We loved the place we stayed in Luquillo. The guy who owned the rental house
lived in another house on the property, which can be awkward, but it was fine
and we didn't feel that "barely-sanctioned intruder" feeling you sometimes
get. He was the epitome of the expat high-powered corporate lawyer who left it
all behind to live on a mountain top and do organic micro-farming. (I don't
know what his real story is, but I'd put money on it being something like
that.) When he showed us around, he had a sort of proud-but-also-laid-back
vibe: "So here's the passion fruit vine; it's kinda taking over the place, ha
ha." It made me wonder how one even has a yard in the middle of the
rainforest. What IS a yard, really? How do you "plant" a garden when
everything just grows? Does gardening consist mainly of fighting
off the plants you don't want? How many months can you go before the
rainforest starts encroaching on you with its own ideas?
I have so many questions.
We had bananas, papayas, passion fruit, star fruit, and pineapple in our
yard—those were just the things that were ripe. There may have been more.
And speaking of strange gardening issues, I learned that a banana tree CAN
ONLY GROW ONE BUNCH OF BANANAS. In its lifetime! That's it! Then it dies!
But a new banana tree (and technically speaking they aren't even called
trees) can sprout up from the side, out of the roots, and grow next to the
old one. So, does a banana orchard just…migrate over time? If you want to
plant bananas do you have to clear a whole row for the your one tree to
proceed down over the years? If your neighbor plants a banana tree will it
eventually be in your yard?
That's the passion fruit vine, growing up the tree
Star fruit tree
Close up
Baby pineapple
Our host said we could pick whatever fruit we wanted, and when we arrived
at the house there was already a bowlful of fresh fruit there, so we got
to try everything. There were also some flowers from the yard in vases.
What would it be like to just go out and assemble a bouquet like this from
your own yard??
Fruit cut up for breakfast. The star fruit is really good—I had it in
Hawaii too but I thought it was better here. It reminds me of kiwi, a
little. The passion fruit you think is going to be weird because you can
eat the seeds, but they are just nice and lightly crisp, like poppyseeds
or something. And the pulp around them is good and sweet. I like papaya
but Seb thought it tasted deeply "wrong" somehow—not spoiled or anything,
just strange to him. And of course the tiny bananas are so delicious. I
wish we could grow them here! (One tree at a time.)
When I look at this picture of the back patio where we ate our meals, it
feels unreal to me. Were we really there??
It rained every day, sometimes more than once. Sometimes just a gentle
shower and other times more of a downpour, but I always loved the sound
and smell of it falling. And I loved waking up to it at night. It didn't
really cool things off much, but it felt nice to go out in it anyway!
The coqui frogs were louder here than anywhere else! After a rainstorm,
especially, they'd just go crazy. I love them! Sebastian decided to
dislike them mostly because I liked them so much, so he complained about
the racket they were making, but deep down I think he really liked them
too. :)
With so many coquis, you'd think it would easy to find one in the trees,
but I couldn't find any even when I went outside specifically listening
and looking for them. But one night this little guy ended up in Seb's
window, so we got to see him! He's so cute!
And then right after that I found one in the bathroom.
I tried to grab him, but he (probably wisely) would have none of it.
Still, this shows how tiny he is.
There were also lots of lizards—we sat outside and watched two of them
scuttle around and catch moths one evening. They are so fast! This was a
particularly small one, no bigger than a grasshopper. Cute!!
The yard was full of bromeliads, ferns, anthurium, orchids, and a bunch of
stuff I don't even know the names of. All beautiful.
I had big plans of going running while we were staying in the
rainforest, but even at night and in the morning, it was just TOO hot! I
felt exhausted after barely stepping out the door. So, I ended up just
walking with Sam a bit. In spite of feeling like we were in the middle
of the jungle, we were also in a sort of neighborhood. There were
houses (some roofless, like we'd seen in other places) and cars and
chickens and clotheslines.
Even a peacock!
We walked back along the rainforest-y road we'd first driven in on. It
was nice to be walking because we could see everything up close, and
look back behind that first green curtain which is all that shows from
the road. The bamboo looks a lot taller and fatter up close, and those
fluffy leaves I like so much are way up above your head so you hardly
see them!
It was so dark once you got under the trees!
Even the road cuts were covered in green
I liked the look of these leaf silhouettes against the sky
And these
A big leaf
I can't tell in these pictures if there is a little mist in the air
(there sometimes was) or if the camera lens was fogging up from the
humidity (it almost always did. How do professional photographers
cope with that in Puerto Rico).
Don't forget this is a ROAD. Not a walking path.
And this is too. It looks like a dirt road here but really it's just
muddy.
Sunbeams. More mud.
We followed a little stream that branched off from the road.
The rainforest was too dense to really walk through, but I just walked
right up the stream. It's so surprising to walk through a stream and not
have your feet be freezing the whole time!
It's funny (HA HA, so funny) that we have three August birthdays in our
family. And somehow this trip managed to span ALL OF THEM. We celebrated
Daisy's birthday (adequately, I hope) a day early, before we left. And we
left the kids at home under strict orders NOT to tell Clementine when it
was her birthday, so we could celebrate together when we got back. But we
got to celebrate with Seb on the trip, which seemed extra fun.
Seb's birthday fell on the Sunday, so we went to church in the morning.
There is a branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints right
in Luquillo, and they have a nice little building of their own. There were
only about thirty people there, including us! Abraham's little branch in
Magnolia, Arkansas is also about thirty people, so I was thinking about
him, and better able to imagine what his sacrament meetings are like.
At church, we met a family with seven kids that had moved there to Puerto
Rico from Eagle Mountain, Utah! During the pandemic they just felt
inspired to sell everything and move, and Luquillo is where they ended up!
Doesn't that seem brave? When I told my other kids about it after the
trip, all of them said some version of "NEVER DO THAT TO US!" Ha.
But the kids in this family seemed to have taken it in stride and were
doing well. Three of them gave talks that Sunday—one boy spoke in English,
one girl read out her written Spanish kind of haltingly, and one boy gave
his in careful Spanish and then again in English! Kind of cool.
The other thing that happened in church was that we saw
Ryan Murphy
(the director of the Tabernacle Choir). He was visiting Puerto Rico with
his family. I recognized him immediately (I would know his face anywhere)
and then had to convince Sam and Seb that it was actually him. I was ready
to just drift quietly past him at the end of the meeting, but Seb,
hilariously I thought, insisted that we go over and meet him. I
kept saying, "No! We don't need to meet him!" but Seb would NOT leave
until we did. Finally we went over and introduced ourselves. Turns out he
knows my cousin Rob from BYU, and Rob's wife Cheri who is in the choir,
and actually knew them way back in Boston…so now Ryan Murphy and I are
like this 🤞🏼, is what I'm saying.
After church we decided to do a hike in the non-fee area of the
rainforest, just a couple miles from our house. Angelito Trail goes to a
river where there are lots of deep places to swim.
The trail was so beautiful!!
Bamboo-y
Seb is, and has always been, a monkey
There are other little streams all through the forest
Found a red leaf. Didn't know they ever turned red here!
Sam is a little confused about what he's holding, apparently.
The river itself was filled with both huge and small rocks, but between
them and in several smoother areas, the water got really deep—too deep to
touch the bottom. Those places were so good for swimming! The water looks
brown here, but it didn't look or feel dirty. And it felt so nice to get
into the water after the hot and humid hike! You don't gasp with shock
when you get in, and you don't feel cold or shivery when you get out. You
just think, "Ahhh. Perfect."
You did have to pick your way pretty carefully along because the bottom is
so rocky. I wouldn't have lasted a minute without water shoes.
Later that day, we went to a place called "Las Paylas." It was a house
just around the corner from our rental with a sign in their front yard:
"Natural Rock Waterslides." We decided to check it out. You walk down
through their yard, past these huge banana (?) trees.
Then on a little path down to the river.
Then you can see the "waterslide!"
It's really cool. The fast river really does just carry you right down the
rock like a waterslide! And the pool beneath is very deep, so it's a great
landing place. (The guy in the picture is standing on a raised rock area
at that one side.) The water does fling you around rather. I was none too
sure about trying it out myself. I was afraid it would hurt to bounce
along the rock! But after Seb went down he said it was fine—the force of
the water keeps you moving so you don't really scrape the rock itself, he
claimed. I ended up trying it somewhat reluctantly, just from halfway
down, and it was okay, but I preferred just watching other people.
:)
Seb going down the slide
Farther downriver there was another slide area that was a lot less steep.
I liked this one much better.
And then at the bottom was the deepest area yet. It was perfect for just
swimming and floating around. So relaxing. Seb (and Sam, to some extent)
climbed around and did all sorts of adventurous things, but I just wanted
to float in the water and look at those green, green trees. That's me in
the picture, happily hanging out next to a big boulder.
Seb flips (don't worry, he checked the depth of the water first)
It could not have been a more perfect way to spend an afternoon. I wished
we could have showed this fun place to all the other kids, but also…it was
nice not having to constantly worry that some child or other was going to
fall in the water and drown.
When we got home I made ham and cheese sliders for Seb's birthday
dinner, and Sam grilled the BEST fresh pineapple ever.
And I made little Sebby Cakes (in a disposable muffin tin!)
The weightiness of this milestone hit me suddenly, and I started
crying while I was saying the dinner prayer. I can't believe my
little Sebby is EIGHTEEN! How did this happen? What an adventure
these 18 years have been with him! I feel overwhelmed and "full"—sad, hopeful, nostalgic, regretful, grateful, astonished, joyful,
exhausted—when I think about those years and the ones ahead. I'm so
thankful to be his mother!
That fruit! It’s amazing! It’s seems like so much work to have fruit growing in your yard here. If you don’t prune they are small and flavorless. If you don’t spray they have worms. And yet there you have fruit just handing itself over!
ReplyDeleteAnd Ryan Murphy! In a tiny branch in Puerto Rico! And now you bff! What are the chances? Also that family who just up and took their seven kids to stay there for good. 😱 I all so curious to know how their story plays out! Do the kids stay and marry there? Do the kids all eventually head back to Provo for college and the parents are there alone? So wild!
Lastly … HOW did you manage to find all the ingredients for your Seb cakes in the jungle?
I want to know about what happens with that family too! In a way that's sort of what Abe's little branch in Arkansas needs. Just a few strong member families to suddenly move there! But I don't know if that's in God's plan there...
DeleteAnd surprisingly, there was just a grocery store there! A perfect normal little grocery store with pudding mix and disposable muffin pans and such. It seemed so unlikely amidst all the foreign-ness! :)