George: On Puerto Rico’s western edge, there are two must see spots. One is a work of nature, the other created by mortals. This is an ear to heaven. The Arecibo Observatory is the world’s largest and most sensitive, radar, radio telescope. Talk about a big ear. Used by scientists as part of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence or SETI, this may look familiar to nonastronomers as well. It’s the site featured in the movie Contact with Jodie Foster and it was the setting for the finale of Pierce Brosnan’s first James Bond Flick GoldenEye. This research effort speculates that advanced civilizations elsewhere on the universe might communicate by radio waves. And workers do have to walk along the dish every so often, even far from the beach, they use flipflops.
Female: These shoes over here they use it to walk over it. It has to be a person that weighs less than 120 pounds and they use this to how do I explain, disperse the weight of the person so distribute it so it doesn’t break the panels.
George: Suspended high above the dish is a 600 ton platform that resembles a space station. This is not a site where you’ll be launched into a Star Wars journey through the universe but you are allowed to walk near the platform, taking in views of the gigantic dish and at the visitor center, you are treated to interactive exhibitions on the various planetary systems and introduced to the mystery of meteors as well as being educated about intriguing weather phenomenon and there’s a Nobel prize on display because the work here in effect confirmed Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity.
Parque dela Cavernos del Rio Camuy or Rio Camuy Caves contain the third largest underground river in the world. There are actually several caves in and under Puerto Rico but this is the only one open for public inspection. Parks employee Ayeda Arce is my guide through the depths. A network of caves, canyons and sinkholes has been cut through the island’s limestone base over the course of millions of years. Known to the pre-Columbian Taino peoples, the caves came to the attention of speleologists in the 1950s. The caves at Camuy are actually 45 million years old but it took a few million years for nature to adorn their towering ceilings with crystalline stalactites, their walls with flowing stone tapestries and their floors with mushroom mounds of stalagmites. And here’s one of the biggest.
Ayeda: It’s the biggest formation they had found in hundreds of cave exploring Puerto Rico. This formation is 17 feet high by a diameter of 30 feet and it’s called the giant stalagmite. They are formed by the minerals calcium, the dripping of the water as you see right here and it takes thousands of years to form.
George: Few cave systems in the world are as massive or dramatic as the Rio Camuy cave park. And the thundering tropical river is a definite bonus. Sinkholes are everywhere. Tres Pueblos is large enough to fit the fort at El Moro inside it and Rio Camuy has special powers. Ayeda, what is this first of all scientifically and then tell me about the lore?
Ayeda: It’s just rain water that filters the rock. It’s fresh and pure water but a lot of people say it’s the fountain of youth. And since then, I’ve been trying it.
George: It seems to be working for you. Let me have a little. I feel younger already. You actually had to touch this part of it.
Ayeda: Yes, this is the only place where you’re allowed to touch the water. This water goes straight down to the river. It does not do nothing or affect nothing inside of the cave.
George: And it’s very slippery. Because the water has been running for thousands of years. It never dries up. So no matter what time of the year you come--
Ayeda: We always see water here.
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