波多黎哥 Puerto Rico part 2

I have always had a fascination with tropical rainforests 熱帶雨林 and so when I had the chance to go to El Yunque National Forest I took it. I have been to others but our visit there I guess really drove home the reason why they call these rain forests. The photo here was taken in the middle of the day.

It started as a drizzle and when we started climbing into the mountains it turned into a steady downpour. We had to buy ponchos for the trip. Fortunately, this Caribbean rain forest is apparently one of the safest in the world. There are no large dangerous wild animals and few poisonous things. By contrast, our treks in rain forests in other parts of the world have been in the midst of all sorts of ominous growls and unusually deadly insects. A friend of mine encountered an orangutan who took her can of Coca Cola and I guess drank it down. It does bad enough things to the human digestion, one can only wonder what it would do to his. By contrast, we had a delicious banana smoothie (the bananas in Puerto Rico are picked ripe off the tree and really good) at the visitor center to the park.

After we came down, it was sunny and we were able to enjoy the beauty of the beaches there. This photo is taken on the northern coast.

We later travelled to the western end of the island to the town of Rincon (last photo), where we encountered the Northern expatriate in a tropical paradise. People from the colder climes are living in tropical ports around the world for many reasons but many times it has to do with starting life over again.

I met several such people in this small town which has the feel of some sort of pleasant place people would exile themselves to. As we drove west off the main highway through sugarcane fields and over hills down to the coast, we started to see signs in English and other languages. The expatriates all had a interesting stories of how their lives led down there.

Some were writers or artists who wanted a beautiful place to inspire them. Most were people who were trying to forget a broken heart or a lost family. They were charmed by their new surroundings and not at all unhappy to be out of the snow and ice of their former lives. But still there was a wistfulness in their eyes and a desire to start over again in their new surroundings.