Our first traveling adventures begin! Last weekend, we decided to use our time to explore the area surrounding the northern town of Arecibo. Here, we would engage in a little bit of intellectuality, a whole lot beaching, and a buena vista dinner finale.
The first stop was Arecibo Observatory. The largest space observatory in the world, the observatory boasts an enormous 1,000 foot diameter. The site was chosen in Puerto Rico because of a natural sinkhole that fit the dimensions of the dish -- meaning constructors did not dig the hole for the observatory, they just placed it in the convenient, pre-made observatory-sized crater. The observatory has always been run by Cornell University, until this year, when another private institution outbid Cornell and took over operations. Still, Cornell researchers dominate the scene (naturally), and some interesting stuff was discovered here. Of course, I couldn't tell you about any of it, because immediately after reading about the research, I forgot what the heck the articles were talking about. Two thumbs down for astrophysics.
After leisurely reading through the exhibits at the observatory's visitor center and sitting through a riveting 30 minute presentation from the early 1990's, Avanti and I headed over to the Faro de Arecibo, or the Historical Arecibo Lighthouse. Here, there is a lighthouse, but more importantly, there is a beach. After a quick refreshment á la Piña Colada, we headed into the water. Here the ocean was so calm that is was more a pool than anything else. The beach was crowded with tons of local families, who set up on the beach in small huts with hammocks. They brought coolers and small barbecues, in which they cooked food for the day while playing music and playing ball in the water. Many people brought dogs, who came into the water for a swim with us. |
| Avanti in the water at Arecibo Lighthouse |
On the way home from the Faro, we followed the information in our handy guidebook and decided to stop at a restaurant called the Parador Vistamar for dinner. The restaurant sits at the top of a hotel at the edge of a cliff over the beach in a town called Quebradillas. The view was spectacular, as the name promised, and the food was delicious. We were the only customers at the time we arrived, so we had the restaurant to ourselves and chose the best seat in the corner by the ceiling-to-floor windows, where we had an interrupted view of the sunset.
With a craving for more local comida criolla, we ordered mofongo relleno con pescado y pollo, or fried plantains stuffed with seafood and chicken. The plantain is formed into a sort of basket, while the fish, chicken, and vegetables sits at the top covered in a soupy tomato based sauce. ¡Qué delicioso!
And there you have our weekend excursion. As promised in the last post, below are other miscellaneous pictures. First you have two photos of the beach right by our house at the end of the block, and then some more photos for your viewing pleasure, with captions!
 |
| The beach in Rincón, right outside our house! |
 | ||||
Same beach, at dusk.
|
 |
| Me, with a smaller satellite at Arecibo, which was featured in the movie "Contact." |
Tonight, we celebrate my birthday by going to a street fair in Mayagüez, but more on that in the next update!
No comments:
Post a Comment