Humacao and Monkey Island

Yesterday Geoff and I decided to get out and about a little, since its been a while since we've done some exploring.

We had intended to go into the mountains, but found ourselves passing right through Caguas, and ending in Humacao at the Reserva Natural by the Department of Natural Resources. We just stumbled across it - and what a beautiful little spot! No manicured beaches here, but also no people, no hotels - just lots of lizards and beautiful flora!

We did a little hike up one of the bigger cliffs which opened up into a gorgeous view of the Caribbean Sea and Cayo Santiago (Monkey Island) - which is when Geoff suggested that we go for a kayak out there.

We stopped at a little stand for lunch and had freshly made fish empanadillas - yum!

Unfortunately we missed out on the last boat that left for Monkey Island that day - but then we got in touch with Barefoot Travellers, a couple run and owned guesthouse that also offered kayak and hanggliding to their guests. They happened to have an opening in the afternoon since the weather was too bad to go hang gliding, so offered to take us out to Monkey Island. Keisha, one of the owners is a dog-lover with 4 of her own, so offered to "babysit" Alpen whilst Geoff and I headed out with her husband on the kayaks.

The weather was brewing up something big - so we paddled straight to the island, splashing over the choppy waters and I jumped in for a snorkel as we got closer. There are a lot of fish, and I saw my first conch!

The island has about 1200 monkeys, all from India. The University of Puerto Rico are doing research on their social-behavioural learning, therefor the public are not allowed to set foot on the island. Plus - many of the monkeys have diseases that are dangerous to humans.
It was interesting to see how the monkeys interacted and all the babies scampering around.

We made it back, but not before we got rained on! All in all a great day out and anyone that wants to check out Monkey Island, I definitely recommend the Kayak option over the boat - you're much closer to nature!

(Pics are coming later, for some reason Blogger wont allow me to upload this morning. For those of you who have Facebook, they're up there!)

Mambo

Our pregnant horse Tango, had her little baby yesterday - after 10 months of pregnancy!

He's such a little cutie!!! Very stumbly and shy - but such long legs!

( I still cant figure out how to turn these videos the right way up!)

Campo Rico

A few more pics from our beautiful ranch at Campo Rico...and me after a few ATV trips!

Our little one...all grown up!

A few family and friends have asked to see some recent photos of Alpen.. so here you go - yes, its the same dog believe it or not!

Campo Rico

Just thought I'd share a few pictures from the ranch where Geoff and I spend many of our days.. There was a beautiful sunset at the barn last night which I thought everyone may like to see.

El Yunque

What was supposed to be a 4-night camping trip got cut short by the enormous amount of rain we got during our first night in El Yunque.

We got our (free!) camping permit and so the three of us trekked up to the top of the mountain. You are allowed to camp anywhere, but they recommended further towards the top, where there were less trails and roads and we'd have more privacy.

We searched around for a while for a good spot, and unfortuantely since it was getting dark in a hurry, we just settled for the closest one. The camping in El Yunque is not a campground, but more just public land, so we had to leave the truck behind and hike down a hill with all our supplies.

Hotdogs, beans and red wine and our bellies full we went off to bed!

It was a very noisy night!!! Lots and lots of coqui frogs and many other strange noises kept up on edge for a little while until sleep took us.. Alpen was an angel and woke us up when she needed to go outside.

The next day we woke up to our tent being saturated.. we packed up as quickly as we could and since we were already soaked to the bone, we decided to hike to La Mina Falls. The vegetation here is so lush and beautiful and a lot of wildlife lives here! My sandals broke on the way down so I had to continue the hike barefoot, but by that time my feet were wet anyway so it didnt matter.

By the time we got home, they'd cast flood and storm warnings for El Yunque so it was a very good thing we got out of there! It was a good "snapshot" of the rainforest which has only whetted our appetite and we're eager to go back for more when its nicer weather!

Frutas!

Our friends Willy and Jasmine brought some beautiful fresh fruits and plants for us back from the country! Those green bananas that you see are often boiled and made into a banana salad (Escabeche de Guineos), to which lots of garlic, purple onion, pepper, olive oil and green peppers are added.

The funny looking brown thing with the stem is some sort of apple..ive yet to eat it, but told its very sweet.