Puerto Rico Trip Day 2: El Yunque and Luquillo Beach

After a quiet breakfast at home, we drove to El Portal visitor center at El Yunque National Forest, the only tropical rainforest in the US national park system. The weather was perfect: warm and humid, but still breezy, and quite comfortable in the shade. We explored the visitor center and educational exhibits, including seeing Puerto Rican Parrots, which are critically endangered. Pumpkin and I had read quite a bit about them before the trip, so seeing them in person was awe-inspiring. After spending weeks reading and researching, experiencing the rainforest in real life was thrilling. We also perused the gift shop at the visitor center. Pumpkin bought herself a Puerto Rican Parrot stuffie, and Sweet Pea bought herself a coqui stuffie.

Afterwards, we walked the pathways around the visitor center, which took us into the rainforest, but were well kept and easy to walk on. There were even a few art exhibits along the path. We enjoyed hearing the birds and seeing a few small lizards here and there. I personally was very excited about the level of biodiversity in the forest.

After talking with staff at the visitor center, we decided to drive further into the rainforest to an observation tower and another hiking trail. However, we were stopped at a barricade and informed by rainforest staff and police that that area of the rainforest had reached tourist capacity and was closed. So we turned around and had an early lunch at El Yunque Treehouse. We enjoyed empanadas and other small appetizers. Sweet Pea attempted to speak Spanish with our server, which was humorous, but I was very proud of her efforts. 

In the afternoon, we drove to Luquillo beach for some swimming. The beach and parking lot we were hoping to use were closed, so we found another nearby lot near Los Kioskos (the kiosks). This area of the beach was nearly empty. I recently learned about the term "glimmer" which is the opposite of a trigger; a moment that sparks joy, and puts your nervous system in a state of calm and peace. I would describe this afternoon at the beach as one big glimmer for our whole family. 

We walked to Los Kioskos for dinner, but were dismayed to find that things were not as we had read about. The beach was behind the kiosks, but most of the kiosks only had entrances at the front, which proved to be too much walking for our family. We finally found one kiosk that opened up to the beach, where we ordered a few things for dinner. Unfortunately, we had to wait nearly 40 minutes for our food. Our whole family was exhausted "and bored," according to Pumpkin. 

When the food arrived, which included pizza rolls, it was very delicious. But we were happy to finish up and go home and go to bed.