After an almost 3 hour flight and trying to avoid the lightning as we flew through storms. I sat perched by the window watching as we descended towards the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport. My first thought as I saw the island for the first time was a sense of assimilation. Being someone who’s always wanted to grow closer to my heritage, this was everything I dreamed about growing up. Going to the island for the first time exposed me to Puerto Rican culture, exotic animals, amazing food and acres and acres of rainforest. This is one cultural expedition I will never forget. As we stepped out the back door of our hotel my feet instantly hit the cool white sand. This was the first time I had been to a beach that wasn’t littered with empty beer cans and six-pack rings. I remember racing up a
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This is the only tropical rainforest in the US national forest system, at twenty-eight thousand acres it 's regarded as small compared to others but what it lacks in size it makes up by the vast amount of species that call the forest home. One interesting fact about the forest is that they receive over two hundred inches of rain per year. Another is that out of the three hundred and ninety fern and tree species 88 receive protection because they are endemic or rare and 23 are found exclusively in this forest. I emerged from the visitor center with knowledge flooding out of my head like a raging river. I began to hear the many calls of birds and the famous Coqui frog. As I hiked deeper into the forest I began to see the vibrant colors of the plant life spread across my range of view, it was like I walked inside of a kaleidoscope. When I reached the top of the forest I looked out and saw the La coca falls cascading over an 85 foot drop. It crashed down like a weightless body in free fall against the jagged rock
This is the only tropical rainforest in the US national forest system, at twenty-eight thousand acres it 's regarded as small compared to others but what it lacks in size it makes up by the vast amount of species that call the forest home. One interesting fact about the forest is that they receive over two hundred inches of rain per year. Another is that out of the three hundred and ninety fern and tree species 88 receive protection because they are endemic or rare and 23 are found exclusively in this forest. I emerged from the visitor center with knowledge flooding out of my head like a raging river. I began to hear the many calls of birds and the famous Coqui frog. As I hiked deeper into the forest I began to see the vibrant colors of the plant life spread across my range of view, it was like I walked inside of a kaleidoscope. When I reached the top of the forest I looked out and saw the La coca falls cascading over an 85 foot drop. It crashed down like a weightless body in free fall against the jagged rock