Just 25 miles east of San Juan, Puerto Rico is the only tropical rainforest in the U.S. National Forest System. I reluctantly leave my comfortable room with a fabulous view, down my café con leche, check my island map, and get on the highway early. The tangle of San Juan highways can be intimidating, but I maneuver out of the city without a hitch. The tropical rainforest called El Yunque, after the mountain spirit Yuquiye, is a small band along the ridge of the Sierra del Luquillo mountains in northeastern Puerto Rico, and sees up to 200 inches of rain each year. Topped with clouds most of the time, the drive up the 13-mile long forest road weaves through sunny valleys, waterfall-slicked ledges, and fogged-in lush green hillsides with a stunted dwarf forest at the highest elevations.
Well-developed with designated picnic areas, the park provides visitors with paved pathways and vendors selling chips, ice cream sandwiches and hot dogs at several stops. The ever-singing cochi frogs provide a jungle soundtrack, while tour shuttles come and go from the El Portal Visitor’s Center. The more wilderness-seeking hiker can venture off the beaten path in search of the endangered Puerto Rican parrot.
From the Yokahu observation tower I see a view across the island to the blue shores of Luquillo, my next destination. Leaving the national park, I get a whiff of something on the grill and pull into an open air BBQ restaurant on the river. There is a one-man band playing his keyboard with all the bells and whistles, including a digital trumpet section for his rendition of "Unchained Melody" that fills the palm grove. Three couples sit sipping pina coladas, arm in arm, obviously regulars for the romantic show. I choose the alitas de pollo, juicy and plump chicken wings, that fill me up for the drive further east.
The distances between sites are not far on the island of Puerto Rico, and soon I’m pulling up to my first full on Kiosco experience…
The Northeast Coast
Puerto Rico Highway 3 leads to Balneario (bathing beach) Monserrate, a most inviting family beach with the prerequisite purple and green bath houses, lifeguard stations and showers, but before I reach the entrance, my eye catches the mini-city of food stalls (nearly 60 of them!) called “Kioskos!” I do a quick pull off and park near the Tattoo Bar, Pincho Palace, Ceviche Hut and El Jefe Burger. The open air shacks are all customized with tables and bars, and attract rowdy crowds and relaxing families. Right on the shoreline, bathers stroll in for a beer and a bite. I watch two women select live crabs from a seafood kiosk, safely tuck them away in their car trunk, and hit the road. I spend a long afternoon at Monserrate beach, reveling in the warm salt water, before rolling into Luquillo town proper. A definite cement and vacant lot eyesore, Luquillo is famous for its surf break they call La Pared (The Wall). I find Boardriders Rum Shack, one of three open businesses in town, and have a two-dollar Medalla beer to cool off. As my Lonely Planet guide promises, a few homely blocks away there is the most unexpected and curious establishment. I suspiciously approach a ramshackle shack, not much more than a pile of plywood, and see a charming young hostess serving nothing less than gourmet Italian dinners. It is exquisite.
The next day I am happy to arrive at the sweet little community of Las Croboas and Playa Seven Seas. Another colorful family bathing beach, Seven Seas is a long stretch of white sand with picnic shelters and a bathhouse on one end, while the central shoreline runs along the main drag and provides a pretty view when seated at “Costa Mia,” the seafood restaurant bar and gathering place at sunset. My favorite stretch is way to the east where Playa Escondido (Hidden Beach) begins. This is where I spend a few hours floating in clear warm water, watching giant iguanas crawl out of the cover of tropical foliage to take a drink at water’s edge. I stay at the Passionfruit B&B with it’s cool swimming pool and homemade granola in the morning, and then think of heading into Fajardo, where the ferry to the island of Culebra departs.
Fajardo, just a few minutes from Las Croboas, is not a pretty place, but necessary to wade through to the ferry terminal. I’m on my way to Isla Culebra, just east of Puerto Rico’s “Big Island” and much, much less congested.
We motor east for 1 ½ hours, passing pretty islets of green, before landing in the quaint ferry town of Dewey. Colorful and slow, I settle into Culebra with no trouble. My room at the Hotel Kokomo is cheap and central and simple, and I chat with the manager at length about travels and favorite places. He proudly shows me pictures of his favorite place on the island where he plans to settle one day. Soon I’m checking out the handful of restaurants, strolling along waterways, snorkeling above coral reefs and enjoying long stretches of white sand beaches. The island pace is slow, only quickening each time a ferry arrives, tour shuttles are filled and tourists are taken out to the gem of the island, Flamenco Beach. 
Sipping coffee and swatting no-seeums in front of my Hotel Kokomo, I meet Culebran Rick and am given the grand tour of the island. We stop at Zoni Beach with gorgeous views to the east and the island of St. Thomas, then meander from site to site, before we get settled at the perfect snorkeling spot. In we go and hover over colonies of fish in all shapes and colors. Rick points out a big feisty lobster protecting his cave.
Isla Culebra with a view of St. Thomas
Fajardo, just a few minutes from Las Croboas, is not a pretty place, but necessary to wade through to the ferry terminal. I’m on my way to Isla Culebra, just east of Puerto Rico’s “Big Island” and much, much less congested.On the ferry I meet a stereotypical Puerto Rican with his East Coast accent he uses loudly, muscle shirt proclaiming Atlantic City, New Jersey, gold chains and tattoo portraying Bugs Bunny waving the PR flag. Just like a character out of Seinfeld! There are plenty of “Jersey Shore” wanna-bes and "Real Housewives of Alabama” in this neck of the woods.
Sipping coffee and swatting no-seeums in front of my Hotel Kokomo, I meet Culebran Rick and am given the grand tour of the island. We stop at Zoni Beach with gorgeous views to the east and the island of St. Thomas, then meander from site to site, before we get settled at the perfect snorkeling spot. In we go and hover over colonies of fish in all shapes and colors. Rick points out a big feisty lobster protecting his cave. 
