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.

Guajataca Beach, Isabela

From many people we've heard how beautiful the beach in Isabela is, so today on the way to Rincon, we decided to have a little stop at Guajataca Beach. We'd seen the big tunnel from a viewpoint further away - but we had no idea what else was there!

This beach was just off the PR-2 highway, and after talking to a fisherman, seems to be a popular spot during summer for camping. There were a lot of sato's (stray dogs) there, which was very sad to see, but the beach itself, the palm trees and the camping area were perfect! We've noted this spot and may come back sometime when we go camping.

We walked through the tunnel, which seems to have a restaurant attached to it, but it was closed and what we assumed it was only open during summer. We strayed off the beaten path and went into the jungly areas - and it was amazing what we found! It was VERY humid, and there were lots of little creatures everywhere...hermit crabs, geckos, birds and tarantulas the size of Geoff's hand! Alpen was bounding around as though she were a mountain goat, loving every minute of it.