Aside from beach time and visiting the El Morro fort in San Juan, the other primary goal for our trip was visiting the El Yunque National forest, the only tropical rainforest in the US national forest system.

Visions of standing under waterfalls had been dancing through our heads for months during the buildup to our trip. There’s something pretty incredible about feeling the power of even a small waterfall pour all over you… It’s something I have experienced at Iguacu Falls, Yosemite, and Ein Gedi in Israel, and the feeling has stuck with me every time. It was something we unfortunately missed out on during our Road to Hana trip, which was otherwise really great.

Unfortunately, it was not to meant to be for us on this trip either. We tried to target our trip to the forest to go on the day the forecast had the least likelihood for rain. I mean, we were going to a RAIN forest, so it’s not like we didn’t expect to get rained on. We all wore bathing suits and water shoes in preparation and had packed lunches and a change of clothes. But we were hoping that we wouldn’t have to deal with torrential downpours at least.

Well… the day we went — contrary to forecasts — ended up being the one total washout day of the entire trip. It was pouring buckets from the minute we reached the outskirts of the park. The guy at the gate gave us the bad news that it was probably going to be like this all day.

Our plan had been to change into all of our water gear at the visitor center, but it turns out the visitor center isn’t really sheltered from rain at all! I dropped Ariel and the kids off to go “inside” and then went to look for parking. By the time I found them the kids had been jumping in puddles and all the “dry” clothes were soaked through. And putting ponchos on them did precisely nothing.

Still, we were determined to soldier on. I spoke the ranger at the visitor center who said the rain might let up in the afternoon. Maybe we’d get lucky and it would end a little sooner? The view from the visitor center looked north and it was pretty clear just a few miles away so we figured it was worth a try.

Everyone changed into their swimwear and we all piled back into the car.

Once you are passed the visitor center, you are taking very narrow, winding roads up the side of the mountain. This was really reminiscent of the Road To Hana, but with less traffic and really not nearly as tight. For one thing the jungle walls were trees, not cliffs. The drive was no big deal for me, but if you’re not comfortable driving in winding, two-way traffic with no divider, and very little space… in likely pouring rain… then this might not be for you.

Personally I love roads like this. Jacob even made me proud by pointing out that it looked like Fangorn Forest. Which… yeah, actually!

Here’s where we ran into the issue that ultimately doomed our plans.

Like the Road to Hana there is VERY little parking. Most of the time, the parking areas are literally just on the side of the road. And there’s no sidewalk obviously, with narrow, winding, two-way traffic… with no divider… and very little space. So someone would have to hold Ethan whenever we got out of the car.

But that’s assuming you can even find a place to park! The first stop we wanted to make was an observation tower which was covered and dry. So we figured it would be a good place to start off. But there were literally no spots at all, and three cars ahead of us waiting. I don’t understand it, because it looked like there were only a couple of dozen spots and many dozens of cars driving through the park. Why let all these cars in, if you only have enough parking to support 1/3 of them? And it was the worst day of the week to go… what is it like when it’s not a full day of soaking rain?

Our next attempt was to do the one hike that the ranger thought might work for us. It was supposed to be just a five minute or so walk to the Juan Diego Falls. But again, there was just nowhere to park! And looking at the “hike” it was really a series of pretty eroded, and very wet/slippery stairs, which would have necessitated carrying Ethan up and down in the rain. Still we would have given it a try if there was anywhere at all to put the car within a reasonable distance of the entrance.

So we continued on and eventually found a place to park near a different waterfall. This one you could not go underneath though. Still we trudged up the trail and stairs, and boy it was not a comfortable experience at all. It was raining, everything was wet and slippery, and I had to hold Ethan with one arm while holding on to the railing, which had an incredibly wide gap from the ground — easily big enough for an adult to fall through, let alone a child.

We got back to the car, and realized that I had actually left the kids’ sandwiches in the refrigerator back at our AirBnB. We thought of maybe trying to get something for them to eat at the visitor center, but by this point we had had enough. It was still raining, and suddenly a low tire pressure sensor warning starting blinking in the car. Visions of relaxing under a waterfall were now replaced in my mind by visions of changing a tire on a narrow, winding, mountain road with two-way traffic… with no divider… in a downpour. Furthermore, as we drove past both locations we had tried to stop at earlier, we could see there was still no parking at either one.

We did find an overlook on our way down that Ariel and I jumped out to see for about 2 minutes of joy.

Other than that it was a slog all the way through. Then of course the first gas station I stopped at had someone else at the tire pressure machine. After waiting 5 minutes for them, it became clear they either didn’t know what they were doing or the machine was defective. Either way, we moved on to another station where I filled up the tire and hightailed it back to the apartment for a late lunch.

So, were we just unlucky? Or is it always like this? I don’t know, but it’s a shame because I do think the rainforest is a worthy destination. I just don’t think that even in the best of circumstances it would make sense to bring a 2 year old there. Although, to be fair, Ethan seemed to be having the best time of all of us. But that’s probably because he wasn’t dragging himself up those crazy slippery stairs.

On the other hand if it was just the three of us, I think it probably would have been ok. Except for the parking situation! It really seems like they have only a third the capacity they need! I don’t see how it’s ever any better than that. Maybe if you get there really early?

Verdict: This lush Fangorn Forest lookalike is also as treacherous to navigate… if you have little kids. Lack of parking make the experience very frustrating, so unless you have a plan for that, I’d sadly say no es un gran uso del tiempo que te dan. Not a great use of the time you are given…