Today we headed south, map
in
hand, to visit the Caverns del Rio Camuy and the Observatory of
Arecibo.
Most all of the 'highways' we
drove on today are too narrow for two full lanes and thus do not have a
centerline. The Puerto Rico interior is more mountainous that had
been figured. There were many very sharp turns, steep hills and
quite
a few cars on the road. We did not drive a fast as the local
people
thought we could so occasionally we had cars waiting to pass us.
As is normal here, there were few highway route signs. The roads had many 'Ys' and at times we were not sure if we went the correct way. Frequently we would cross an intersection. This would have been very helpful telling us how close we were to the caves, except that most of the cross roads were not on any of the maps that we had.
Entering the park we were able to use the Golden Age Passport to save half of the admission price. We were there fairly early so there was not a large number of people waiting. After buying our tickets we were told there would be a 30 minute wait for the trolley to take us to the cave opening. After about five minutes a park attendant ran up to me and asked where the two women were. So that we would not have to wait 30 minutes they made space for us on the Spanish speaking trolley and said that when we got to the bottom they would take us to the English speaking tour. We were very impressed that they took the time and effort to save us the much longer wait.
It was a nice ride down the twisting road to the cave entrance. They hooked us up with the English tour and off we went. The guide was very good and the explanations were clear and loud enough so that all could hear. We all washed our hands in the "Fountain of Youth" so we should be around quite a while longer.
The cave is not like most that we have been in. It consists of very large, high rooms and no small twisting places to get through. There were a couple places where it was open to the sky. This cave is worth the visit.
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The guide said that the cave has not been open very many years, my memory is something like 18. He implied that it used to be privately owned and when it was decided to make it a tourist attraction the state went to the owner and asked if he had the money to improve it enough to be a tourist sight. When the answer was the expected no, he was required to sell it to the government for development.
On the way back to the
surface
a man held his 7 year old on his lap so that all three of us could ride
up without waiting for the next trolley. We ate lunch at a stand
at the top. My sandwich was exceptionally good.
Last revised: 10 July 2002