Puerto Rico - The Jungle

If I may brag about my university for a sentence, I would tote this Puerto Rico study trip is the best university study trip for the price and for any tropical climate loving person like myself. Puerto Rico is also a great place to visit because they accept the US dollar currency, so no need to mess with exchange rates. The people of Puerto Rico are generally fun-loving and patriotic as well.

El Yunque National Forest from the top of a mountain.

As we arrive in San Juan, Puerto Rico's capital city, the wet tropical air immediately condenses on our skin, and it's hard to contain the excitement of the coming days of hiking in the jungle, tropical vistas, crystal clear snorkeling, and most of all Puerto Rican wildlife!

 

We arrive in El Yunque National Forest later that night, and settled into our apartment style rooms. After a quick food run the next day, we set to work exploring the jungle and cataloging various wildlife. The jungle is so alive with various tropical birds calling to each other, while the insects heat up their mating calls for the night. And a pleasant, humid aura fills the rain forest as we launch into another evening here, I swear you can see these plants growing!

Kip showed me how to take this cool picture of a sleeping anole
on top of a banana leaf.

One of the other members to our trip, who is a much more knowledgeable photographer is also getting some sweet pics with his Sony DSLR camera, and we buddy up for a night of wildlife photography. In twenty minutes of field experience, I learn more about wildlife photography with my new friend, Kip, than I would ever learn in an afternoon of reading articles and instructions.

The Puerto Rican Tree Snail is said to be the most numerous
herbivore of the island of Puerto Rico.

In El Yunque, we find heaps and heaps of Puerto Rican Tree Snails, which are the most numerous herbivore on the island. We also come across several species of coqui frogs, and what I believe to be the Puerto Rican Rocket Frog. I was able to video the rocket frog calling under a small water fall in the creek.

The Puerto Rican Rocket Frog calling in a nearby creek.

Kruger's Anoles are a bit harder to find.

Crested Aonles are also very common in these parts. Other anoles are present but will take a bit more work to find. In my relentless search for wildlife, I manage to find more crested anoles, a few green anoles, and two Kruger's anoles, here is El Yunque.

Green Anoles are fairly common in this area.

Crested Anoles are easily found in this area and in most
other parts of the island.

An awesome swimming hole in El Yunque!

And to finish off a sweet couple days in the jungle, we hop into a rock pool and explore the water fall that feeds it.