I took the road less traveled by

By Kali Carter

Coquis and waterfalls and slipping, oh my! El Yunque was one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. I liked the rivers; I liked the trees; I liked virtually everything about its calm, serene atmosphere. The tropical rainforest, located in the eastern part of Puerto Rico, is home to nearly 250 different species, and has an average rainfall of 200 inches per year. Some people consider its beauty so majestic it deserves to be called one of the new seven wonders of the world.

In a completely different atmosphere, nearly two hours away, lies another forest. This forest has no waterfalls, no rivers, and no slippery rocks. Instead, this forest has cacti, sunlight, and an average rainfall of 15 inches per year. This tropical dry forest is known as Guanica.

After getting the chance to experience El Yunque, it was only a matter of time before our group saw Guanica as well. On January 3, we made the journey from San Juan to Ponce. Our group met up with two new tour guides, Francisco and Juan, who would end up taking us around the city and its surrounding areas over the next few days. The next day, Francisco and Juan took us to the Guanica dry forest for a morning hike. Since I'm not in my best shape, I enjoyed knowing the hike would not take as long as the one in the rainforest. Even though the trails were rocky, the rays of the sun were blazing, which made the walk even more exhausting.

Francisco led the tour, showing us different types of trees, plants, cacti, and reptiles. On our hike, we saw a mahogany forest, and cacti with edible melons. To be quite honest, I was actually surprised how much life was visible in such an arid place. If I had been walking the trails by myself, I would have thought I was in the woods in Texas; however, Francisco knew exactly which trees were which, and he pointed out parts of nature we might have overlooked on our own.

Even though I knew the forest was dry, I expected it to be desolate. In fact, though, the forest is 10,000 acres inhabited by over 600 types of plants and animals. The trees were green and the plants were plush, which added much color and beauty to the landscape.

Thanks to a cool breeze off the coast of Guanica Bay, we eventually made our way through the hike and even learned something along the way. Certain places, such as El Yunque, will always stand out as naturally beautiful. Other places, such as Guanica, are beautiful below the surface. Finding the beauty is all about taking the time to search out the unknown and appreciate all of the splendor, obvious or not, nature has to offer.