Hiking, Waterfalls & Other Nature Stuff

Hi everyone,

If you’re reading this, I hope you’re doing well. The title of this post is supposed to be funny. In a dry humor kind of way? I don’t know, it came to my head and it stuck there, so we’re going with it.

We had our hearts set to do a few things when we got to Puerto Rico, and visiting El Yunque Rainforest was one of them. Now I’m not a huge wildlife person; remember when I told you guys I run from birds? Yes, I do, but I like the outdoors and I like a good workout. So, spending the day at El Yunque was the perfect activity.

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We got up early at 7am, had breakfast and joined our tour guide and nine other lovely people at 9am to head to the rainforest.

Fun Fact: El Yunque is the only tropical rainforest in the United States National Forest System. There are also no mosquitoes in the rainforest. That last bit, was music to our ears!

It took approximately a half hour to get to El Yunque from our hotel (Ciqala Luxury Suites), and our first stop, once we arrived, was La Coca Falls.Next, we walked up a lot of steps to get to an observation tower. The views of the mountains from here were breathtaking. We hiked through the rainforest, where we saw locals and tourists having picnics and barbecues, sunbathing, and swimming in the natural freshwater pools around the rainforest. I thought living close to a beach was great but living close to a rainforest?? Count me in! There’s just something relaxing about the cool forest air and the ever-present sounds of moving water.Our 25-minute hike brought us La Mina Waterfalls. Sadly, because we were on a tour that included other stops, we only got ~30 minutes here. I would have liked to spend at least an hour. In retrospect, I wish we visited at an earlier time because El Yunque is a popular spot, fewer people would have been around at 6 or 7 am. That being said, between our amazing tour guide Joey, and the stunning views at the rainforest, we had a wonderful day.

Have any of you visited El Yunque? Do you want to visit? Leave me a comment to let me know.

Thanks for reading!

All photos shot on an iPhone 6S+

same footprints, different sands