Big-ass iguana, perched on a semi-extant bridge that leads from the shore of a pond in an abandoned, derelict, gigantic park in the middle of the city, out to some post-apocalyptic recreation island in the middle, complete with sagging walls, rusted pontoons, and rebar poking out everywhere.
Why would I take the kids to a post-apocalyptic park?
Because it's what cool dads do. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?
And also because I didn't know it was post-apocalyptic until we got there. Didn't do my homework. The kids didn't want to go to the beach this morning; Janneke was off doing "work" at Starbucks, and they said they wanted to go somewhere where they could ride their scooters on good pavement. I saw a giant municipal park on the map and we leapt for the car. Turns out, it's a popular place for bohemian Europeans to camp under the still-waterproof roofs of never-been-used picnic structures amid grass that's apparently mown every four months just to keep the snakes down. We walked a good little ways in there before it just got too creepy and we headed back for the car and home and the beach, which we apologized to for ever having doubted its superiority over all other forms of outdoor recreation. But before we fled, I snapped a couple more pics:
This sign was, I thought, funny. It says "Deep Lake, Swimming and Fishing Prohibited". Which, judging by the mat of vegetation on top, it clearly is not. But then Clarabelle leapt in - chasing after two iguanas, which had been perched on branches that overhung the pond, and which, upon her approach, had belly-flopped into the water to make a break for it swimming (a novel escape route that I had not thought of, and which I'll keep in my back pocket for future use) - and sank through the matted vegetation, clear up to her nose. It might actually be sort of deep.
Big-ass egret we saw at the derelict park. The pond they have allowed to go fetid has certainly benefited certain denizens of the boggy bits of the earth. Also saw coots and herons and grebes, and some other big-ass bird that flew away before I could identify it.
Q, who was very interested in snails and shells and seeds and fruit pods up in the rain forest, where we went today (El Yunque, about an hour's drive from San Juan), holding something that he found. Not sure what it is. Nor do I really care. Just look at that kid. I could stare at him all day.
T and Q pose with a bromeliad, the sort of plant T spent the last quarter of the year in school learning about. She was thrilled to be able to see and identify them up in the rain forest. Disappointed that there are no monkeys in Puerto Rico, but excited about the possibility of seeing a Puerto Rican parrot. Hey, there are 50 or so in the wild. We had a shot.
One of three or four shots of the view from on top of a lookout tower built near the summit of Cerro El Yunque. You can see the eastern and northern coasts of the island from up there. Took pictures of the view out of helplessness, even though I know I have no eye at all for such things. When you see something like that, you just want to take a picture of it.
There: Proof that Janneke is still alive. And that I can take a picture where no one looks spastic, or is hiding behind blown hair or their own, or anyone else's, hands. Eventually.
This is T's new friend, the Puerto Rican Out-of-Focus Lizard. Its scales bounce light back to the eye in such a way that the eye (or a camera) is forced to focus on something beyond it - in this case, the vegetation. It makes predators very unlikely to zero in on it accurately. Remarkable animal. She spotted him as we waited for the slowpokes to wend their way down the hill from the tower.
This is T, trying to mask her revulsion at meeting her new friend. (I actually think there's an equal shot of fascination in there.) Note how the lizard's amazing defense system is still at work.
This is the three photogenic members of the family, trooping through the cloud forest. Loved it up there. I got downright chilly.
No photographic evidence of this, but I think I found out what made Che Guevara snap and head into the bush to take down the capitalist machine: He watched the first ten minutes of "My Fair Lady". That's easily enough. We watched that for "Pizza and Movie Night". It was between that and "Dune". (Guess which gender subset won the argument.)
1 comment:
I think you should wash turnips in that pond.
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