Travel: Day 9 - Puerto Rico - Swinging through the canopy

One of the advantages of teaching at a small liberal arts institution is the freedom to design and offer courses that are close to your heart. In January 2011, I was fortunate enough to lead a group of 6 students through the world of Tropical Ecology. Apart from not being in the right ecosystem, Nebraska in the winter is definitely not the place to have field trips about Tropical Ecology. Consequently, one portion of the course involved a 10-day trip to Puerto Rico where we got to see for ourselves all the things we talked about in the classroom. 

This is a travelogue of our adventures together, the sights we saw, the things we did, and the lessons we learned. (You can see all the previous posts in this thread here).

Having overcome (some of) our fears of the ocean and open water, it was now time for us to confront a fear of a different kind - heights.  For the last day of the trip I had booked a trip through Yunke Zipline Adventures.  The best way to see a tropical rainforest (in my opinion) is by getting off the floor and wandering through the canopy (if you can).  Since less than 2% of the sunlight incident on the canopy makes it's way through to the forest floor, the surface layer can, at times, be a murky place.  Higher up in the canopy and in the emergent layer, there's a lots to see and it is a lot easier to do so, too.

(C.S. Manish 2011)

We left the hotel very early in order to be at the meeting point by 9am (making some of the students quite grouchy).  We were received by Roberto Enrique Bello (Roqui) and Jaime Fantauzzi.  Roqui and Jaime are holders of graduate degrees in Biology and Environmental Sciences and they led an informative 3 hour tour through the rainforest, periodically leading us from point A to point B via a zipline.  But I am getting ahead of myself.

On the 9th day of the trip, we finally got to experience that which we had been warned would be a daily occurrence - a rainshower.  Incredibly, on the 10 day trip we took, it rained on us only once and, that too, for just 15 minutes.  Talk about luck!  The upshot was that, once the skies cleared, we got to see our first rainbow of the trip.  As good an omen as any.

(Andrew Jacobsen 2011)

Our adventure began with the regular disclaimers and safety tips, followed by a demonstration of the right (and wrong) techniques and do's and don'ts of ziplining and rappelling.

(Andrew Jacobsen 2011)

And then we were off! We hiked for about half an hour, rapidly ascending the steep slope by the edge of the mountain.  Along the way Jaime and Roqui kept up a constant stream of conversation describing the vegetation, the fauna, and the ecological background to the rainforest we were walking through.

(Andrew Jacobsen 2011)

And then, it was time to zipline through the canopy!  

(Jaime Fantuzzi 2011)

We began with a short one to acquaint ourselves with the procedure.  Some of use even screamed out loud - in exhilaration, I'd like to think, rather than fear.  And no, KM (pictured below) was not one of them.

(C.S. Manish 2011)

One after the other, we went from zipline to zipline, sometimes landing near the floor of the forest, above the layer of trees just below us on the steep incline and, at other times, reaching the top of the trees on a platform, at which point we would then rappel down to the forest floor.

(C.S. Manish 2011)

Rappelling was a lot of fun.  Some enjoyed it more than others.  AJ took to it like a fish to water.

(C.S. Manish 2011)

From time to time, we stopped to learn more about the ecosystem. There are approximately 240 native tree species, of which 23 of them are found only in El Yunque. Further, there are more than 50 native orchids and 150 different types of ferns. Among animals, there are 8 types of lizards, 13 types of coquies and 50 types of birds, including the Puerto Rican Parrot, an endangered species. The only mammal found naturally in the forest is the bat, of which there are 11 types. As would be expected in a moist environment with ample sources of water, there are many varieties of fish, shrimp, and other aquatic animal life. Poisonous animals are very rare, and the premier poisonous snake is the Puerto Rican boa which can get up to 3 feet in length, at times.

(Andrew Jacobsen 2011)

And then it was time to attack the biggest zipline of them all - more than 900 feet in length, the line takes us right through the valley, well-clear of any trees and gives an awe-inspiring view of the entire forest from well above the canopy.  The zipline ends up in an 80 foot tall Algarrobo tree (West Indian Locust), from where we had to rappel down one last time.

Here's a video of the final zipline.  I hope it is able to convey the fun of ziplining!

With that, our zipline adventure came to an end.  We took the (obligatory) group photo (with Jaime).

(Photo taken by Roberto Enrique "Roqui" Bello 2011)

And what fun would it be if the students did not have one last snap to show how cool they were now that they had tamed the rainforest?

(C.S. Manish 2011)

After we returned to home base, it was time to leave our "mark" on the map to indicate that we had been there.  (We left pins in Ord, Elba, Loup City, and Hyderabad, too).

(C.S. Manish 2011)

 A celebration was in order and we decided to finally succumb to our baser senses and visit the oddly-named Church's Chicken.

(C.S. Manish 2011)

After 9 days of resistance and control, the students finally managed to convince me to let them be "tourists" for one afternoon.  So, by 4pm, we were back in old San Juan and I let them loose for three hours while they ran berserk from store to store doing the touristy thing - shop!  In the meantime, I wandered over to the other fort that I wanted to visit - Castillo de San Cristóbal.  

(C.S. Manish 2011)

Built in 1783, Castillo de San Cristóbal is the largest fort built by the Spanish in the New World and, when finished, it served as a protective barrier around the city of San Juan. 

(C.S. Manish 2011)

A big portion of the gates that walled the city of San Juan have been demolished in the past, but the entrance to the fort still retains some of its magnificence. 

(C.S. Manish 2011)

From the roof, one can get a clear view of (new) San Juan in the distance, a sprawling metropolis that still retains a lot of old world charm.

(C.S. Manish 2011)

From the fort, in the distance, to the north one can also get a glimpse of El Morro, the fort that we had visited earlier in the trip.

(C.S. Manish 2011)

The distinctive feature of both forts are the guard houses (at least that's what I think they are).  These structures adorn numerous souvenirs in Puerto Rico.

(C.S. Manish 2011)

On the way back from the fort, I stopped off at a familiar-looking building.  This is the "bank" that Sylvester Stallone visits in the 1995 movie Assassins while Antonio Banderas waits to take him down.

After meeting up with the students at 7pm, it was time to go back and get dressed.  On our last night out, we went to the Greenhouse Restaurant in Coronado.

(C.S. Manish 2011)

The food was delicious and our final night in Purto Rico could not have ended any better.

(C.S. Manish 2011)