Trip: Peurto Rico – Day 5
Attractions: El Yunque National Forest, Crash Boat Beach, & Rincón Beer Company
Date: March 2nd, 2022

We woke up pretty early so we could make it to the rainforest during our check-in window of 8:00 AM – 11:00 AM. We decided to take the north route again, but we didn’t see as much traffic around San Juan as we did a couple days prior. When we arrived, we wanted to visit the Visitors Center first and plan our hikes, learn about the forest, you know… things you do in a Visitors Center. But upon approaching the gates of the Visitors Center, the ranger let us know there is a fee for entering and it’s actually outside of the National Rainforest, so if we were going to spend more than an hour, we should visit the forest first, then the Visitor Center. Seemed backward, but that is what we did.

After getting checked in, our first stop was the Yokahu Tower. This cement tower had a spiral staircase leading to the top. The castle-like top revealed immense forests and a beautiful ocean. The view was great, but our bladders were full from the drive, so we continued on to the Baño Grande. Back in the 60’s I bet this spot was an awesome place to take a dip. It’s an 18-foot deep pool with a large bathroom nearby. Both the pool and the bathroom haven’t been in service since the late 60’s but it’s still a nice place to walk around and soak in the beautiful water and vegetation. We had to relieve ourselves in the portapotties near the parking lot.

We continued up the mountain as far as we could drive and after a second pass around the loop, we found a decent parking spot near the trailhead. There were some people that had quite a hike to get from their cars to where the hiking path started. The trail was a narrowly paved path that cut through the jungle of trees and shrubs. It made for a nice hike with minimal mud. The only time we had to get dirty was when another group would be coming from the opposite direction and we would need to step to the side to allow them room to pass.

I really enjoyed looking at all the leaves and flowers that we don’t see back in the Midwest. Beautiful bursts of color in a sea of green. We made our way to Mt. Britton Tower for another spectacular view. We were higher up than the last tower and even though we could see a lot of fog and clouds, we had a perfect view for miles. There was another path that we could have taken to go even higher, but we had enough and made our way back down.

Our next stop was the vending area. We grabbed some drinks, fish tacos, plus shrimp and chicken empanadas. We recharged in the cool shade of the vending table umbrellas as we planned our next move to Juan Diego Creek. There were a couple sets of falls with pools where we could get wet and cool off a bit more. I must say the cool water felt amazing.

As promised, we returned to the Visitor Center and checked out all the sciencey things. There was a large open-air building with a wealth of information about the rainforest and the plants and animals that call it home. We strolled around the building and the walkway through the garden, stopping to learn about things here and there.

We were all pretty tired and needed a pick-me-up. We couldn’t find iced coffee at the Visitor Center, so we stopped at a nearby cafe. Much like Kauai, Hawaii, chickens run wild around Puerto Rico. We enjoyed watching some chicks drink some water from a puddle (video below) as we waited for our coffees then continued our trip “home”.

Jill and I try to catch the sunset every night anytime we are on vacation so on our drive back to Rincón we Googled places to eat with a view, but nothing jumped out at us. But I did notice that we would be driving past Crash Boat Beach right about the time the sun was setting and it was only 6 minutes out of the way. Plus, the website I had found said there were food trucks. So we pointed the car towards Crash Boat Beach and made it just as the sky was turning bright orange and pink. We snapped a few pictures and chilled out on the pier before we were reminded that we were hungry by our growling stomachs and went to find the food trucks. We found where they were, but they were all packing up or gone by that time.

No problem, we decided we would try Rincón Beer Company. We had driven by it several times and heard good things. Before we sat down, I had to take a picture of the Pizzeria next door, Bob and Charlie’s. My dad’s name is Bob and my daughter, Charlie, so it seemed like a good souvenir photo.

We ordered our drinks and food and as we sipped our well-earned beverages a guy proposed to his soon-to-be wife right there in the restaurant. We all enjoyed our drinks. Jill bought the thickest “beer” I’d ever seen in my life. It was a smoothie sour by Prison Pals Brewing Co but you almost had to chew it before you swallowed. It was delicious, but filling, and I had to save room for my Tripleta, Puerto Rico’s finest sandwich, or at least that is what the server had told me. Jill doubled down on the fish tacos, having had them for lunch and dinner. Our travel buddies got a burger and pork tacos. We enjoyed our dinner and drinks at a table under an umbrella as it rained off and on. It wasn’t long before the long day caught up with us and we headed home for bed.