On our caving adventures we drive all around the island following lots of small roads to get where we are going. We have passed by Dos Bocas many times and heard of the restaurants you can take a free ferry to. Like everything in Puerto Rico there are not any signs, no hours, no menus, no information at all - just a corral to herd people into so they can wait for whatever the procedure is...wait for hours in a line. After one recent cave adventure we actually got in this corral and waited for the mysterious ferries to show up to whisk us away to fried food. After waiting in the corral it became clear that each restaurant has a boat that will only come if there is room for you to wait over there, across the lake, at the restaurant. We gave up and ate somewhere else. Jeff and I returned because it looked like there was a place to launch kayaks and we wanted to cruise around the lake just because it is a pretty spot. We have given up all intentions of EVER eating there. We went on a Saturday and it was bizarre because no one was in the parking lot and no one was waiting for the boats. We saw a fishing boat on the launch and that was it. We put the kayaks in and headed out across the water.
The day was nice with blue skies and a small breeze. It was a pretty easy paddle. We came across lots of pelicans and egrets and probably saw more birds than we have ever seen in one place in Puerto Rico. Birds were sitting on stuff, roosting in trees and making a lot of noise as we approached. Unfortunately we decided to move in closer to see them up close and that is when we saw what they were floating on...lots of trash. Like everywhere in Puerto Rico the trash just ruins what could be a very nice place to enjoy.
I was more than a little angry about the garbage so we moved away from shore to take our minds off it. After turning around we could hear a lot of water and finally saw a big waterfall that we didn't see from the other direction. We continued and the restaurant boats were finally in action with their Puerto Rico flag flapping on the boat. What exactly is the "pride" for, I wonder...maybe they could show some real pride and sponsor a garbage pickup day...or not throw it there in the first place?
Back at the dock there were more flags. And of course, as on every trip out of the house there has got to be at least one dead dog. This one was floating, and stinky and bloated, near the launch we had to use to get off the lake. A sad end to what started out as a nice day.
Next we went to the Caguana Indigenous Ceremonial Park on 111. We really would prefer to see the one down in Ponce, but this was on the way home and we had never stopped before. This old photo is from 1915 when excavations first began. There are 22 petroglyphs and some really neat stone rings. We are kind of spoiled because we see petroglyphs in their natural settings near or slightly inside caves quite often. It was interesting though. It is unknown what the big play field was for but they assume ceremonial/religious things of course.
There was a small, overly cold museum room with stone stamps and stone rings that were the size of basketballs. The rings were really neat and must have taken forever to make. The site dates from 1200 AD to around 1500 AD. It was pretty neat to see this and now we can cross 2 things off our Puerto Rico Bucket List!
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