"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.