Final cut: the jungle, and other Puerto Rican art

El Yunque: Puerto Rico's crown jewel  and the only tropical rain forest in U.S. forest system

What is the sound of one leaf dying?

It is the thud you hear behind you in the unworldly quiet of the El Yunque rain forest, Puerto Rico's crown jewel. A rain forest, and yet some large falling leaves are desiccated and curled inward, providing the least air resistance as gravity tugs them loose and they plummet to the forest floor, giving the sound of a footfall.

A downed leaf, broad enough to span the footpath, lies dead on the El Yunque trail.

There are no animals large enough to give such sound. Even the mongooses are so light on their feet

Coque & thumb

that they can move silently. In the night or after a downpour the tiny coque frog makes a croak that is enormous for its size. There is good reason for the volume --- the frog is searching for love and scaring away rivals. But the lizards make no sound, when they dart, leap (yes, Orphan Annie, there are leaping lizards!)  and peek out from under a leaf, characters in a silent movie.

There seem to be no mosquitoes. The soft buzz I could hear was of my own making; it was from the blood coursing through the vessels in my head, which create the roar of the sea when you hold the shell to your ear.  But day and night, quiet as it is, Puerto Rico's jungle is alive. It never sleeps -- it creeps. Silently. It is constantly growing somewhere.

I have seen such tiny lizards leap at least a foot from one surface to another.

Its leaves flat against a tree trunk, a vine makes a stealthy ascent, as if to avoid notice.

A man-sized leaf arches over the footpath.

As I moved along one  narrow path in the forest, a gossamer spider strand caught my forehead. Beard stubble gathered the humidity into droplets. My camera lens, cooled by the car's air conditioner, steamed up in the open air. No worry about glasses clouding as well -- cataract surgery has replaced them with 20-20 vision. I found no thorns or stinging plants and only one very large, languid bee.

At 110 miles wide, Puerto Rico is too small to afford an excuse for missing a visit to El Yunque.  It has trees that are more than 1,000 years old, a cloud forest, and 200 inches of rain a year, enough fresh water from eight watersheds to support 11 percent of the island's population.

After a deluge, the water doesn't stream down this wall like this -- it shoots out past the edge.

This pool was just a short walk from the road.

There are hummingbirds, 150 types of ferns, 225 tree species, and 70 species of orchids. Epicites clinging to the sides of trees find their nutrition in the air and rain. El Yunque has the island's best hiking, and in 2005, 10,000 acres were designated as the first tropical wilderness area of the U.S. Forest Service.

Rough Rider Teddy Roosevelt, a hero of the Spanish American War that allowed the United States to acquire Puerto Rico,  made El Yunque one of the nation's first forest preserves.

"Lush" begins to capture the sense of the density of the forest, and the roads take the visitor into its lush depths. Experience that lush vicariously through the photos that follow:

Look carefully -- you may spot the guard rail. There's a steep drop on the other side.

The tree beside this two-lane road is a major landmark.

The tree photographed above is thick, rock solid, and very tall. It is one of the Arboles Campeones ("Champion Trees), and the largest known specimen in Puerto Rico.

Flowers of the forest

What follows are the flowers and fruit to be discovered at El Yunque.

Three variety of fungi in the forest

There are 50 species of Passion Flower in the forest.

Not a parasite. It's an "epicite that clings to the tree and feeds on air and rainfall.

The colors seem surrealistic at times.

The Hiking Trail

There's an El Yunque trail that climbs about 1,000 feet from the main road passing through the park.

The jungle prepares to swallow you as you ascend the steps from the trailhead.

Bark that peels off the tree trunks can end up flattened for solid footing on muddy paths.

A rain shelter for any unexpected and sudden downpours. Some didn't survive Hurricane Maria.

Yellow Brick Road

Puerto Rico is an old island with a lot of weathering and it shows in the iron-rich soil.

Does this suggest the Yellow Brick Road?

The hydrological cycle can turn this into a yellow clay bed.

The same colors show in the stone in this waterfall.

Small wonder that El Yunque Trail is referred to as the "bath of gold" trail.

South of the El Yunque summit was steep Mount Britton, with its distinctive tower (see insert).

Hurricane Maria's devastation made  necessary  a new road and wall to the El Yunque summit. 

The concrete building at the summit looks to be able to survive another hurricane.

Lichen and a vine grace the outside of the lookout at El Yunque's summit.

Public Art

I didn't stay in San Juan, so this post won't show some of the spectacular architecture of the island's capital. With some exceptions, I'm sharing art that reflects the spirit of ordinary contemporary folk. Let's start with some of the earliest art, such as the petroglyphs below:

Those boulders are granite, so the ancient carvings took some doing. Note images in the inset.

Puerto Ricans like to express themselves, as this roadside art reveals:

That's the Puerto Rican flag  painted on that granite boulder.

Come around that narrow corner too fast and you might not notice the street monitors (see inset).

Well, why shouldn't a bridge guard railing be colorful?

A bus stop, and a mosaic saying the city of Jayuya is "blessed by God"

Why should a building face a street with a drab wall, when you can have color and action?

A ramp to a food bridge over the river.

A Dalmatian fire plug, left. Right: perhaps Jayuya's emergency phone number linked to the phone.

Who would expect a police station adorned with a flower and butterfly?

In a Ponce shop, a vejigante mask stares up from my Tilley hat.

The photo at the left is a joke. I collect hats, and I wanted an authentic Puerto Rican hat. This is as authentic as it gets: it was made of paper in China. (The Chinese started making paper thousands of years ago, so I guess that makes this hat sort of authentic.) Masks like the paper-mache vejigante mask in the photo above are created for Ponce's carnival in February. They reflect African, Native American and possibly Grecian and Roman influences.

The furniture below is neoclassical, dating to the 19th Century. It's on display in a free museum in Guayama, Casa Cautiño, which had  been the home of a sugar, cattle and coffee baron.

A church that overlooks the town square in Guayama.

Well, as Forest Gump would say, that's all I have to say about that.

Petroglyph

Travel tips:

I hope you have enjoyed the posts on Puerto Rico. I think it will be worth at least one return visit, and maybe more. It's easy to get to, the air fare is reasonable, and it's possible  to find English-speaking individuals in this heavily Latino island. If you decide to go there, be aware of these points, particularly with regard to car rentals:

• If you drive, taking a Garmin GPS  with you isn't a bad idea, because it doesn't depend on a cell tower. The agency may want to rent you one for more than the price of the car. I bought one ahead of time for my two-week stay and saved money.
• Before you leave the rental agency, identify a landmark your Garmin can recognize. I was able to confidently find my way back after Googling a BBQ restaurant near the agency.
• If you reserve a car ahead of time, ask them what the fee is for using the freeways.
• Don't depend on getting the car you requested. However, if you order a compact and get an SUV, you will likely pay the lower price -- in my case, $11 per day.
• The SUV handles mountain roads better, but mountain roads are difficult at night, and SUVs can make passing other vehicles a very tight squeeze -- not something you want to do in the dark.
• If you stay in San Juan, you might consider renting a car only for excursions out of town.
• El Yunque is a must-see. 
• I found that spending $20 for Fodor's Travel: Puerto Rico made sense. It's not long -- read it before you go.

Love,

Robert

"That's all, folks!'