Arecibo Observatory
One of the highlights for me was to visit the Arecibo Observatory when we were in Puerto Rico. This facility has been in a couple of movies; Contact and Goldeneye. It takes a long time to actually drive to this location on the island because the geography is really unique in that there are all these little hills to go up and down and around to get to this point. It's not very well marked either. Driving here without a GPS would be rough at best - and even with the GPS it wasn't clear on where to go.
When you get to the observatory there are signs everywhere stating to turn off any cell phones because the equipment is so sensitive. The tour of the facility really was brief considering the drive, but ultimately we were there to see the observatory itself. After a short video they open up the doors which look out over the valley where the observatory is carved into the hillside.
It's quite an engineering feat to observe. They managed to find a valley amongst these hilly pocks on the section of PR. The hills are sorta like bubbled up earth with lush trees and forest all over them.
Sadly, The end is near for famed Arecibo Observatory's damaged telescope. This is really sad to see the end of this observatory. It would be nice if they could retain it somehow, but it looks like financially this is going to be pretty tough to overcome.
UPDATE: Sadly, the entire thing came down last night. As of 12/1/2020 Arecibo is no longer www.npr.org/2020/12/01/940767001/arecibo-observatory-telescope-collapses-ending-an-era-of-world-class-research
When you get to the observatory there are signs everywhere stating to turn off any cell phones because the equipment is so sensitive. The tour of the facility really was brief considering the drive, but ultimately we were there to see the observatory itself. After a short video they open up the doors which look out over the valley where the observatory is carved into the hillside.
It's quite an engineering feat to observe. They managed to find a valley amongst these hilly pocks on the section of PR. The hills are sorta like bubbled up earth with lush trees and forest all over them.
Sadly, The end is near for famed Arecibo Observatory's damaged telescope. This is really sad to see the end of this observatory. It would be nice if they could retain it somehow, but it looks like financially this is going to be pretty tough to overcome.
UPDATE: Sadly, the entire thing came down last night. As of 12/1/2020 Arecibo is no longer www.npr.org/2020/12/01/940767001/arecibo-observatory-telescope-collapses-ending-an-era-of-world-class-research
Castillo San Felipe del Morro Historic Site
Something I had no idea was here until I started looking into visiting Puerto Rico was the Castillo San Felipe del Morro site. You can EASILY spend an entire day touring the two sites. Just a small sample of information from the National Park Service site:
"During the 16th century, Spain quickly became a major world power largely because of the strategically located island of Puerto Rico.That's why Spain spent over 250 years fortifying this prized location. It's no wonder why Spain vigorously protected and kept Puerto Rico under its control for nearly 400 years!"
As you can see from the photos I took, it's just amazing. If you go into the depths of the fort you go back in time 400 years and can see how things were effectively "cobbled" together.
To read up more about it, feel free to visit the NPS site at: www.nps.gov/saju/planyourvisit/basicinfo.htm
"During the 16th century, Spain quickly became a major world power largely because of the strategically located island of Puerto Rico.That's why Spain spent over 250 years fortifying this prized location. It's no wonder why Spain vigorously protected and kept Puerto Rico under its control for nearly 400 years!"
As you can see from the photos I took, it's just amazing. If you go into the depths of the fort you go back in time 400 years and can see how things were effectively "cobbled" together.
To read up more about it, feel free to visit the NPS site at: www.nps.gov/saju/planyourvisit/basicinfo.htm
Puerto Rico Tidbits
This is just a series of photos I took along the way in PR. We started out leaving Denver at a minus 1° to arrive in PR at 76°.... I'll take that anytime.
While there we found a park which had a short hike and a waterfall with pond below. The water was COLD, but refreshing.