Day 4

Today we went to Camuy Caverns, a mysterious cave. It was carved millions of years ago by the Camuy river. The cave was big enough to easily fit 17 buildings. The cave was filled with many formations resembling faces. The faces gave the cave an eerie and mysterious sense. The cave had ramps which were made slippery because of the  water dripping from the ceiling. The lack of railings at times forced us to go slower. This was difficult, but also nice because we got a chance to observe the cave more. Before we went in, the tour guide told us how if we felt a cold drop from above it was the "kiss of the cave." If we felt a warm drop than it was bat guano, which is considered "lucky" in Puerto Rican culture. To get to the cave we had to take trolleys that looked like the airport baggage carriers. We saw rainbow trees, a Sierra Palm trees and many other distinct trees from other Puerto Rican places such as El Yunque. The cave entrance was mystical and green, making everyone look tiny and unimportant in comparison. Next we went to Arecibo. At Arecibo Observatory we were brought into an interactive museum. Inside the museum there were little exhibits, many explaining how the telescope worked. Other exhibits were about nanotechnology, the galaxy and many other things. Then we saw a short movie about the observatory and the telescope. After that, it was time to see the real thing. A 1000 foot in diameter radio telescope capable of producing far better images of other galaxies than any other telescope in the world. It was giant. People act like the radio dish is the biggest and best part of the telescope, but in reality the eye-ball like dome on top was the best. It might have been our angle from up above but the dish just didn't seem as impressive as some people have made it out to be. In the evening we went to Metropol restaurant for some delicious food.  Post by Marguerite and Erik