Isle of Enchantment (6 page)

We sat on the floor of the cave, unsure of what to do next.

“Keep your head covered with your arms,” he whispered to me. I did. The bats dipped and swooped around us. I prayed they wouldn't land directly on us.

“Be silent. Be still. They should go away,” Tomas said quietly. Gradually, the bats began to slow down. Little by little, they returned to the crevices high up in the cave walls.

“Do you think they're gone?” I whispered. I could barely see Tomas's face in the darkness even though he was sitting right next to me.

“They're not gone but maybe they went back to sleep. Get up very slowly. Be quiet,” he said.

“Let's feel along the wall, to see if we can find the way we came in here,” Tomas suggested.

“All right,” I agreed.

It took us a long time, but we found the opening.
Then we found the concrete trail system.

“You look horrible,” Tomas told me.

“So do you,” I said. Tomas was dirty, wet, and his hair was standing straight up.

We followed the trail out of the darkness. When we made it out into the full daylight, we found the picnic area. “Let's sit here and wait for Mom and Dad,” Tomas said.

It sounded like a good idea. Until I thought about it a little longer.

“Tomi, if they find us like this, all wet and messy, they'll know we got into trouble. Then they'll ground us again.”

Tomas thought for a second.

“I can't handle any more eight o'clock bedtimes. Let's get ourselves cleaned up.”

“To the bathrooms!” I declared. “Use the soap and water to scrub the dirt off yourself. Then take some of the water from the faucet and smooth your hair down. I've got a brush in my backpack.”

Tomas nodded and took off.

“Oh! Hey!” I shouted after him. “Hurry. We don't know when they'll come out of the cave tour.”

I've known Tomas since before we were even born and I've never known him to move so quickly. He came out of the bathroom, sparkling clean, in less than five minutes. I rushed into the women's bathroom, washed up, wet my hair, and tied it up in a ponytail.

Our clothes were still wet but maybe we could blame it on the dripping water in the caves.

“Now what?” Tomas asked.

“Now we settle down and wait like nothing happened,” I told him.

Mom and Dad exited the cave about a half hour later. They found us sitting calmly in the picnic area.

“Act cool. Nothing happened, remember?” I whispered to my brother. He nodded.

“Hi kids,” Mom chirped. “Wasn't that awesome?”

Tomas and I looked at each other. We smiled.

“Amazing,” I gushed.

“So cool,” Tomas agreed.

Dad was so proud of himself for picking such a great day trip.

“I knew you kids would love it!” he said, a massive
grin spreading across his face.

As we walked back to the car, I leaned close to Tomas so Mom and Dad couldn't hear.

“I will always, always, always hate bats.”

El Yunque

After breakfast the next morning, we loaded our bags into the rental car. It was time to leave the tourist life behind and join the research team in El Yunque. Mom was beyond thrilled. She couldn't wait to track the elusive Antillean crested hummingbird. I was not ready to leave hot showers and a soft bed. But there really wasn't any choice. We came to Puerto Rico for Mom's work. And her work was in the forest.

The camp was small. There were less than a dozen tents in a circle. A few pickup trucks were parked behind the tents.

“Hola!” called a woman with bright red hair as we got out of the car.

“Hola!” my mother waved back at her.

It was Dr. O'Malley, a biologist from California. Mom had worked with Dr. O'Malley a few years
ago in Tanzania. They were good friends after that adventure.

“It's nice to have you on the team, Carolina,” Dr. O'Malley said, giving my mom a hug. “Oh my, look at the twins! How grown up you both are!” Dr. O'Malley gave us hugs, too.

“Alberto! You don't age! It's good to see you again,” Dr. O'Malley said as she hugged Dad.

She stepped back and smiled warmly at all of us.

“Come, let me show you around camp,”

Dr. O'Malley led us to the food tent, the medical tent, and the lab tent. Everything was clean and in working order.

“Here are my research assistants, Jake and Ben,” Dr. O'Malley introduced us to two college students. They must be good workers, I thought, if they could set all this up in two days.

Mom smiled and shook their hands, “Nice to meet you. I'm Dr. Perez, this is my husband, Alberto, and our twins, Marisol and Tomas.”

“Nice to meet you,” Tomas and I said. Mom and Dad expected us to be on our best behavior.

“We're going to unpack, then I'd like to hear
about your work so far,” Mom told Ben and Jake.

“Sure. Your tents are on the left,” Ben said.

The tents were set on wood platforms to lift us off the wet ground. Mom and Dad took one tent. Tomas and I shared another. There was no such thing as having your own room on a scientific expedition. We tossed our duffle bags in the tents. All food had to be stored in the food tent. Food was always locked up tight in animal-proof containers.

Mom joined the research team to go over their notes and make plans.

“Well, kids, what do you feel like? A little homeschooling or a dip in the waterfall?” Dad asked.

“The waterfall!” we whooped.

Dad drove us to the La Mina Falls. Tropical palms and ferns enveloped us. Water plunged off the side of the mountain into the pool below.

Tourists splashed into the pool.

“Hop in,” I yelled to Tomas as I slid into the water. It was cold but felt wonderful.

Tomas, Dad, and I chased each other around the pool.

“I think we're going to have a nice stay in El Yunque,” Tomas said.

“Me too,” I nodded.

Dad let us swim another hour until we needed to head back to camp. During a research trip, everyone had to pitch in and help. We needed to get back to camp to help cook dinner.

Without electricity, cooking was basic and took a lot of time. We boiled water for rice. Dad boiled more water as he dropped hot dogs into the pot. Sliced papaya and mango served as a side dish. Dinner was nothing fancy.

Mom and Dr. O'Malley planned to hike deeper into the forest tomorrow to track the Antillean crested hummingbird. Dad said we would stay in camp, study, and handle mess duty—meals and clean up.

“Sounds like a plan,” Dr. O'Malley said. “Now, let's have some dessert!”

Jake threw more logs on the campfire.

“I've got marshmallows,” Dr. O'Malley said. I knew why she and Mom were such good friends. They both liked roasted marshmallows.

When we'd eaten our share of the sticky treats, Mom thought it was time for bed.

“We've had a busy few days. Let's call it a night,” she said quietly as she rubbed my back.

I leaned in for a hug.

“Are you having fun, baby?” Mom asked.

“Mmhmm,” I nodded.

“Good. Let me show you how to dig a cat hole for a potty.”

My heart sank. Goodbye public restrooms. Hello cat hole. Hello little shovel.

“Watch out for snakes and you'll be fine,” she assured me.

Camping in El Yunque was not what I expected. The forest is actually a rainforest–rain being the key word. It poured nearly every day. Mom said El Yunque receives almost 250 inches of rain each year.

Tomas and I became accustomed to being damp. The raised wooden platforms kept the bottoms of our tents from getting soaked. But rain dripped through the roofs. Nights in the rainforest were not quiet. Coquí frogs sang
coo-key coo-key coo-key
all
night, along with hundreds of insects.

Dad put us on a study schedule, but most days, after breakfast duties and school work, he would take us to La Mina Falls and let us swim. Dad called it our PE class. Mom, Dr. O'Malley, Jake, and Ben spent the days looking for the Antillean crested hummingbird. In the evenings, they would input their data into the computers to track the birds' habits.

Tomas and I had free time to explore the rainforest, too. Armed with binoculars and a camera, we learned how to identify native birds and plants.

During one hike, Tomas asked me if I wanted to catch a snake.

“Not really,” I told him. I used to like to catch snakes and frogs. Not anymore.

“Come on, we could catch one and keep it as a pet.”

“Mom doesn't believe in making wild animals into pets,” I said.

“So? She'll never know.” Tomas smiled and took an empty glass jar out of his backpack.

“No way,” I said. “Count me out.”

“Fine,” he said. “I'll be back with the biggest snake in the rainforest.” Tomas huffed and stomped away.

“Fine,” I said to his back.

I propped myself against a large rock and took my book out of my backpack. I liked to spend quiet time reading a good book.

I'm not sure how long I read before Tomas came back. He strutted up to me with an itsy bitsy coquí frog in the jar.

“Mari! Look! I didn't catch a snake. But isn't he cute?”

“He is for a frog,” I said.

“Kiss him and he'll turn into a prince,” Tomas laughed.

“No thanks. I don't want warts.”

Rain started to fall through the tree canopy.

“Well, we're wet again,” I said to Tomas.

“Should we hike back to camp?”

“No, we can sit here for a while. We'll be wet wherever we go,” I said.

“Ouch! The rain drops hurt!” Tomas moaned.

I looked at him quizzically.

“What do you mean it hurts?” I asked. Then a drop hit my head.

“Ouch!”

“Mari! Look up!” Tomas grabbed my upper arm. “It's raining frogs!” he shrieked.

“YUCK!” I squealed. “I'm out of here!”

I jumped up to run back to camp. I didn't want coquí frogs landing on me. Tomas opened his glass jar to catch the frogs. As he did, the one in the jar hopped out and disappeared into the mud.
I grabbed Tomas's arm. “Let's go,” I cried. “This is disgusting!”

When we got back to camp, Tomas told Jake and Ben all about the rainstorm of frogs.

“It was so awesome,” Tomas exclaimed to Jake and Ben. “There were frogs falling from the sky!”

“It is pretty cool.” Ben said. “Do you know why that happened?”

Tomas and I shook our heads. I thought it might be something out of a scary movie.

“When it's very humid the coquí try to climb higher into the trees. Tarantulas wait for them up there, to eat them. Instead of becoming a tarantula's dinner, the coquí leap out of the trees,” Ben told us.

“So, we were the frogs' landing pad?” Tomas asked.

“Yep, more or less,” Ben answered.

“I want to take a hot shower and wash frog slime off me,” I shivered.