My Day as a Tourist

      As a class assignment I had to spend a day as a tourist in any place I wanted in Puerto Rico. When I think about places of interest for tourists in this island, I immediately think of Old San Juan. So, when the time came for me to decide where I wanted to go, I chose Old San Juan as my destination.

     I started my day thinking about what I was going to wear, so I would be able to look as much as a tourist as possible. After giving it some thought I ended up wearing jean shorts, a tee, sandals, a big sun hat, sunglasses, and a fanny pack. In my eyes, this is how most stereotypical tourists look like. Once I figured out how I was going to look the part, I decided that I was going to pretend to be a tourist from the United States, because for me it is easier to talk in English than to imitate a Spanish accent from another place.

     When I got to Old San Juan the first thing I did was to take a tour of El Morro. It had been years since I’d done it, so it felt like I was seeing all of it for the first time. I quietly observed everything around me, took it in, and relished in the beauty of my surroundings. The people who work there were very helpful when I asked them for directions on how to get to Raíces, the restaurant I went to for lunch. When I got to the restaurant I ordered a piña colada and one of their specialties, a skirt steak mofongo stuffed with chimichurri. The waiter was very nice and the food was delicious. The all-around service was excellent. Then, as my outing began to come to a close I went to Señor Paleta for dessert and got a strawberry cheesecake popsicle.

 

     In Short, I had a fun and relaxing time during my day as a tourist. At the beginning I was a little skeptical because I thought I wasn’t going to look and sound the part, but in the end I was able to pull it off. In fact, various times I was spoken to in English before I even said a word. The people I interacted with were very kind and friendly; some even went out of their way to make sure I was having an enjoyable time. This goes to show that people want tourists to leave the places they visit with a good impression. Furthermore, this activity was a great way for me to appreciate my cultural heritage even more.

 

 

Journey Journal Completion

     This past week I finished my Journey Journal assignment. It had a duration of eight weeks and it consisted of forty entries (five per week), and twenty four life compasses (three per week). I had to write whatever came to mind during ten minutes while following the five anti-rules which were: keep your hand moving, don't cross out, don't worry about spelling, punctuation or grammar, lose control, don't think don't get logical, and go for the jugular. The objective of this journal was to help us, the students, reflect and learn more about our internal journeys.

 

     At the beginning, some of the anti-rules were difficult for me to follow. When I first started writing I would get logical because I am used to writing about specific subjects and not about whatever comes to mind; as I realized that I would stop moving my hand and then my mind would go blank. Also, being the perfectionist that I am, it was hard not to cross out words because I had misspelled them. Nevertheless, after the first few entries I started getting the hang of things and my writing process improved. My thoughts became more continuous and fluent, therefore I didn’t stop moving my hand. Moreover, as the weeks went on I realized that, for the most part, I was actually enjoying the whole writing process. My mood definitely influenced how I felt about it; most days I looked forward to writing, others not so much. There were times that going for the jugular was easy, whereas occasionally it was not. For me it is riveting to see how one’s mind-set can affect the writing process.

     On the other hand, the life compasses were fun to do. A life compass consisted of a circle with a swirl in the middle to represent that it’s ever-changing, and its four categories were: spiritual, mental, emotional and physical. In each one you could put 1-3 depending on how you were feeling and then you had to write why you put that certain number. The bar graph below represents the numbers of all my life compasses.

 

     In the graph above we can see that in twenty one of the twenty four life compasses I had a total number of eight through twelve, and only in three I had a total number of six through seven. Evidently, the average numbers show that in general I am a content person who feels she is in a good place, most of the time.

     In short, I started this whole Journey Journal thinking that it was going to be horrible and that I was not going to like it. However, I was wrong because as time went on I started to realize that I actually enjoyed it. One of the things I learned is that I should be more open to trying out new things such as writing; even if I think I won’t like it because you’ll never really know until you try it, and when you do you might even surprise yourself. Furthermore, a thing that I already knew about myself but saw reflected in the life compasses is that I’m a happy human being. Lastly, what I hope to take away from all of this is the daily habit of sitting down to write whatever I’m feeling and thinking as a way to keep track of my lifelong internal journey.

A Small Place

     In her book, A Small Place, Jamaica Kincaid talks about her native Caribbean island, Antigua. She does this through the perspective of a tourist, this being the main theme present in the reading, aside from the political theme which is present as well. In this post I will discuss three quotes that caught my attention, regarding the tourist topic, as I did the reading.

"Oh, what a marvelous change these bad roads are from the splendid highways I am used to in North America" (Kincaid 5).

     In this first quote, Kincaid is giving us an example of a thought that a tourist may have in relation to the change in scenery and roads between their homeland and Antigua, the place they're visiting for vacation. For me this quote is very relatable because in Puerto Rico most of the roads are in a bad state. Therefore, the times that I've been in other places one of the first things I notice is the difference in the quality of the roads. Usually they're smoother and it feels like you're walking on clouds. Nonetheless, coming from a tourist a comment like this one may be interpreted the wrong way by a local. It may seem to them kind of ignorant for someone to actually enjoy traveling on a bad road, when most likely they want it fixed and have been waiting for a long time for the government to take action.

"The thing you have always suspected about yourself the minute you become a tourist is true: A tourist in an ugly human being. You are not an ugly person all the time; you are not an ugly person ordinarily; you are not an ugly person day to day" (Kincaid 14).

     Indeed, a tourist can be an ugly human being, especially from the point of view of the native. One may ask why or in what sense? Well many people see tourists as ignorant individuals mostly because when they vacation somewhere, they tend to think the place is perfect based on what little time they spend there and the handful of pre chosen places they visit; meanwhile being completely oblivious to the political, economical and social problems that local people endure every day. Nevertheless, this doesn't mean that they're like that in their every day life. Countless Puerto Ricans feel this way toward tourists. However, it's important to recognize that not all tourists are the same. There are those who are informed and know about those types of problems.

"That the native does not like the tourist is not hard to explain. For every native of every place is a potential tourist, and every tourist is a native of somewhere. Every native everywhere lives a life of overwhelming and crushing banality and boredom and desperation and depression, and every deed, good and bad, is an attempt to forget this. Every native would like to find a way out, every native would like a rest, every native would like a tour. But some natives -most natives in the world- cannot go anywhere" (Kincaid 18).

     Certainly, there are locals who do not like tourists. In fact, they think that they are a hindrance and that they damage the view and landscape of the city. Every native can be a tourist and every tourist is a native. Kincaid establishes that every native would like a tour but that most cannot go anywhere. This is most likely due to economical reasons. Also, it may be a factor that fuels the locals dislike of tourists. They want to travel, get to know other places and relax just like the vacationers that come to their country, but sadly it is out of their reach. This is the case of many natives all over the world.

Literary Contest Reflection

     This past Wednesday I attended the English Literary Contest Awards Ceremony. Our class group was there in support of three of our classmates who got recognized for their participation. The awards given were distributed into the following categories: essay, poetry and short story.  In general, the activity was good and mostly organized. It began with an introduction and then it was followed by a presentation with tips on how to improve as a writer. They exhorted aspiring writers to enter in literary contests, seek mentors and read contemporary fiction or poetry, among other things. The tips given were really nice and I found they were very helpful if you’re someone who is interested in that area. 

       After that, came my favorite part of the whole activity. The university's Tuna band performed a few songs and it was great as always. I never get tired of seeing them preform and I enjoy listening to the music they play. When they finished their part, it was time to present the winners of the competition and hand them their awards. One thing I noticed during this part was that most of the winners were girls. Every time one of the winners would get called to go onstage the people in the audience clapped very loudly. It was pleasant to see that many of the people in the audience were the parents of student who were being recognized.  All of them were there in support of their children, beaming with pride and joy. I was happy to see my classmates get acknowledged for their participation. The activity ended right after that with the whole group of winners being photographed onstage.

     In short, this was the first awards ceremony of any sorts that I’ve attended in college up to now. It was brief and precise but very enjoyable. I think it is important to do activities like this more often, where students are recognized for their literary creations. There are many with great creative minds and immense potential who need to be heard.