Not a good ending to our 1/30/22 rescue from Jumping Rocks . . .

But it was a great middle! That was our patient leaving. Which meant that we did not have to carry him up the ridge along with all our gear - through snow the whole way up. Two rescuers and all of the people that were with the patient had wet feet from wading in the river, and we had a lot of gear, so it would have been miserable. And it would have been dark before we got up. 

Hooray for Classic Air!

https://youtu.be/s4IYW1bZ_wU

He's a very knotty boy!

With a very knotty dog!

Puerto Rico 66! - Street scenes

 All photography credits to Eleni again. We walked and saw a lot in San Juan. Not everything was a tourist attraction, some was just city life.

La Perla Community

Roads in the oldest part of San Juan were paved with these "adoquines," supposedly made from iron-smelting slag.

OK, it's inside, but quite an elaborate sanctuary area

A phallic monument trying to look less phallic by having sharp-looking parts sticking out.

Puerto Rico 66! - Iguanas

 I know, iguanas are just about as easy to find as cats in Puerto Rico. But they don't live anywhere that we have lived, so seeing all these was special for us. Some pictures may have been featured in other posts.

Puerto Rico 65! - Cats

Slight change in the blog title, because cats are not for John's birthday.

The promenade at the foot of the walls of El Morro was literally infested with cats. Eleni thought some of the readers of this blog would be interested, so she took the pictures that follow. Some of them may not be under the actual walls - San Juan was generally cat-friendly so they are all over. Just nothing like the promenade, though.

Not sure who this is, but he has a cat at his feet.

Well, They need to eat something . . .

 

Puerto Rico 66! - Food

 We actually did eat and drink in Puerto Rico, but Eleni had other things than food pix on her mind most of the time. Here are the few she took:

Fried snapper and Tuna with plaintains

Beer is food! At El Tap:

Cervecería del Callejón, the only place we went to twice. Korean-style food with craft beer! The second time we visited, IPAs had taken over the beer menu

John's birthday lunch!

Puerto Rico 66! - El Yunque

 El Yunque is billed as the only rainforest in the US. Well, I've been to Muir woods, Mt Ranier's rainy side, and the interior of Kuaii. They all seemed pretty rainy and foresty. Maybe the clarification that it's the only National Forest that's a rainforest? I think part of the selling point is that it is very developed. Good roads and infrastructure (though still recovering from Maria). You can hike in the back-country, but you can also see a lot without getting out of your car except to use the toilets.

Like this waterfall. The first thing past the gate is the parking area for people to stop and get their picture taken. Thanks to the family photographer that took these after finishing with his family.

It's hard for me to get a picture of Eleni that adequately captures her spirit, so when I get two in a row, I have to post both:

We met this grumpy old troll that Eleni charmed. You would be grumpy too if you were stuck in a rainforest without an umbrella.

One of the peaks we did not climb:

Rainforest and ocean in one picture. Heavily processed by my Pixel 6:

Again, we were having much more fun that our faces indicate. I was trying to concentrate of framing the picture. Eleni was probably getting impatient with me. The dark gray cloud in the background really wanted to rain on us.

Aww - Eleni looks like she is enjoying the day, which she was.

We always like "At the bridge" photos. This bridge goes over a pool that used to be for swimming starting during the depression. Not sure if they are going to reopen it post-Maria.

Of course it rained on us. It is a rainforest. But it only rained on hikes when we left umbrellas back at the car.