the city of arecibo on the north coast of puerto rico isn’t particularly noteworthy, but there are some interesting things in the area. one is the “statue of the new world.” it is a massive statue of christopher columbus arriving via ship in the new world that no one wanted, yet the puerto rican government bought it. thus, people don’t seem to like it very much, and it is deserted and fenced off.
another interesting thing south of arecibo is the arecibo radiotelescope. this is the largest radiotelescope in the world, and is operated by the u.s. government. unfortunately, just a month before i was there, the central part of the telescope which was suspended via cables over a large dish collapsed, and they announced that the site would be closed down forever. it is currently closed to visitors, so this was as close as i could get. you can see the towers that held up the suspension cables.
later, on our last day in puerto rico, my friend jake and i returned to the area to go ziplining at toro verde adventure park, which was epic! for $100, you get to ride about 8 different impressive ziplines, back and forth over a large jungle valley. their piece de la resistance is called the monster, which is over 2 miles long, making it the second longest zip line in the world. you do this one lying on your stomach and face first, which was exhilarating!
