Old San Juan and the Caves

We did go into town one day and explore Old San Juan. On our way up to the fort this iguanna went running by us. They are not native to the island but are thriving. As we turned around and looked up there was an iguanna sunning himself on the fort.
This is a view from the fort. All of the landscape in Puerto Rico is so dramatic and stunning.
We walked behind the town to Ponce de Leon's garden. This carving is in it. It is a Taino indian petroglyph. The Taino indians are one of the native peoples in the Carribean, with not many left. I'm not sure if this is real or a copy. They have some wonderful petroglyphs on the island.

A fountain in the garden, his house is in the background, which he never lived in, died before it was completed ( I guess he never found the fountain of youth). His family inhabited it for some 400 years, now its a museum.
Part of the house, I love the wooden doors/ windows.
Another fountain in the gardens.
Old San Juan's downtown. The buildings were painted wonderful colors with beautiful iron balconys and carved wooden doors. We had a great Puerto Rican cocktail there called "Mojito", rum, sugar, club soda and lots of chopped up fresh mint. Later, we went to a local restaurant called Babaos and had the local dish called Monfongo, fried, mashed plaintains with chicken and red creole sauce. It was so good.

The next day we went to a different part of the island and did some caving. Puerto Rico has a huge cave system and people come just for the caves. Here we go down in, notice I have no hat on, that was kind of scary with all the bats hanging from the ceiling pooping!
Inside the first room.
Another.

Matt venturing in deeper.

Back outside we hiked around to other caves, there were a lot of these beautiful butterflys.