4) El Yunque Park, Luquillo, and Fajardo

The next morning (24.12.) our families back home were already preparing for christmas feasts while we woke up to sunshine but missed the family feeling. We knew there would be no christmas for us this year. After Franzi skyped with her family, we got our clothes to the laundry, searched for bikes to rent. Then, we went hiking in the El Yunque rainforest. On the way, we stopped for lunch at Boardriders in Luquillo. In El Yunque, we skipped the visitor center and went straight for the longest trail, the El Yunque trail. We didn't make all the way on top of Mt El Yunque, but instead climbed Mt Britton. A tower on Mt Britton allowed us to overlook the National Park and see the north and south coast of Puerto Rico. I used the opportunity to call my family for christmas. Back at our car we drove to Yokahu tower, which offer us great views across the National Park as far as the northern coast of Puerto Rico. When the tower closed, we visited nearby La Coca waterfall. We were eager to see the beach and sun started setting. So we drove to Luquillo Beach. It is a wide and nice beach, but couldn't compete with the beaches of Las Terrenas. We shot a happy christmas picture for our family and friends before having vietnamese buffet dinner at Luqillo Beach BBQ. We then check for possibilities to visit the Bioluminescence Bay near Fajardo in Laguna Grande. But all slots were fully booked and we were told that not much luminescence could be seen at the moment.

El Yunque - a true rainforest :)

Franzi and I on Mt Britton

falls from Bano de Ojo

view over El Yunque from Yokahu tower

christmas greetings from Luquillo Beach

The next day (25.12.) we went for hiking in El Yunque again. This time, the park was largely closed and we had to leave our car near La Coca waterfall. We walked the Big Tree and La Mina trail and were hit by heavy rain. We then visited Luquillo Beach again and went for a swim. There we encountered some sand flies, which made us escape. After a shower in our guesthouse, we went for a more fancy dinner at Calizo Seafood Restaurant. The food was good, but the portions small... the sangria was good too and we enjoyed the live music... a nice birthday dinner for me :) Afterwards, we returned our rental car and had quite some trouble finding the station, which turned out to be a car lot at a gulf club.
The next morning (26.12.) our AirBnB host drove us very early to the Fajardo Ferry Terminal. We were heading for Culebra and it turned out that many people who came later were not able to get a ticket. When we queued for the tickets, we were hit by another strong rain... at least it revealed a nice double rainbow^^

Franzi and I on Big Tree trail

dinner at Calizo restaurant

double rainbow while queuing for Culebra ferry tickets