El Yunque rainforest
In Puerto Rico, Paradise is a 45–minute drive from San Juan
A 45–minute drive from San Juan lies El Yunque National Forest, a federally protected rainforest of coolly stunning beauty, home to some of the world’s most endangered species.
Of all the things Walt missed on this trip, this is the one I felt worst about.
Puerto Rican nationalism notwithstanding, this is the only U.S. national forest that also happens to be a rainforest. I can say without fear of contradiction that it’s one of the most beautiful spots in the world.
It’s not called a rainforest for nothing. It would take San Diego about a millenium to get the amount of rainfall this area receives in a year.
Like Ferngully in Jamaica, its heavily forested mountains are a wonderful refuge from the tropical heat at the lower elevations.
If you happen to be in Puerto Rico in the summer months, and the overheated humidity is weighing on you like a ton, this is a great area to spend a day.
The only problem: Once, you get the chance to cool out amid the all the greenery, the streams and the waterfals, you may not want to go back down.
Among the benefits of all that rainfall are multiple waterfalls, but we were ony able to enjoy a couple that were closest to the highway, since we lacked hiking gear, and Irene’s shoes especially would have had her skating over the wet, rocky terrain as if she were on skates.
Even so, what we were able to see from the vantage of the road was more than enough to justify the drive up from San Juan.
Beautiful as this place is, though, it’s also a battleground of sorts. There is more than a score of plant species in here that literally are found nowhere else on Earth.
Elsewhere on the island are other forests, along with one of the world’s more extensive and recently discovered cave systems, complete with underground rivers. But if your tastes runs more to sheer beauty and serenity than adventure, El Yunque has plenty of both.
To learn more about this special place, go to this site. For even more info and images, click here.