Writing this I can't help but feel like I'm in Honduras all over again. I'm sweaty, I hear the chirps of unfamiliar birds and insects, I just had a lovely meal that included tortilla, and I have the slightly confused feeling of being both on a Spanish language mission and on vacation simultaneously. In actuality, I am in Rincon, Puerto Rico, a small surfer town on the western side of this small island. A good friend from college, and my main inspiration for deciding to trek through PR, happens to live here. I can see the Caribbean in all it's glory from her balcony, and every once and awhile I glimpse a lizard dashing across her walls.
Rincon is a beautiful place, but still quite new to Beth (my travel partner) and I. We just arrived Saturday afternoon after spending a week in San Juan taking refresher Spanish courses and refreshing ourselves in Latin culture. San Juan was interesting and challenging in it's own ways, but honestly we were both happy to leave. After six days of maddeningly inaccurate bus schedules, extreme temperatures outside and extreme air conditioning inside, and paying city prices for just about everything, Rincon is a nice change of pace. There were several highlights in our first round of San Juan, though. First off, we were lucky enough to have two wonderful people as Spanish language instructors. Jose and Lizzy were great teachers, and also gave us invaluable information on cheap places to eat and stay, helped us coordinate our publico bus trip to Rincon, and even gave us rides back to the hotel several times throughout the week. Jose, my instructor, was big on conversational practice, so I took advantage and asked him all about Puerto Rico's political structure, social issues, cultural norms, and basic things like traditional foods, music, and the best places to visit throughout the island.
As a very important part of my time here will also include visiting women's organizations, Jose and I also discussed services for women and programs I might want to contact. Sadly my top two choices never responded to my introductory emails, but I will keep looking and keep contacting. Luckily I still have seven more weeks to go! However, after several conversations with my college friend Jessica, and her graduate school advisor, Ricia (who also happens to be building a women's studies minor at the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez), it might be harder than I'd first thought. According to Jess and Ricia, a massive cultural stigma still exists which keeps a great many women from seeking and taking advantage of social services, whether it be for domestic violence, family planning, addictions counseling or trauma therapy. The majority of women who may need these services instead choose to remain quiet and handle their issues internally. As discouraging as this news is to my goal, I am not terribly surprised to hear it. However, they also were able to give me some excellent contacts and I look forward to taking advantage of them.
So, for the rest of today Beth, Jess, myself and several of Jess's friends will be celebrating her birthday on the beach in Boqueron, which is said to be one of the most beautiful little spots on the island. After a week on the Atlantic Ocean side of the island where the currents are so strong we actually saw police gathering up the body of a young female tourist who had drown in the undertow, we are very much looking forward to the calmer, gentler waters of the Caribbean. I'm still deciding if I would like to learn to surf during my time here. Sometimes it seems thrilling, and other times I decide I'm too much of a wimp. Can't really imagine I'll be able to keep it up in Denver anyway :)
Our next leg of this adventure will take us into the hilly coffee region of the island, so look out for more postings about rain forest cottages, iguanas and possibly even monkeys soon! Thanks for keeping up with me while I'm away!
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