My first week in Puerto Rico went by so fast very fast! A group of us from UPR first arrived
during the Celebration of Saint John the Baptist the Patron saint of San Juan. The people of San Juan traditionally walk backwards 7 times into the ocean for luck, or healthy babies..or something along those lines. Some how our group got lost and ended up in the gay section of the beach.
If it wasn't so dark I would have more pictures of men in gold lame speedos and cowboy hats. Imagine my disappointment.
The next few days were spent getting to know the
University of Puerto Rico campus in Rio Piedras. Rio Piedras is a beautiful place with
many palms
trees, beautiful architecture, and the people are all very nice. Our Group leader Alejandro studies Marketing at the University. He seems very secretive and drives a very nice BMW. We haven't yet figured him out, but he takes good care of us. During our first few days he took us to La Perla which is the oldest part of San Juan.
Hay muchas drugas y Graffitti en la Perla.
It is a very a historical site, which Hunter S. Thompson used as an example as to why Puerto Rican are bad people. We were not allowed to photograph the homes but I do ave photos of the graffiti.
We also started classes which run for 4 hours straight Spanish every day con la Professora Acevedo (no relation to our family, so don't get too excited mom). In the afternoon we have a history and culture class con Wilma so and so I dono her name yet . For this class we get to take baller field trips around the island and write one page reaction papers. I endeavor to write mine in Spanish but, I can barely order a burrito without slipping into spanglish so we shall see!
The first field trip our class, and a group of other students from UPR, and St. John's University in Queens went on was to El Unque, The beach, and then Fajardo and bio luminescent bay.
I've already been to the rain forest so I will skip ahead and go straight into the highlight of my trip so far, Fajardo. If you ever find yourself in PR please oh PLEASE GO! It is an experience I will probably never forget. We took our kayaks out on the lake at about 7pm s
o we were kayaking through a mangrove Forrest in complete darkness with only the light of the moon. As you can imagine we crashed into the mangroves a lot. It was a big old mess and there were some waters fights between some of us students, and I got hit in the face with a paddle at some point...I will retaliate! When we got out into the open water our tour guide explained to us that there we only 5 places in the world that you could see luminous water and already 2 of
those places have been destroyed. Due to the salt content in the water which is helped along by the mangroves, and the temperature of the water, certain organisms can survive.
When jarred the organisms in the water begin to glow like tiny fire flies and each one has a life span of two days. When I dipped my hand into the water and then brought it to my face it sparked with tiny lights. How wonderful is that?
Sundays are spent with my great aunt Tita. We go to church at the church that mother, my grandmother, and my great grandmother went to. Then we ate lunch and afterwards My great aunt Mary and I napped while Tita watched TV. Marry looked at me today and called me Adelaida (that is my mothers name) and said that I was beautiful when I was leaving. She turns 92 in August. Everyone kept telling me today how much I look like my mother and how beautiful I am. I was very flattered but just proud that Maria and I look and remind people of my mother because she is a great woman in our eyes.
So to conclude I am having a wonderful time!
This week coming up is going to be an exciting one. Another field trip, a night of salsa dancing with students from UPR, and I get to meet up with a local woman who does charity work for animals and feed some strays on the island
I love and miss you all
-Ana
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