Puerto Rico . . . Colorado Style!!
So once upon a time, Rob and I were in snowy Colorado wondering what to do with our winter vacation. Jealous of the stories one of our best friends, Mike, brought back from Puerto Rico we decided to explore the little island . . . Colorado style.We read in the guide book "The lack of shoulders on most roads, the high number of automobiles on the island and the aggressive style of drivers make bike-touring somewhat risky" and took this as a challenge and promptly bought a cheap bike and snagged dad's old one to bike around Puerto Rico set on experiencing the real culture. |
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the capital of Puerto Rico, at 1:00am. This turned out to be a good time to get in since it allowed us to put bikes together and bike out of the airport down the free way without having to battle the traffic! We biked out of the city along the beach to find a place to sleep we finally found a quiet beach somewhere around Punta Maldonado to crash on around 4:00am. We slept pretty poorly as we were pretty sketched out by people walking by every once in a while. The next morning our the mood greatly improved as we awoke to a beautiful sunrise and listened to the huge waves crashing in. |
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and small towns on the way to rain forest El Yunque. We soon found that the guide book was very accurate as there were no shoulders on the roads for biking and the drivers sped by extremely fast with out even thinking to look for bikers. In some places there was a lot of garbage laying around giving the place a sweet sickly smell. Also, most houses looked run down and sad but surprisingly the majority of cars were quite nice. We made a quick stop in a grocery and got provisions for camping and then started biking up into the rain forest. The road was very steep and wound around many blind curves making it even more sketchy for biking. When we made it to the ranger station we refilled water and got camping permits. The rangers were surprised we wanted to camp in the forest and thought we were crazy and weird to do so. Apparently no one had camped in the forest for quite a while and they felt obligated to document our crazy mountain man ways with pictures . . . and paperwork. We then continued biking up the steep road until we came to a small patch of heaven. It was a cabana nestled in the rain forest selling fresh coconuts and fruit smoothies to drink. It was exciting and strange having our first fresh coconut. It was large and green and full of watery coconut milk that tasted much different from the milk in the coconuts in the stores. After resting at the cabana we continued up higher into the rain forest. |
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a campsite. There were no clear spots so we had to hack a clearing out from underbrush to make a camp, shown on the left. Since we did not sleep well the night before on the beach and after biking all day, we looked forward to sleeping that night. However, sleep did not come because once it got dark, coqui, small frogs that have an amazingly noisy chirp, made noise until morning. We also were visited by some of the rain forest animals through the night. That morning we were perplexed by the inch wide strips of slime tracked across our bivy sacks. That was until we found a 4" snail got inside my bivy sack! As a side note: the only poisonous animal on PR is a centipede that lives in the rain forest and luckily we never found any of those in our sacks! |
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hiking through the hot and misty rain forest. It was a relief to take a dip in a pool . . . which of course shortly turned into waterfall climbing and cliff diving! 
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to climb to the highest point around. Along the way we spotted some vines growing in the forest. We could not help not swinging off a nearby ledge and flying through the foliage, what a rush! Soon after we spotted a second vine nearby . . . which naturally led to the mid-air transition! We also stopped to checkout an old spanish lookout on our hike, but the view was better from the top. From the peak it was beautiful to see the progression of the green rain forest, to the white beach, and finally the bright turquoise of the Caribbean water. |
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to after the first night. It was a shelter on a remote trail that was closed for matanince. It was great to be able to take a break from the constant misty drizzle. Anyway, we were having such a great time playing in the rain forest we decided to stretch out the food and stay an extra day . . . a great plan in theory. We were quite hungry from hiking around on reduced food rations only to find that we accidently picked up a can of beef tripe (cow stomach lining) soup. Obviously we would stay hungry for a while more. |
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finally headed out of the rain forest . . . of course taking the scenic route, . Finally got into a town and put down a colossal pizza. Then peddled into the city of Fajardo and got a room for new year's eve, which was surprisingly quiet. The next morning we took a ferry to the little island of Culebra. This island, which is only about 10 miles by 4 miles big, is the most chill place I have ever been to. Shops and restaurants opened sporadically whenever the owners felt like it. Everyone was very friendly and relaxed. In fact locals even leave their keys in the cars so that other people can move their cars when big produce trucks come down the narrow streets. We also picked up the local habit of taking a siesta around midday, there was no use in fighting it! |
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pristine beach, Playa Flamenco, on a quiet part of the island. From here we biked and hiked across all the island to find the best snorkeling. Some of the better places were Playa Flamenco, Solders Point, Carlos Rosario. Water was very clean and clear and the fish and coral were very bright and colorful. The Scuba diving was amazing also with amazing coral including fire, brain, and fan coral. We saw a lot of neat larger fish in the deeper water along with moray eel, sea turtles, spiny lobster, and barracuda. |
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people. Including Luke from Cincinnati and a bunch of girls, including Kelly, Missy, and Katie, from Penn State. Together we had several beach parties, played bach frizbee and soccer, and went dancing. We were lucky enough to be there during Three Kings day, a huge celebration day there. The whole town was celebrating that night. We moved from club to club, which were sandwhich shops or restaurants by day, salsa dancing and enjoying the live music! |
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we also tasted the local cuisine. This usually consisted of fried or baked chicken, pork, or the local catch from the sea (usually red snapper) along with hefty portions of rice, beans, and fried plantains. My favorite however, was the fruit, mostly grapefruit, and ice cream after spending a tough day basking in the sun and snorkeling in the salty ocean all day! The fresh coconuts off the palms were amazing also. We bought a machete, climbed the palms, cut them open on the spot, and drank the milk! It was neat to taste the different flavors of the milk at different ages. |
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had to head back to colorado to start classes, while I would stay for a few more days. We both sold our bikes to a local rental shop on the island and with his money, Rob got a plane flight back to San Juan to fly back home, getting an amazing aerial view of Culebra, Vieques, and Puerto Rico. I stayed on Culebra for a couple more days and then took the Ferry back to Puerto Rico and then went on to San Juan with Luke, and a few of the girls from Penn State. We went around old San Juan that night catching some amazing live music. The rest of the group took off the next day and I went sight seeing through old San Juan. I spent that last day in Puerto Rico touring the old fort (Fuerte San Felipe del Morro), walking the cobble stone streets and watched some weavers work their magic. Finely, I had to come back to reality, which in my case was snowy Colorado to start up another semester of classes . . . |
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parts of the experience, or want higher resolution copies of what are on the web site, just let me know. Also, don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions. jon.pineau@colorado.edu Check out some pictures from other trips here |