Travels – Page 12 – State of Wilderness

Puerto Rico Adventures #2

So, we’ve been back from Puerto Rico for a month, and I have been a slacker about relaying our adventures, sorry about that. I’ve been occupying my time writing my children long letters because I miss them this summer. They are a little more than halfway through their visit to their father’s house. We’ve been going to the gym a lot, and hanging out doing other things besides computer activities.

I did want to share our experiences, though, in case other people were curious. Our trip to El Yunque Natonal Forest was a sojourn into the true wilderness of Puerto Rico. This US National Park Service property spreads across 28,000 acres, and is the only tropical rainforest in the US National Forest system.

Our visit there was somewhat marred by the fact that it was raining all day, but we were determined not to let it interfere with our enjoyment. If one finds themselves in El Yunque National Forest, a stop to the El Portal Rain Forest Center is essential. The walkway is 60 feet above the ground, taking the visitors on a walk through the treetops. It gave a unique perspective on the canopy. We engaged in a long conversation with a dedicated employee who supplied us with a map and explained to us key features of the road and trails. We shopped in the gift shop, because I wanted to get something for the kids there. There were several educational areas along the walkway, but we were now in a hurry to take in as much as we could before the rain stopped us.

We stopped at the Yokahu tower and climbed to the top to get an aerial view of the area. This is where the top picture came from. We then went to hike along the La Mina Trail (below picture). Since it was raining so hard, and also there was a promise we might be able to get into the water at the La Mina Falls, I changed into my swim suit for the hike. When we got to the falls, about 0.8 miles down the trail, it was raining way too hard and causing the falls to be too intense and dangerous to get into. Normally, the water cascades gently into the natural pool that visitors like to wade in, but there was no one in the water today.

The trail we took went down hill along limestone steps and walkways, which was great fun on the way down. Although I was concentrating on not slipping and falling, I was completely thrilled with the walk. I was very happy to be hiking here this day. The way back was a little bit more difficult, because we had to now go up that hill we just went down. It took us about an hour or so to get there and back. We could hear the coqui frogs singing in the forest but we never saw any. We actually didn’t see any wildlife at all – they were probably all being smart and hiding from the rain.

When we got back to the car, J was done with the whole hiking thing, but I wanted to grab one more geocache so I went just a short way down the Bano de Oro trail by myself. It was very nice, but then I was also ready to go. We drove up to the end of the road, thinking we might hike up to the Mt Britton Tower, but then we decided not to, and elected to drive back and hit up the Loquillo food kiosks for the second time that day.

I would love to go back again someday and finish walking all the trails. This place had a lot to offer and is a beautiful jewel of a forest.

Puerto Rico Adventures #1: Bio-Bay

We’ve been home for over a week, recovering from our latest adventure. It took us a while to come back because we were really exhausted from lack of sleep, and then from trying to play catch up with work and the house maintenance. Part of me feels like the Facebook pictures say it all, but here are some you haven’t seen. I call this the “Dorkiest Kayakers Ever” series.

This was us on our Bio-Bay excursion in Fajardo. I would totally do it again, even if we did look like dorks. I enjoyed the trip through the dark mangroves, up the little channel on the way to Laguna Grande, following a strand of twinkling lights on the other kayaks. Even thought we were using the lights to navigate through the channel, I think it would have been so much better without so many people. They were disturbing our serenity. I think I might look for opportunities to go night kayaking with a small group of friends, instead of at a tourist stop like this.

Still, it was great to experience something so rare – the bioluminescent bay. Our tour guide told us there were only five bioluminescent bays that were still active, three of which were in Puerto Rico. The best one is in Vieques, but we didn’t want to spend money on another hotel by crossing over to that island, so we did this one in Fajardo.

I was expecting something more dramatic in regards to the water lighting up, but we realized later it was because there was a little false advertising going on. In the pictures we saw before we went, there was a blue light shining under the kayak, and vibrant lights from the paddle hitting the water. J pointed out later that under the image, it said “computer enhanced”. Really, what it looked like, once you reached the Laguna, was silver confetti when you ran your hand or the oar through the water. Even though it was less spectacular than I thought it would be, it was a neat experience that I might only have once in my lifetime. If I ever have the opportunity to take the kids on something like this, though, I am definitely springing for it.

The water lights up because of the action of dinoflagellates (pyrodinium bahamense) that light up when they are agitated. The motion of your hand or the paddle running through the water gets them all worked up. The luminescence is a defense mechanism in response to a perceived threat, potentially to attract attention to the predator or to warn them off. These organisms only exist in rare and fragile ecosystems. We were lucky to see it.

We would have liked to go snorkeling or on an “aquafari” but food was so expensive there that we tried to save money by not indulging our every whim. I will post some more pictures and explanations about our excursions to Old San Juan, El Yunque, and the beach areas another day.

Off-Beat San Francisco: Bay Area Blooms

If you’re going to San Francisco
Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair

Or..you can just find some to gawk at and take pictures of like we did…
July 2 2012

The last three shots are mine, from the Fort Mason Community Garden. The others are Jason’s, found along the way to the places I dragged us to. If you know the name of these, particularly the brown ones, post and let me know!

Off-Beat San Francisco

July 2, 2012

Who goes to a crematorium when they visit a new town?

Crazy geocachers, that’s who.

Scenes from Columba:

Oh, and another boon – AJ has decided he wants to be interred here when he goes, in the Columbarium in San Francisco. They are building a new Hall of the Olympians that he thought was really intriguing.