In our own backyard: Puerto Rico

A quick two-hour flight from Florida to Puerto Rico can have you hiking in the only tropical rain forest in the U.S. National Forest system, challenging yourself with unique eco-adventures, kayaking in one of only 12 bioluminescent bays in the world, exploring significant world history (including a 500-year-old fortified Spanish colonial city) and enjoying typical Puerto Rican “Cocina Criolla” cuisine.

Old San Juan

“It looks like we’re walking on water,” marvels a visitor. The cobblestone streets of San Juan’s Old City are a glorious blend of glassy-blue hues. The narrow lanes ripple like tiny tributaries, floating off in all directions. The ancient furnace slag from which the adoquines (stones) are cast gives the bricks their evocative blue tint. Founded half a millennium ago by conquistador Juan Ponce de Leon, Old San Juan is today a celebrated UNESCO World Heritage Site. In the labyrinth of the Old City’s streets, we travel back through time. With its 400 brightly painted Gothic, neoclassical, art deco and baroque buildings, Old San Juan is a virtual architectural museum, far more Old Europe than modern America. We ease through the wooden doors of an immense archway, and poke our heads into the courtyard of a centuries-old Spanish colonial mansion. Bright purple flowers playfully spill from wrought-iron balconies, saturating the quad with fragrant sweetness. It’s as though we can feel the ancient vibrations of horses’ hooves thumping along the cobblestones within. “Wait,” we realize. “The clop, clop we now hear is real.” Behind us, a gaily-festooned, horse-drawn carriage rolls leisurely past.

Strolling east on Calle San Francisco, we thrust our way through a chattering crowd of cruise-ship passengers who tear through the craft shops like a cloud of locusts. The women scavenge for Azabache bracelets that ward off the mal de ojo (evil eye). They devour entire inventories of curtains, tablecloths and bridal accessories in mundillo, a five-centuries-old style of lace making found only in Puerto Rico and Spain. Men wreak havoc on displays of original Panama hats. Everyone wants hand-carved santos (saints) and caretas (carnival masks).

Friendly Puerto Ricans provide us with directions and suggestions. “Go to Calle San Francisco and see the golden, twin-towered facade of the magnificent Casa del Ayuntamiento (City Hall). Be sure to wash your face in the cool waters of the fountain in the Plaza De Armas.” They make us feel welcome. “Walk barefoot on the warm tiles.” We break for lunch at the vegetarian-friendly Cafe Berlin, facing Plaza Colon (Columbus Square). White-haired old men wearing traditional guayaberas (shirts) puff on hefty cigars and play dominos with a fierceness usually confined to athletic fields. Relaxing outside on the cafe’s lovely terrace under floppy red umbrellas, cooled by the shade of the plaza’s lush jade-tinted trees, we order the asopao, a hearty seafood gumbo and Puerto Rican staple. Our server gushes, “It’s like medicine to us when we are sad or depressed.” We also savor a couple of mofongos, dense fist-sized mounds of mashed, fried green plantains, one smothered in a chicken-filled broth, the other in spicy seafood. There couldn’t be better comfort food than the warm coconut bread pudding we share for dessert. Que sabrosa!

We’re in high spirits as we hurry along the south end of Calle Fortaleza. Known as SoFo, the area has its own cool vibe, much like NYC’s Soho, hence the play on words. Chic fusion eateries line the street. The Parrot Club offers Nuevo-Latino cuisine; Dragonfly presents Latin-Asian, and Makarios merges Puerto Rican and Lebanese. The pungent smell of a Galician creation of sauteed garlic, onions and sherry seeps into the street. Nearby, aromas of sizzling chorizo and simmering sofrito (blends of herbs and spices) permeate the air.

At the end of charming Calle del Cristo, a set of stairs descends to the Paseo de la Princessa, a magnificent oceanfront promenade lined with historic fountains and lofty royal palms. At the end of the esplanade, a paved walkway leads to the foot of the massive (20 feet thick) city walls or muralla, which, since 1635, have protected San Juan from seaborne invaders.

These cyclopean defensive walls hug the serpentine coast mile after mile. Far ahead of us in the distance, powerful waves crash against an isolated promontory, watched over by a lone garita (guard tower).

The rouge-tinted sun is melting. As the warm, tropical breeze stirs, dusk’s soft edges envelop the day, whispering to us to relax.

But wait. Suddenly, the Old City pulses with an African Bomba beat. Drummers’ hands are ablur, pounding barrel-shaped drums covered with taut animal skins. Other musicians shake maracas and crazily swing their hips. One avenue over, we’re pulsing to the sounds of Salsa, “the sauce that makes parties go.” Mini-fiestas materialize as people move to the sultry rhythms. We eagerly join what must be the world’s longest conga line. It’s a party!

Isle Verde

The broad, manicured beaches of this western suburb, only 15 minutes from Old San Juan, are lined with upscale lodgings. It’s late afternoon and we lazily sway to and fro on our hotel’s red-and-green striped hammocks, enjoying the sight of a graceful flock of kite surfers being propelled by a swift sea breeze. The sky is soon awash with the hot pink, orange and red colors of another magnificent Caribbean sunset. A memorable night awaits. What to do?

Just across the street from the beach is the Colisio Gallistico cockfighting arena. Puerto Rico is the only place in the U.S. where the brutal “sport” (peleas de gallos) is still legal. A huge crowd, wads of money in hand to bet, waits impatiently for the doors to open.

We opt instead for the ethereal white and icy blue interior of the hip restaurant Tangerine. It’s housed in the award-winning, celebrity-attracting San Juan Water & Beach Club Hotel. The manager, David Lopez, plies us with perfect mojitos and coconut martinis. The chef presents a trio — shrimp, octopus and salmon — of ceviche appetizers (the best this side of Peru) and sushi rolls so succulent and satiating that we never get to the dinner menu. But we can’t resist the fried pumpkin cheesecake with sweet-potato crust, nor the dark, rich Puerto Rican coffee.

Eco-exploring

During a two-hour drive along the north coast, we sight an armada of sailboats, some speeding jet skiers and pods of splashing snorkelers. We roll into some foothills and exchange waves with packs of huffing, puffing, spandex-clad cyclists.

We journey into the mountainous El Yunque rain forest, named after the ancient Taino spirit Yukiyu. On our ascent, we’re miniaturized by the thick, towering foliage, and fascinated as the forest turns a deep, dark, glistening emerald green.

Engorged purple clouds threaten from above. It pours. What a surprise in a tropical rain forest that swallows 100 billion gallons a year!

Stopping at El Portal, the park’s visitor center, we eagerly learn about the complexities of the forest’s life cycle. It’s now raining violently. So much for our hiking plans. Thus we choose not to “Rent a Ranger” and will instead drive through the park, exploring on our own.

We stop the car at a tin-roofed roadside stand and marvel as the proprietor deftly lops off the tops of green coconuts with her machete. Like bees on a flower, we inject our straws into the shells and sip coconut water, one of the world’s healthiest and most refreshing nectars. The rain softens.

Luxuriating beneath soaring stands of bamboo, pre-historically massive ferns, majestic orchids and gigantic swaying palms, we gaze out over the dense rain forest. Feeling the powerful pulsating flow of a nearby waterfall, breathing in the forest’s abundant supply of oxygen, and capturing fleeting glimpses of the fluorescent-colored jackets of intrepid hikers who brave the park’s soggy hiking trails, we sense our glorious connection to nature.

Continuing northeast across the island to the coastal town of Fajardo, we begin our next excursion: a bioluminescent kayaking tour of the pristine, mangrove-sheltered Laguna Grande.

As darkness descends, we paddle our kayaks slowly into Las Cabezas de San Juan Nature Preserve, one of only 12 such special bioluminescent reserves on the planet.

Our kayaks glide softly beneath a mile-long canopy of low-hanging mangroves. Cicadas raise a mighty chorus. It’s pitch black. The stroking of our paddles creates a chemical reaction amongst millions of microorganisms, producing an astonishing turquoise flash. We’re caught in a life-size Salvador Dali painting as we drip faux-neon rivulets of blue-green water into the air with each stroke.

Night becomes pseudo-psychedelic as the flotilla eases into the wide expanse of the lagoon. The water ignites as our 30 paddlers gently churn up a wondrous aquatic light show for the audience of a million stars reflecting in the heavens above.

Postscript

It’s obvious to us why countless pirates and colonizing nations desired to make Puerto Rico their own. In just a few days we’ve uncovered a startling richness of peoples, places and pleasures. So many more of Puerto Rico’s treasures await discovery. Thank goodness they’re right in our own backyard.

Story and photos courtesy of Style, a magazine of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.