Quebrada Sonadora

bridge over the Sonadora

Quebrada Sonadora is a mountain stream that flows near the station here. There are several places along its course where it has formed natural swimming holes, with clear water flowing over the moss covered stones.

San Sebastian Festival in Old San Juan

http://www.enciclopediapr.org/ing/article.cfm?ref=08120906

Traditional masks

Calle de San Sebastian

Musicians playing and dancing in the streets

The Puerto Rican festival in honor of San Sebastian first took place in the 1950's when a priest in Old San Juan organized festivities to raise money for church repairs. The revelry was discontinued some time later, but was then revived in 1970 when some neighbors on San Sebastian street decided to reignite the festival to benefit a school and some charity organization on the street.
Now this internationally known festival incorporates traditional costumes, music, art, and dancing into a modern city-wide party that is attended by more than 200,000 people.

Street Art in Rio Pedras

Student Strike shuts down University of Puerto Rico

Guarded entrances

Heavy police presence

Student strikes erupted at the University of Puerto Rico when the administration proposed extreme tuition hikes as a resolution for the university's large debt and budget deficit.

"After negotiations were coming close to end the strike, it was discovered that there was going to be a 100% estimated tuition hike. The hike, unveiled by the President of the Board of Trustees, Ygrí Rivera, made the previously negotiated achievements on the waivers or exemptions almost inconsequential. The administration "flexibilised" the hike, trying to make students agree with either a 100% tuition hike or a $1,300 Special Fee. The fee would be paid twice or thrice a year, for a three year period, and would be tied to a tuition hike after the 3-year period, despite the fact that tuition increases are already in place until the 2015-16 academic year according to Certification 60.
In order to have the special fee approved, in July 2010 the government modified the Board of Trustees to increase their members from 13 to 17. Then, they imposed a special fee of $800.00 per year indefinitely."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_University_of_Puerto_Rico_strike 



"University of Puerto Rico students successfully, and almost without a significant incident, paralyzed academic and administrative operations at the Río Piedras campus Wednesday after university officials had vowed to keep the institution open."
http://www.prdailysun.com/news/Student-strike-shuts-down-UPR 

University of Puerto Rico, UPR campus

Stripe-headed Tanager, Spindalis zena

 

 

Clock Tower

The Singing Coqui

Coqui is the common name for a frog that is endemic to Puerto Rico. They are named for the mating call (sounds like Ko-kee) that males make all year long, because in Puerto Rico it's always mating season, just ask any Puerto Rican male ;) 

Click the link below to listen to the sound of the Common Highland Coqui.
http://coqui.uprrp.edu/sounds/ecoqui2.wav

This is the species that chirps from dusk til dawn at El Verde. The incessant singing took some getting used to when trying to fall asleep my first night at the station.

"The Green"

El Verde is a field station for tropical research and education that is nestled onto the side of a mountain in El Yunque National Rainforest. The name El Verde literally translates to "The Green" in English, and green it is. There are plants everywhere! They grow on the walls and roofs of the buildings, and wet, moss-covered stones make traversing the landscape rather treacherous at times. All of this life is enabled by the 100 billion gallons of rain that falls in the forest each year. The rain is collected in clear mountain streams that wind their way through hundreds of different species of trees, ferns, and orchids. This misty, lush landscape has evoked a feeling of reverence from island dwellers for hundreds of years. The name El Yunque comes from the native Taino name for the god worshipped by this ancient people of Puerto Rico.

El Verde

Where I'll be living for the next 4 months!