Day 6 - El Yunque aka The Anvile

Today the Watkinson team had an early start to their day. We left Casa Coral at 8am to travel to the new place we would be staying called Del Mar. After dropping off our stuff and bumping into one of our competing schools, Westover, we were on our way to El Yunque. Our new driver, Rafael, was also our tour guide and on our way to El Yunque told us many facts about the island and the rainforest. He also told us the origin of the name El Yunque which means Anvil and is based off a Taino word. 

As we drove through the rainforest Rafael narrated what we were seeing, and we learned a lot about the flora and fauna, and how they evolve together to create new endemic life in El Yunque. Another cool fact he shared was how Puerto Rico was formed by a volcano, making it an Oceanic Island not a continental island, so there no large animals or predators at all. Our nature walk was a complete sensory overload. As rain hit our skin, birds and coqui chirped above us, and the vibrant colors of the forest were revealed everywhere we looked. We also got to go up a lookout tower and see the beautiful hilly landscape sprawl out in front of us, finally reaching the teal coastline, and endless ocean beyond. To finish our rainforest excursion we relaxed at a sweet spot along the Rio Mameyes, swimming and jumping from rock to rock. 

After our trip to El Yunque we decided to finally go to a swimmable beach with no waves or dangerous currents, but lots of stinky jet skiers. At Luquillo beach they have about 60 kiosks with tons of different food places and shops to explore. After exploring about half of the kiosks and not being able to choose where to eat, we landed on tacos and empanadas from kiosk 23. Once we finished our food we went to a spot on the beach that we had chosen all together and got to all hangout in the water together. We swam, played frisbee and just soaked up the Puerto Rico sun. We also learned one of Mr. Kozey's secret party tricks: He can throw a frisbee with his foot using his big toe. 

After settling into our new home, and trying out the pool, our day finished with a dinner all together out on the patio. Because our lives have been so non-stop for the past couple days it was awesome to have a calm evening to enjoy each others company and think back about our favorite moments so far, and favorite people we have met. 

This trip has really been something else, and its crazy to think we've only been here for 5 full days.







- Kelsey and Aviv

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