Puerto Rico – Day 2

Want to see Day 1?  Click here.

On Sunday, December 15th, we woke up ready to head out and conquer the western side of Puerto Rico.  Actually, since most of us didn’t have a full night of sleep, we woke up ready to conquer some caffeine.  We made our way to a local sandwich shop called El Meson for coffee, chai, tea, and breakfast snacks.  Each of the rooms in our condo came with its own remote for a separate A/C unit and fan, although we found out this morning that they worked in interesting ways.  Each fan had a light, and after turning mine on only to have it go off a few moments later – three times – Mom confessed that my light going on made hers go on too, and she kept turning it off (in her words, mind you) “to f*ck with you.”  We had a fun round-robin with the fan lights and remotes at that point, trying to figure out the key to crack the algorithm.  Apparently, there is no one remote to rule them all.

Eventually, we headed out to get on the road.  We headed west to to Arecibo, to see the Rio Camuy Cave Park and Arecibo Observatory.  On the way to Arecibo (about an hour and a half drive from Old San Juan), we watched the road go by and looked for monkeys.  According to the interwebs, monkeys were being used as disease-ridden test subjects on a smaller island off San Juan back in the 80s or 90s; eventually, they escaped and swam to the larger island and now live in the forest (probably assaulting the native unicorn population of the island).  According to the webs, the monkeys were captured and sent to the big monkey farm in the sky (well, the webs don’t say that, but we can extrapolate…), but we were still on the hunt.


Monkey?  No, Mom selfie.

The cave park and cavern were really cool.  The main cavern houses three different bat colonies (about 500,000 bats total), and it has tons of amazing, all-natural rock formations and features.  It’s been used as a movie location in the past, and they’re planning on it being in the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie.  


On the train leading to the cavern


Inside the cavern


Jim and I outside the cavern 


Another cavern shot


Mom, Leigh, and I love caverns!

Some of the features of the cavern were seriously spectacular, and our guide, Maria, was great at explaining them, switching seamlessly between Spanish and English.

Maria, showing us the Indian profile: “So as you can see, there’s no way someone could have sculpted this from the rock.” 
Little dude on the tour: “That’s not natural.  That’s manmade.” 
Maria (politely): “No, it’s been like this for tens of thousands of years.”
Dude (interrupting): “No, that’s manmade.”
Maria (under her breath): “Just one tour.  That’s all I ask…”


The Indian Head formation.  It's hard to see,
but the laser pointer is indicating the mouth.
Imagine the Indian saying, "pfft!  Get this laser pointer out of my mouth!"

The cave park also includes some other stops, including a massive sinkhole that spans three different towns.


Making friends outside the Visitor Center

After leaving the cave park, we had lunch at a nearby roadside lechon (roast pork) stand.  The total cost for feeding all of us was $40, including a round of Medalla, a local light beer.  Lunch included delights such as roast pork (of course), crispy pork skin, tostones (flattened, double-fried green plantains), yucca, sweet potatoes, a PR-style tamale, and arroz con granules (yellow rice with onions and small beans).


Thumbs up for pork, plantains, and beer!

After lunch, we proceeded to the Arecibo Observatory, a facility that houses the largest radio telescope dish in the world.  It’s constantly being used for research, but several movies have also been filmed there, most notably Contact and Goldeneye (one of the Pierce Brosnon Bond flicks).  The facility and dish were really cool – just massive.  Three 300 foot towers were built to support the frequency scanner that hangs over the dish, with four tension cables coming off each, with each cable being around 3 feet thick.  The scale of this thing is absolutely huge.


Playing with the exhibits in the Visitor Center


The radio telescope and part of the dish
 

One of the towers to hold up the telescope


We've been blinded...by science!


Jim and Leigh in front of the dish


Mom and I outside the Center


Science has so much to teach us!

After the Observatory, we headed back to San Juan and the condo to chill before dinner.  Driving in PR was a really interesting experience (well, for me, riding in the back of a car in PR was interesting).  Everyone seems to just drive wherever they want, and no one really yields to ambulances or police cars, even when lights are displayed.  It’s kind of a massive free for all, and it led to some really special moments in the trip.  For example, as we were heading back from Arecibo, we saw someone (on the other side of the freeway, thank the sweet baby Jesus) reversing at full speed for a good mile or so to have another shot at the exit they just flew past.


Just a normal day on the PR freeway.
Everyone is sitting still, by the way.


Chilling on the balcony before dinner.
Also, drinking rum.

Once we entered San Juan, creeping along at what seemed a negative rate of speed due to more filming (darn you, Channing Tatum and your amazing abs!), we finally parked the car and made it back to the condo.  With a quick trip out to the SuperMax for supplies, we made mojitos and sat on our balcony, watching the world go by below.  Around 7, we started getting ready then headed out to eat tapas for dinner at El Picoteo, in the nearby Hotel El Convento (nearby as in we could see it from our balcony).  Dinner was good (as was the sangria), but it started on an ominous note.  Bats are everywhere in PR, and during the evening, we could see them flying through the open courtyard of the hotel and past our dining area.  One veered into our section and unfortunately, collided with the ceiling fan, crashing down on the patio next to us.  

Our waiter, who was from (no lie, I swear) Transylvania, swept the bat up with a broom and dustpan and took him to the Recuperation Room for Sad Little Bats who Hit Ceiling Fans.  By which I mean he probably threw the bat in the dumpster behind the restaurant.  I have no clue.  There was sangria involved. 


"We have a bat down!"

After dinner, we headed out to find a cigar store where Mom, Jim, and Chris bought cancer sticks, then brought them back to our condo for enjoyment. 


Also, beer.

Up next – we head east!

Adios!

Amy

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