Monday, May 23, 2011

Epic Vacation: San Juan

The morning after we arrived in San Juan, we packed up are things and headed to the El Yunque National Rain forest.

Anyone who knows me, also knows that this was a fulfillment of half of my life-long-dream (the other half was to be a National Geographic photographer) and thus, my FAVORITE part of the entire trip!

The rain forest was truly the most beautiful place I've ever been. I've never felt so amazed and so relaxed at the same time. Everything was super green and super wet and it was AWESOME!

Upon entering the forest, we grabbed a map and immediately started hiking toward a waterfall. Woohoo! But it wasn't long before it started to rain. (We were in the rain forest after all.)Dad unsuccessfully tried to shield himself with this over sized, holey leaf!

Mom had a better idea though and coaxed us under a little pavilion somewhere along the trail.

Soon we realized that the rain wasn't going to stop and we were going to get soaked no matter what (which I actually didn't mind at all since the rain was so warm) and we headed out to finish our hike.

We eventually made it to the waterfall and it was totally worth hiking in the rain for!

We snapped a few pictures, enjoyed the sound of rushing water, soaked in some more moisture, and then headed out in the opposite direction to explore the rest of the trail.

When we made it back, Kevin had to run about 2 miles back up a road to fetch our car and then we did a little more exploring before heading back to San Juan for some more adventures!

Upon arriving back in San Juan we decided to go visit an old fort called El Morro.

It was really an amazing structure and had an even more amazing view since it was right up against the ocean.

We checked it out from top to bottom, looking down tunnels, standing in watch towers, and inspecting old cannons.

Kevin even braved the edge of a very tall wall just to get this picture!

Some parts of the structure were pretty scary. You could walk down these little cannon port thingies and stare straight down to your impending doom. There wasn't even a fence to protect you from falling. Kevin wasn't afraid of course, and thus, we got a pretty cool picture of a GIANT lizard hanging out at the bottom of one of those thingies.

Anyway, when all was said and done, we headed over to board our ship and officially begin our Caribbean cruise!

To be continued...

7 comments:

Tau said...

Awesome pics...the place just looks beautiful.

Anonymous said...

Rain forests...so beautiful. I love the picture with Del and the giant leaf. I love warm rain too. That is super cool you had time to explore before the cruise. You and Kevin are so silly in those pictures. Looks like you had a lot of fun.

Anonymous said...

Ps that comment was from me... Sarah. It wouldn't let me sign in :( Love you

Pae and Guy said...

nice freakin' rain forest!!

Beccarigg said...

YESSSSSSSSS!!!!! These are the pics I've been waiting for!! I'm dying, DYING!!! I want to go so bad! WOW! It's so amazingly gorgeous and awesome! I want to hike around in warm rain and take amazing pics like you did. You could totally be a National Geographic photographer! I seriously just can't believe you did that. wow!

Tara said...

So awesome!! I don't know if you remember (or saw on our blog actually) :) that we went to PR in January 2009, right before I quit JetBlue. This takes me RIGHT back. El Yunque was definitely the highlight of our trip, too! Your photos totally capture it, too! Can't wait to hear about your cruise, wow!!

Erin Uda said...

That waterfall looks like heaven! I think we may have to relocate our sisters' retreat to somewhere with a rainforest... :) I can't wait to see the rest of your pictures!