The Ghost Rider, Neil Peart [RUSH] DE PASEO EN P.R. PARA ESOS DIAS DEL CONCIERTO EN LA ISLA 2008 ---When Carrie had flown home, Michael and I had a free day before the show in San Juan, so we set out across the island’s spine on a series of little roads called the Ruta Panorámica. We had made a symbolic visit to the lighthouse on the northeastern point of the island, El Faro de Las Cabezas, and now headed for the lighthouse on the far southwestern point, El Faro de Cabo Rojo. In the valleys and up the mountainsides, we rode through deep rainforest, with hanging vines and an incredible tapestry of different greens. Most of my tropical sojourns in recent years have been to the Hawaiian Islands, whose remote location in the middle of the Pacific Ocean naturally limited the diversity of its flora and fauna (though not its lushness and beauty). Riding through the dense greenery in El Yunque National Forest, on our first ride in Puerto Rico, I was struck by the numberless variety of plants and trees, from ferns and cycads (the oldest plant form on earth—dinosaur food) to banana palms and bamboo, delicate little blossoms at the roadside, velvety mosses, and a mosaic of interlocking leaves overhead. It might almost be said that Hawaii’s relatively limited palette of greenery suggests a creationist simplicity, a pristine Eden, while Puerto Rico, collecting from North America, South America, and even the ancient supercontinent of Pangea, overflows with a complex hurly-burly of evolutionary struggle and burgeoning life. Even the smell of the Puerto Rican forest was richer, darker, and more pungent. It reminded me of another Caribbean island, Montserrat, where we recorded at Air Studios back in the ’80s, and the primeval smells of the night forest as we drove back to the guest house at night after work. (Fun Fact: Puerto Rico is classified as a United States Territory, acquired from Spain in 1898. Just after World War II there were outbreaks of violent liberationism, including the attempted assassination of President Truman, and a volley of shots in the House of Representatives that wounded five Congressmen. More recently, the people have held several indecisive referendums on whether to become a republic, a state, or retain their present status.)
Posted on: Wed, 07 Jan 2015 03:19:48 +0000
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