Hi friends! We’re still in Puerto Rico (until Thursday evening) and are having a great time trying to figure out the island (haha). It’s been a good fun(ny) time. We headed out east today to visit El Yunque. The last time I was in El Yunque was a decade and a half ago! Christine and I were about 16 years old and visiting the island with her family. It’s so crazy to visit again— 16+ years later with my kiddo. To be honest, I don’t remember our first visit very well. I remember Christine’s mom telling us that our shoes were not very good hiking shoes and taking us to the mall to buy us sneakers…. which we then chose matching white (and maybe pink) ones? And then I remember about 1/2 into the hike, the paths were super wet… making it SUPER slippery with the sneakers we chose and ended up hiking the whole thing barefoot! haha. Of course. This time Christine were sneakers again, I told Marlowe to wear the most comfortable shoes she had, and I wore jellies (cause you know, water proof). This time it also hadn’t rained beforehand so it wasn’t too slippery for us, which was great.


We had an amazingggg time today! It was so nice to get away from the city and head into a sleepy town for lunch and then head into the surroundings of the rainforest. It’s also great to do it with Marlowe and go over so many of the things we’ve learned throughout the years. I love pointing to plants, trees, whatever, and asking her what they are and her getting it right, I’d say maybe 90% of the time.

We found deliciousssss food too. As mentioned, food wasn’t the easiest the first day… but each day seems to be getting easier. I’m a really happy person when I can easily find healthy and delicious food while traveling πŸ˜‰

Cute colorful town love. 

Driving up into the rainforest… there’s cold coconuts there… in case you were wondering. 

trees for days. 

steep slopes for weeks. 


There’s a lot of trails to climb at the park– but we chose one with a waterfall— I was excited to show Marlowe the waterfall… and then half way through I remembered we had already shown her a waterfall last year, haha. Whoops. She loved it anyway. It was super crowded— but kept going higher up the trail and realized that we could probably climb under or over the fence and climb down this ledge thing and explore the top of the waterfall we just looked at. We looked over the ledge and saw a group of people sitting down there and thought, “oh yeah, we got this.” So we sandwiched Marlowe between us and the three of us made our way under the fence/rail, down the ledge, and into the rocky waterfall area. 

testing out that water… working on that bravery. 

I was SO surprised by Marlowe. Being brave and being cold ARE NOT her strong points. She loves climbing rocks though. We had packed swimsuit’s but then forget them in the car– so Christine went in in her underwear and Marlowe kept creeping closer and closer to the water and I kept telling her, it was totally okay, but she couldn’t get her clothes wait. And the poor, very modest Marlowe finally built up the courage to take off her clothes and get in too. She is SO shy with that short of thing. It’s good, but also can be bad/restraining. But she did it… and got in the FREEZING water with Christine to explore. And kept wanting to go further and further until we decided to remind her that we were at the top of the waterfall so going any closer to the edge would be a bad idea. The thing is… we thought we were reminding her.. but apparently she never knew in the first place and was SHOCKED to learn where we actually were, haha. I was like, ‘uhhh yeah, remember that waterfall we were just looking up at? We’re at the top!‘ Brave girl didn’t even realize it. πŸ˜‰

Christine and Marlowe then got dressed again to head back on the trail. I was hoping we’d see more animals… but at the same time, I’m not surprised we didn’t. With a whole entire rainforest to roam, I’d stay away from the busy(ish) human saturated area if I could. Ya know? After that hike we decided we were maybe a bit worn out for the other, bigger hikes and headed back on the road again. This time, we wandered a bit to see if we could find a beach or other adventure.

We were at the top of this one πŸ™‚ Which was actually much taller, but I didn’t want to see/or show all the (so many) people who were done there.

Nature is the best. 




We roamed our way through a few dead end neighborhoods, made a few friends with chickens, and enemies with dogs until we finally found a public (more easier accessible) beach. Marlowe spent her time running and playing until the sun set and then we headed our way home to make a quick, healthy meal.


I put Marlowe to bed a few hours ago, cleaned up, did laundry, and now I’m off to pack because we’re waking up at 4:30 tomorrow morning to catch a ferry to an island! We’re all hoping it goes smoothly! The whole getting on the ferry thing.. and actually being on a ferry thing. Last time we were on a ferry, Marlowe and I both cried for fear of the intense, rocking waves. Yeah, we can be pathetic scaredy cats, it’s cool.

Anyway, I’m excited and need to get to bed! I hope you guys are having a great week! I assume I won’t have WIFI on island ( I hardly have wifi and service here), but hopefully! Cheers guys! 

2 Comments

  1. I have been following you for many years already, and… Marlowe is such a big girl now i can't believe it! Anyways, i hope it doesn't sound creepy but she looks like such a precious child, lots of love from a random lady from France !

  2. I also find myself disappointed when I go somewhere where I expect to see lots of wild animals and then don't. It's so sad because you read and see places like this, and then go to the touristy parts and the animals aren't there. It makes sense, but it's disappointing. When I was a kid my number one dream was to hike the Amazon and see a bajillion plants and animals. One day!!!