In our case, it was Old San Juan, Puerto Rico for some sun, heat, and maybe a fruity drink with an umbrella in it. We aren't beach people. We're museum, gallery, historic sites, funky shop people. And botanic gardens. It isn't a trip without a garden included. My husband is very patient and understanding about this. I am patient and understanding about climbing around old forts with tons of stairs in 85 degrees and 100% humidity. It's a good marriage.
So, off we go to the botanic garden of the University of Puerto Rico armed with a backpack filled with water, cameras, and Deep Woods Off wipes. I've never been to Puerto Rico before, they might have huge jungle bugs, you never know. At any rate, no bug repellent required and we only saw a handful of people. The gardens are a fair piece out of town proper and being university property, are pretty limited in services. For example, both the Visitor Center and the cafe were closed. In fact, we're still not sure if the cafe is ever in operation as it seems to be converted into a daycare center. Oh, well. I was here for plants.
And there were plants! None of them really labeled, but heck, it's warm, and there are flowers and palm trees. I must say my regular trips to the conservatories came in handy as I could at least recognize some things. We also met some very lively turtles, ducks, egrets, lizards, and a couple of very large iguanas. The fauna rather outshown the flora.
Norfolk pine (Araucaria heterophylla) when left to grow in its appropriate climate.
Isn't it lovely?
Huge bamboo stands dotted everywhere.
Bamboo graffiti
That humble clump of tall grass in the distance is sugar cane here at the Bacardi distillery. It was all in the interest of research, honest.
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