a kiss while we wait for our food.

As our supper progressed, the sun set over the hills, and the kayaking tour companies started showing up to the bay in droves. Unfortunately, we couldn't take our cameras for fear of immersing them in Davy Jone's locker, but let me tell you, it was really, really neat.

We loaded up in two person sit-on-top kayaks, and paddled a mile through a mangrove channel to a lagoon. The combination of tannic acid from the decaying leaves, and the low rate of water exchange with the ocean provide a unique environment in the lagoon for a specific type of bioluminscent phytoplankton to flourish. They live in a high concentration, and when you disturb the water, they glow. Running our paddles through the water made it seem like thousands of tiny fireworks were exploding underneath the surface. When we swam, our bodies left behind trails of agitated dinoflagellates glowing in our path. These creatures exist all over the world, however, there are few locations where they exist in such an abundant concretation. Our guide explained to us that there were only three places in the world with high concetrations such as this one.

After our fascinating journey to Laguna Grande, and after becoming the main course for hundreds of mosquitoes, which it turns out is a common thing in Puerto Rico, we headed for Old San Juan, and the abode of Tanya and Aaron. We were exhausted and all too ready to sleep. So we did.

May 8, 2007

There's nothing like waking up at 10:00 am after a long nights sleep. Nothing like it.

I went for my first run in Puerto Rico. The first thing I noticed, the second I stepped outside was that it's humid in Puerto Rico. Really, you'd be better off having gills for running then lungs, because it felt like I was swimming while I was jogging. The next thing I noticed is that it's hilly in Old San Juan, really hilly. Much hillier than anything we have around here. The last thing I noticed. Hills and humidity make for a difficult run. Either the flight down made me very out of shape, or there's something different about running in Puerto Rico. Anyway, after going 2 miles longer than my intended route, I ended up back at Aaron and Tanya's home in a significantly sweaty condition. I lied down on the tiles and left a Brad-shaped sweat mark.

Tanya, Alison and I headed for Rincon shortly after that. Because Aaron had his Instrument rating check ride the next morning, he could not go with us. In a cruel trick, I ended up in the driver's seat for some exciting Puerto Rican driving. Having ridden in the passenger seat of Tanya and Aaron's red Ford Escort the previous day, I realized that traffic was exciting. That doesn't quite capture the feeling. Interesting, perhaps? No. Harrowing! I had no idea what it was going to be like to drive. Never mind yield laws or stop signs. The rule of Puerto Rican driving is the nose. Nose your car in wherever you want to go, and then go there. Forget about lanes or laws. The "nose" is the way of the Puerto Rican chauffeur. I quickly discovered that on our drive to Rincon.

Our hope was to stop at the Arecibo observatory on the way west, but we were far too late for that. Thus, we kept trucking (nosing?). Driving around Rincon was the first time I was going to experience the one lane driving style that would greet Alison and I in all of the mountains of Puerto Rico.

In Rincon, we spent quite a bit of time attempting to find reasonably priced lodging. Despite it being "off season," places were still charging over $100 for three beds. We finally settled on Beyond the Pointe Cabanas. Before we checked in, we headed to the beach so that I could scout locations to photograph the sunset.

IMG_0712 Alison enjoying Playa Escaleras (Steps Beach).

IMG_0713 Tanya found a neat piece of coral.

IMG_0714 Alison still enjoying the beach.

IMG_0715 Same for Tanya.

IMG_0716 It's a cheesy sunset photo!

IMG_8727 Here you can see why it's called Playa Escaleras (Steps Beach).

We checked into our rooms and headed back to the beach to get the real sunset photos.Unfortunately, I'm inept at photographing sunsets, and every photo was severely out of focus. Alison and Tanya were very patient with me though, and did a good job of distracting the mosquitoes. Evidently, their flesh was more enticing than mine.

IMG_0717 At least one of us can get a photo in focus during sunset.

Having finished blurring the ocean with my camera, we headed for food. What type of food should you have in Puerto Rico? We settled on Mexican. A horrible stereotype, but we couldn't help ourselves. We had heard good reviews from other Gringos about the Mexican restaurant. At Pancho Villa, the restaurant, we had wonderful food, and experienced something new. The restaurant seated only twenty, and as the night progressed, we found ourselves the only customers other than three gentleman at the bar enjoying themselves with tequila shots. Well, evidently, those three men believed we needed tequila shots of our own, so they bought us some. How nice.

IMG_0723 This is the glass from the margarita glass that Alison and I shared as well as the glasses from the tequilla shots. For the record, I did not drink three tequilla shots. We each had our own, and they put all the glasses in front of me for a photograph. Crazy people and their photographs. I just don't understand this desire to capture everything on film. I tell you some people can get a little nutty with the camera.

IMG_0727 The wood statue of Pancho Villa was cool, just cool.

After gorging ourselves on Puerto Rican Mexican food (hee hee), we went for a barefoot walk on the beach near our lodging. The surf beat the shore quite audibly, thus the ocean sounded scary. We saw a crab and a few drunk people, but other than that, the beach walk was uneventful. We only tracked about 3 cups of sand into our motel room. Although, we figured that having sand in a room on the beach is a given, just as Tanya shared with us that it isn't possible to have a car in Puerto Rico and not have at least a cup or two of sand on the floorboards.

We were tired and planned on going to bed early, but we stayed up late talking. Such is life.

IMG_8747 It's our room in the Beyond the Pointe luxury rooms. The only thing surprising about the room was the shower. It had an inline water heater, and the heater was powered by an old electrical cord running to the wall directly above the shower. SCARY! Otherwise, the room was fabulous.

May 9, 2007

The next morning came early enough, and we headed to Playa Escaleras (steps beach) for snorkeling in one of the most pristine orange coral communities in the Caribbean. However, the surf that was up the previous day was still high, and the tide was out. We were concerned about being beaten against the coral, so we just went for another walk on the beach. We saw two lizards fighting though. That was exciting.

IMG_0737 Tanya found some orange coral, so I guess we did get to see some, although not in the actual ocean.

IMG_0734 This poor, sad sandel was sitting near the parking lot at the beach.

Lizard fight!

We decided we'd go searching for sea glass instead, so we did. While Tanya tried to call Aaron and find out the outcome of his check ride, Alison and I walked along the beach looking for sea glass. We found a handful. Amazingly, we'd discover later in the week that there's more sea glass in the actual water. But the waves were still breaking pretty hard.

Wanting to catch the Rio Camuy Caverns, we packed up the car and headed back towards San Juan. The Rio Camuy Caverns have a funny quality to them. When it sprinkles, if even for just a bit, they close the park. Well, after driving the hour to the caves, we discovered they were closed. Not to waste the whole drive out of the way, we stopped at a roadside stand and enjoyed apple bananas, pineapple, watermelon, tamarind and some honey. The fruit was wonderful and reasonably priced.

We drove the rest of the way to San Juan and chilled for the rest of the afternoon.

IMG_8751 A neat pier that we saw while walking down by the harbor. If you look in that first show of Old San Juan from the airplane, you can see this pier sticking out into the bay.

IMG_8752 Alison enjoying her first taste of Coldstone Creamery.

IMG_8755 This lady was lowering a basket with something in it to the people down below.

IMG_0745 Alison dutifully kept tabs on her steps.

Aaron had passed his check ride so he was in high spirits. We sat around and talked for a few hours. Sadly, Aaron had to work. Alison and I decided to fill our time with touring Old San Juan on foot.

IMG_0754 A neat cemetery near El Morro. Unfortunately, we were warned to avoid it, as it is in close proximity to Barrio La Perla, an area reputedly filled with drugs and crime.

IMG_0757 The walls of Old San Juan are lined with bastions and sentry boxes (garitas). Unfortunately, the sentry boxes had become public urinals for many people.

The green area around El Morro was filled to the brim with people flying kites. The wind was wonderful, and we'd wished we had brought our kite along on this walk, but alas it was not meant to be, and we kept walking.

One of the things we noticed as we started walking onto the grassy area was a sign which declared "No bicicletas." Oddly enough, mountain bikes kept riding by us up the hills, and down the other side. I was quite envious of them, because what they were riding looked like a lot of fun, especially the downhill portion. Alison decided to demonstrate what I wished I could be doing.

Doesn't this look like fun?

IMG_0772 Although it's considered a national park, many parts of the El Morro fortress are open to the public and are adjacent to the green. This old building was one of them.

IMG_0774

We walked all over Old San Juan that night. We ate at a wonderful restaurant named Spanglish. The food was local cuisine and excellent. The flan, a Latin American custard, had superb texture and flavor.

Alison and I ended our evening by walking several miles through Old San Juan. We walked Paseo del Morro, which is a beautiful lit walk below the walls of El Morro. The path has the walls of Old San Juan on one side and the ocean on the other. In a bizarre set of circumstances, the .75 mile trail has become home to hundreds of cats. The National Park Service and Save a Gato, a local organization, has partnered to vaccinate, neuter and feed all the cats on the way. Evidently, the population of cats has reduced significantly since they started this process.

Alison and I returned to Aaron and Tanya's apartment to await their return. This night proved to be the only night in which we were actually able to stay awake till they came home from work. Aaron came home early at 11:00pm.

May 10, 2007

We woke up to our daily alarm clock (the trash men) driving up and down the street. I think they liked to park below the balcony and run the crusher. Our alarm clock went off at about 7:00 each morning. Hitting the snooze button was a doozy.

CalleSanSebastian ebastian|Here's a view of the street that I took while waiting on Tanya and Aaron to awaken.

Eventually Aaron woke up. He couldn't hear the alarm clock in his room, so he wasn't as prone to early rising. He and I decided it'd be fun to go for a run, and to run the hills of El Morro. It was fun, but the hills. ¡Ay yay yay!

We ended at Playa Escambron and quickly took a dip in the ocean. Alison and Tanya showed up with snorkeling gear, but alas no camera, and we quickly went snorkeling. We swam with da' fishes. At least, there were a few fishes. Mostly, we swam along the rocks and looked for fish. We saw several parrot fish, a bunch of other fish, and a few of those other types of fish. If I had any idea what kinds of fish we saw, I'm sure it would be helpful. Needless to say, we saw lots. Eventually, Aaron and I decided that we'd go looking for sea glass along the ocean bottom. We found LOTS of sea glass. Really, we did.

There's nothing like snorkeling to work up an appetite, and pretty quickly Aaron and I were famished. We convinced Tanya and Alison to dine with us at El Hamburger (that's right, not La Hamburgesa, El Hamburger), where we enjoyed delicious onion rings and hamburgers. The price was right too. Two orders of onion rings, and five burgers came out to just about $20.

Alas, our time was up, and Tanya had to go to work. Someone has to lie out for the paper.

IMG_8787 Aaron and Alison spread out the sea glass collection and marvel at what we found.

To pass the time in the afternoon, Aaron and I lied down on the floor of his living room and listened to the Air Traffic Controller for Isla Grande airport. Aaron tried to explain the lingo, as I desperately attempted to understand what was being said. I decided quite quickly that being a pilot requires one to become at least bilingual. You must know English as well as a strange form of radio static which barely resembles words.

Eventually Aaron had to head to work at the Old Harbor Brewery, so Alison and I had to figure out how to entertain ourselves. We decided to go to El Morro and fly the kite.

IMG_8788 Walking on the streets of San Juan always felt safe.

IMG_8794 The most unique architecture was around each corner.

IMG_8796 Parking in Old San Juan is a nightmare, exacerbated by the fact that all the consulates have reserved parking. Very often, there was no one parked in their spots, but they sat there empty awaiting foreign cars.

IMG_8809 This little bar was right outside Tanya and Aaron's apartment. No matter the time of day, it seemed there were folks sitting there, enjoying a moment.

IMG_8811 Old San Juan is famous for its doors and balconies.

IMG_8812 and its hills.

IMG_8813 These cool water meter plates were all over the sidewalks of Old San Juan.

IMG_8815 Graffiti was another constant. Some of it was artistic and provocative. Other was not as much.

Sadly, at El Morro the wind was not consistent, and the kite flying was mediocre.

IMG_8798 Alison unpacked the kite to try and fly it anyway.

The luxuriously, constant wind from the previous night failed us, and the wind was gusty at best. Simple kites flew well, but our stunt kite wouldn't stay up for longer than a few minutes.

IMG_8802 We were able to launch it a few times.

IMG_8807

We quickly tired of picking up our kite off the grass and packed it up. It was time for supper!

One thing Alison and I noticed rather quickly from eating out, is that Puerto Ricans do not eat a lot of vegetables. At least, the food we had been served up to this point did not contain a lot of vegetables. Since we typically eat a diet quite heavy in vegetables, we had to make up for this lack. We determined we were going to stay in and make stir fry. We headed to the grocery store to experience shopping Puerto Rican style. We ate quite heavily on stir fry, and then headed out for more walking. One nice thing about the restaurant in which Aaron works is that they have a wonderful microbrewery. We headed there for a sampler of their five beers and a tour of the restaurant. Luckily for us (not him), Aaron wasn't busy that night, so we received personalized service. He had plenty of time to explain the beers, as well as give us an in-depth tour.

IMG_0786 Here you can see the brew kettles. This is where the beginnings of the beer take place.

IMG_0789 These large tanks are the final tanks of the process. The beer is poured directly from these tanks into glasses.

IMG_0794 For a low price, you can join the beer club of the Old Harbor Brewery, and you too can have a personalized mug on the wall. Alison is enjoying the live piano and singing which takes place every Thursday night.

After the tour, Alison and I were tired and full. After more exploring around Old San Juan, we headed back to the apartment to wait up for Aaron and Tanya. Thus began our pattern of waiting up for them, but actually falling asleep in the process.

This sleep turned out to be good, because we would need it to maintain our sanity the next day.

May 11, 2007

Turns out it was a good thing Alison and I had plenty of sleep that night. The next part of our adventure was going to take Alison and I to the Rio Camuy Caverns again, Arecibo Observatory, and a night in the mountains. In order to do this, we would need wheels, and we decided that for convenience, we'd rent a car. When we woke up, we learned what fun it is to attempt to rent a car. We called the car rental company (not necessarily the local agency), and we reserved a compact car. They told us that they'd have one for us at a certain location, which was amazingly close.

At the prescribed pickup time of 8:30am, (luckily the "alarm clock" had woken us up in plenty of time), we showed up to the car rental.

"Hello," I said. "I'm here for my compact car."

"Hello," says the representative behind the counter. "Here's your Dodge Caravan minivan."

Notice anything strange about that interaction? I got the hint pretty quickly that my previous calls to the company meant nothing. They had my reservation. They had not my car. After some discussion, I learned that I could take the minivan to the airport and exchange it for a compact car. Am I wrong, or don't car rental companies have paid people to make sure that a car reserved is at the location for when you actually plan to pick it up?

In a very frustrated manner, I drove the Dodge Caravan through morning traffic over to the airport. There, I got to meet some more fun car rental employees.

I parked the minivan in a nice empty spot, and hopped out to walk into the office.

"You need to move your van," I heard behind my shoulder. The parking lot attendant (who'd previously failed to direct me) directed me to park the minivan in front of the office doors. I hopped back in and moved the van, relieved to be almost done with it.

As I walked into the car rental office at the airport, I was relieved to see that there was no line. I assumed that meant this would be a quick item of business.

"Please sit down," was the directive of the representative behind the counter, as she proceeded to hold a conversation on the phone for ten minutes about something totally unrelated to renting cars. After a proper amount of dismissive behavior, she finished talking on the phone.

"You need to move your van," she informed me. I guess I was now blocking the bus. All I wanted was a different car.

I moved the van to the place she directed and walked back into the office.

"Ok. I'm ready for you now."

"Finally," I thought to myself. After two minutes of keyboard pressing, she had my new contract ready and directed me to parking spot B2 to pickup my Mitsubishi Lancer.

Suddenly, before I could get out the door, there came some garbled conversation over the radio.

"You need to move your van."

I walked out, placed the keys inside the minivan, and quickly drove off in my lancer, figuring that it was time that someone else moved the van.

Lesson learned: rental cars are great, but getting them is not.

Alison and I headed out on the expressway towards Arecibo. We knew that we'd have to get to the Rio Camuy Caverns early before they received any sprinkling. If but one drop falls on the ground, they seem to close the caves to visitors. In retrospect, I have no idea why, except that the walkway into the cave is rather steep. However, it'd take quite a bit of rain to make it dangerous.

We made it though. We parked our Lancer, hopped out, started walking in, when someone drove up to us and informed us, "You need to move your van."

Well, they actually said car, but still, if everyone wants you to park in a certain spot, why don't they tell you before you park there. Seriously!

We moved our car to the correct parking spot, and then headed into the visitor's center to await our turn for the cavern tour. The wait for the tour was quite long, probably an hour. There's no indicator when the next tour begins either. However, there were these little green lizards all over, and they were a lot of fun to watch and try to catch. We didn't end up catching any, but still, fun to watch.

IMG_8823 Cute little lizards. I think they're a type of anole lizard, but I'm not certain of that.

IMG_0800 On our way to the caverns.

IMG_0803 Here you can see how narrow the road was, just wide enough for the trolley.

IMG_8839 The first steep part of the walk. At this point, we had driven down into an enormous sinkhole.

IMG_0805 Great fake bugs in a battle to the death at the entrance to the caves.

IMG_0807 The first time we felt like we were actually walking into a cave.

IMG_8860 The insides of the caves were particularly neat.

IMG_8868 The walkway ended looking up into a large sinkhole. Water ran off the vegetation down into the sinkhole. At the bottom, we could see the Rio Camuy rushing along its merry way.

IMG_8884 We could hear bats in this cavern.

IMG_8885 On the way back out.

At this point, they drove us over to Tres Pueblos sinkhole, which although larger, was rather uninspiring. Imagine an enormous hole in the ground filled with vegetation. Got that picture in your mind? Good, you've pretty much seen it. Overall though, the cavern tour was worth the money. I recommend you visit it at least once if you're in the area, and there's no sprinkling.

Our voyage now took us towards Arecibo Observatory, the largest radio telescope in the world. I was particularly excited about this part of the trip.

We were going to soon discover that Puerto Rican mountain driving is exciting, very exciting. The road between the caves and the observatory goes through a series of small towns, while winding its way amongst the karst landscape. This meant the road often narrowed to less than two lanes, with the excitement of cars parked on both sides of the street.

IMG_8900 The cows are coming home!

IMG_8902 Important to watch out for cattle in Puerto Rico.

Eventually, we found the radio telescope, parked, and began the hike up to the actual dish.

IMG_8904 Our first clear view of one of the supporting towers.

IMG_8906 Alison pays to get us inside. I was excited.

IMG_8965 The museum begins with two statues of the men who came up with the idea for the observatory.

IMG_8907 Ever seen moon rock? Me neither until now.

We watched a twenty minute video on the life around the observatory, and then in an excited state, walked out onto the viewing platform to see the actual telescope.

IMG_8915 Arecibo Observatory.

IMG_8917 A closeup of that geodesic dome in the previous image. You can see how massive the telescope actually is.

IMG_8918 A hole in the bottom of the reflector.

IMG_8961 A closeup view of one of the towers.

IMG_8971 Alison plays with the model of the observatory.

IMG_8972 Alison pretends she's God blowing the mists across the waters.

IMG_8984 Reflecting on the neatness of Arecibo. This is actually a model of the sun which began a scale model of the universe on the walk up to the observatory.

After Arecibo, it was time to head to Jayuya and find where we would be staying for the night. Now our driving adventure would truly begin.

Thankfully, we had a map, otherwise, we would have become very lost. Unfortunately, not every road that is out there is on the map. We turned right when we should have turned left, and after a while found ourselves on a narrower and narrower road. We became pretty concerned as more and more potholes began to fill the road. Eventually, it actually turned to dirt for a bit. At this point, we realized we were no longer on the highway. We came upon a man on the side of the road. In desperation, Alison hopped out and began an enormous flurry of Spanish. In an amazing display, she determined that we had gone full circle, and were actually quite close to where we had gotten lost.

IMG_8987 One of the many abandoned homes we found on our "detour."

IMG_9005 A view towards the mountains. Eventually, we made it out of the karst landscape and entered granite landscape.

After quite a bit of mountain driving, we found ourselves in Jayuya, and found the Hacienda gripiñas, a former coffee plantation home turned into a parador (huge bed and breakfast). They fed us an excellent three course meal for supper. The air actually cooled down at night enough that we were cold. As the sun went down, coqui frog sounds began to fill the air.

The sounds were very pleasant for sleeping. You can listen here:

IMG_9014 The only downside of the parador was this scary spider that greeted us when we came back from supper. We scared it out of the room though. We drifted off to the beautiful sound of the coqui singing.

May 12, 2007

After an amazingly restful night of sleep, we awoke for breakfast.

IMG_9018 This was our room.

IMG_9020 Alison prepares to order breakfast.

IMG_9022 Our breakfast. Yummy!

IMG_9023 Here's an outside view of the pool at the parador.

After breakfast, we planned on hiking the highest peak of Puerto Rico, Cerro de Punta. The manager of the parador told us to just go up the road, park and start hiking.

We knew this was the beginning of an adventure. We headed out on the road, and it grew steeper, and steeper and narrower and narrower.

IMG_9029 Pretty drive though. You can sorta see how narrow the road was.

We came to what we thought was the trail, so we parked, and got out and began walking.

IMG_9033 Looking up the trail. Hopefully not the last time we'd see our car.

IMG_9035 Perhaps our first view up towards Cerro Punta? No, turns out it wasn't.

IMG_9038 We walked up to a sign that was fairly clear we weren't supposed to trespass.

So we did.

IMG_9036 Until we came to the mud and decided we didn't want to trespass anymore, so we hiked back and looked for things that might be trails.

IMG_9040 We came upon a little offshoot type trail.

IMG_9032 The trail led to a grove of banana trees.

IMG_9041 Apple bananas are the yummiest, little fruit.

Well, we headed back. Sadly, we'd never find the trail. We started driving around till we found someone's house. Alison got out, and asked where the trail to Cerro de Punta was located. They directed us to go up the road until it turns into gravel and ask at the last house on the left. In the end, it turns out we were actually parked right by "la casa de Rebecca." However, we were out of time and needed to head back and check out of our room.

IMG_9051 The neatest bamboo groves lined the road up towards Cerro de Punta.

Our plan for this day was to drive to the Dona Juana recreation area in the Torre Negro National Forest, hike to the observation tower, and play in the waterfall which was supposedly located near it. We were going to stop on the way towards the forest and check out La Piedra Escrita (written rock), which contains petroglyphs from the Taino Indians, the aboriginal people of the island. We'd also stop at the Cemi Museum, which explains Taino culture.

IMG_9061 La Piedra Escrita from above.

IMG_9064 Lizards EVERYWHERE.

As we hiked down the walkway to the rock, we noticed lots of kids playing. It was Saturday after all. What surprised us was the fact that they were playing on the actual rock with the petroglyphs. Makes you wonder for how many centuries kids have just played on this archaeological marvel.

IMG_9066 Enjoying the petroglyphs, I presume.

IMG_9069 The best purpose of the rocks for the kids.

IMG_9074 Pretty happenin' place.

IMG_9076 Petroglyph

IMG_9077 Another petroglyph

IMG_9078 One more.

Back in the parking lot, there was a large rock which was covered in petroglyphs. However, I believe they were more recently made and with more modern techniques. However, they still looked cool.

IMG_9083

IMG_9084

IMG_9085

IMG_9086

IMG_9087 The petroglyph for coqui frog.

IMG_9089 The Cemi Museum. This was the neatest building.

IMG_9090 Supposedly a ceremonial axe.

IMG_9091 Window inside the museum. Neat windows.

IMG_9096 It's just that cool, just that cool.

IMG_9098-IMG_9103 SaltoDonaJuana IMG_9103 SaltoDonaJuana|A little further down the road from Jayuya, we found the Salto Dona Juana. We didn't get to play, because we planned on playing in a waterfall in the actual forest.

After a few more miles, and some intense driving on the Ruta Panoramica (a series of roads that travels the spine of mountains in the interior of Puerto Rico, we arrived at the Dona Juana Recreation Area. We asked the interpretive guide where the waterfall was. He directed us back down the road to the above waterfall. Oops. We decided to hike to the observation tower anyway, since our guidebook wouldn't lie, right?

IMG_9112 On the way to the tower.

IMG_9113 The signs don't lie.

IMG_9115 Neat picnic areas on the way to the tower.

IMG_9116 The hike went through different layers of rainforest, which was neat.

IMG_9119 Still hiking. All the way uphill.

IMG_9120 We thought we were at the top when we hit this enchanted road. Only halfway though.

IMG_9121 The trail got pretty steep here.

IMG_9122 Are we still going to find the waterfall at the top?

IMG_9123 The rainforest was rather neat.

IMG_9125 The tower. Note that waterfalls don't flow from the tops of mountains.

IMG_9130

IMG_9133 Back down the switchbacks.

IMG_9135 The closest running water we found to the top. Actually at the same bridge as before, almost 3/4 miles from the top.

IMG_9149 A waterfall. Of course, this was at the very beginning of the trail.

IMG_9158 Who could resist?

IMG_9161 Even the stairs lead into the water.

After determining that our guidebook lies, we had to head back to San Juan. Our mountain adventure was going to draw to a close. Of course, we still had an hour of mountain driving, and we would drive the wrong way down a one way street, but that's a story for a different day.

IMG_9180 Neat dog on the house on the drive back.

IMG_9181 Everyone had neat roosters. No one had the boring white roosters of home.

IMG_9182 A view of the road signs around Puerto Rico. Not too hard to navigate when they correspond with roads on the map.

On our way back, we stopped at Church's Chicken for supper. Not so good. Imagine a greasy version of KFC.

When we got back to San Juan, we weren't sure what to do, so we decided to walk down the Paseo de la Princesa. Holy moly! Lots of people and vendors were down there. No camera though, so imagine lots of people and vendors.

We enjoyed a non-alcoholic piña colada and used Aaron's laptop to check email. After that, we went back to the apartment and waited up for Aaron and Tanya, which of course, meant falling asleep.

May 13, 2007

We returned our rental car (amazingly simple, AMAZINGLY).

IMG_9186 Neat graffiti on a condemned building.

IMG_9188 Neat mail slot.

After walking around a bit, we went to San Cristobal fort, a fort begun in 1634 after the Dutch successfully attacked La Fortaleza on land.

IMG_9192 Once in a while, if you're quiet, you can spot the elusive Aaron hiding in his native San Juan habitat.

IMG_9193 Tanya looks for the elusive Aaron.

IMG_9195 Watching an informative and strange movie on canonneering.

IMG_9196 Even the doors in the fort were cool.

After exploring the fort some more, we found our way into the dungeon. In one of the cells, there were neat drawings of ships on one of the walls.

IMG_9197

IMG_9198

IMG_9203 Looking out over the walls.

IMG_9211 Cool tunnels.

IMG_9215 Another cool door.

IMG_9208 Alison was jonesing over the Carnegie library.

IMG_9209 Cruise ships are HUGE.

IMG_9217 I call this, "Life of the Svec."

After the fort, it was time to head to church. I took a few photographs on the way.

IMG_9220

IMG_9224 This car came with a beer can holder.

Church was fun and exciting. We celebrated Mother's Day. Afterwards, there were many pictures being taken of all the mothers in the audience.

IMG_9227 Getting faces ready for photographs.

IMG_9229

IMG_9230

IMG_9232 A private moment.

IMG_9234 Someone stole my camera.

IMG_9237 More neat graffiti.

IMG_9238 This is Aaron and Tanya's corner.

After church, Tanya was going to take us to a neat indoor market. Alas, it was Sunday and Mother's Day. Guess what! Market closed.

IMG_9239 Tanya realizes her mistake, making it more of an adventure for us.

IMG_9240 We had to take an awful photo.

IMG_9244 Along the street.

For lunch, we headed to Pollo Tropical, a restaurant that has very good food, and HORRIBLE service.

IMG_9245 Every fast food restaurant has this sign. You'd think after 14 years, folks would know there's no smoking inside.

IMG_9248 Our food was very good.

IMG_9249 More neat grafitti.

IMG_9253 We dropped Tanya off at work while Aaron chatted with the guys out front.

IMG_9257 Huh?

After Aaron headed off to earn some money, Alison and I walked around San Juan some more. Traffic was insane. Evidently, people enjoy cruising through San Juan on Sunday afternoons.

IMG_9260 Looks horrible to me.

IMG_9261 One of the neat things was that both the U.S. Coast Guard had their sailing ship in port, and Argentina had theirs too. The Coast Guard ship is a training ship for cadets from the Academy.

IMG_9262 The Eagle.

IMG_9266 The mooring lines.

IMG_9267

IMG_9272 Big wheel.

IMG_9273 In the good ol' days, before there was a diesel motor in the boat, people would spin this enormous shaft, which would turn the propeller.

IMG_9277 Lots of rigging.

IMG_9281 The blocks were quite large.

IMG_9284 Lots of brass shining on this ship.

IMG_9285

IMG_9290

IMG_9291 Now we're over at the Argentinian ship.

IMG_9293 Steep ramp to get on the ship.

IMG_9296 They had an art show inside.

IMG_9298 These things are neat, although strange to see on a sailing ship.

IMG_9300 Everyone was taking photographs.

IMG_9302

IMG_9308 Big guns. No idea why, but big guns anyway.

IMG_9312 The ramp really was steep.

After the ships, it was time for Alison and I to cool off some.

IMG_9317 With a parcha (passion fruit) piragua (shaved ice).

IMG_9321 Dominoes are a big deal here.

IMG_9326 To add to the traffic confusion, certain roads were randomly closed.

IMG_9330 It's the Wall Drug of Puerto Rico!

After supper, we went walking again at the Paseo de la Princesa. This time, we took a camera.

IMG_9333 This guy had mad juggling skills.

One of the strangest things we saw happened on the street that night. Some lady decided she was going to stop a car from moving. She just stopped it.

IMG_9337 Here she is.

We walked by an hour later, and she was still there.

IMG_9340 Like I said, dominoes is a big deal.

IMG_9343 There was a cool concert with people dancing.

IMG_9342 They had food they were giving away too, just giving it away.

We enjoyed the concert immensely. My camera battery ran out, so you'll have to imagine that after a while, the police showed up to the lady standing in front of the car. They helped direct traffic around the stuck car. Eventually, she had a plastic lawn chair, and proceeded to sit. Almost an hour later, Alison and I heard ambulance and rescue vehicles headed towards the car and lady. We walked over that way. The lady was gone, but it didn't look like she was hit. Such a strange experience.

We headed back to the apartment, and actually stayed awake till Aaron and Tanya got home.

May 14, 2007

Our plan this morning was to go to El Yunque, the only tropical rainforest in the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

IMG_9349 We're all excited.

When we got there, I was sent into the visitor's center to acquire a map of El Yunque. The cost to enter the visitor's center was $3.00 per person, and to park, you had to pay the fee. So, the other three parked outside the gate into which I walked. The gate people thought I was insane. Inside, I got a map from the information counter.

IMG_9351 This man would not let you have a map unless he could inform you about the intricacies of hiking in El Yunque, even if you had listened over the shoulder of the person in front of you. I took the free map and carried it back to the car.

IMG_9352 Pretty flowers on the way back.

IMG_9353

After walking back, I learned that I was supposed to get a color map. So, I headed back through the gate, through the parking lot, and into the visitor's center. The gate attendants still looked quite concerned. I found what I was supposed to find, purchased it, and walked back out. On the way, I asked the man at the information desk where some pretty waterfalls were. His directions (Imagine it taking five minutes though. Add your own words):

head past the tower, park on the right, look for the brown trash can. Start hiking into the jungle.

Sounded kinda shady, but we headed out anyway. Drove past the tower, parked on the right.

IMG_9358 Woah, it's a brown trashcan. We decided to eat lunch here.

IMG_9363 Ham sandwhiches. Mmm.

After lunch, we headed up to the waterfalls.

IMG_9366

IMG_9382m |

IMG_9371 Steep hike.

IMG_9372 Aaron was the tripod porter. Thanks, Aaron.

IMG_9391 Aaron will do anything for a photo.

After the private waterfalls, we headed to La Mina for the crowded waterfalls.

IMG_9396 The exploration feeling was gone very quickly.

IMG_9408 We heard the noise of the people before we got to the waterfall. Aaron had an idea though. He headed downstream just a little bit.

IMG_9412 We followed him...

IMG_9416 And found our own private waterfall.

We played in the water a long time. Eventually we had to head back.

IMG_9437 Poor lizard was hanging on for dear life.

IMG_9441 On the drive back, we wanted to test the tolls to see if they accepted pennies. They do.

So ended our last full day in Puerto Rico.

When we got back to San Juan, we enjoyed spinach noodles and white sauce made by Tanya. Then we headed out on the town so we could try some flan at El Jibarito, as well as, taste test real piña coladas and mojitos. All were very good. Finally, to end the night, Aaron and I did a little urban, roach hunting.

We stayed up too late talking

May 15, 2007

We got up early and hopped on the plane. We were saddened to see Puerto Rico disappear into the mist.

IMG_9444 Our last view of Old San Juan.

IMG_9446 Crazy thing! Here's the coast guard ship, as viewed from the plane.

IMG_9450 Our first view of the mainland. In a streak of super-coolness, we flew right over Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida. You can see the shuttle loading building, and the two launch pads.

After some long flights, we ended up in Denver, back at Ryan and Stacey's house. We scheduled our return a little early so we could spend some time with them. They cooked us a wonderful meal.

IMG_9453 Ryan inspects the grilling.

IMG_9455 Stacey prepares the corn.

Our adventure in Puerto Rico was fantastico. We had a lot of fun, and encourage anyone who has the chance to go. You'll experience a whole new culture and see things that exist nowhere else in the world.

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