Puerto Rico!

We celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary by going to Puerto Rico for two weeks! WOW. It was amazing! No, we didn't stay cooped up in a resort the whole time (we actually never stayed in a real hotel!). Instead, we saw the country like real travelers, roughing it with 4 days of clothes, riding the publicos, and even spending a few nights in a cabin with no electricity or running water!!

During the trip, I kept two journals. One is of our daily activities and how fun they were. The other journal was a tiny, yellow notepad that we kept in our backpack everyday. We kept lists of the food we ate and the wildlife that we saw. I think it will be more fun to read that, as the lists tell the story of how we hopped from guesthouse to guesthouse, town to town and island to island doing a number of awesome activities. Many of the food and animals described below can be found in our slideshow!

Puerto Rico 2009 Slideshow

Wildlife Sightings
Roosters- Heard in San Juan, Fajardo, El Yunque and Culebra. Ah! They woke us up at 3:30 every morning and would not stop until noon!!

Gecko- little ones all over the walls in Francisco's neighborhood in San Juan. We arranged ahead of time to stay in his extra bedroom in the city.

Crab- about the size of a bar of soap, walking sideways on the grass area in El Morro (Spanish castle in Old San Juan). He was very far from home and really scared of us.

Biting ants- we discovered these while napping on the grass at El Morro. Ouch! Also found while I was stuck in the mud, right on top of an ant hill in the rain forest.

Snail with a flat, seashell looking shell- at Phillips' Cabin in El Yunque (the rainforest)

Lizards- hundreds everywhere in El Yunque, Culebra island, and Vieques island. Brown, green, about 6 inches long.

Large lizards- blackish blue, 12-15 inches long, cylindrical looking.

Snake- brown, at waterfalls in El Yunque. 2 1/2 feet long.

Iguana- yellow body, green and black striped tail, orange legs, off-white spikes, yellow face. 4ft long or more, swimming in waterfall pool with us in El Yunque. Yikes! He even dove off of the rocks into the waterfall pool.

Coque (coo-kee)- Little frogs, 50-cent size, light tan, almost transparent, make a coo-kee sound. We found one in the outdoor toilet at Phillips Cabin. National Geographic said that the area around Phillips Cabin is the most populated area of tree frogs in the whole world. We know it's true because we could hardly sleep at night- they were SO loud!!

Butterflies- black and blue, yellow, and a tiny, tiny orange one, all in El Yunque.

Mysterious Animal- either a ferret, mole or mongoose. Brownish gray. Sighted in El Yunque.

Paloma bird- gray body, blue head, yellow around the eyes. Redish beak. Endangered. Seen at the restaurant called La Paloma.

Moth- tinier than your pinkey fingernail. Purple wings, yellow tip, sighted at dinner in La Paloma, one of the restaurants in the mountains of El Yunque.

Mosquitos- seen at Casita Zumbador, a guest house in El Yunque. But we had absolutely NO mosquitos at Phillip's cabin, a few miles up the rain forest mountain where most of the coques live.

This is supposed to be a highway, but the jungle has taken over!
Sea Turtles- Beautiful tan and green designs. About 14'' pizza size. Two were sighted while scuba diving in Fajardo. Then we sighted a Hawk's Bill Sea Turtle (endangered) while snorkeling in Vieques.

Conk Shell that was alive!! Sighted while scuba diving. Jeremy reached out to touch it, but our instructor said (in scuba language) "No! It will stab you!"

Checkered Fish- 6-8'' long. Auburn and gray checks. Scuba diving. This was my favorite fish.

Arrow crab- very deliquette. Body was dime size and literally the shape of an arrow. Legs were about 4'' long, as thin as your hair. Our scuba instructor found it for us on our first dive!

Two sting rays- one off of Puerto Del Re while scuba diving. One snorkeling at Zoni Beach on Culebra.

Tiny bird- yellow belly, navy wings, straw nest with opening on bottom. Seemed to eat nector from flower tree that it nested on. Culebra Casita Tropical (our guest house on Culebra).

Stray Sheep- "baaa"-ing at us while we were on our golf cart expedition in Culebra.

Huge Fish- 4-6ft long, gray, hanging out at the dock next to our table at the restaurant called Dingy Dock. We fed them our croutons.

The UGLIEST Pigeon Ever- mangled hair, missing toe, eating bread at the b-fast place next to the Fajardo ferry dock. (What allows those birds to survive all the grease and grime of the city anyway?) All of the beaches were gorgeous and remote like this beach. On Zoni and Secret Beach, we were all alone for hours!!
Wild Horses- grazing in open areas, huddled under trees, crossing the streets at their own leisure, eating people's flowers and grass, on Vieques. Later we found out that these horses are really only semi-wild because they all have owners. The islanders find it's easier to let the horses go wherever they want to than it is to groom and house them. Whenever they want to ride their horse, the owners just call for it and look around for it. The owners will always claim their horse if someone else tries to ride them, but no one claims the horses that are found eating away at the neighbor's flowers!

Centipede- 8 inches long, ½ inch diameter, squiggly and snake-like movements, blackish brown. Jeremy saw it doing laundry at Esperanza Inn, Vieques.

Sideways walking crab- peach-yellow body and legs, white claws. Spotted at Secret Beach, Vieques.

Mongoose- brown, round and fat, maybe 16’’ with it’s flat tail, seen at Plata Beach, Vieques.

Dino flagellates- micro-organisms that live in water and glow in the dark when the water is agitated. They make a greenish-blue glow with the same chemicals that fireflies have. It was soooo amazing to swim in the water and see all the glowing!! When they got on our arms, it looked like pixie dust! We did this two nights in a row, once via electric boat, once on kayaks.

Starfish- orange, some the size of Jeremy’s hand. Vieques.

Bat- brownish, flying overhead our truck from the biobay where the dinoflagellates were.

Puerto Rican Quisine
Mofongo- mashed, green plantains stuffed with meat. Dressed in onions and olive oil.

Amarillos- sweat, yellow plantains. Fried slowly to softness. My absolute favorite of the whole trip!

Tostones- mashed and fried plantains. Kind of like thick chips, and kinda like French fries.

Stuffed Avocado- whole avocado with chicken mixed with mayo on top. Above- this is the best meal we had. A little old lady in Old San Juan cooked it for us.

Sofrito Bean Sauce- bell peppers, garlic, cilantro, pinto beans, water, ricoa. The beans were always served in a little bowl separate from the rice.

Pastelillos- turnovers with meat and cheese inside. Fried. Very yummy.

Pasteles- corn bread stuffed with cheese and fried. Not very good. It was sticky and too creamy.
Snapper fish- the whole thing. Island style.

Chimichurri- yummy salsa with mangos to put on your meat.

Coconut Cake- delish! I don't know if it's really Puerto Rican, but it was home-made on Culebra.