Puerto Rico 2003 - Elaine Arrives, April 17, 2003


On April 17, 2003, Elaine arrived at the airport. Here she is at the airport, at partaking some Pinot Grigio during the complimentary wine hour, and shopping in Old San Juan. Airport arrival Wine hour Shopping
One evening we walked down to the pier area, and then around the outside of the city wall. There is a beautiful fountain down there which is a monument to the 500th anniversary of Columbus' visit to Puerto Rico. I took several pictures, but it was too dark by the time we got there, and I guess it wasn't lit well enough, so none of them turned out. A picture of one of the many guard turrets came out OK, as did this photo of the San Jose gate, the only remaining gate in the city wall. Seafaring visiters would use this gate to enter; then they would walk up the hill to the cathedral, which is right next to our hotel. (Of course it wasn't a hotel then - it was a convent). Ocean liner at the pier City wall with guard turret San Jose gate
Over the weekend of April 19, we went to El Yunque, as the Caribbean National Forest is called. It's a tropical rain forest. It has shrunk in size since the old days, because of incursions from civilization, and more developments (resorts, etc.) continue to threaten it. Rainforests of the world apparently are really important to life as we know it, so preserving this one is a really big deal.

We went to El Yunque right after a major rainstorm - actually it was a "tropical depression" which developed in April, several weeks earlier than tropical depressions normally show up. Many areas of the island were declared disaster areas, including some areas near El Yunque. The upper areas of the park itself were closed when we arrived (completely unknowing this was the case). We were told all we could see was the visitor center and a small nature trail looping near the center. While we were there they opened up a few kilometers of the road, so we could drive up to see a few small waterfalls. Here are some scenes in the park: El Yunque El Yunque El Yunque El Yunque William at El Yunque
A sign Another sign Elaine in the visitor center with an orchid El Yunque
El Yunque Bird of paradise (I think) Big snail on tree
Road up to the waterfall Waterfall Waterfall Waterfall Stream from Waterfall More Waterfall View of north coast from El Yunque
As I mentioned, there had been some severe weather before we went to El Yunque. Here are a some pictures of the aftermath. Mudslide Mud cleared off of road Debris at roadside
After we were finished at El Junque, we drove around Fajardo, at the northeast tip of Puerto Rico, looking for a place to eat. We finally settled on a little roadside barbeque chicken place. Very unassuming and plain, but the chicken was wonderful. The proprietor was great. He was a sign painter, and artist, and a master chicken cook. We only got one picture of his establishment (without him) before our camera batteries died, so we got no more pictures that day! Here it is Chicken place
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