My wife and I just returned from a trip to PR. What a whirlwind tour it was too. I have yet to upload any pics and will do so as soon as I have time. But I will relate our experiences. This is pretty lengthy. So get comfortable!

First impressions were not good. Traffic really sucked trying to get out of San Juan. To say the highway was a parking lot would be an understatement. But a few hours later, clear of the traffic, and the blood pressure not quite so pegged out, we could now appreciate the beauty of the country. The foliage, mountains, green everywhere. So we are headed to Rincon...which is on the western coast. This location was recommended to us as a great place to stay and see many sights. It is also relatively close to most of the farms we were going to visit.

We stayed at the Pineapple Inn. A nice place with owners who jump thru hoops to make sure your stay is the best. A must for anyone coming to this part of the island. I would check to see if the showers/pressure have been updated!! It rained the entire trip to Rincon. I've never seen so many mango trees in my life. They were everywhere. Small, pulpy fruit but we found them very tasteful. You could almost walk in any direction and run into them scattered on the ground. It was getting late by the time we got there...due to the traffic, so we checked out the beach and then headed into town for dinner. Wednesday was going to be a busy day so we packed it in early...our only night to call it early!

Three fruit friends from Miami, yahoo rare fruit group, were going to join us for all the farm tours. We were meeting Ian, the owner of the Panoramic Fruit Co to follow him up to his farm in Maricao...up in the mountains. What a crazy road and driving this was! He grows mangosteen, rambutan, pulasan, and others on his farm. All his mangosteens end up in the states. Rambutans are not allowed to be shipped as yet...nor pulasan. So they are found in the local markets.

Felipe Osborne, website as follows: http://machabuca.com/index.html?0.9665244024719204

was also present when we arrived at Ian's farm. Felipe is 84 years old and travels all over the world...a lot of times with Bryan Brunner of Montoso Gardens, looking for plants and seeds. He sure didn't let 84 years of age slow him down any!

We proceeded to walk around various areas of the farm marveling at the geography. The plants were planted on slopes that you would need rope and cleats on your shoes to get up and down! Unbelievable terrain. It was work and you better be in decent shape to keep up. So many mangosteen trees, rambutans, pulasan. We got to eat as much of anything that was available. The mangosteens were superb. The rambutans were sweet and were a delight for my wife. Pulasans? Incredible. Similar to rambutan but seemed to have a more complex, sweeter flavor. Also much easier to open! We witnessed killer bees in action...at least till we started to agitate them. We moved on quickly. Always watch where you walk or stand or what you grab a hold of. Many species of ants that really put a hurtin on you are all over the place.

We spent several hours at Ian's farm and he sent Bee, my wife, and I back away with a big bag of mangosteens and rambutan. We all then piled into the cars and followed Felipe to his farm. I believe he was a little higher up than Ian's place. The view from his home was breathtaking. The back of the home/patio overlooked a huge valley and the mountains beyond. Most of the house was completely open... meaning no walls.

Off thru the wilderness once again. All sorts of garcinias...got to eat laterifolia and intermedia(edulis). Many types of beautiful heliconias. So many different things it is just impossible to list. We tried many types of herb plants and aromatics...bark and leaves used for enhancing food or making teas/drinks. There was a leaf from a tree which smelled of cinnammon. Felipe brought back a bunch and made us all a very tasty tea with them. We pretty much hung out with him the rest of the day listening to stories. A very entertaining gentleman.

We all met Ian again in Rincon that evening for dinner. We rehashed the day with beers and good food. Ian is full of humor, stories, and generousity. A great day.

Thursday we were meeting Bryan Brunner of Montoso Gardens. He wasn't available until late afternoon so we all did some snorkeling at the beach for a while. Pretty much our only opportunity at the beach.

Bryan's place was much higher than Ian's or Felipe's. Probably around 2800' or more. Bryan has done a lot of work on his farm and has made a sort of grass roadway that snakes all around. Just beautiful. We started off eating fresh spanish limes. They were tasty but yet still a bit starchy in the mouth for me...almost like it was covered in glue. Sounds bad but it grew on most of the others. Bryan is big into heliconias and there were some that just blew your mind. We feasted on giant ice cream beans, various garcinias, jambus, and whatever else we could lay our hands on. Any seed or cutting we wanted was available. We tramped around the trees until well after dark. It's really beautiful up there at night. The coqui frogs sing constantly.

I want to add that these three gentlemen...Ian, Bryan, and Felipe, were wonderful, generous hosts. They took time out of their busy schedules to give us fruit clowns a look at the real deal. We are eternally grateful.

That pretty much wraps up the fruit related stuff. For those curious...Friday morning we left to head back to San Juan/Old San Juan. Spent the day in Old San Juan at the forts and town. Late afternoon we drove to Fajardo and boarded a big catamaran to Vieques Island for the Bioluminescent tour. This was amazing. You'll have to look it up for more info. Early Saturday, we were picked up and driving to the El Toro Negro rainforest in the mountains. We did an all day hike/tour that was a lot of fun. Rugged hiking, climbing waterfalls, jumping into pools, and zip-lining. A great end to a great vacation.