Day 1: El Yunque

You'd guess Yoonkay would be the pronunciation but you'd be wrong (like I was). El Yunque, pronounced "Joon-kay" is a tropical rain forest and park on the eastern side of the island. Many local excursion groups offer trips to El Yunque for roughly $50-80 dollars per person but we decided to rent a car and explore it for ourselves. Shelby and Burke were in front navigating and didn't quite type in the parks actual name, resulting in a roughly 1 1/2 hour drive for what should've only taken 40 minutes...but that was ok because we had eco boost on our car :P The drive to the forest was full of very sharp twists and curves that were often only wide enough for 1 1/2 cars instead of the two trying to make it through. People drive crazy in Puerto Rico, let me tell you that...I actually think it was worse than Spain...which is saying something. Despite the drive being long it was enjoyable as it was very scenic and a cool little way to explore the island (and to see the wild chickens just wondering all over the place).
  

lucky for us lazy Americans (to note, Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory) the park had a drive through option, meaning we could cruse through and just stop at road side water parks and towers instead of having to hike the entire way. That was fortunate for us as the park was closing in just 2 hours. Our first stop was a little water fall right off the road inwards. I'm not quite sure of its name but Josh and I took our turn climbing back to it as Shelby and Burke took pics from the road. The other side of the road had a stunning ravine flowing down it.

Further up the road we ran into the Yokahu Observation Tower that we were of course quick to climb and "observe" from. Needless to say, we were quite sweaty by the end of it. That was about the only issue we had in El Yunque as it wasn't nearly so humid or full of mosquitoes as we expected it to be. Expecting a cool history? I couldn't find one. I honestly think it was just built for observation as the name so indicated. There is also Mount Britton tower in the park but many note that Yakahu tower is better overall for site seeing :) 

We finished up our day trip with a nice long, treacherous hike to "La Mina" falls. This part was very humid and with many rocky paths only meant for one person but naturally full of many trying to cross at once. I could complain all day at the hike but still admit that it was extremely fun and well worth it. We saw many interesting trees of all different sizes on the way down along with the occasional tired well wisher assuring us we were almost there. Josh and I took advantage of the stream on the other side of the observation bridge as it was less crowded. We waited until Burke and Shelby caught up to actually go to the falls itself and to get in and swim. Naturally, being me, I tripped and hit my knee very hard on a rock, hurting it badly for my hike back. Wouldn't be a trip if I didn't hurt myself xD La Mina itself is the largest falls in the park (to my knowledge) and is also very busy. Don't expect a private swim. 

We took Big tree trail...the long one lol

Burke and Shelby enjoying the falls

Shelby photo bombing Josh and I