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Published: August 21st 2012
Compared to the previous accomodation the inn offers breakfast in the morning so we eat the different fruits/cereals on offer and wonder at the different things inside the dining room including a huge turtle shell. The breakfast includes a variety of fruits fresh from the property like small bananas, mangos, kiwis and guavas as well as fresh made banana bread. Outside we play with the "official" pets especially a very tame cat and a dog that were waiting at the entrance of the inn. After packing and loading the car we call the Bioluminescent Bay tour again to find out whether they are going out today and the answer is no - as a result if we want to visit a bioluminescent bay during this trip we have to go to a different bay as we are leaving the area and drive west along the coast for the day towards Hatillo with a sidetrip to El Yunque, a protected tropical rainforest.
Our trip towards El Yunque starts close to Luquillo, and the side road immediately starts going up and it is narrow and busy. The vegetation also starts to change and not after long we enter the tropical rainforest. Unfortunately it is cloudy and misty and we cannot see a lot further than the highway. We hope at least that it will not rain as it gets cooler the higher we go. Finally we enter the park and almost immediately we stop to take a look at the La Coca waterfall close to the road. It looks nice but we cannot understand where all the tourists are coming from as there are just 2 other cars in the parking lot until we notice another larger parking lot after the waterfall with a couple tour buses.
As we continue driving up the traffic starts to subside as the road actually dead ends at a rockslide further up in the mountains. Our destination is the end of the road where the hiking trails towards El Yunque Peak start. The parking lot is a bit hidden but we find it ok and after ensuring we have multiple ways to fight the rain we start on the Mt Britton trail. To our surprise the trail is paved as it climbs towards the El Yunque peak but we understand relatively fast that it is a must as else it would be really a mud track given that everything is wet and there are puddles everywhere. But at least it does not rain. and we make good time through the forest. The one thing that really is different from our expectations is the quiet. Always in the movies you hear lots of sounds in the tropical rainforests but here the silence is deafening. We barely meet any people until the trail exits at a service road that climbs towards El Yunque Peak. After about five minutes on the road we make a short detour to Mt. Britton Tower - we feel almost transported to the medieval era when we see this tower appear from the forest and fog and we look around to make sure no knights are appearing from behind the tower. We climb to the top of the tower but we cannot see a lot as even the close-by trees are barely visible.
We continue on towards El Yunque Peak while keeping an eye on the sides of the road trying to find the Roca El Yunque trail. We pass a few radio/phone towers one even with an SUV with workers in front of it but no trail. Finally we turn around and ask the workers and they direct us to the trail which is behind the tower and past the truck - we would never have found it as we wouldn't have thought that we have to cross the radio tower yard to get to the trail. The trail is short and the rock looks interesting, you can guess that the view would be impressive if you could see anything besides the fog. At least we see a few nice red flowers (bromeliads that we have previously only seen in flower shops) and interesting root formations and in general the rainforest is impressive and spooky in the fog.
Returning to the paved service road we finally arrive at the El Yunque tower that we climb dutifully to peer into the fog with no more luck than at previous viewpoints. This time however it starts to rain seriously so we go inside and try to wait it out with no luck as the rain continues uninterupted. In the end we open our umbrellas and go outside and make the decision to try the El Yunque trail back that might be faster. This trail is not paved and as we descend we suddenly start walking in a small river, after a few minutes we are drenched again. THe umbrella is no help so we put our rain ponchos and now look like two yellow/green aliens walking through the rain. As we descend there is no one around and it continues raining as the trail also becomes muddy. However we descended to much to actually return back to the top so we continue down. And then we meet 2 people coming up the trail in the middle of the rainforest while raining with no rain gear and who are not wet at all as far as we can tell. At least that keeps us busy on the reminder of the way down as we try to guess what or who they were (best guess: real aliens 😊). Finally we get back to the service road and then on paved trails back to the car. As we start driving down the rain stops - it was really localized to El Yunque with no rain at the lower elevations. Therefore after changing into drier clothes we stop at a street kiosk on the way down to buy more fried foods similar to the ones in Luquillo and we also see the only "wildlife" in El Yunque - a few chickens crossing the road.
It is getting dark outside so we drive without stopping towards Hatillo, our stop for the night. But first we have to pass through San Juan and given the changes in highway exits and the rush hour that takes quite some time as sometimes we could have walked faster than our car was going. We almost felt like in Los Angeles if we wouldn't have the weird experience of the police cars always driving with the lights on. Initially it is really scary but then we notice that they are always driving with the lights on not only when they intend to stop someone so we continue bravely even after one actually gets behind us (supposedly the official reason for the "always lights on" policy is that this way criminals know that police is in the area and they behave). After passing San Juan the going is faster and we arrive at Hatillo where we stay at the Parador El Buen Cafe (the definition of a parador in Puerto Rico is a local owned accomodation, typically small or one-of-a-kind frequented by guests looking to enjoy the local customs and charm). While it is neither that small or one of a kind it offers a large room which is all we need as we need to dry a lot of our stuff. After eating a dinner from the provisions we bought a day prior we prepare for the next day and then fall asleep.
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