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glowing in the dark, not just for breakfast any more

2006-10-24 - 2:26 p.m.

all photos © 2006 by elaine radford

scene from the front garden of our suite, seriously, la parguera is a durned good deal

Sunday, October 22

A loud but too-scrawny-for-the-stewpot-and-don't-he-know-it rooster woke us early. D. pointed out a fine perched Red-Tailed Hawk, then went hunting the hotel owner to turn in the keys. Of course, the minute he vanished, I was eye-to-eye with a gorgeous Baltimore Oriole male enjoying the fruits in the trees on the waste ground on the other side of the street.

We had to backtrack through San Juan, and I took the opportunity to direct D. to the Botanical Garden. It's free, but it has a guard, so do try to act dignified. Look like a student or a professor or something. We just looked like goofy birdwatchers and said outright that's what we were. She made a note and waved us in. Later, a police car cruised by slowly, perhaps to make sure that we were really looking at birds and not the attractive young Latina students jogging around the park.

Not to worry. The birding was enough to keep anyone spinning. New birds for the trip seen included great views of a flock of Bronze Manakins, a confiding Solitary Sandpiper, Red-Legged Thrush, Pearly-Eyed Thrasher, and Common Moorhen. The most exciting, if the brattiest, bird was Canary-Winged Parakeet -- what we simple pet writers used to call Canary-Wing Brotogeris. These birds are shockingly noisy when they're using their outdoor voices, yet they blend wonderfully well with the trees. We really had to work to get excellent views of them. Well worth it, though, when a couple finally condescended to land on a bare branch and pose.

We drove over the mountain to Ponce, a speedy trip thanks to the new "autopista," one of those greedy thingies that grab all your spare change and dollar bills but at least keep you whizzing over broad modern highways. It all came to a crashing halt in Ponce, where they were doing construction work on the roads through the town. We got quite lost, and I'm still not sure how we found the town plaza and historical district.

I should point out here that Puerto Rico has a large and obvious expenditure in building roads and policing them, with police visible on even the smallest roads much less the biggest and with roads being repaired/rebuilt on every side. It seems like Louisiana, with all its oil, should have a fraction of such funds, but somehow we don't. And no sales tax on this magical island either -- at least not yet. Apparently it's coming.

As it was Sunday morning, and rainclouds were gathering to boot, it was not the liveliest time to arrive in old Ponce. I did actually notice someone selling fry bread, but many of the vendors were still closed, and only a few of the classic cars had quietly gathered to impress the young girls. We strolled around to grab views of the infamous black and red firehouse and the semi-purple cathedral and random other handsome old buildings, and then we enjoyed a Sunday lunch at Cafe Tomas, an Italian/Puerto Rican restaurant. I was still quite bloated from my huge dinner at Anchor Inn, so I had asapoa pollo and a glass of red wine. Oh my God. It's a chicken soup, but my fan club probably knows how I love my chicken soup. And this version was out of this world.

supposedly the most photographed building in puerto rico, the old firehouse in ponce, so i photographed it too, although i strongly suspect el morro is really the most photographed structure on the island, but that's just me and my cynicism

We next bopped over to the Guanica Dry Forest, where we did a little birding by car but were quickly informed by the park ranger that it was Sunday and time to close. We mostly grabbed raptors -- many TVs but several fine Kestrels either perched or flying quite low. We had discovered the American Kestrel wintering ground. There was a large kettle which I thought was mixed Broad-Wings and TVs, but D. disputed this, so I won't count them. Doesn't matter anyway, since I'd already seen an indisputable Broad-Wing earlier in the trip.

It was the dark of the moon, and I had a plan. Heading on to La Parguera, we first tried to rent a room at the parador overlooking the bio-luminiscent bay. (And it was a spectacular view indeed by day.) No one was home, so we drifted down the hill to the water, where we got an incredible steal on a waterfront room at the biggie parador resort/complex. We had a simple fried shrimp meal on the porch of an informal restaurant overlooking the street, where we could watch bikers come and go from the biker bar. But, no fear, heavy police presence in Puerto Rico, remember? Besides, these were all the poseur bikers on vacation with their colorfully painted bikes that D. assured me were not the real thing. As soon as he said it, a "real" Harley zipped by, and he pointed it out, but there weren't any bottle fights or anything. Nobody even yelled. The extent of the excitement was some loud music.

And then it was time to catch our boat. I had the wrong idea about the bay, so I'm glad we missed the first hotel. It doesn't just sit there brooding and glow in the dark for no reason. Something has to be moving to piss off the dinoflagellates and make them glow. The theory we gathered is that the lights make any potential predators feel that they've got a spotlight on them and that they're being watched. Anyway, one of the guides jumped into the water and swam around to make it glow. Then they invited anyone who wanted to do the same. Of course I jumped in. Only after I'd jumped did I realize that I was by far the oldest person in the water -- D. says I was the oldest by 25 years and I suspect he's right. The dog paddling to make the water glow wasn't too hard. Jumping in was as easy as falling off a log. But, ah, the climbing that ladder back onto the boat -- that was tough! Fortunately, the captain was there to give me a hand.

I can't easily describe how it looked. I would be dog-paddling around and it would be lighting up all greeny-blue radio-active looking bubbles all around me and under me. It was surreal. And I have to admit to feeling a burst of accomplishment that I just jumped right in, even though I'm not 20 any more.

You know who didn't jump right in? You know who didn't even put on a bathing suit just in case we might be invited to jump in? I'm not going to name any names, but I bet you can guess.

Just teasing, dude!

D. said the excitement of the evening was wondering if he'd have to jump into the bay and rescue me after I drowned. Oh ye of little faith.

On the way back, on the parador grounds, D. spotted one of those giant toads you get in Latin America. It tried to get away before he could get a good look but for once I actually had my little handy dandy WalMart flashlight, and I put a spotlight on it. Me and the dinoflagellates, two invaders of the nighttime peace and dark.

Birds added to our Puerto Rico list on Sunday:

  • Northern Oriole
  • Northern Mockingbird
  • Mourning Dove
  • Bronze Manakin
  • Solitary Sandpiper
  • Red-Legged Thrush
  • Pearly-Eyed Thrasher
  • Canary-Winged Parakeet
  • Common Moorhen
  • Turkey Vulture
  • Smooth-Billed Ani
  • American Kestrel

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