Sweaty Betty


Slowly but surely, I am checking items off of my “to see” list in Puerto Rico.  Yesterday, Amanda and Josh and I took a hike through the Guanica Dry Forest—one of the places I had not yet explored. 

Surprisingly (for us), we didn’t get lost once all day.
What we did get was sweaty.  Oh man, did we get sweaty.

When I checked the weather before we left home, it said there was a heat index of 105 in Guanica.  Awesome.  Stepping out of the car when we got there was like stepping into an oven.  No…ovens are dry.  You’d think the dry forest might have dryer air than the rest of PR…but it’s just as humid there as elsewhere. 
Let me tell you—I’ve gotten used to sweating here.  But yesterday was pretty gross.  Sweat should not form puddles on your clavicle, or drip off of your chin.  Ew. 

On the plus side, it was a nice hike!  It was greener than I expected.  But as Josh pointed out—it was the green of weeds, not vibrant foliage.  Also, there were more trees.  I guess I’m not sure what I WAS expecting—cactuses that looked like trees, maybe?  Trees with no leaves?  I did know it was a forest, after all.  We did see some cactuses, however.  With the booklet we’d picked up at the ranger station, we found out some of them had rather interesting names…

Melon Cactus

Spanish Dildo Cactus

Our path 





















































At the midpoint of our hike, we came to Playa Tamarindo, a pretty beach where we stopped to have lunch and enjoy the view (and the breeze coming off the water). 

Playa Tamarindo, Guanica 



















Then it was back on the path for another sweaty walk uphill to the car. 
So—Guanica Dry Forest: check.  2 hour hike in extremely hot weather: check.  A great way to spend a Saturday afternoon!  

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