Day 5: Arecibo, etc

Today didn't turn out quite as we planned, but in many ways, it turned out better.

The first oddity was our attempt to go to the caverns at Camuy, which came highly recommended by several acquaintances and the travel books. When we bought the tickets at about 9am, they said it would be about a 25 minute wait until our tour. The music in the waiting area was true hell - it was literally one song with bad vocals on a continuous loop. The same awful song over and over and over... When we asked about our tour again at 10am, they said it wouldn't be until 11:30 because of the tour buses. It was frustrating at first, and then we just said heck with it (or words to that effect) and left. It was somewhat liberating to be able to let go of a plan like that.

So we went to our next intended destination, Arecibo, the largest radio telescope in the world (also where they shot parts of the films Contact and Golden Eye 007). Arecibo was great. We got there before much of a crowd was there, so it was pleasantly low key. The telescope was impressive and expansive, and some of the astronomy exhibits were nice.

Next we went to a restaurant Lisa had read about and had a pretty nice lunch. Puerto Rican food exhibits a much greater appreciation for yuca root than I imagined possible, so that's been fun. At lunch, we had yuca fries, mashed yuca, fried, formed into something about the size of a fried zucchini stick. Good sangria at this place, too. The best part was definitely the view, since we were eating outside right on the beach.

On our way to the restaurant, we had spotted a great looking beach. We didn't have swim suits or towels with us, but the beach was so enticing we had to swim in it anyway. So we went to a nearby drug store and bought some towels, then went back to the beach and just swam in our cloths. It was definitely worth it. The waves were pretty strong, so we didn't go out far, but we had a blast.

All in all the day felt fun and spontaneous, yet we were still able to cross something off of our wish list of things to do, so it was a fantastic way to spend our last full day in Puerto Rico.

Tonight we'll just hang out at the hotel: have a drink, smoke some cigars, maybe swim, and just chill...make the most of our last evening to hang out with Mike and Lisa!