So that is us, back from two night at Casa Cubuy, an Eco-Lodge on the south side of El Yunque, run by Matthew and his Mum Mary-Ann. They could not have been more welcoming; such a laid-back, friendly place. Their property is at the end of a road on your way up the mountains of the rain forest, high in the hills and in the middle of a vast jungle of palms, bananas, bamboo, tree-ferns and creepers. The road used to run all the way over the mountain and down to the north side, but the last major hurricane resulted in the top section being closed due to tree fall, debris and land-slides, and so the Casa Cubuy is cut off from the north now. We walked some of the closed section and it is amazing how fast nature has reclaimed it; it was a complete scramble in places, and after a couple of miles machetes were required for progress, so we turned back.

The lodge was pretty busy. Mary-Ann said it was the busiest it has been since Hurricane Maria went through the area in 2017 and devastated Puerto Rico. It is good to see the business getting back on its feet – long may it continue. It turns out that it is half term week for some of the USA, so there were several families visiting and we met some lovely peeps; all seemed to be down from the US east coast: Washington, Boston and New York. That makes sense, as it is a direct internal flight and this is pretty much south.

We managed a few hikes, some in the dry and some in the rain; the showers and squalls are quite unpredictable so you just have to get on with it. It is such a lush area. There are many great waterfalls, which often include pools that you can swim in. G did – K watched. And the place comes alive at night when the din of birds, frogs and insects joins the background roar of the waterfalls.

There are clearly two sides of the mountain, as we discovered when we moved to visit the north side today. The south side is quieter and hardly visited, with a few long and interesting hikes, whilst the north side has some shorter and more maintained walks, and is within easy reach of day tripping tourists from the hotels and cruise ships in San Juan. The north side was a bit busy for our tastes.