It is now low season in Puerto Rico. Tourism season is from November to May. This actually works out great for us, because we often get to enjoy even the most popular Puerto Rico attractions all to ourselves. We recently discovered that we can rent a car from the Enterprise down the street for just $16 a day (all fees included). When we rent cars from marinas, we typically spend around $40 a day, so this is a bargain. Of course the price will go up in November. But since renting a set of wheels is so affordable right now, we’ve been exploring inland in search for rivers, waterfalls, and more.
Arbol del Solitaire (Lonely Tree) Hike
At only 3 miles round-trip, this hike is steep, but very doable IF the trail conditions are favorable. When we hiked it (9/23/16), it had to be the worst maintained trail either of us have ever been on (and we’ve hiked A LOT of trails). But despite the muddy conditions and overgrown brush, we were handsomely rewarded for our hard work with stunning 360° views once we reached the top.
We followed directions that we found online to the trail and we arrived at what appeared to be someone’s home and front yard. There were many signs on the street adamantly telling us to park in the yard and NOT on the street. Even though we felt a little uncomfortable parking in someone’s yard, we opened the barb-wired gate and drove in. We expected that someone might come out and greet us or ask for a parking fee, but no one ever did.
The four of us continued hiking up the street until it ended and the trail began. It wasn’t very long before we came to a dense wooded and very muddy area. The trail was steep and the grip on our tennis shoes soon became worthless. I felt like a cartoon character trying to find traction on a banana peel. My feet were moving quickly, but I wasn’t covering any ground. It was so muddy and steep that our feet became useless. So for the next half mile we pulled ourselves up the hill grabbing onto branches and tree trunks. When we started the hike, we weren’t expecting an upper body work out. The pups, however, didn’t have any trouble. It must be nice having four legs sometimes.
Once we emerged from the wooded area, we continued hiking through some very overgrown brush. At some points the razor grass was taller than us. By the time we reached Arbol del Solitaire, we were a hot, sweaty, muddy mess. We picked cobwebs and burs out of our hair and off our clothes as we rested in the shade of the tree. Someone had placed a camping chair under the tree and tied a swing on one of the branches. It was nice to relax and enjoy the gorgeous view.
Only a hundred feet pass the Arbol del Solitaire, we finally reached the top of the peak. We could see the ocean to the south and rolling hills to the north. It was a breathtaking view.
El Patron Waterfall
El Patron waterfall is located in Morovis and is only a 10 minute hike from the road. We were on our way to a swimming hole we had heard about and decided to stop and check it out. At 9:30am on a Saturday morning, we were the only ones there. We spent some time playing in the falls and climbing on the rocks. It’s a beautiful place to sip your Saturday morning coffee.
Charco Azul
Even though we have the ocean in our back yard in San Juan, sometimes we just want to go for a fresh water swim. We had read about this swimming hole near Morovis, so we headed there after checking out El Patron Waterfall.
When we arrived, we saw several homemade signs pointing us in the right direction as well as a sign for parking. A neighbor offers supervised parking for $3. We felt it was better to be safe than sorry, so we coughed up the $3. Charco Azul translates into “blue waterhole”. But because of recent rain and run off, it was more of a “brown waterhole”. Nevertheless, we jumped right in.
It was a little creepy to swim in brown water with zero visibility. That’s something we are certainly not used to. But it was a peaceful area and as we swam upstream we entered some caves. With sunbeams shining through holes in the cave walls, it was gorgeous. We climbed around on some rocks and explored the area a bit. By 1:00pm a group of locals showed up with coolers and camping chairs. We would have stayed for the party, but we needed to stop by the farmer’s market before returning the rental car. After our swim, my hair and skin felt incredibly soft. It must have been from all the minerals in the river water. A waterfall, a natural spa treatment in a river, and a visit to a farmer’s market—not a bad day to spend a Saturday.
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