Puerto Rico 2

I took off work that Thursday and Friday. My flight was to leave Orlando Thursday at 11:00. I spent the morning going to church and packing my bags. I packed clothes, hygiene products, a camera, and a Spanish-English dictionary. I got to the airport and waited to board the flight. I was beginning to see how this trip was going to be- I was going to suddenly become a minority. It seemed that everyone except me was Hispanic. After a while, it started to bother me. I think that I was becoming culturally uncomfortable for the first time.

I got on the plane and I prepped myself for the 2.5 hour flight from Orlando to San Juan, Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is a US Territory measuring 100 miles across and 50 miles down. It is the eastern most island of the four larger Caribbean islands: Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti/Dominican Republic, and PR; PR is directly south of the eastern part of Maine. Despite being in the Eastern Time Zone, it still got dark 2 hours earlier than Florida.

The flight was good. Usually there are about 3 airline stewardesses, but on this flight I counted nine; I think that they were all in training. We did get a small lunch for the flight- a sandwich, chips, cookies, and drink. I had been talking to the guy next to me and he was still hungry after the one sandwich and asked for another one in Spanish. I figured that I would ask for another one as well; "una mas, favor?" She smiled, because I'm a white guy trying to speak Spanish, my accent probably sucks, I probably didn't say it right, and the fact that I was asking for another one. I did get another sandwich, though!

I always seem to get stiffed with the aisle or middle seat. This time I had an aisle seat. I wanted a window seat to take pictures. Looking out the window, the ocean and sky seemed to blend together in one blue mass. At one point, I was able to see waves in the ocean. As we got close to the island, I could see some land. I could feel the excitement building! We didn't have to wait on our approach, but came directly into the airport. As soon as the wheels hit, the whole plane burst out in cheers and clapping! a tradition that they do every time the natives land in the island. "Look! No one knows how long this parade is gonna last! They are a very festive people." -Elaine, from Seinfeld, commenting on Puerto Ricans

I knew that I was in for a trip as soon as I entered into the San Juan airport. I've wanted to go to a Spanish speaking country for a while now- and here was a compromise, a US Territory totally influenced by Hispanics. I walked through the airport still noticing that I was one of the only white people there. I went through the doors to go outside and there was a mob of people on either side of the walkway waiting outside for people to get off their planes. Off to the left, I heard people screaming joyfully while peaking through the windows. People toward the back of the mob were hopping up and down trying to see the people exiting the airport. I had never seen so many at the exit of an airport and so many people excited to see their friends and family. It was quite a site.

My friend picked me up; it was good to see him. I hadn't seen him in over a year. Off we were, to go to the west side of the island for his wedding practice- San Juan is on the eastern part of the island. It took us about 2 hours to get there, during which we caught up with everything. I began to notice a lot of things just from that drive. The island is very diverse in terrain- it's somewhat flat in some areas with dry vegetation  like Arizona and in the center of the island are large mountains, lush with trees like the Smokies. The drivers in PR are just as bad as NY. Traffic was backed up from rush hour and a guy tried to be clever by driving over a construction median to pass traffic. It actually made me mad to see him do that- "Why can't he wait like the rest of us???" A while down the road, that same guy was pulled over by the cops, who wear large cowboy-like hats and drive silver mustangs. I had to take a picture :) Also, I noticed that during rush hour, "emergency lane " translates to "lane to use whenever you want to pass traffic!"

We got to the wedding practice late which translates to "on time" in Latin time. I tried to speak some Spanish with the people but quickly found out that I could barely understand them and don't know enough to keep a conversation. They went through the wedding and they made me be in place of the priest. After the wedding practice, we went to the fiancée's house for a party. It was 7:30 and starting to get dark. Their house is about 1 mile from the Caribbean Sea, so I got to see an awesome sunset.

That night, we had pinchos con pollo y filete (kabobs with chicken and steak). Their hospitality was amazing. They made every effort to ensure that my plate was full of food in one hand and a drink in the other. After talking with some of the people there, most of those that live in PR are able to speak English, we started playing Dominoes. Dominoes are real popular on the island. I've never played except to stand them next to each other then knock them down. It was fun and I started winning after 15 minutes of playing. They started laughing and making fun of their friends who were good at the game and were getting beat by a newbie. After that, it was time for bed. We were going to get up early the next morning to tour the island.

...to be continued...