Category: united states

a picturesque cave/cliff/sea ensemble, just east of arecibo, puerto rico. $5 to get in; definitely worth it!

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!

route 181 south of san juan, puerto rico is a very scenic and tortuous drive with many verdant vistas. at the end of the road, i turned east, and made a stop at the el hippie waterfalls on the south edge of el yunque national park, and then had a seaside dinner of red snapper in naguabo, which is known for its great seafood.

ron del barrilito is one of puerto rico’s oldest rum distilleries, in the suburbs of san juan. i went on a tour of their premises, which was interesting, and they provide a nice cocktail at the end as well. the most famous rum distiller in puerto rico and the world is bacardi, but their massive complex was closed due to the covid pandemic. ron del barrilito famously has a barrel of rum from the 1930s which they do not plan to open until puerto rico gains its independence, at which time they plan to give the rum out for free in the town square. however, rum evaporates with time so the barrel is likely almost empty by this point. the staff was very knowledgeable about the distilling process. they lamented the fact that any alcohol exports from puerto rico has to go through the continental u.s., raising their costs and essentially limiting their market to the united states.

san juan is a great city. check out my posts on old san juan / el morro and santurce. here are some other pictures i took around the city.

a cool museum in the santurce area of san juan. they even let me in for free! the outdoor art installations are great to look at as well.

we went hiking in el yunque national park in northeastern puerto rico (only about a 1 hour drive from san juan) – the only true rainforest national park in the united states! it is incredible. definitely don’t miss it if in puerto rico.

ann and i went to puerto rico for about 1 week in january! our first few nights we burned some hyatt points at the hyatt grand reserve resort about an hour east of san juan, which was very nice, and has the largest swimming pool in puerto rico! there were many covid-19 restrictions at the time (beaches closed and nighttime curfew such that we needed to spend the night of our arrival sitting on the floor of the airport rental car center, but all’s good)!

we got food off property to save money, and out favorite was a prolific puerto rican acai bowl franchise called acai express.

further east on the road to fajardo, there is a great strip of beachside restaurants at luquillo. people drive out from san juan for the food along this strip.

one evening we went kayaking on the bioluminescent bay at laguna grande near fajardo, which was truly amazing! puerto rico has 3 of these bioluminescent bays, which have large quantities of bioluminescent dinoflagellates living in the water. In the dark, when these are disturbed by your hand or your kayak paddle, they glow. with time and pollution (especially fuel from motorboats) these organisms are becoming less prolific, so they may not be this bright, or present at all, in the future. the locality has banned motorboats in this lagoon, so hopefully that will keep them glowing into the future.