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Published: October 11th 2023
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Both tiny phytoplankton and a gigantic telescope can be pure magic
This year we spent our Easter vacation in
Puerto Rico. We can actually summarise the trip in only four words: "It was damn good!" But we should probably say a little bit more than that so here comes a bit longer description of our trip.
Vieques The first place we actually stopped in was the island
Vieques . We stayed in the town Esperanza on the south coast and enjoyed the laid back life and the beaches for a few days. Other than relaxing on beaches there are a few things from this part of the trip we would like to write about.
=> On Vieques there are
plenty of horses roaming around more or less as they like. The horses are not wild, they have owners, but they are not restricted by any fences and can move around on the island more or less freely. We saw horses grazing on fields, walking on roads, trotting down streets in town and hanging in the backyard of a houses. We even saw one horse that was visiting a beachside bar...
=> Near Esperanza there is
Bahia Bioluminiscente, a bay known for having unusually powerful bioluminescence. In this bay, supposedly the concentration of the phytoplankton that produce the bioluminescence is among the highest in the world. We took a tour there but we don't have any photos from that tour. The bioluminescence can only be observed in very dark places and is therefore very difficult to take pictures of. Don't bother to picture google this phenomenon because most of what comes up then are fake photos. We have seen this phenomenon before but in Bahia Bioluminiscente it was more powerful and better than it is in other places we have visited. It was a fabulous experience to see this.
=> One day we rented a golf cart and did some sightseeing/beach hopping on the island.
San Juan After Vieques we went to
San Juan, the capitol of Puerto Rico. San Juan was founded by Spanish colonists in the 16th century and
the old town has a very typical colonial style.
One of the main historical sites in San Juan is the world heritage listed fortress
Castillo San Felipe del Morro. It sits dramatically on the top of a hill in northern San Juan.
We absolutely loved to
View from the hammock
We stayed in the town Esperanza on the south coast and enjoyed the laid back life and the beaches for a few days. walk the streets of San Juan. It is a beautiful, clean and nice city. Apart from the fortress there are not many, if any, actual sites that you have to see as a visitor. But for us that didn't matter, because we still liked the city a lot.
Road trip in Puerto Rico For three days of this vacation we rented a car and went road tripping on the island. Here is a short description of some of what we saw and did those days.
=>
Birth of the New World - A 110 m high sculpture depicting Christopher Columbus as he embarks on a voyage to the Americas. The original plan was to further develop the area surrounding the sculpture by building hotels, restaurants and other facilities that attract and cater for tourists. This plan failed and today the sculpture stands by itself and looks both abandoned and a bit sad.
=>
Cueva del Indio - The name of this place comes from a cave/a blowhole chiselled out by the sea. The entire area is littered by interesting rock formations and dramatic scenery created by ocean waves.
=>
Arecibo Observatory - In the 1960-ies a gigantic radio
Sign in a café
Have a grateful day. telescope was built in a mountainous area south of Arecibo. By cleverly using a pre-existing hollow in the local geography they were able to give the antenna a dish with the whopping diameter of 305 m. The Arecibo Observatory was one of the few things we knew of in Puerto Rico before we started to study before this trip. Scientifically it has been important. Work that has been carried out here has been awarded the Nobel Prize. It is also a landmark, clearly visible when flying over Puerto Rico, thanks to the enormous size of the dish. A third reason for us to visit Arecibo Observatory is that several movies have scenes that have been recorded here. Today the main antenna is no longer in operation. Structural damages from a hurricane led to supporting towers collapsing and crashing into the antenna. It might be repaired and put back into use again some day but not in the foreseeable future.
=> Puente la Bellaca - This is a small pedestrian bridge spanning a valley. From the bridge there are some great views over the valley and the dense vegetation in it.
=>
El Yunque National Forest - We had big hopes before
going to this place. We were promised mountains, rainforests and hiking trails. It delivered wonderfully on all three but still it wasn't what we hoped for. It was a cloudy day and it rained a bit. That took away a bit of the fun. But we think the biggest problem was that we had too big hopes.
=>
Las Paylas Waterslides - A series of small waterfalls and pools. The waterfalls are so smooth that they are used as waterslides. The pools are nice to swim around in and the surrounding rocks are good for relaxing. We guess it doesn't come as a surprise to anyone that this is a popular place for people to have a relaxing time.
=>
Aguirre - Agirre is a small town that was once dominated by the sugar cane factory. But one day in 1993 the factory was closed down and there was no other profitable business to cover up for that loss. When we drove around in
the town centre we felt that Agirre probably was a wealthy place once. The houses looked really nice, the houses that were inhabited that is. Roughly one house in three looked more or less abandoned. First
we walked around in the former shipping and storage area. Today they are running a program to reform that area from industrial wasteland to a nature park. After that we went into the actual factory and had a look. We thought we weren't allowed to do that so first we had decided not go in there. But when one of the locals told us where the hole in the fence was we realised that it must be OK to go in so we did. The buildings were in very poor shape so we mostly looked at the place from the outside.
We have decided to present our trip in Puerto Rico in two blog entries. You have now reached the end of the first of these. In the next blog entry we will write about a town on the south coast that was a bit fun to visit.
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
A Vibrant Country
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