New York City has been brutally cold of late, with temperatures well south of the freezing mark. Adding insult to injury, our first significant snowfall of the year just started falling. Were I smart, I’d have taken the Core Team somewhere tropical to while away the winter months, somewhere like Puerto Rico where the January average temperature sits in that sweet spot between 70 and 83 degrees.

Sara and I visited Puerto Rico in November 2004. Though a friend’s wedding prompted our whirlwind trip, we enjoyed as much of the flora and fauna as we could absorb in less than 48 hours.

We started out by examining the urban ecology of the island’s resort district, Isla Verde.

Zenaida Dove

Next, we endured a harsh education in just how wet a rainforest could get at El Yunque Caribbean National Forest.

El Mina

Finally, we took in the abundant charms of Old San Juan.

Pelican in Puerto Rico

Man, I’d love to be in Puerto Rico right now…

Written by Mike
Mike is a leading authority in the field of standardized test preparation, but he's also a traveler who fully expects to see every bird in the world. Besides founding 10,000 Birds in 2003, Mike has also created a number of other entertaining but now extirpated nature blog resources, particularly the Nature Blog Network and I and the Bird.