Puerto Rico Trip Day 4: Rainforest Adventures in the Rain

In the morning, we woke up to pouring rain. We had spent a while the previous night looking for indoor things to do, and found almost no options, so we decided to take a chance and stick with our original plan. We first drove to Yokahu Tower in the rainforest, but it was so foggy and drizzly that there was no view. So we drove on to Juan Diego falls. This was a pretty short hike to a pool with a beautiful waterfall cascading into it. We waded in the ankle-deep areas of the water, but the water was too cold, as was the weather, so we didn't swim. It began raining again while we were in the water for a bit. 

Then we drove back to Yokahu tower and listened to a podcast in the car and waited for a break in the rain. When the rain slowed down, we climbed the tower. It was an easy climb, but as expected, there was no visibility. Apparently, you can see the ocean from the tower, but we didn't see much. It was cold, windy, and drizzly, so we walked back down. 

We drove along the road to El Yunque Rainforest Cafe. The food was delicious and the service was quick. We enjoyed pina coladas, empanadas, tacos, and other appetizers. They only had outdoor seating, so we huddled at a table under an umbrella. We were visited by a very adorable kitten who was looking for scraps. He was happy to eat the shredded cheese that had fallen from our tacos. Unsurprisingly, these are only a small portion of my cat pictures.

In the afternoon, we had hoped to go to the beach. We saw that there were strong rip current warnings, but the girls had their hearts set on going. So we thought we could at least play in the sand and dip our toes in the water. But as we were driving to the beach, it started pouring, and it got very windy as we got closer to the coast. By the time we arrived, the weather had gotten so bad that we turned around and went home. Everyone was really disappointed. We decided to book a rainforest hayride at Carabali Rainforest Park. The rain was still spotty, but at least the hayride was covered. After hiking through more remote parts of the rainforest, this wasn't quite as exciting, but it was still an enjoyable experience. Pumpkin says, "we saw pretty orange flowers." You can see in the pictures why we were not able to visit any rivers again, like we had hoped. But we got to try our first coco frio!

There was a bar & grill on the grounds of the rainforest park, which is where we ate dinner. This afternoon was probably the most tourist-y thing we did, but it was still much better than staying home to avoid the rain. The food at this restaurant was delicious, and of course, we had more pina coladas! The last picture is my meal, mofongo with chicken in a creamy, garlic sauce. Dad had ordered this earlier in the week, and it was probably our favorite meal in Puerto Rico.