Spanish cuisine tickles the palate in a thousand ways: ugly but delicious creatures called goose barnacles; boiled octopus with a dash of olive oil and paprika; thick, mushy sausage made from pig's blood. Spaniards are nothing if not dedicated eaters.

RIO GRANDE, Puerto Rico _ Manuel Maldonado showed us hummingbirds, walking sticks, giant albino snails and other rain forest residents, but couldn't find a single coqui _ although they were singing all around us. Our visit to El Yunque, the Caribbean National Forest, had been delayed that morning.