Puerto Rico TravelCast

Bill goes to San Juan to interview Omar Torres, the founder of Gustos Coffee Company. The company provides Puerto Rican-grown coffee at shops across the island. We also talk with Laura Colon, a key account executive for Gustos. 

Listen for a tour of Gustos' shop and factory in Mario Julia Industrial Park, where Omar also shows us their barista training classroom. Gustos Coffee Co. gives back to Puerto Rico by training baristas and supporting local farms.

And for pictures, don't forget to visit our blog at https://www.rainforestinn.com/myblog. 

This episode was produced by Sonia A. Rao.

Bill goes up to Old San Juan to interview Enoc Rivera, the owner of Filtrado, a specialty coffee shop. This is the first part of a series on local coffee growers, shops and producers from Puerto Rico TravelCast.

To view photos and learn more about Filtrado, visit our blog page at https://www.rainforestinn.com/myblog. 

This episode was produced by Sonia A. Rao. 

Renée and I leave the Rainforest Inn, our El Yunque retreat, and drive into Old San Juan to interview Eddie and Tisha at Casa Sol bed and breakfast. Casa Sol is a member of our Puerto Rico Bed and Breakfasts Association and he brings intimate knowledge of Puerto Rican politics to the table. He is especially knowledgable about Old San Juan. We discuss the resignation of Ricardo Rosselló and the expected orderly succession of the government. We discuss the impact on tourism and what's been happening with local businesses in Old San Juan. 

Up in the rainforest Renée and I have seen no changes from the remarkably non-violent and orderly March on the capital.

The Rainforest Inn has a gofundme page created by Michelle Roover (one of our former guests) The link to it is here: gofundme link. This podcast is an interview with the mayor of Rio Grande and the police chief. We talk about the accomplishments that the mayor has made since hurricane Maria helping people and improving the infrastructure. We also discuss our plans to give the presents to the children of Rio Grande and we thank the many people who have helped. Our goal is to help make a Christmas / Three Kings for the children of Rio Grande.

Luquillo Farmer’s Market http://www.luquillofarmersmarket.org http://www.lavenderinnovations.com flash only website but they have a Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Lavender-Innovations-172056617928/ Farm tour available Monday through Friday in Cayey from 7:30 to 3:30. (787) 466-5877 Marisa the bee lady http://apiariosdeborinquen.com/historiaenglish.html and the Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/apiarios.deborinquen Farm in Luquillo “Bee Love” Maribel of Messy Kitchen Goodies https://www.facebook.com/MessyKitchenGoodies/

Hola, I'm Melina, the journalism intern at the inn this summer. For my podcast cameo about Yunke Zipline Adventure in Luquillo, Bill took Renée's grandchildren and myself to zip through the forest canopy and to conduct interviews with the staff. Not only did we agree it was the best ziplining we have done here on the island, but we also learned the importance of ecotourism in the conservation of Puerto Rico's ecology. I present to you an audio tour of our zipline experience and go in depth with our tour guide Eric and the owner Roberto about their work in ecotourism.

After our intern Melina's raving review of Bob's East Island Surfing Adventures, we took the short drive from the rainforest to La Pared Beach in Luquillo, where Bob Roberts gives his exceptional surf lessons.

Check out our blog for a deeper look into surfing in Luquillo. 

Songs

"The Adventures of Jonny Quest" theme

Original instrumentals by Philip Labes

We stopped by the so-called "hardcore pizza shop" in the Luquillo kiosks, Revolution Pizza Shop, to chat with the owner Kevin Cole. After hearing about his band The Turbo A.C.'s, the evolution of the kiosks and the ingredients that make Revolution pizzas so delicious, we couldn't help but order our favorite pizza, World Peace. 

Songs

"The Adventures of Jonny Quest" theme song

"Get Money" -The Turbo A.C.'s

"The Future" -The Turbo A.C.'s

"Live to Win" -The Turbo A.C.'s

For Laurie's birthday we go to the other end of Puerto Rico, the west end, to stay at the Tres Sirenas Ocean Front Inn in Rincon. We had a relaxing weekend, every evening we soaked in the jacuzzi while listening to the crash of the surf on the beach. Every morning we had a gourmet breakfast served to us on the porch in front of our room. Harry & Lisa, the owners, told us all about their Bed and Breakfast and the renovations they went through getting it ready and the Caribean decor. Harry took us on a ride all over Rincon to see the other b&b's in the area as well as restaurants, night life and surf spots.

Bill and Laurie of the rainforestinn.com go to Hacienda Carabali and interview Alejandro Diaz Carlo. We find out about the many adventurous you can have on their six hundred acre ranch. There are guided horseback rides on Puerto Rican Paso Fino horses as well as mountain biking and four track rides. He tells us about the history of Hacienda Carabali which his grandfather founded more than forty years ago. He recommends the best days and times to come riding. He also offers special private rides for equestrians. Bamboo lounge at Hacienda Carabali: www.cocoriopr.com/bamboo/

We interview Alan Mowbray at the El Portal visiter center in the Caribbean National Forest. He has written several books about the El Yunque rainforest of Puerto Rico, including "El Portal Rain Forest Center Interpretive Site Guide" which is his latest. The website for the center is http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/caribbean/ Please email Bill & Laurie bill@rainforestinn.com to make comments about this podcast. We want your feedback!

Laurie and I play selections from a jam session we had during the holidays. http://www.rainforestinn.com  Please put a pin in our map http://www.frappr.com/rainforestinn or see a video of this http://www.youtube.com/user/rainforestinn Steve Selin  and Dylan playing with a view of the El Yunque rainforest of Puerto Rico in the background Steve Selin of Selin and Harris Violins was playing the violin. Shane and Dylan have some pictures and blogs here: http://www.travelpod.com/members/rainforestinn

Laurie and I went on a day-trip to Vieques island to find out about some things to do there and places to stay. We talked to the manager of Vieques airlines, Bananas bar, restaurant and guest house as well as Blue Caribe Kayaks and Mimi’s guest house for bicycle rentals. Email bill@rainforestinn.com with any questions or check our show notes for links.

The Luquillo Corridor is an untouched beach, home to many birds and a turtle-breeding haven that is threatened by development. The Sierra Club is helping to organize environmentalists who are interested in protecting this beautiful beach. Laurie and I bicycled there recently. We went in through a gate posted with a "no entry" sign. The dirt road we rode our mountain bikes on was for fisherman's access only. Flooding because of the high seas on the beach that day going over the estuary finally stopped us and we turned back but not before recording this podcast.

We go on a hike in the rainforest with Cynthia, an interpretive guide. This may be our podcast number eight but it is podcast number two in our informative series about the El Yunque rainforest. It is 45 minutes long and touches on sounds of coquis, snail breeding, rain forest camping and sierra palm forest history.

We are busy getting the inn ready for season. Fixing the north wing which was the main building damaged by hurricane Georges. Laurie is doing all the painting. We make excuses about the interviews we had to postpone.

We talk to Dr. Lugo about studies the Institute has made in EL Yunque over the last 60 years. Making a historical building "green" (and things we can do at the rainforestinn for the environment). We visit a huge Asubo tree in the jardin botanical sur as well as other trees in the beautiful botanical garden on our walking sound tour. He also describes how the institute works with other countries including Brazil saving the world’s rainforests. He describes their work with schools in Puerto Rico teaching students scientific methods of forestry and GIS studies with satellite photos of land use patterns and land cover change.

We talk about snakes on the property and the endangered boas we saw on our hike. The upcoming interviews with forest rangers and local scientists about El Yunque rain forest of Puerto Rico. show notes

We are home alone. Our guest went to the biobay in Vieques. History of local Puerto Rican restaurant: Lolita's Mexican food. Our first selection from the podsafe network.

Andrew, Annie and Sebastian grace us with music and then attest to the beauty and romance of our private hike. Sebastian and Annie (friends visiting this week) talk about their hike in the rainforest. Sebastian and Andrew play guitar as an intro and Andrew McFadden concludes with one of his original compositions -- our first Puerto Rican music!

Laurie starts to explain about what happened to our fish. Hear coquis and the tarzan movie sound of the bufo marianus. Ignore this, claiming my Odeo channel: My Odeo Channel (odeo/5c80fc950d0e9948)

Meet Bill & Laurie and enjoy their trials and tribulations as they build a very small bed & breakfast in the rain forest of Puerto Rico. We also talk about some of our upcoming shows.

This is a short excerpt from one of our interviews. It is all about the Puerto Rican Parrots. We don't talk about the RainforestInn much in this excerpt -- maybe next tim.