Compass Puerto Rico

Of the many forests in Puerto Rico, el Yunque is the largest one.  It is also the only Tropical Rain Forest in the United States National Forest System.  El Yunque covers 28,000 acres of land that reach the towns of Rio Grande, Naguabo, Luquillo, Ceiba, Canovanas, Las Piedas, Fajardo and Juncos.  The indians used to call it “Yu-ke”, meaning “White Lands”, hence the name it has today Yunque.  The indians believed that in El Yunques tallest mountain, the Spirit God “Yuquiyu” reigned from his mighty throne.  More than 600,000 visitors come to visit el Yunque every year.

For this photo shoot I gathered a group of 5 people.  Two of us where photographers.  It had been years since I last visited El Yunque.  As soon as I arrived, I was dazzled by the countless waterfalls that I saw.  So we parked the car and decided to go to a very big waterfall called “La Mina”, which was supposed to be a 40 minute hike from where we left the car.  The path to this famous waterfall is carefully laid out by a stone walkway that travels side by side of one of the numerous rivers that flow in El Yunque.  In this walkway you will find amazing waterfalls.  So every time we saw a waterfall we stopped to take pictures.  We were supposed to get to “La Mina” in approximately 40 minutes, but because we stopped at so many times to take pictures, it took us more than an hour to get there.  Throughout the entire hike, you will admire El Yunques vast trees, colorful flowers, rivers and waterfalls.  By the time we got to “La Mina” we had taken so many pictures, in so many places, that we decided to just enjoy the place and take a plunge in the river.  This photo shoot was an amazing experience, for me and for my work team.

For the location of El Yunque on a map, please click Here.

If you would like to see more pictures of this photo shoot please click Here.

El Yunque

Minoshka Chaparro