Wet, dry and green: Two Puerto Rico forests seem a world apart

BY MARY ELLEN BOTTER The Dallas Morning News
One island. Two forests as different as chocolate and vanilla. Yet,among the 19 forests counted on Puerto Rico, these stand out.
Guanica Dry Forest is a parched landscape nonetheless teeming withlife. The Caribbean National Forest (El Yunque) is a vine-strungjungle with so much rain to spare that it spouts rivers andstreams.
Walk with us in these U.N. Biosphere Reserves, so different, soalive.
WAITING FOR RAIN
Bambi surely doesn't live here.
Here is the Guanica Dry Forest. The earth beneath my feet radiatesthe sun's heat, like sunshine falling upward. What I take forbushes are actually stunted, decades-old trees. Despite theCaribbean Sea slapping the shore near the path, the air istoast-dry.
Ceaseless wind and salt spray have crafted a landscape in thisstate forest on Puerto Rico's southwest coast that's more like WestTexas than the tropics. Trees and bushes are smaller and fewer,though plenty of green mixes with earthy browns. Plants andwildlife have adapted. A dozen major trails lead visitors throughthis strange coastal preserve.
Headed for a natural bonsai grove, guide Francisco Jusino and Istop on 2-mile-long Meseta Trail to watch grasses sway in abreeze-choreographed dance. A Puerto Rican tody, a scarlet-bibbedbird not much longer than a man's finger, bee-beeps to acknowledgeus.
This is wonderful territory for birders. In the dry season betweenDecember and April, many trees shed their leaves, and there'slittle to hide the birds. Almost all trees are unexpectedly short,putting birds nearer to eye level. And Guanica's nearly 140 speciesrepresent half the bird types seen in Puerto Rico.
Along our way, brown pelicans patrol the shore looking for carelessfish in the shallows.
In a single, grassy field, a kestrel watches for movement. A trioof smooth-billed ani with beaks like Jimmy Durante's schnoz squawkfrom trailside trees. A gray kingbird squeaks its island name:pitirre, pitirre. And an Adelaide's warbler, locals' reinita(little queen), flashes a yellow chest, then is gone.
This 9,500-acre forest that doesn't look like a forest is one-thirdthe size of El Yunque rain forest on the island's northeast coast,yet it has about twice the plant species. Life is all around.
Brigades of ants march across the trail. The short, fat meloncactus sprouts a whimsical, reddish topknot. In a golf-ball-sizehole eroded into the gray limestone underfoot -- part of a 100million-year-old reef that once lay beneath the sea -- a pinkcactus hunkers in its meager shelter. It waits for a shower topuddle water in its round little reservoir.
Everything here waits for rain. Blocked from long drinks by themountain range that divides Puerto Rico into the wet north and thesere south, Guanica gets just 35 inches of precipitation a year,most of it between August and November. By comparison, mountainforests of the north bathe in more than 16 feet of rain annually.
We find our bonsai grove in a depression beside the trail. Wind haspruned and twisted white mangroves to knee height. Salt dried ontheir teardrop-shape leaves sparkles in the sun. Of the 550 speciesof plants that grow in Guanica, these are among the toughest. Afterall, it has taken many of them a half-century of survival in thinsoil and harsh climate to be even this tall.
But the most determined tree is one Francisco and I visit on theBallena Trail a few minutes' drive from Meseta's sunbaked strip ofcoast.
Ballena is up from the shore, the land more wrinkled, the creasessheltering and encouraging a diverse plant community. Trees aretaller, but there's less breeze, and sweat soaks my shirt and poolsin my waistband as we walk.
Air plants hang from trees, not stealing nutrients (they feed onmoisture), but hitchhiking out of the shadows and toward the light.A spike-leafed agave plant grows toward its centennial when it willblossom, then die. A 6-inch-long lizard with a shocking turquoisetail attached to a drab body scuttles through the brush. To escapethe sun, termites travel through mud tunnels striping the trees andpaths. And I chuckle as Francisco shows me the tree locals call''gringo.'' Brush it with your hand, and bark flakes away, likeskin off a sunburned tourist, he says.
We divert from the main trail and follow an uneven, rocky path tovisit Guanica's revered ''Guayacan Centenario,'' a tree that wasperhaps two centuries old when Christopher Columbus visited thisisland 500 years ago.
''This guy is a survivor,'' Francisco says with respect. Though itgrows barely a third of an inch a year, it's massive -- about 6feet around.
Many of its roots lie across a coral outcrop, not underground tofeed from the soil. Yet, its posture is straight, its canopy alacework filtering the sun overhead.
Francisco reaches out to stroke the trunk.
''This tree radiates some kind of energy,'' he says. ``So I alwaysrecommend you touch it.''
I do. The mottled skin is soft like a baby's. It's another surprisein this odd forest.
I pat this elder of the earth, this link to a far, far distantpast, and I think that nature-loving Bambi would like it here.
WRAPPED IN CLOUDS
From beneath my double protection -- a poncho and an umbrella ofbranches overhead -- the rain sounds like the roar of applause at arock concert, noisy and unbroken.
A few big drops break through the leaves above and land on my hoodwith juicy plops.
''We came to the rain forest, and it is raining,'' says guide JoseMorales. ``We're in the real environment.''
The racket of the rain in the Caribbean National Forest is brief.The downpour passes on to water another grove in the forest. Localscall this surviving swath of tropical garden El Yunque to honor agood spirit of the Taino Indians. Yuquiyu, early islanders said,lived in these heights, wrapped in clouds, watered by drenchingrains and protecting them from evil. Spaniards who came 500 yearsago garbled the name, and the error stuck.
Because El Yunque is just 25 miles east of the cruise port andattractions of San Juan, the forest sees many travelers eager toknow what a rain forest looks, sounds and feels like. Puerto Ricanscome here to picnic, walk the trails and savor an environment verydifferent from the urban neighborhoods in which many live.
As I walk with Jose, I'm like most visitors eager to experiencethis place. But I'm also hoping that somewhere in thisgreen-on-green world, I'll see one of the endangered Puerto Ricanparrots that live here and one of the coqui frogs that share theirwoods.
We begin at El Portal Visitor Center, less than 3 miles off themain highway. Opened in 1996, the center can be a springboard tothe rest of 28,000-acre El Yunque, or a satisfying rain-forestsampler in itself if time is short. An elevated walkway into thecathedral-like building puts visitors almost at treetop level, andthe lizard cuckoo, red-legged thrush or other bird they might neverfind in the dense foliage along a trail is almost eye to eye here.
Inside the center are hands-on exhibits that explain the rainforest's importance and future, and its plant and animal life. Agift shop is well-stocked with nature books, and guided walks on anature trail begin here.
In the garden near the trailhead, Jose and I spot a chunky littlePuerto Rican tody hopping across interlocking branches in pursuitof bugs. Only yards down the path, we enter a sort of emerald city,its inhabitants a dizzying drapery of plants climbing over oneanother toward sunlight. In their shadows, lizards, geckos, snakes,insects, rats, bats and frogs eke out a living.
An emerald lizard so vividly colored that it almost glows clings,motionless, to a tree trunk, hoping we won't see it. But, minuteslater, a brown lizard with black stripes like tire tracks down itsback eyes me boldly. He even raises himself from the thick grassstalk where he's clinging to get a closer look.
An hour later, we're driving toward La Coca Falls, an 85-footcascade that prances down a black cliff. In a pool at itsrock-strewn base, visitors wade or cool themselves in the falls'mist.
La Coca is so photogenic that it generally has a crowd of lookers,some of whom also are attracted by the site's gift shop. Beside LaCoca's asphalt parking lot, one of my wishes is granted.
''I never promise,'' Jose says as he moves toward a fallen branchat the pavement's edge. But, for three years, he's known just whichrotted-out limb is the home of a coqui. He carefully pulls aside asheaf of tall grass, and we look in on one of the operaticamphibians that serenade much of Puerto Rico from dusk to dawn butare seldom seen.
The brown mite in front of me is barely longer than its printedname: eleutherodactylus.
Taken aback that we've caught him lounging, he jumps quickly out ofsight deeper in the branch.
I don't know who's more delighted, Jose at finding his friend stillthriving or me at having a very little dream come true.
Rain returns as we drive higher and to the Palo Colorado area. It'sestimated that 100 billion gallons of rain fall on El Yunque in anaverage year. The 16 feet of water is enough to nourish 11 majorrivers.
But as we start up Caimitillo Trail, raindrops have eased to dripsoff of path-side leaves.
The Puerto Rican parrot numbered 100,000 or more when ChristopherColumbus came to the island. The brilliantly green bird with thebroad white eye ring, indigo-tipped wings and bright red band aboveits beak now numbers fewer than 200. Most live in a breeding andresearch station in El Yunque where only scientists may go.
But if we are to see one of the few dozen of these foot-longrarities that fly free, this area and trail hold promise. The palocolorado trees it prefers for nesting and the sierra palm berriesit likes to eat are both here.
We walk a short distance uphill and find mailboxlike constructionsattached to some trees. These nest boxes are designed to look likethe endangered parrot's favored hollow limbs but are deep enough todiscourage predators such as meat-eating birds or a maraudingmongoose.
Platforms are attached to nearby trees. During nesting season,researchers will crouch on them to watch for hatchlings.
We stand in the quiet, hoping to hear the parrot's distinctivebugling. But seeing their man-made nursery is as close as we'll getto seeing the bird.
I'm not disappointed. I've splashed in real rain-forest showers,been a breath away from a coqui, seen flowers in show-off colorsand trees and vines in tangled profusion, and been buzzed by aPuerto Rican emerald hummingbird.
All in one damp, green day.
PUERTO RICO'S FORESTS
• Getting there : Caribbean National Forest, in northeast Puerto Rico, is about 45minutes east of San Juan via Highways 3 and 191. The latter is themain road in the forest.
Guanica Dry Forest (Guanica State Forest on some maps) is on theisland's southwest coast about 25 miles west of Ponce via Highways2, 116 and 334.
• Where I stayed : Copamarina Beach Resort : Less than a half-hour from Guanica forest. A tranquil favorite ofdivers and people escaping stress. All-inclusive packagesavailable. Contact: 800-468-4553; www.copamarina.com .
El Conquistador Golf Resort & Casino : A full-service resort set above the Caribbean Sea about ahalf-hour from El Yunque. Includes a challenging golf course, laidover rolling hills, and a Golden Door Spa. Contact: 787-863-1000; www.elconresort.com . Nearby is the bioluminescent bay at Fajardo (Yokahu Kayak Trips,787-604-7375).
• Tour guides : At Guanica, Francisco Jusino of Aventuras Puerto Rico(787-380-8481; www.aventuraspuertorico.com ) or Acampa Tours (787-706-0695; www.acampapr.com ; also guides at El Yunque).
Jose Morales is a guide and driver with Rico Sun Tours in San Juan(787-722-2080; www.ricosuntours.com ).
• Safety : Stay on marked trails unless you have a guide who knows the areawell. Getting lost in the dense forest at El Yunque can belife-threatening.
RESOURCES :
• Caribbean National Forest, 787-888-1810; www.fs.fed.us/r8/caribbean .
• Guanica Dry Forest, 787-724-3724.
• Puerto Rico Tourism Co., 800-866-7827; www.gotopuertorico.com .