Set on top of a hill, Arecibo Observatory, the world’s largest radio telescope built in the 1960’s, is an incredible engineering feat, considering its size and location.
If you have seen the 007 movie Golden Eye, you might recognize it from the pictures. Perhaps much later, scientists discovered that by using arrays of smaller radio telescopes, they could combine and infer the same information as that of a much larger telescope. NASA first built the station to study the upper parts atmosphere by reflecting the sunlight to heat desired areas. Scientists later decided to build a receiver inside a Gregorian Dome, which itself is attached on a rotating and moving arch. If I had a dome named after me, it would be YuHungian Dome. Three cement towers suspend the receiver, weighing hundreds of tons, by cables. While I was there, I actually saw the dome rotate and move from one side of the arch to the other. Aluminum plates, each individually adjusted, line the surface of the reflector. Due to the rotation of the Earth, scientists usually only has perhaps twenty to thirty minutes to observe radio waves from a specific location in the sky. From those observations, they could then determine the distances to other planets. I am glad someone here and elsewhere is dedicated twenty-four hours a day to figuring out the mysteries of the universe. What would we do without them?
Driving through the mountain roads at a comfortable 65 miles an hour on two lane highway in my rented Hyundai, I was quickly reminded that I no longer have my six cylinders Acura. On some parts of the drive, I could see out to the ocean and while on other parts, I wove between lush hills. After stopping for a quick burrito in Guanica, a town in the southwestern part of the island, I made my way to La Parguera, one of the few sites in Puerto Rico where bioluminescent bays exist. Just like what its words mean, bioluminescent bays are bays that are lit by tiny organisms in the water. The tour I went on had two swimmers who dove into the water and swam around the boat. As their arms wade through the water, a florescent glow lit up around them. The glows reminded me of the scene where Frodo walked through the living woods from the first Lord of the Rings; everything was alive, even the water. One of the guides lifted a bucket of water from the bay. I moved my hand through the water and held it up. Although I was hoping my entire hand would glow, many sparkles lit up on my hands. I have never heard of bioluminescent bays before. This experience makes me look forwards to other unknown amazing wonder awaiting me ahead.
Besides its colonial history accompanied by forts, plazas and churches, happening night life, distinct pastel colored buildings and white sandy beaches, Puerto Rico also has rich and vastly different natural scenery within only hours drive from one another. Guanica Forrest is a dry forest which receives very little rain throughout the year. As such, its plants have smaller leaves and without abundant water, plants don’t grow as large as those in the rainforest. Along the trail were different cacti, hundreds of bird nested in the tree branches, plants that attach themselves on the trunks of larger trees and others. Supposedly, only 1 percent of the dry forests of the original dry forests that existed remain. Naturally with little water, I can imagine the shrinkage, but deforestation probably contributed to that as well.
Only about three hours away on the eastern side of the island is the only rainforest, El Yunque, in the United States. The steep mountain range in the middle of the island blocks most of the moisture from crossing to the dry forests. As a result, El Yunque receives about 15 meters of rain a year compared to less than one meter at Guanica. One word that describes rainforests well is lush. Trees here have much larger leaf surface to receive as much sunlight as possible. Generally the leaves also have “dripping tips†which are pointed ends on the leaves which allows water to run off; this way the leaves are kept dry to prevent fungi from growing. I hiked one of the longer trails aptly named El Yunque, which is 2.4 miles to the top. The sky was cloudy, but not yet rainy when I started. The trail was nicely paved in the first few hundred meters, but quickly turned into stone trails. Because of running water from the rain, mudslides are common. As such, the stone trails have larger stones on both sides of the trail to prevent it from being washed away. There are also drainage channeled built in to allow the running water through. The forest itself is so dense that some trees grow just few foots apart from one another. Plants also grow on the trunks of trees and on stones as well. Everywhere I looked, there were some green plants growing. The higher up I climbed, the more rain came down. Fogs engulfed the trees and the trail ahead. I was starting to get soaked. My one hard Cuban sombrero was now soft like a piece of wet paper towel – my perfect chance to mold it. My hiking boots was drenched all the way through. The famous Coqui frogs of Puerto Rico continued their loud chorus. “Ko Kee.†“Ko Kee†Once I got higher up the mountain, the tree began to clear and the wind blew harder. I stood on a lookout point, which really was just built up from a few large rocks. On all three sides except my back were steep drops into the dense forests. My camera had run out of battery and my spare battery is in the chest pocket of my suit which by now Luis had brought with him back to Florida. Living in the clouds described the surrounding well. A little hut with a hot cup of Oolong tea there would have been nice. On the way down, I hiked the Big Tree trail which led to a waterfall. Because of the running water carrying mud, the pool was cloudy, a stark contrast to the clear ones at El Nicho in Cuba. Even though I was already drenched, I didn’t feel like diving in for a swim. Much research continues on at El Yunque to understand its plants and in fact, reforestation over the last several decades has increased the size of the rain forests, a rarity in the modern world.
Originally I was to head to Mexico after Puerto Rico, but really I need a lot more Spanish training to make the rest of my trip more rewarding. I booked my flight to Guatemala where many Spanish language schools have been teaching international students for decades. I will learn how to conjugate at least some of my verbs correctly rather than always using the infinitive form. At least in Puerto Rico, I understood more Spanish than in Cuba. Either Puerto Ricans speak better Spanish or my Spanish understand was improving. Back to school in June, who would have known?
