My country, Puerto Rico is not perfect. If it were I would be living with my wife over there, instead of Texas. There are a lot of goofballs in the political environment, changes in the economy, and the crime wave with all the killings going on, that have unfortunately made of the quality of life in Puerto Rico, a joke. A saying goes that whenever USA sneezes, Puerto Rico gets a Cold…
Which is why I think that people should appreciate more the fact that a natural resource as important as the Rainforest of “El Yunque”. To me, this natural resource is as important and beautiful as the pyramids of Egypt, or the Wall of China. Most Latin American countries have pyramids left behind from the Mayan’s and the Aztecs, the beautiful lines of Nazca in Peru, or the waterworks and coliseums the greek and romans built.
El Yunque is a beautiful and majestic reservoir of nature, animals, plants and flowers like no one has seen before. It’s ecosystem is very rich and able to self sustain the plant and animal life that exists in that area. It has suffered the same abuse from mankind, as the Amazon forest, where trees get cut unnecessarily or people have lost their lives because they have become lost in the unending vegetation that it exists over there.
I took my wife to “El Yunque” on December 2008. We went hiking around the trails for over 4 hours and I felt I was in another world. When we came down, we had been caught in several downpours, so we were drenched. What an adventure we had. I wish I could share this wonder with the rest of the world. I wish everybody could come and see why this magnificent forest even as small as it is, can capture the attention of the thousands of people that visit it. More curiously because from every trip I have made there I have always spotted some photographer with a humongous lens taking pictures of our rainforest, and it’s no wonder because the rainforest has about 1 million visitors each year, the 28,000-acre El Yunque is one of Puerto Rico’s most visited tourist sites.
The competition is tough. El Yunque is jostling with Brazil’s Amazon, the Tree of Life in Bahrain, the Sierra Nevada here in the U.S., the Bwindi Rain Forest in Uganda, the Congo Basin Rain Forest, the Plátano Rain Forest in Honduras and countless other wonders.
Group E
I cannot say that Puerto Rico’s “El Yunque” is better or worse than any of the other places, since I haven’t visited most of the listed locations. But I can say that “El Yunque” is special. It’s the only rain forest located in the United States, and includes an underground cave system and a dry forest as well. In case you didn’t know, “El Yunque” is named for the second highest mountain peak in the forest.
In a verdant island like Puerto Rico there is a rain forest that is even greener and denser than the rest of the island, which is pretty green.
El Yunque rises 3,300 feet above sea level and is home to the endangered Puerto Rican parrot and the Puerto Rican tree fog or Coquí, some species of which can be found only in Puerto Rico. From certain lookouts, it has spectacular views clear to Luquillo Beach and beyond. True to its name, the rain forest gets nearly 100 billion gallons of rainwater a year, according to the El Yunque National Forest.
About 100 million people voted for the New 7 Wonders in 2007, and they chose Chichén Itzá in Mexico (a fabulous place), Christ Redeemer in Brazil, the Colosseum in Italy, India’s Taj Mahal, the Petra in Jordan, the Great Wall of China and Macchu Picchu in Peru. All are national treasures, but I have to say they also are very predictable.
This year’s vote will count toward the New 7 Wonders of 2011. You can vote for: Lake Titicaca in Bolivia/Peru, Angel Falls in Venezuela (looks pretty impressive), Iguazu Falls in Argentina/Brazil, La Brea Pitch Lake in Trinidad/Tobago (which I have visited), Mount Fuji in Japan (over whose snowcappped peak I once flew over), Belize Barrier Reef, the Grand Canyon (predictable, but still one of my favorite places), and many other sites too numerous to mention. There are 261 places to choose from in this second round of voting.
To find out more about El Yunque, visit the Puerto Rico Tourism Company site. Vote now for the Seven Wonders of Nature.
Move your fingers to the rhythm of the beat! Choose your song and when the arrows scroll to the top, hit the corresponding directional key to score points.
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Moolga, the rubber cow has gone wild.
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