Mi Viaje a Puerto Rico

Friday, August 7, 2009 San Juan: the Heart of Puerto Rico

Off to San Juan to visit EL MORRO, the 16th century fort built by los espanoles to protect San Juan and the other islands of the Antilles. The fort has 6 levels, each level used in some aspect of protecting or defending San Juan against attackers, be it Dutch, English, or other aggressors. The three flags that flew above EL MORRO were particularly interesting to me--the American flag, the Puerto Rican flag, and the flag of the Bourbon kings of Spain.
We then traveled to Old San Juan to visit a government building that also served as a museo. We saw a real variety of artifacts of the Americas. I especially liked the fact that America was displayed in a map that included North, Central, and South America. That seems right to me. The map will help my students realized that America means more than our 48 mainland states.
Walking along the Calle de San Juan was the best. It is a beautifully shaded street that hosts the house of Felisa Rincon, the founder of Head Start, a beloved and respected Puerto Rican. Ending our tour, we strolled along the Calle de la Princesa. How lovely!
Friday evening Monica, Bonita and I went to see a Puerto Rican play called "Mariana y El Alba," the story of the brief Puerto Rican fight for independence from Spain. The play really demonstrated the strength of the Puerto Rican identity that has existed in Puerto Rico and continues today.

Calle de la Princesa, San Juan, Puerto Rico

Visita a Abraham Lincoln School

It proved to be a very absorbing day as we received insight into the Puerto Rican school system during our visit to the Abraham Lincoln Public School. The elementary school is located in the despressed LA PERLA district of San Juan. The teachers, speaking both English and Spanish, were very helpful in sharing their perspective on Puerto Rican schools of today. In many ways, the schools and teachers are facing some of our same issues--lack of technology tools for poorer schools, and a system that does not meet the needs of a changing society. The teachers expressed a need for more vocational education. These teachers seemed truly dedicated to their students; I was later pretty apalled upon hearing of the beginning salary of $17,000. What a contrast from York County! It was interesting to see the close and beloved relationship that the school had with don Jorge, the community leader of La Perla. Both school and community leader were more than hospitable in taking us through La Perla. The poverty seemed devastating but there was no lack of pride in their community. It struck me that if La Perla were part of our east coast, some real estate mogul would have tried to change it into megabucks beach properties. But I got the sense that there is no price on what a Perla resident calls home.


The afternoon classes were very interesting. Our profesora Nieves gave us more valuable information about the political influences that affect education. Recent reductions in the number of teachers and reduced funding are the latest caotic events. We ended the instructional day with Elena who helped us interpret several pieces of Puerto Rican literature. The body of works that we studied consistently reflected a pride and a desire to always retain the identity of what a Puerto Rican is--the sum of his past Spanish, Taino, and African heritages in a world that retains Spanish as their primary language and connects at times with everything that mainland USA represents.

Welcome to Wednesday--dia de artes

Our class began with a lively introduction by Elena"; she had lots to say about various Puerto Rican authors of the 19th and 20th century. The heritage of folklore and chronicles is of importance as Puerto Rican autors define their identity--a mix of Taino, African, and Spanish influence. It is interesting to me how the modern literature is a reflection of today's culture and how youth influence the language. Elena spoke of her students' use of "spanglish"...gufear-to goof off, fafu-fast food, jangear-to hang out, parisear-to party. Amazing! Soon "spanglish"may really come to be a separate language!
Today we learned about the history of Puerto Rican music. Everyone in Puerto Rito loves the salsa with its combination of Caribbean and African beat. We even had lessons from a professional dancer.
The afternoon was a technical work in progress as I struggled with my blog. Then on to the art "museo."
Elena's commentary at the Museo del Arte was both educational and entertaining. She is a fountain of linguistic and artistic information. Of the artists that I viewed today, I especially liked Jose Compeche and Luis Botin.

I had a typical arroz con habichuelas dinner at a local restaurant behind the university. However, the supermarket offered one of my favorites for dessert--an Oh Henry bar!

Nature trek

El Yunque (anvil due to its shape) is the only tropical rain forest in USA territory; the forest's many shades of green lushness is delightful to one from the northeast mainland. I was surprised to discover that although it is rich in flora, there are few mammals. So I did not fear running into bear or even snakes as I do when I visit the forested areas of Pennsylvania. Although it was a hot and humid day, we felt cool and comfortable under the canopy of trees....until we started climbing up and worked up a sweat. Ignacio said that El Yunque is nominated to be one of the "Seven Wonders of the World." And it truly is a wonder!

Lunch was more rice and beans and an empanada--delicious but I am ready for some fruit. Strange that I cannot seem to find some fresh fruit is this tropical paradise. Swimming at Luquillo Beach was fun. The water I swam in today is so much warmer than the waters of the Delaware beach that I swam in last week. I will take the Puerto Rican beaches any day! As Bonita, Lynn, and I strolled along the beach, we asked a woman to take our picture. She was friendly and gladly accommodated us; however, she was continually checking on her 3 year old son that was swimming with another boy that he had just met. She was from Manhattan and was visiting her ailing father from Arecibo. She was concerned that her son who didn't speak Spanish would not get along with the little Puerto Rican boy he met. So typical of what we are finding here-- Puerto Ricans of multiple heritages and faces.
Shopping and dinner in Old San Juan was an adventure for Stacy, Casey, Jessica, Bill, Angela and I. We found guiros, drums, Taino jewelry, and more to bring back as memories of our Puerto Rico experience. Dinner at Tijuana was our Mexican experience of the day. El Gordo Burrito es fantastico! And it definitely was "gordo"--(fat)
To end the day, I settled in to do computer work....deleting videos, blogging, figuring out how to add the videos. I do feel like a dinosaur with these technical skills...I will try. And then no one could get on the Internet.....progress of the decade.

Monday, August 3 Adventure

What a way to start a day--a delicious cup of Puerto Rican coffee! And then we were all off to our first class. Elena Lazaro, our professor, had a lot to say about the geography and history of the island. I was especially interested in the fate of the Taino people who were indigenous to the area. Although many disappeared through disease, slavery, or migration, the Puerto Rican culture respects and holds dear this ancestry. Somehow, their identity seems linked to this indigenous culture much more than to any present influences and proximity to the US. Our professor commented that even Puerto Rico's four Miss Universe titles were due to the beauty of the Taino women. Another notion that was surprising to me was Elena's comment regarding the use of the term Latino. "Why should we be called Latinos? Do we speak Latin?" That comment made a lot of sense to me as our country strives to use a politically correct term for the Spanish-speaking community. I'm thinking that being country-specific is the way to go... puertorriquenos, bolivianos, peruanos. Still the same question comes up...who am I? Estadounidence which is the Spanish word that identifies someone from the USA doesn't exist in our English language.
Profesor Ignacio Olazagasti proved engaging as a cultural anthropologist. He offered a profile of the Puerto Rican of today--a sum of his geneological heritage, his politics, his relationship to his family, and the influence of his island's connection to mainland USA. He was able to help me put in perspective how the Puerto Rican sees himself connected to his community and to mine. I also began to understand the difficulty of the migrating Puerto Rican.
A returning Puerto Rican is not viewed the same as the non-migrating one. Puerto Ricans speak Spanish! But being bilingual is desired...just don't come back speaking "splanglish!" (my perception)
A tour of Old San Juan was enchanting...the narrow cobblestone streets, the old Spanish architecture and the breath-taking ocean so close. Who would want to leave?
The Bacardi tour gave me a new appreciation for rum. What an operation! And the free drinks were a treat. Our evening came to a close with a great meal; I always look forward to a Spanish tortilla of eggs and potatoes. I learned to make them as a student in Spain and still enjoy them at home and now...in Puerto Rico. Buen provecho!

Ayuntamiento (City Hall) Visit

Las profesoras de Sagrado Corazon y Penn State