Aw Rats... BATS!

They were everywhere! I mean, EVERYWHERE! Fuzzy, screechy little guys.

Before I tilted my head up, I always shone a light up, just to make sure I wasn't providing a face-sized target for Guano practice...

Cueva Ventana

More cool pictures inside of the cave. I think the one stalactite looks a lot like some of the suspended holy water / infant baptismal pools in some of the European churches.

Cueva Ventana

Just inside the main entrance to the cave, there were lots of really cool little tunnels you could crawl through. The first 2 pics are of me and Steve in front of one. We crawled in a little ways, but the entire cave is covered in really fine dirt, and we realized we were going to get beyond filthy if we actually got down on our stomachs. Normally, neither of us mind one little bit, but since we were still planning on going to Gustavo's afterwards, we backed out. Next picture is the formation just inside the mouth of the cave. I think it looks a lot like Edvard Munch's "The Scream" only this one's creepier because it has scary teeth, set sideways like Picasso added them later.

And then, some shots inside the cave.

Cueva Ventana

More pictures of the main opening to the cave, and Steve by that same tree, just for scale.The second to last picture is shooting up the trail that leads into the mouth of the cave, and the last pic is me, halfway down that trail.

Cueva Ventana

So, we made it, with no need of the snazzed-up ElCamino. Thanks be.

Here's the picture of the path on the side of the highway, beside the Texaco. Now, tell me you would ever have known to go there?!

The next two pictures are of the tree which is growing down into the entrance of the smaller of the two caves. This is the entrance we were told to skip the first time around; it's better to go in the main entrance and come out this way so you can better see what you're doing. That was good advice. There's actually a rope inside the cave to help you with the climb from the ledge just inside this entrance, but I never would have seen it, standing here. This was my first Oooooooh moment of the trip. It is so indescribably cool to see these massive tree roots growing right down into the mouth of a cave. It makes you feel like you're in Angkor Wat - not a US territory! I was essentially cartwheeling the rest of the trail to the main entrance, I was so excited.

The next picture shows the main entrance to Cueva Ventana (to the right) and another completely amazing tree growing by the entrance. I'm leaning back on it, and you can see one of the roots snaking across the rock and going out of the frame; that root goes all the way into the entrance of the second cave, and you can follow it for literally hundreds of feet across the floor of the cave. We were both incredulous at how much root it has!

Easter Weekend

We're still on our way to Utuado. I couldn't resist posting this shot.

The El Camino Hearse-ado.

Beautiful.

Easter Weekend

Happy Easter everyone! I hope it was as much of a beauty of a weekend on the mainland as it was here. We had some pretty great weather - much less humid, breezy, and cooler temps. Perfect scenario for a little exploring! Since we first got here, I've seen pictures of a place called "Cueva Ventana" (Window Cave) but I've never been able to find directions for how to get there. Another Puerto Rico blog I follow made a posting on Friday, extolling its beauty, and FINALLY!! posting directions! As luck would have it, we were planning on going to Gustavo's party on Saturday, and he lives in the same town as the caves, Utuado. So, with GPS in hand, Pandora streaming the Beach Boys in the car, and several changes of clothes, we headed out.

Here's thing number 3,534,194 that I love about living in Puerto Rico: there are a gazillion beautiful things to see, and most of them are free for the traipsing, if you can just find them. Cueva Ventana is a prime example. The directions go something like this: "Find Highway 10. Take it to Utuado. Look for the Texaco around km 75. Park on the side of the highway and look for the dirt path that's been chained off leading up the hill. Walk up the pathway, and each time it forks, take the path that looks right. Recommend: right, right, then left until you find a big tree with roots growing into a cave entrance. You can get into the cave that way, but it's not recommended for the first time since there's an 8 foot dropoff into pitch dark. Keep walking to the bigger entrance". Can you imagine something like that in Florida, for example? It would be: "follow the signs to the toll road. Pay toll, then find parking lot. Pay parking fee. Head to Visitor's Center to pay entrance fee and sign liability waiver. Put on obligatory helmet, knee pads, and safety goggles. Walk to the entrance of the cave, look in, then proceed to movie theater to view the movie of the cave" We had fun :-)

Ok. So, here starts the pictures. BTW - we took millions of pictures, so I'll upload them to another google album which you can access here: (tbd)

More pictures of the Old old old Ceiba trees in Quebradillas:

Ceiba trees

I'll post some more pictures of these later. We took a bunch on the
big camera, but have to get home to download them. Now, we're on our
way to explore some new caves!

Ceiba trees

This is the state tree of Puerto Rico. Aren't they amazing? I've heard
that these particular trees are about 120 years old. Their bark is
covered in huge thorns, so you have to be really careful where you
touch them!

UNOs, watch out for slaughter spinoccoli

For anyone who doesn't know, I am an Unos pizzaria junkie. It was "our
place" when Steve and I started dating, and even without the
sentimentality, their spinoccoli pizza is heaven on earth. Last night,
I decided to try my hand at homemade deep dish. Gotta say, it turned
out pretty amazingly tasty! The dough still needs a little work, and I
need a remedial math class (two 8 inch pans does NOT equal a 14 inch
pan) so, the crust was ridiculously thick. But, at least it tasted good!

We have an Unos here, but it's an hour away in Mayaguez. I have been
known to risk life and limb to drive there just for lunch. If I can
nail this recipe, we just might save a tremndous amount on gas...

More Birthdays to celebrate

After playing with the fish Saturday morning, we went to Jose's house to celebrate his daughter's 10th birthday. I am constantly overwhelmed by the degree to which people throw parties around here! Let me reiterate, this was a birthday party for a 10 year old. We got there just as the stretch limo containing all the girls arrived - they had spent the morning ice skating and being chauffeured around town in said limo. They were greeted by all of us shooting them with a silly string tunnel, a live DJ (who was quite good, I might add) a pool, a squirting bouncy house, CATERED food and appetizers, and more people than I could really count. I then found out that 21 people had spent the night there Friday night, and the party was scheduled to continue until at least noon on Sunday. My my my... but what a good time! I have to say, I really like the concept of kids' birthdays being a celebration for grown-ups as well. It's a win/win for all involved and everyone has a good time. I am definitely having Jose plan our next party!

Saturday Morning Dive

Saturday morning, we got up and went to the water again with Justin and trusty spear guns in hand. Alas, still no joy on the fresh fish for supper venture, but I had a really fun day of finding critters. There was a lot of big sediment in the water, which you'll see in the pictures, but I'm not complaining! In the first picture, I drew a clumsy arrow pointing straight to a pretty big puffer fish. These guys love to hide up under rocks! Unfortunately, this was about the best picture I could get of him; the water was surging, my camera is painfully slow to focus, and I still have the world's most buoyant butt. You put all those things together, and it's a wonder I get any focused free-dive pictures at all. I love the faces on the puffers - they've got HUGE blue eyes, and their little mouths kinda look like they're giving you a shy smile. They just look sweet.

The next two pictures are of something not-so-sweet... I found yet another lionfish. This guy was about the length of my forearm. In the first picture, if you look just to the left of the fish in the center of the shot, you can see his spines sticking out of the crevice he likes to hang in. The next picture is the best I've got of his whole body.

And then the last 2 pictures are of a great cowfish. I just love these guys too - they look so unlikely. The first picture is looking down on him so you can see how funky his shape is; they're like flying deltas. Second picture is one of many I took of him glamming for me. Usually, they won't let me get too terribly close. This guy all but swam into my camera a couple of times, and just hung out with me, putting on a little dance. Very cute.

Interesting sightings in the air

It's been a really fun spring to watch what comes and goes from the airport down here. For a few weeks, we had Predator Drones flying in and out of the airport. Recently, a U2 has taken up residence. Not something you see every day; that's for sure! Usually, it lands at about the same time every day, so Steve and I went out to take some pictures of it. One of the cool things about this guy is the fact that it only has 2 wheels, like a bicycle. On the ground, it has extra sets of wheel trucks to keep it stable as it taxis, but it leaves them on the runway when it takes to the air. When it lands, two support cars go whizzing down the runway behind it in chase, so they can tell how far he is off the ground (they're notoriously hard to land) and so they can replace the wheel trucks for taxi back to the hangar.

Great fun to watch, if you enjoy airplanes!

The pilot gets out at the end of the runway, but beforehand, they put a canopy over the cockpit to prevent any satellites from being able to get a picture of the inside of the plane. You can see the square canopy in the last picture.

Another interesting tidbit about this plane: to keep flying at its desired ceiling (about 70,000 feet), it must fly essentially at its maximum speed. At that altitude, its maximum speed is only about 10 knots above it's stall speed. That's an astonishingly small margin of error!

More shots of Borinquen and cleaning up

You gotta love having essentially the entire beach to yourself. I throw in the "eventually" as Leslie was treated to a heavy-set, middle-aged man with a wicked farmer's tan parading back in forth in front of her on the beach. Wouldn't have been such a big deal, had he not been wearing a thong. Some things just shouldn't be done. I would have taken a picture for your viewing pleasure but my camera is JUST back from the repair shop, and I see no reason to send it back there.

I love the picture I posted earlier of Steve trying to pour the water out of his dive booties while still wearing them, standing on the beach... The last picture here is his payback to me. I decided I couldn't start cleaning the dive gear until my plants had gotten a drink; Steve thought that the sandy booties with the skirt were a nice touch. I have to say, it is a look.

Maybe the thong wasn't so bad after all.