There
were great
views of
the old and new San Juan as we came in.
Some of he sights in the old city.
Folk art in one of the shops.
We walked around the waterfront well into the evening.
Jim helped out the bartender at Cocktail reception we happened on.
Do you think that's why our drinks were a little strong.
Castillo del Morro
On a hill overlooking the entrance to San Juan harbor.
It is hard to imagine trying to defeat forces with such a commanding
position.
A moat and massive walls would also discourage any attackers.
You could fire on your enemy through narrow windows in turrets to keep
them from scaling the walls.
Cannons and storehouses for munitions are preserved so that visitors
can get a sense of the defenses.
Inside are ovens for preparing bread for the solders who were stationed
there.
The size is shown by a boy who decided that they made a place to hide
from his mother.
On the battlements are more cannons and you can also see the foundation
for modern guns that were installed during WW II.
When we were there families were flying kites on the field outside.
As we left port that evening we got our last view of the imposing fort.
We visited the Aricebo radio telescope.
It is composed of a set of antennas suspended on cables over a huge
dish covering ?? acres in the valley below.
I joined several photos to try to show it's size but the only way to
see the whole thing is to go there in person.
The dome shaped structure is ?? feet wide and is just part of one of
the antennas.
It actually can be configured to receive signals at many different
wavelengths.
Here is a sample of the dish and the cables supporting the antenna
structure
The snowshoe like footwear that workers use when working on it.
That is necessary to spread their weight so as not to distort the mesh
of the dish.
The whole structure, dish and antennas must be kept stable to within
millimeters for some of the studies.
We happened on a procession taking a statue of Mary down the main
street of a small town.
Our visit to El Yunque, the jungle.
It isn't called a cloud forest without cause.
We were only there for one day but those clouds held at least four
separate rainstorms.
These pictures are of the same cascade before and after a shower.
We walked down a trail to a natural pool at the bottom of a waterfall.
Several local families were enjoying a swim and so we joined them.
The sun did come out so we could look out over the forest to the ocean.
This looked like it was someone's home completely surrounded by the
jungle.
This tower along the road provided a vantage point for getting a view
of the area.
Back down to the ocean with miles of unoccupied warm sandy beaches.