Does it rain in the rain forest? Puerto Rico Day 2

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Hello everyone it's me again with another day in Puerto Rico. Today me and Alonzo are heading to the El Yunque Rain forest, it's the only rain forest in the United States Forest System, it's located in northeast Puerto Rico. One of the good things about the island is that you can drive from end to end in maybe 2-3 hours, but Isla Verde to the El Yunque is only about 30 minutes. When I wake up today the sun is out so the day is already off to a better start than the day before. Of course Alonzo is still sleep cause that's what an 18 year old does when they dont have school. I walk over the freeway and I'm at Isla Verde beach, it's a beautiful day, people are out walking the beach, running and some people are working out. I take my shoes off and walk the beach for a while soaking up the early morning sun and enjoying the nice breeze from the Atlantic. My stomach decides to end this nice morning stroll so I head to the bakery/deli down the street from the condo, Espana, they have a wide selection of food and it all smells good. So after some careful consideration I decide to order a Mallorca which is a Spanish pastry, I take the food back home and tell Alonzo I have breakfast, he makes some kind of sound then rolls over. He sleeps for about another 2 hours then drags himself out of bed to eat then put on some clothes.

Next stop the rain forest, while driving we get closer to the hills and mountains near the rain forest we can see the clouds rolling in, I said not again. We get off the main expressway and follow the signs to the El Yunque Rain Forest, driving through a lot of winding roads and hills we enter the park. I drive for another 15 minutes then I stop at the light tower, we head up to the top to observe the amazing view of lush green vegetation and mountains, you can see the sun shining in some areas and clouds in other directions. I ask one of the park attendants how do I find the trail to the waterfAll? She said drive down about 5 more minutes and you'll be at the entrance, we get back in the car then go in that direction. The sign at the entrance of the trail to the La Mina Waterfall says 0.75 Km, I would have to disagree as someone who runs on a regular basis it feels more like 1.5 miles at least, this is my 2nd time here so I knew what to expect but it's still not an easy hike. We begin our journey on the small trail going up and down stairs, climbing steep hills while avoiding people coming back from the water fall, most wearing swimsuits. We hike for about 15 minutes then you see people coming back and they all say the same thing, your almost there. Well I don't hear any water so I find this statement to not be true, after about another 15 minutes we can hear then waterfall and once we round a corner their it is, then Alonzo realizes we have to make that hike back. Yes that is true but let's enjoy this time at the waterfall before we dread hiking back to the car, it's a large crowd of people there, some standing on the bridge just watching, people on the rock and some in the water. The water at the waterfall is freezing cold but I didn't come all this way to not get in, so I take off my shoes and get in the freezing water, after a minute it doesn't feel so bad.

Alonzo wants no parts of the water, he sits on the rocks and just admires the view and we see a guy at the top of the waterfall but no he doesn't jump in. We hang out down there for a while then a big storm cloud rolls though which isn't surprising cause driving in we could see some clouds over the mountains. So we gather our stuff then we begin our hike back then the rain starts to come down but no point in stopping now we're trying to get back to the car, the rain stops after about 10 minutes and not much longer after that we make it to the car. We are hungry so we stop at one of the restaurants not far from the trail and get some pork kabobs before we go back to Isla Verde. The food definitely hits the spot, then we make our way back to the condo for some rest after our early adventure. We unwind for a few hours before we head down to Old San Juan, it's later in the evening so it's not as lively as usual, also that part of San Juan is a port for cruise ships but not today. We head to Cafe Puerto Rico, it may not be the best restaurant on the island but it's my favorite and I remember it from my first visit to Puerto Rico a few years back. The menu was still the same so I got the fried ribs, rice, bean and plantains with a glass of rum punch to go with it. Alonzo had chicken with rice and beans with plantains, after we ate we were treated to some live music. Then we headed outside and their was a group of people in the town square, rehearsing some lines so we sat and watched them perform for a while before we walked around some. We didn't stay out long, still a lil tired from earlier so we got in the car and headed back, cause we have to get up early. Tomorrow we're leaving the island of Puerto Rico and heading to Culebra.

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