On July 5, we rented a car for the day with our new friends Yvonne and Carl. We had met them here in Ponce; they are from the Netherlands and making their way over to Guadeloupe, and waiting for engine work to be completed on their boat. In the meantime, while we were waiting to have a marine survey, we decided to do some traveling inland. We drove across the mountains of Puerto Rico on some twisty roads and breath-taking views.


We went to visit the radio telescope at Arecibo, Puerto Rico. This is the largest radio telescope in the world; it weighs 300 tons and is built into a natural karst bowl. Astronomers from all over the world visit Arecibo to perform experi- ments. The size of the telescope itself is hard to describe. The visitor center there has interesting displays and a "day at Arecibo" film for visitors. The only thing missing, we thought, was a scientist or astronomer to answer our questions about the telescope and its use.
Here's Debby getting a permanent and a cut in Ponce. It was quite a test of my Spanish, as the friendly young hair stylist did not speak any English. I did have a phrase book which included conversations for a salon visit, and a dictionary. The results turned out quite nice.