The Last Day Trip

Yesterday, we went on our last day trip tour. We made our way along a narrow, winding road to an indigenous park. We saw some of what remains of the natives of this island, called Tainos. As near as I can figure, they were contemporaries of our Anasazi back home.

Because it had rained so much the day before, the park was on the muddy side, so we got in for free! The fee would have been less than $10 anyway for all of us, but we were glad to get in free, as it proved to be a little boring. There wasn't a whole lot to see. I guess there's not much left of this ancient culture. It was wiped out when the Spaniards took over the place. Plus, I don't think the humid climate is as good for preserving things as our arid climate back home. 

 Anyway, the park did have a tiny one-room museum, and we saw some rock-lined fields where the Tainos played games and held ceremonies. There was a huge yucca plant we just had to photograph, and a cute little frog in the grass.

 Because of the mud, we decided to find someplace else to eat our lunch, so we drove on down the road and explored a couple of side roads until we found a little town park. We had fresh bread and doughnuts from a panaderia in the area, completing our tour of panaderias. This bread came in a close second to the loaves we got in Ponce. Yummy!

 After lunch, we decided to try the funky ice cream shop in Lares again (the one that closed 5 minutes before we arrived, last time). The downtown streets were super crowded when we got there. In many places, the cars were parallel parked 2 deep! We drove a couple of blocks away from downtown and found a place to park, then hiked back to the shop. We were sure ready for ice cream after that walk!

They had a lot of odd flavors, just like the other place, although I thought the other place was more creative in their flavor combinations. Still, I was grossed out by rice and beans ice cream and aho, or garlic. Yuck! I didn't taste those. The first one I tasted, I found out a little too late, had rum in it. Oops. I ended up getting some kind of cheese ice cream that tasted like a really rich vanilla. Steve got dulce de leche, Katie and Rachel got parcha--or passion fruit--Megan got pistachio, and Jessie stuck with good-old vanilla. 

Like the streets, the shop was super crowded, but we found a place to sit in the back and enjoy our treat. Then, we walked around downtown a little before we headed back to the car.

On the drive back to the condo, we stopped at a fruit stand to get some local fruit. We've had some pretty good eating from the roadside fruit stands! This time, I was able to talk to the guy behind the counter myself and communicate what I wanted. I was proud of my Spanish--that I was understood and could understand what he said in return! We got some luscious pineapple, mangos, guineos (bananas), and a huge avocado! I sure will miss the tropical fruit when we go home.

 I have mixed feelings about coming to the end of this vacation. We sure have enjoyed it! I will miss the ocean, the frequent rain, the green plants, the flowering trees, and the food. But, it will be good to go home, too, and see family again and sleep in my own bed (at least, for 1 night, until we start reunioning!). 

In spite of their love of the beach, the kids are ready to go home too. They've told us a few times lately that they're homesick.  Monday, we will bid a fond farewell to paradise, then on Tuesday head to the airport for our return flights. We'll see you all soon!

A Light on a Hill

We've had a pretty slow week so far, for the most part. We're running out of things to do, and money to do them with. ;-)

On Sunday, we attended another ward where Steve had served as a missionary. He was happy to find an older couple that remembered him! They had fed Steve and the other missionaries every Sunday with what Steve described as the best rice and beans on the island. What was even more amazing than their reunion was the timing: this couple moved to Florida several years ago, and was also here visiting. In fact, last Sunday was the only Sunday they were going to attend that ward. So, Steve was very blessed to be able to reconnect with his friends.

Monday and Tuesday were pretty lazy days for us. It was really rainy on Monday again, so we didn't even get to swim, but made up for it on Tuesday. We even got Katie into the water . . . briefly!

Megan and Rachel are getting good at snorkeling!

Even Katie got in on the fun.

 Yesterday, we had a long day tour. We drove down to the southwest tip of the island. There is no freeway on that side of the island, so we were on highways most of the time, slowing our drive. (Although "freeway" is a misnomer, since the autopista, as they call it, is a toll road.)

We stopped for lunch at one of the two towns who claim to be located where Christopher Columbus landed on his second voyage in 1493. They have a really cool park there, dedicated to Christopher Columbus, with a nice boardwalk along the beach. They even had picnic tables!

Monument to Christopher Columbus

The park had several different areas, with different themes, for the kids to play. There was a cool treehouse, built around a huge ancient-looking tree (maybe it was there when Columbus landed?).  As the branches spread out like an umbrella, the tree puts down roots from the branches, so that they're supported by root "pillars." The kids didn't stay in the treehouse too long, because there were a couple of stray dogs roaming around up there. (The younger girls are absolutely terrified of dogs.)

Before the dogs chased them away.

Looking at some of the roots growing straight down from a branch.

 Then, we took them to a kiddie area for younger kids where there were several ride-on spring toys, statues of mushrooms and candy canes, and cartoon characters painted on the fence. The equipment was a little old fashioned, but that's the kind I like the best!

Steve bought us all an ice cream cone from a nearby ice cream truck, and we ate them on the boardwalk overlooking the beach. It was hard to imagine what that beach looked like in Columbus' day: now there is so much development and so many people. But the beach itself was still as beautiful as it must have been to Columbus' eyes.

 After the park, we drove down to the very southwest tip of Puerto Rico, to a little peninsula where there is an old lighthouse built in the late 1800s. Steve has been there twice before, so he knew the way. The road is in better repair than it was 20 some years ago, and more people have discovered this hidden gem, but there's plenty of room for the groups of visitors to spread out and explore, so we didn't feel crowded.

I had expected to be able to go into the lighthouse and get a tour, but we discovered it in a state of disrepair. The gate around the grounds was rusted and falling apart, the windows were boarded up, and the door locked. There's no sign of catering to tourists at all. But the light in the window turned constantly, so I guess the lighthouse still functions. At any rate, it was a very picturesque spot. I morphed into my avid shutterbug state and took tons of photos!

The lighthouse is located on some cliffs above the ocean, so we walked out to see the views. As there are no safety measures of any kind, we were super cautious with ourselves and the kids (don't worry, Mom!), and stayed back from the edge. It was a gorgeous view, in all directions!

 Then, we found a path that wound along the coast going north. It went down, off the cliffs, and to some really pretty rocky beaches. We also found a natural arch that we'd read about in an online guide, and a big ocean cave. (We didn't go in--just looked at it from above through a hole in the ceiling.) We took lots of pictures and got nice portraits of everyone that we plan to print and hang up at home, plus a really nice family photo.

On the walk down from the lighthouse, back to our car, we went by a gorgeous beach. I wished so much that we could go swimming! But there were no facilities to change into swimming suits or clean up afterwards, so we refrained from getting in the water. Instead, we just took more pictures! (Surprise, surprise)

The Caribbean is a pale turquoise blue, which beautifully compliments the white sandy beaches.

In our guidebook, Steve had read about a nice family restaurant in a nearby coastal city, so we drove east to try and find it. Just as it was getting fully dark, we finally found the place, and it was closed. This time, I don't mean the "we-missed-closing-time-by 5-minutes" closed: I mean the "no-longer-in-business" closed. It was very disappointing.

Luckily, along the dock were several little eating establishments. This is the town where they launch the tours of the other bio bay located on the main island, so we got solicited several times. I was tempted, since they have a glass bottom boat there. But then I remembered that bay is reported to be anemic of the little creatures that cause the glow, so the effect is less than impressive. I didn't want another disappointing experience!

We found a place to get some food that had a covered eating area and some ride-on toys for the kids to play on. The food was overpriced and not very good, but Steve got the rice and beans he's been craving. They also had a gift shop where we found some cute little coqui frogs, and Katie and I bought conch shells to cram into our suitcases for the trip home. I used my threadbare Spanish in this place, as they didn't seem to speak English, but in the end I had to rope Steve into helping me. I would ask them a question in hesitant Spanish, and they'd reply in rapid gun-fire Spanish that I couldn't understand!

We got away kind of late and had a long drive home, so we didn't get back to our condo until 1:00am. I guess we're trying to change our body clocks back to the time at home so it won't be such a shock when we get back next week!

Catching Up

I'm a little behind. I skipped writing about our activities on Monday in my emotional duress from the events on Tuesday, so I'll try to catch up.

On Monday, we drove down to the southern side of the island again, to the second biggest city in Puerto Rico--Ponce. It's named for Ponce de Leon, and the city really plays up its name. We went to the central town square where they have lion statues everywhere. Each lion has been decorated by a different artist. We took pictures by several of them, but didn't get them all, by any means.

 

At the town square, they also have an old firehouse called El Parque de Bombas. It's just a little building, but it's full of character. We saw an old fire engine and several old helmets and tools.

Looking down into the old well the firefighters used for their water supply. It's full of coins, now!

We're making it a habit to tour the panaderias of Puerto Rico, buy their fresh bread (or sometimes, not so fresh), and get a pastry or doughnut for the kids. So, we found a place in Ponce to get bread for our lunch. It was the best bakery so far! We had to walk about 5 blocks to get there, and in the humidity it almost did us in. We were all dragging by the time we got to the store. After making our purchases, Steve left to go fetch the car and give us chauffeur service while the kids ate their goodies. There was a funny little ride there ofTom and Jerry that the three younger girls all wanted to try.

 

We had our picnic lunch on the Carribean Sea again. We found a public beach this time with a little spot in the shade where the kids waded in the water (we didn't bring swim suits). We've found it difficult to find picnic tables in Puerto Rico. Even at the parks and public beaches, where you'd expect them, they are conspicuously absent. So, Steve held out his hands to be my table while I fixed sandwiches for everyone with the fresh bread. Delicioso!

 

Our last stop of the day was at an art museum in Ponce. It was a little sophisticated for the kids, but we told them we had taken them to the children's museum, and now it was their turn to "take us" to a grown-up museum. I don't think they were TOO bored. They found some art that they liked, and we took lots of pictures. I discovered that this museum is the home of one of my favorite paintings: Flaming June. I had no idea when we planned our trip there! So, that was a fun discovery to make.

The statue is holding a tooth in pliers. The artistic dentist?

The original Flaming June!

Now, I'm going to use my time machine ;-) and skip ahead to Thursday. We didn't do much beside laundry on Wednesday, and that's boring, so I'll spare you the details. Actually, on Thursday, we didn't do a lot either. It had rained all day on Wednesday, so we couldn't take the kids swimming as we'd promised to do. (By the way, I thoroughly enjoyed the rain! It was so great to see so much water falling from the sky!) So, on Thursday we took another "down day" and went to a swimming pool at the nearby hotel. The pool in our condo complex is being remodeled, so our condo owner got us passes to the pool at the hotel next door.

 

It was a really nice pool, with 4 separate swimming areas, 2 of them specifically for little kids. We parked next to the kiddie pool and let the kids enjoy themselves until they got hungry for lunch, about 2 1/2 hours.

I'm almost up to speed now.

We had to get a picture by the coqui frog!

Yesterday, we drove west to see Camuy Caves. I really enjoy caves, and Steve missed this site when he lived here before, so this was a must-see. When we arrived, we missed a tour by about 5 minutes and had to wait around for 45 minutes before another started. We sorely regretted our tardiness, as we ended up on a tour with a large group of school kids who were boisterous and noisy and made the tour very difficult, even for the guide. The guide said school groups and tourists are supposed to be separated, and only about 30 people are supposed to be on a tour at a time: we had around 60. So, it was just a little hectic, as you can imagine. They also gave us electronic players, like a self guided tour, that we had to balance with the live tour guide's explanations. I have a handicap, in that I cannot concentrate on more than one thing at a time (don't ever ask me to multi-task!), so the situation ended up being rather stressful for me.

But, in spite of that, I enjoyed the beauty of the cave. It was different from other caves I've visited because there were several large openings to the outdoors where plants and water dripped down. That was a gorgeous sight! The third largest underground river in the world runs through this cave system, although the rains from a couple of days before had swollen the river and knocked out the lights, so we didn't get a very good view of the river itself. But we could hear it! Steve had expected a large rushing river, but it was fairly small and calm. 

My camera gave me grief that day, so the photos aren't the best. They certainly don't do it justice!

At one point, we came to an area open to the sky above where several long tree roots hung down like vines and water dripped from the edge. (The guide said the limestone rock of the cave soaks up water like a sponge, so it's constantly dripping.) Leaves falling from the trees drifted lazily down into the cave to the underground river, exposed at this point, far below. It was the kind of thing I've seen in video games or movies, but never in real life. It was so beautiful! 

 

After the cave, we went to the Arecibo Observatory. This is a humongous dish that receives and transmits radio waves from and to space for scientists to analyze. It was featured in one of the James Bond movies (with Pearce Brosnan) and in the movie Contact. It was really neat to see this huge structure in person!

Unfortunately, by this point in the day, the kids were getting pretty tired. Jessie actually fell asleep in the museum while we waited for our tour of the dish. Megan wasn't far behind. She was like a wet noodle, hanging on me. But, she perked up when we got back to the car.

Our last stop was going to be another funky ice cream shop, located in a town south of the caves. But, we arrived 6 minutes after they closed! I guess we were just running a little bit late all day.

Today is another down day. We cleaned house and did laundry. The tide is super low today: the lowest we've seen. The "pencil" out in the water is completely exposed. But, it's the weekend, so there's a party going on down the beach and lots of people out walking the sand. Maybe we'll throw on our bathing suits and join them!

El lapiz - the pencil. We could walk all the way out there today in shallow water.

Fly in the Ointment

I guess if we had a perfect vacation, where everything went off without a hitch, we'd arouse far too much jealousy in our readers, so we thought we'd throw in a less-than-stellar day. I'll start with the worst, even though it happened last, because then I can end on a more positive note.

There are three "bio-bays" in Puerto Rico: which are bays that house organisms much like underwater fireflies. So you can go there at night, and if you move the water, it glows. I was really excited to see this phenomenon. I figured it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that would be well worth the exorbitant fees the tour guides charge to take you there by boat or kyak. Steve wasn't so sure, but I talked him into it. The minimum age to ride in a kyak to the bay we chose in Fajardo was 6, so unless we wanted to leave Steve and Jessie behind, we had to take the electric motor boat. After some trouble contacting one of the 2 boat tour companies, I made a reservation for last night. This in itself was a little of a problem, because last night the moon was half full, and the fuller the moon, the less obvious the effect of the glow. But this proved to be a moot point, anyway.

We got to the dock right on time and forked over our hard-earned cash. It was over $250 for all 6 of us; by far the most expensive thing we're doing here on this island next to buying groceries. They had told us to be there half an hour early, so we sat and waited. The time for the boat to leave came and went, and still we waited. Finally, at 7pm, after all the kyaks had left, we were able to board the boat and head to the bio-bay.

The boat ride to the bay was fun. It winds through a red mangrove like a living water tunnel, and it was really interesting to see these unique trees and hear the guide talk about them. When we got to the bay, it wasn't fully dark yet, so we motored out across and the guide showed us photos on his tablet computer of some of the animals in Puerto Rico, including turtles, and frogs.

Then, finally, the "captain" of the boat said the glow effect was beginning, so the tour guide handed us each a long stick so we could put it in the water and cause the organisms to glow. I was busy helping Jessie and didn't get my camera out right away. This proved to be a mistake. We couldn't have been looking at the glow for more than 5 minutes, before I realized we were about to re-enter the channel that would take us back. At first I thought I must be mistaken: it wasn't even fully dark yet, we'd had hardly any time to enjoy the bio bay itself, I didn't even get a picture of it. I wasn't mistaken. Before we knew it, we were back in the mangroves, and the glowing water was gone. Steve and I were a little angry. But we're not the kind of people to speak up and complain. Sometimes I wish I were; I would have given that captain a piece of my mind. On the Internet, they'd indicated that the tour was supposed to be 2 hours long.  We were back at 8pm: just one hour after we left.

This is about the only picture I got in the bay: of the old lighthouse and the kayaks I wish I'd been in!

The kayaks were still in the bay when we beat a hasty retreat. I think the boats probably had to get out first to avoid accidents in the dark with the kayaks, but it still seemed to me like our captain rushed things. I really wished we'd been able to take the tour by kayak: that would have made the trip worthwhile. As it was, Steve and I both felt cheated.  We drove 2 hours to get to that side of the island, paid all that money, then didn't get the "glowing" experience we'd expected. (It's good that I can still smile about this, right?)

So, you win some and you lose some, and sometimes you lose a lot. I'll get over it eventually. (I hope.)

Our other dim experience came earlier in the day. I've been wanting to take the kids snorkeling, and I read online about a beach in the area of the bio-bay that was supposed to have good snorkeling for beginners. The report also said their restroom facilities weren't the best, but I figured we could put up with that for the sake of snorkeling.

The first problem surfaced (okay, I'm just punny today!) when we tried to find a place to rent snorkeling gear. We drove around for a long time, looking for a sporting goods place, a tour guide company, or anyplace that even hinted they might have equipment. All we found were lots of little food places advertising beer. We finally asked the guard at the parking lot (it cost us $5 to park at that beach), who said there wasn't anyplace to rent, you had to buy. So, we drove a couple of miles back to a Walmart. Unfortunately, an adult snorkeling set cost more than our budget would allow, but we did buy a child's set and headed back to the beach.

Since we were far away from our condo, we had to change into bathing suits there at the beach. I discovered that the restroom facilities were far more horrible than even the Internet report said they were. When we arrived, the water was shut off, so none of the toilets had been flushed. (I'll spare you the gory details.) We changed in the non-functioning shower stalls and went to the beach.

By my standards, it was crowded, but I'm a hermit so normal people would probably think it was okay. The wind was blowing pretty strong, making the water choppy and unsuitable for snorkeling, especially by young beginning snorkelers who are not good swimmers. Plus, I couldn't figure out where the snorkeling was supposed to be. I didn't have an adult snorkeling set to venture off and try to find the place, and none of our kids know what they're doing enough to find it on their own, so we soon gave up on the snorkeling idea.

We found a place in the shade and ate our picnic lunch. I'm starting to believe that nobody in Puerto Rico ever goes on a picnic, except to the rain forest, because you can never (and I mean, NEVER--even at parks) find a picnic table. The only time we did was at the rain forest. All our other picnics have been fixed standing up, usually with the wind trying to rip the sandwich ingredients out of our hands. Yesterday was no exception. But, at least we're getting good at this type of picnic after all our practice.

The kids had a good time playing on the beach, in spite of my disappointment in the snorkeling.  I think they enjoyed having actual waves to play in; although, later Rachel said she preferred the calmer waters around our condo. Steve and I went in the water and swam a little, and Steve even played in the sand.

When it was time to go, we had some trouble cleaning up. By then, they'd turned the water back on at the restroom, although we discovered the indoor showers still didn't work. We were able to wash off some of the sand in an outdoor shower, at least, and get cleaned up enough to change.

The saving grace of the day was dinner. In our travels around the area, we'd spotted a place that looked like it had authentic Puerto Rican fare. So, we headed back there after the beach for dinner. It was a great place! Perfect for families! They had a lot of stuff on their menu, including fried chicken and french fries for the kids, seafood for me, and authentic rice and beans for Steve. Plus, their prices were really good. We got a ton of good food for a low cost, and ended up bringing home leftovers we can eat for lunch today.

It wasn't a completely wasted day, by any means. We had some good experiences, and we had fun in spite of the setbacks. What's more important, we were all together and enjoying the day as a family, and that's really what this vacation is all about.