Day 13- April 27, 2010

Day 13- April 27, 2010

We wanted to get an early-ish start this morning so we checked out at 8:30 and hit the road, of course we didn’t make it very far before the smells of breakfast in Utuado lured us in. It was just as well because in the Café Joel they had the best pastries just waiting for us and free Wi-Fi. We chomped on a Besito de coco (kind of like a coconut muffin) and a Tornillo (similar to an éclair) while looking at all the beautiful photos Adam took of our wedding.

After breakfast we headed in a beeline down south to Ponce. We did a driving tour of Ponce and then continued on east along the coast. We stopped in for a fresh coconut at a seaside shack near Maunabo.

We also stopped for gas at one point where we got Limber (a local style Italian ice). Then we headed to the southern edge of El Yunque, the tropical rainforest and National Park of Puerto Rico. On Route 191 we wove our way into the mountains to our next eco-lodge Casa Cubuy.

There are even more night sounds here with the most notable being the crashing of the nearby waterfall. There are actually several along the valley. The sounds of this place could be used for one of those nature CDs to help you fall asleep. It is simply extraordinary.

We just finished eating dinner at Noelia’s, a restaurant overlooking the valley. I got home and took a shower to get ready for bed and a little friend wanted to join me. It was a coquí, the little flesh colored frogs that we were told were endangered on this island because the iguanas like to eat them! Well as much as I appreciated finally getting to meet Mr. Coquí, I took him downstairs to the garden where I think he will be much happier. But hooray for seeing a coquí!

My back was a little sore yesterday and today from the flight and driving, but hopefully I’ll be well rested tomorrow so we can hike to the waterfall. YEY!

Oh and P.S. at the gas station along with our Limber Caribeño, we got a couple of local sodas Piña Buena and my personal favorite Coco Rico (Pronounced here “Coco Lico”). Mmmmmmm….

------------------------------------

Día 13-

Hoy salimos temprano y deja Utuado para ir a Ponce, en el camino desayunamos: huevos y unos panes que se llaman “besito de coco” y “tornillo.” Manejamos por toda la isla y creo que en total fueron 7 horas de camino que valieron la pena para conocer la isla. Arecibo, el observatorio, cierra en martes, y era algo que estaba esperando. Creo que tendremos que regresar en otra ocasión a esta isla, por otro lado por fin llegamos a el Yunque, Casa Cubuy que es donde nos estamos quedando, está en medio de todo esto. Mañana haremos una caminata a los ríos. Ya veremos que tal.

Today we got out early and left Utuado to go to Ponce, on the way we stopped for breakfast: eggs and some bread called “besito de coco” (kiss of coconut) and “tornillo” (screw…it’s twisted like a screw… and just in case you were wondering, it doesn’t have the same connotation in Spanish :P). We drove all over the island and I think that it was 7 hours in total which was worth it because we were able to see the island. Arecibo, the observatory, is closed on Tuesdays, and that was something I had really been looking forward to. I guess that we’re going to have to return another time. In the end we arrived at El Yunque, Casa Cubuy where we’re staying, it’s in the middle of everything. Tomorrow we’re going to do a hike to the rivers. We’ll see how it goes.