Camuy Caves/Arecibo
On the docket today is a trip to the west side of the island, with stops at Camuy Caves and Arecibo. The first is part of an extensive cave network carved through the mountains of Puerto Rico by underground rivers grinding their way through the limestone. The second is home to the world’s largest radio telescope, made famous (for non-nerds (amongst whom it was already famous just for being the world’s largest radio telescope) anyway) in the final scenes of GoldenEye and the movie Contact.
The drive to the caves takes about 90 minutes, in part because we miss a few turns and do some doubling back. It’s the shoulder season here tourism-wise, so the good news is that there aren’t really any crowds to speak of (based on the size of the parking lot, I want to be nowhere near this place on a busy day). The bad news is that the one group of people that are in line are part of a high school field trip.
The caves themselves are quite impressive, but my travel buddy and I have seen this kind of thing before (Halong Bay comes to mind, but I’m sure there are others), so the real treat is seeing how the kids react when they walk into a cavern eight stories tall and the size of several football fields. They quickly rate it the coolest thing they have seen on the trip so far (except for Nick, who I think still votes shark). The tour guide does a good job explaining the different formations, and through some careful positioning at the very front of the group, we get enough separation from the high school class that the noise doesn’t even really bother us.
By the time we are on the road back toward Arecibo (which we passed on the way up), it is close to lunch time, so we pick one of the many roadside stands we see and partake of some pinchos. We’ve located one of the more upscale stands so are able this time around to have our pinchos with one of three different sauces. It’s too hard to decide, so we just take two of each for good measure. They are all quite tasty, but gorged with chicken parts, we will soon come to learn that garlic sauce and a car with the windows up do not make a good combination.
Arriving at the telescope, we are again pleased to see the parking lot fairly empty. In addition to the many buildings filled with people in white coats, there is fairly good visitor center with a bunch of exhibits about space, astronomy and the science behind how the telescope works. It’s a bit of a mental overload for a family on vacation, and after a while my head starts to hurt from too much knowledge. We take a break by watching a short movie about the construction of the telescope and then a taking a quick, guided tour to see it close up (or as close as they let you get anyway). The whole thing is impressive just given its scale, but combined with its location – wedged between three jungle covered mountain peaks – it does seem a little surreal.
We finish up without too much time to spare, as not far into the drive back it starts to rain. Not that sissy kind of Seattle rain that just slowly eats away at your soul, but the tropical kind of rain that makes you think about building an ark. But just as quickly as it arrives, it disappears, leaving only clear blue sky.
Having learned our lessons in the morning, the drive back to the hotel goes a little more smoothly. The kids, suffering from a whole day without TV or an iPad quickly revert to their zombie-like state until we finally cut them off and shepherd them into bed. All in all, a good day.