Avoid the RCI Sponsored Rain Forest Hike in San Juan

We had several hours to kill in San Juan before our flight left. We read the shore excursions offered by the ship. The trip we scheduled cost 69. and lasted 4 hours. We were refunded our previously paid transfers, since this trip would drop us at the airport. We scheduled the trip because it spoke of hiking through the rain forest, exploring San Juan's neighborhoods and visiting the 80 foot waterfall.

It was awful. Do Not Book This Tour.

The guide never stopped talking-inane chatter that was uninteresting and lengthy.

The "rain forest" was a dusty walk through the woods. The guide kept saying, "In the spring this happens; In February this is what it looked like." Since it was neither Spring nor February, I didn't understand why they were still running the tour. We walked for twenty minutes while the guide read the informational signs to us. I have had more interesting and in-depth field trips with elementary school classrooms.

The bus broke down because it couldn't go up the hill and have the air conditioning on! The second bus arrived and wouldn't put the AC on. It had tiny, high windows-terribly hot. One older-not elderly- man was faint and could not leave the bus during the second stop at the waterfall that had looked so great in February. The guide actually stood by the trickle of water and showed us cell phone video of the waterfall in February.

The drive through quaint neighborhoods of San Juan turned out to be a 90 minute drive on the main roads-like an expressway or turnpike and thensmaller roads as we climbed the hill to the forest.

I know RC will not stand by the tour for a quality assurance, but no one else should book this misleading tour.

Regarding the lack of water in the waterfall ... I assume it La Coca Falls ... the one just on the side of the road ... and I also assume that you're referring to a recent trip to PR.

We are currently experiencing the worst drought the island has seen in the past 20 or so years.

They are doing water rationing in parts of the metro area with water on for 24 hours and then off for 24 or 48 hours, depending on which water reservoir serves the area.

We live in the foothills of El Yunque (the national forest is behind our property line). We have streams on our property that had constant running water for the 10 years that we've lived here ... those streams have been dry for the past couple of months.

We are losing plantings and mature trees left and right on our property.

When we go into the forest, much of the lush green undergrowth that you expect to see is gone.

When a rain forest doesn't get a lot of rain ... it become just a "regular" forest.

Kind of ironic that the dry southern part of the island isn't suffering so much. We were in Ponce at the end of June- while it was mostly dry there, there was daily rain up in Adjuntas. Rained 4 times while we were having lunch up there....

Anyway, it's not a hard drive to El Yunque. Worth a day of rental car cost (even though it will only be 4-5 hours).

Ray- I'm kind of interested in how the forest grows back- we were there after one of the hurricanes in the late 90's, and seeing how the damaged parts grew back was really interesting. I wonder if it will come back in a similar way.

I'm sure it will come back fine, nature always wins in the end.

I'm sure it will come back fine, nature always wins in the end.

That I agree- but will it come back as if it's after a hurricane, or the trees will be the same as they were in December? The plants are different.

I agree that the trees are different after a major storm.

I guess it depends on how much of the canopy opens up during the drought. From what we can see right now, the canopy is still in pretty good shape. It's more the tender undergrowth (I assume with shallow root systems) that is suffering. I think those plants depend on (require?) an "always moist" environment to thrive.

We will be touring the rain forest in early September. How are the waterfalls as of now or to be expected when we arrive?

Is swimming still possible?