We had to stop at one of Jason's favorite places "Red Box" to drop off some movies.
BTW, there are Walgreen's all over Puerto Rico. It is like ABC stores in Hawaii....they are everywhere. Like Starbucks in Seattle... or maybe churches in Utah...
Our favorite Puerto Rican word besides Chevere! Mofungo is a Puerto Rican dish made up of fried plantains. But it also is a funny thing to call someone when one is angry.
First, we went to El Yunque. After a nice drive through PR, we came upon the rainforest entrance and snaked up a windy hill to find a waterfall. This is a park and look kind of waterfall - the kind that makes you park, get out of the car, look, then leave :) Not much else too it due to time constraints.
We also saw some little lizzards on our way back to the car. They are almost impossible to see, even when you are looking for them... but every so often one will move, and then it's like those pictures hidden inside another picture and you see 2, then 3 then 5!
After some bug spray application, it was time to get back into the car and head up the road to see what we could find. We stopped at a look out spot and took in this awesome view.
Then after one more stop we found THE TRAIL. Ok, there is more than one trail, but based on the timing of our day, we had to go with the shorter version, which thankfully was also the easier hike. On our way down we saw people go by us, panting, asking how far they are from the end... same thing towards the end near the waterfall, only those people hadn't yet forgotten that it was worth the trip and were encouraging us to keep going because we only had a little bit left to go.
Along the way we took some photos... didn't see any wildlife, but heard some for sure. Then Jason decided he would go against his friend's advice and go OFF THE TRAIL! Jason!! Oh, he's not going far... but he's going down this super steep part of the trail and he's using trees and vines for support... until he discovered that one of the trees he reached for was rotted out, and it fell apart in his hand... luckily there was another tree to support him... oh geez... good thing you got a picture out of it, huh?
Back to the trail, and the heat, and the sweating... but it wasn't too bad really because the sun wasn't on us. Thank you rainforest and your natural shade! Finally, the big finish! We reached the waterfall at last! And you know what? We were just hot enough to strip down to the bathing suits we were wearing and take turns going in. Anthony watched our stuff while we all went in and eventually he traded out with Jason and Heather so he could take a little dip.
Jason went first, then came back to put his shoes back on. Those rocks are rough and slippery too, hard to navigate barefooted. We were so shocked how fast he got in, and went all the way under the water! Nice job Jay! Then it was Amy's turn. She took A LOT longer to get out there due to her barefootedness and total opposition to soggy sneakers and feet that won't dry. Man oh man, that was the best feeling of the day. Getting in the icy cold water couldn't have been more revitalizing! When she finally got out of the water (which is always hard, no matter what body of water it is, or pool, or tub - she loves water that one...) she hauled butt back to the car keeping a crazy pace for the whole crew. She was unstoppable! So... the question is, how do we get a waterfall at work so she can start her day off right? Heather had debated on if she would wear her suit that day or not, and we think she was glad she did! She joined in on all the fun and froze her little booty off with the rest of us. Nice job Heatheraise! Glad you could join us at our little spa!
Finally, after some begging, Anthony joined in. Only after he fell twice (as shown once above)... told you those rocks were slippery! But he was alright and got cooled down enough for the trip back to the car.
Once we got back and dried off a little (but not all the way... p-shaw... this is a rental yo!) we were on our way to Fajardo. Needless to say, it's Puerto Rico... so we got lost, but along our travels we saw iguanas in the road!
Amy said, "Whoa, slow down! There's an iguana in the road!" No, that's just a plastic bag... "No, really, it's a frigin' iguana dude!" And sure enough, it was, and then there were two! So COOL! So... why did the iguana cross the road? He's a thrill seeker, that's why. This car came out of nowhere from behind us and, we think, aimed right for the iguana... luckily he survived another day... We found our parking space and had limited time before the tour was to start. We didn't want to miss our kayak tutorial! So we had to eat dinner at whatever place we could find within walking distance. So between a closed down crap shack and another closed down crap shack was a super sketchy looking crap shack... and that, my friends, is where we ate. The food was not that bad, and actually the cheese appetizer was something Amy would love to order again... but the crap shack came with an unexpected surprise... Angry Starving Bugs. Yeah, we each walked away from that place with at least a couple welts, I mean, bug bites. While Jason was hosing Heather and Amy down with bug spray in the parking lot, Anthony was getting eaten alive. We'll probably post the picture later, as it was taken later in the trip, but when we were in the airport we counted his bug bites... Amy had been bite quite a bit on the trip, and she had 33 bug bites, all told. But Anthony? 40! 40 freakin' bug bites! And most all of them were from that restaurant. Thanks for holding down the table babe, but for future reference we know how tasty you are...
Fish and Mofungo all in one dish.
After leaving the crap shack, the place where we told them we were in a hurry and needed everything super fast but then took forever and half to feed us and take our money even tho we were the ONLY customers within a 20 mile radius of the place, we headed over to our destination. After a short tutorial we headed out.
Anthony and Amy in one Kayak and Heather and Jason in another, we followed our group and guides through a bay into a canal and out into another bay. On the way we saw some wildlife, mostly iguanas, and got some information about the mangroves. Our tour guides were great. Really funny too. We don't have any pictures because the guides suggested not bringing your camera for fear it would get wet or lost. But, the memories are there. Once we got out into the bay, it was almost dark. The guides gave us some information about the area, the lighthouse in the distance, the bay, the stars, and finally they had us move our hands in the water. As we did, the water around our hands illuminated - so cool! The guides gave us some time to paddle around and play with the water. We weren't allowed to swim, but we still had fun regardless.As we started to head back, other tours were coming out onto the bay. This made for an extra interesting trip back to our home base since it was now completely dark out, and the canal was no longer a one way street. We did our best to keep to the right and navigate around the new kayakers, but there were a few incidents. Then we struggled because the group in front of us was the only thing we had to go on as far as a guide in the right direction, so since they didn't know what the eff they were doing, and kept crashing, we kept crashing, and it was no bueno. But finally we kept our distance and did better, until the group in front had a really bad crash and we passed them like bats out of you know where. The rest of the ride back was great and we were sorry the night had to end.
Finally we paddled back to shore, had some water and fruit provided by our tour guides.
We got back in the car for our drive home. Once home, everyone cleaned up and it was time for some homemade tuna sandwiches, and guacamole. We watched Zombieland since Jason talked it up so much. Overall, it was a great day!
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