El Yunque, Puerto Rico

We spent our last day in Puerto Rico at El Yunque National Rainforest.This lush forest was about 25 miles away from our little beach house and considering the cost of a taxi winding it's way up and down the small mountain roads, we decided to rent a car from Charlie's car rental in Isla Verde.

Who would've thought renting a car for 24 hours would be so expensive! Anywho the little Kia kept up with us as we got lost in the rainforest trying to find the entrance to the trails. We left the house around 1pm and remained lost for the next two hours.

By 4 pm we had pulled over and asked about ten different people for directions. One older gentleman who knew minimal English proceeded to use it to ask me why I didn't know where we were going. Ian and I chuckled and told him we had used the gps but that it had gotten us lost. He didn't understand.

We eventually went back to a basic paper map, routed our way, and found the entrance station!

It was beautiful, the waterfalls scattered everywhere, birds chirping and frogs singing happily along.

The air was humid and the greenery lush. Winding roads blended in with the mountain, and the chorus of laughter and conversations of the families surrounding us all seemed perfectly aligned with the universe.

As we began the trail, all of us felt triumphant, like we had the strength and endurance of ten men. After the first hill our confidence wavered a bit. We were only .3 miles into the 1.5 mile hike to one of the most gorgeous waterfalls in Puerto Rico when we came upon the steepest declines in the history of hikes. Looking over the ledge our legs began to shake and our confidence took another hit, but onward and downward we pushed.

The hike ended up being one of the most challenging that I have been on this far. Steep inclines, tilting trails and inches away from perilous drops. All in all the walk to the waterfall has been placed on my favorites list!

Upon arriving at the waterfall we decided to take a little dip in the water which was already packed full of other hikers.

El Yunque is specifically known for it's swim able waterfalls. A man with glowing white hair and a friendly face that we had met earlier in the day had said that anyone who didn't swim in the waters was not a true adventurer.

This statement had stuck with me and all thoughts of parasites and mosquito bites fled from my mind! In Sagal, Tash and I went. While Linda and Ian chose to sit out.

Swimming in the water was this man, with dark hair and soulful eyes I snuck a quick photo and had to take a few more. I'm sure he saw me take the photos if anyone of you know him please send him the picture.

Anywho the hike back to the car was incredibly just as difficult but definitely more rewarding. By the time we reached the car we were starving but decided to take a quick photo of all of us with the rainforest in the background. As we all leaned on the road railing Tash all of a sudden jumped straight in the air clutching her butt cheek.

We soon realized we had been leaning right above a wasps best and she had been stung.

We all giggled but soon sobered up enough to ask her if she was allergic and the proper questions in such a scenario.

It's safe to say she probably won't live that down.

Here are a few of the shots I took. The rest are scarred around amongst us and will probably make a debut on each of our pages in the long run.

Check out Tasha's IG : nlshompole Her website modorland.com or her kingdomsinthewild.com poetry page if you want to see her projects.

Ian's IG: ianmasila

Linda's IG: nshompole

And my IG : sojourningmuse

That does it for my trip to San Juan Puerto Rico! Expect a new trip later this year.

Live softly.