Today was filled with Kodak moments
Sarah and I resting on the trail back from the waterfall
This is a flower from the Flamboyant Tree
What a coy boy
Sarah in deep thought..."Maybe Marque is right about moving to the Caribbean"
LaMina Falls
WOW!!! Look at that six pack!
Jim and Sam
I thought the trunk and bark of this tree was sooo coloroful. The camera can not capture it
El Yunque National Forest
Jim at Coca Falls
A watch tower built by the Forest service to watch the forest. One of two.
Brave Sarah
Day 6
Today was a fun day. We drove to El Yunque National Forest. It is the only Tropical Rain Forest in the Nations Forest system. It used to be called the Caribbean National Forest, but George W. just renamed it El Yunque to reflect the heritage of the Taino Indians that inhabited the island and called it by that name. Yunque means White Lands in their language. The protected forest is 28,000 acres of thick growth. It is cooler than the rest of the island, but the humidity still makes it very sticky. The flora and fauna are amazing. The ferns grow to be 40 feet tall in some places!
The highlight of the forest was the hike to La Mina falls. It is a one mile hike steep and downward to the falls. It was quite tough on my arthritic knees, but the scenery distracted my thoughts from the pain...for the most part. When you reached the bottom of the trail you find La Mina falls. It is very pretty, but people mostly enjoy it for the refreshing dip you can take in the pools below. You can tell by the video of Sarah that the water was very cold. I didn't go in the water because I didn't want to hike out wet. It was fun watching the others though.
We also visited a cool watch tower built by the US Forest Service. It was 98 spiraling steps to the top, with several opportunities to enjoy the view on the way up. We bought a Coqui frog for Elijah as he likes frogs, or at least he used to. He didn't seem too interested in the frog when we gave it to him. These Coqui frogs have a unique sound, more of a whistle, that they make all the time. It drove Sarah crazy, but I thought it was peaceful like crickets.
We ended the day with a trip to Loquillo beach to have something to eat. They have along the beach these Kiosks that serve food and play music. We had some local cuisine and then headed back to the resort. A good day helped us forget yesterday in Ponce. By the way, DON'T GO TO PONCE!!!
3 comments:
I hear Ponce is beautiful this time of year. Do you have any suggestions or feelings about this beautiful town?
I loved all your pictures and commentary. Makes me feel like I was there.
So, did you ever figure out how to play Nertz? haha... Sarah looks so great in the deep thoughts picture..looking out the window that didn't have a window. That's a framer for sure! We want to take a trip like this with you guys. That would be a blast!
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