The best adventures are those that are not planned...

This one is a little long since we haven’t updated in two days.  We’ll post pictures as well for those who don’t have time to read.

Well…we’re off to San Juan today.  It has been a relaxing four days in the rain forest, but we are ready to move on.  On Monday, we went on a short hike from the Casa Cubuy.  They own all the property in front of the lodge, so there is about a 7 minute hike zig-zagging down the mountain to the beautiful waterfall that you see in all the pictures.  To continue our hike, we crossed the river (on the rocks) and then took off through the woods.  The trail was marked sporadically with caution tape tied around tree branches and trunks to mark the way.  Other than trying to pick our way over the rocks, the first leg of the journey was pretty straightforward.  After about 10 minutes or so we came to a second river that we needed to cross.  This one was a bit trickier.  Climbing the rocks and getting across wasn’t too hard, but finding the trail on the other side was a little more difficult.  We left Emily’s towel behind to help us find it on our way back.  After that it was a few more minutes before we wound our way back around to the Cubuy (further down stream) to some really nice swimming holes.  We spent about 30 minutes hanging out just being together and enjoying the solitude.  On our way back, we lost the trail a couple of times which made it more interesting to say the least!  But other than a couple of scrapes and blisters it was a totally success.  We were worried at first because this is the same hike that the family had done the day we arrived and they were caught on the other side of the river when all the rain caused the rivers to surge.  But we picked a much nicer day for the hike.

A little later in the afternoon we decided to drive up the mountain to where the road was closed and walk along the first section of the closed highway.  We were told that about 20 minutes in there was an area with cabanas where people could picnic.  We were confused as we were hiking because the road looked really well kept for an abandoned road.  We were even more confused when we got to the cabanas to see a parking lot with freshly painted lines and the cabanas were really new looking.  It was kind of creepy – a mix between Jurassic Park and Dharmaville.  It was then that we realized that the sinkhole we passed on the way in must have forced the closure of this section of road relatively recently.  Past the parking lot, the road was closed again, and that road was definitely abandoned.

Our big adventure on Monday came when we tried to go to dinner.  Apparently the restaurant is closed on Monday and Tuesday.   So instead of a 2 minute drive down the mountain we found ourselves on a 45 minutes trek into Fajardo to continue what is now officially a tradition – eating at a Pizza Hut once on every major trip!  It was pretty good, though the service was a little slow.  Our ratings of Pizza Huts now stand at 1) York, England, 2)Fajardo, Puerto Rico, 3)Live Oak, and 4) Gainesville.  The Gainesville Pizza Huts would be ranked lower if we had more numbers.

On Tuesday we lazed around most of the morning, took another walk on the abandoned road, and then headed off to Fajardo to experience kayaking in the bioluminescent bay.  We first went down to Naguabo (the closest town) and took a stroll down by the beach.  It was cute and worn out all at the same time.  We got some pretty  interesting pictures of a burned out Victorian house, though.  On our way into Fajardo, we had some interesting trials with the iPhone and Google Maps.  We had some wrong turns and some turn-arounds but we eventually made it down to the water front – after passing a Disney-esque resort – El Conquistador.  We at dinner at a little seaside shack called Popeyes – and Emily did another great job with her Spanish.  We were going to eat at a sit-down restaurant called Blue Bahia (Blue Bay), but when we saw that soup cost $17.95 and the lobster was $44, we decided to give it a miss.  We figured if they let you in wearing shorts, the soup should not cost $18!  Popeyes was probably better anyway.  After dinner we changed into our bathing suits in what could loosely be called public restrooms and then discovered Emily’s missed call from Eco-Action tours.  Apparently, all kayaking tours for the day had been called off by the mayor of Fajardo!  All of that travel (not to mention using those “restrooms”) for nothing!  We quickly decided that the adventure was worth it – our only other option would have been to stay at the lodge – which would have been boring.  So, we made lemonade from our lemons and enjoyed the fact that we explored a new place.

So here we are half-way through and ready for new adventures in Old San Juan.  We’ll keep you posted.  Thanks for reading! Adios!

-Cary