Rain in the Rain Forest...Who Would Have Guessed.

Thursday May 24, 2997

By: Kendal Tate

After visiting a dry forest, it only seemed appropriate to tour an actual RAIN forest! Early this morning, I got ready to head out to the El Yunque Rain Forest. This place is absolutely breath taking. Our tour guide, Jose Morales, gave us a synopsis of what kinds of plants; birds, monkeys (that we were not allowed to photo because they have rabies and get mad, plus we didn’t see any) and insects are in the rain forest. The environment was so green and full of life and sounds.

Picture 1: Caterpillars in the rain forest, with the babies!

Along the way, Jose pointed out snails that were edible (if one were to be lost in the forest and needed to know how to survive) and where the poison ivy was located, as to avoid it at all costs! When our hike paused (on the path, that I do not believe is historic!) I was able to see the waterfalls. They are incredible; the water is ice blue and a wonderful cool temperature. As you can imagine, what makes more sense than rain in the rain forest? That’s right, while we were playing, photographing and recording the waterfalls; it started to pour down rain. I was prepared with my poncho in bag, but after sweating buckets it didn’t seem appropriate to let the rain get the best of me. Eventually, it did.

Picture 2: This is before I fell on the rock...KJW took a great shot of the waterfall!

After retrieving my camera from KJW, she took my photo in front of the giant waterfall, I was following Wes to another area that was beautiful. I laughed at him for slipping and falling down on a rock. Well I learned karma sucks, because after pointing and laughing at him, I did the exact same thing…I fell down really hard and spun ¼ of the way around. Wes tried to capture the shot on film, but failed. The next day, I had a bruise…a real documentation of my journey through the rain forest. Anyway, after hiking down the rainforest, and the millions of stairs…surprisingly yes there are stairs in the rain forest, I realized I would have to hike up those stairs! I was not a happy camper. But with KJW as the leader, the 30-minute hike seemed to take ten minutes. For every one step she took, I think I managed to take four! We finally made it back through the rain forest, and on the bus to head to the Luquillo Beach.

Picture 3: Bamboo plant in the rain forest, and what my cups are made out of.

Luquillo Beach is a beautiful beach with a view that goes for miles. The water seems endless and although the sky was covered with rain clouds, I was able to imagine what the sky would look like on a non-cloudy day. This beach had incredibly soft sand, palm trees to provide shade, and clear blue Atlantic Ocean water. Every beach we have been to so far has had beautiful, blue water. It must come with being on an island, everything is much more serene and peaceful. I spent my time on the beach not in the water, but enjoying the scenery and the towel I was laying on. I took a nap; I was exhausted from the hike through the rain forest, and nothing is better than a beach nap. Before loading onto the bus for San Juan, I found a cute, older gentleman selling bamboo cups. Now these were one-of-a-kind cups, nothing I had ever seen before. He was a very sweet man who let me choose my cups and for a reasonable price, I had a complete bamboo set. The man said that the cups should last a lifetime, and if I had any problems to give him a call (his card was included with a purchase.) After making my purchase, I headed to the bus to continue on our voyage toward San Juan, Puerto Rico.