Christmas Time In Puerto Rico

Every person who has spent Christmas time In Puertop Rico knows theer is no better place to spend the Holidays, Puerto Rico's Holiday time traditions are so fun, family oriented and the food is so good that once you've had a Puertorrican Christmas, you'll never see Christmas time the same way again. :) So here's a little something for all of you out there who want to have a glimpse of what I am talking about.

“T’was the night before Christmas, Boricua Style”

Era la noche antes de Navidad en Puerto Rico y en todos lados se podía apreciar
a las familias boricuas de camino a parrandear
Titi Carmen se quedo atrás, ella velaba el lechón,
Mientras Tío Cuco custodiaba el coquito sin compasión.
Y después de la parranda, a lechonear todo el mundo!
Hasta los más viejos, en andador, llegan en un segundo.
Había arroz, lechón, pasteles, arroz con dulce y rones muy variados
Garantizado que saldrías con par de botones reventados.
Y fue entonces cuando abuelo dijo “Esperen un segundo,
sé que algo falta aquí, el lechón está muy bueno, el arroz con dulce,
riquísimo esta, y comería mas tembleque con coquito pa’ bajar.
Pero aun así una Navidad boricua realmente no es Navidad, sin que
saquen el pitorro así que vamos! A Pitorrear!”
Y así el reloj dio las doce, Y la Navidad llego.
Y todavía fiestando la luz del día los cogió.
No hay mejor Navidad que la que se celebra en Puerto Rico,
Musical, en familia, se baila mucho y se come rico.
-Yalitza Santos

My latest publication

This a link to my latest publication, it's in Spanish so, enjoy!

http://elpostantillano.com/component/content/article/318-cartas-de-una-antillanoa/2821-yalitza-santos.html

Chain Reaction

Puerto Rico has turned in a place of violence. This weekend alone (from Friday to Sunday) there have been 10 cases of murder reported. The once “Island of Enchantment” has turned into a place where people are afraid to come out of their houses because they know that now more than ever it is more of a possibility to die waiting for a traffic light to change, picking up an order in a fast food restaurant of jumping back into your car after a day of shopping. What ever happened to sense of community that moved people to take care of each other of the codes of the streets where no innocents, women or children were to be hurt in the process of “taking care of a situation”?

 While the public slowly marinates in the panic, government official and political parties focus on smear campaigns and playing a “tag blame game” amongst themselves. Red senators blame blue ones and those blame red district representatives and those blame blue mayors and those blame red senators and those then go back to blaming blue Governors and so on so forth they continue to play tag while women are being battered to death by their abusive partners, children are being physically, sexually abused and murdered, senior citizens rights are violated by badly trained and psychologically unstable police officers and citizens are being murdered and robbed in their own homes.

 Meanwhile, in the United States political parties and government officials are focused on denying people the right to public health insurance and women the right to choose whether they want to have children or not. Instead of focusing in the education and economy problems of the country they just “want to show those second class citizens who’s boss.”

 As we can appreciate here our socio-economic situation is not only our own, but it is a chain reaction. The worst part of it is that it will continue to get worse if we don’t pay attention to the social components of the problem. People need help. Not only in the economic sector, but also access to objective information, quality education, to know that they have a choice and that they will treated with respect and dignity. Otherwise these situations will only get worse; which is a shame because it is those who are innocent the ones who end up paying for the sins of the guilty.

Homosexuality a crime? I don't think so.

As I was reading an article about decriminalizing homosexuality in Africa in a cyber news portal, the first thing that came to my mind was the following question: Why do we feel the need to criminalize homosexuality? In this era, to criminalize someone for having a different sexual preference is like criminalizing people who are being born with dwarfism or with missing limbs. They were born that way, it’s nobody’s fault; nature made them the way they are.  Besides, if we were all born to be the same, act the same and have the same preferences we would all have been born women only, or men only. It is like going back to the times where you would be punished just for being a woman, of for being a different skin color. It’s wrong and it should be stopped. What should be made a criminal offense and highlighted to people everywhere that it will be punished is to act upon hateful believes and hurt those who are different from you; now that is a measurement that should be respected, acted upon and reinforced. Because no matter your sexual preference you are still a human being, therefore you should be allowed to live with dignity and pursue your happiness.

On restaurants and Translations

The new restaurant trend in Puerto Rico, is that restaurants want to have bilingual menus (which is not abad thing considering Puerto Rico is a very popular touristic destination). So what they do is that they have the name of the specialty in Spanish and right next to it a translation in “English” Why do I write English inside quotation marks? Because sometimes the word chosen to represent the concept in the menu is not exactly the right word given the culinary context of the word. People underestimate the value of a good translation. To be respected as a bilingual destination where tourists can have  a good time in their own language is not limited to just be able to translate a few words and be able to say “Yes” “No” and “Give a moment” until you can find someone who is actually fluent in the language. It is also about choosing the right vocabulary according to the represented context. A very good example is a well known restaurant that has enjoyed a well reputed name for years in the northwest area of Puerto Rico, if you order from their menu; you can always enjoy the “Parmesan Chicken Chest” as your main course, it’s bound to be delicious even though its choice in vocabulary is disastrous.

Puerto Rico = Gangster's Paradise ( a review of sources)

Funny, I posted about this same topic yesternight and here today THE local newspaper published this article:

La Isla del Chanchullo Gubernamental

It roughly translates to "the island of government deception"  and it states that Puerto Rico has turned into one of the most corrupt destinations in the Caribbean. No more questions your honor.

Puerto Rico = Gangster's Paradise

As I eat a plain hot dogs with ketchup I think about my island’s economy. Yesterday as I talking to a friend I realized how closed are the economic circles of my island. Funding rarely reaches its destination and proposal money stays in the hands and projects of a few that don’t share the information so others don’t get the opportunity to be granted money. It’s really frustrating to see how the rich keep getting richer at the expense of the working class while the poor keep growing poorer and ignorant by the millisecond. There is no money to fix the economy, no money to fix the school system, no money to fix the public health insurance system and yet there is money for political campaigns and televised advertisements that are meant to encourage us to work for a system that does not work for us.  Puerto Rico used to be a paradise, now, all that remains is the nostalgia of better days. Today it is just a sick commonwealth that is becoming sicker and sicker by the minute. The cancer of poverty continues to spread, the social abyss keeps getting wider and wider and the people keeps getting more violent and hopeless. We need a glimmer of light, but it is going to be a monumental quest to find it within all this dirt and corruption that lies beneath the surface. Tourists, don’t let yourselves be fooled, the island is not safe, even police officers are abusing tourists and locals, it’s not paradise, (slaughter of animals and dirty beaches) and it is not a happy place to be right now, (if you don't believe me, ask the mother of the 18 year old boy who was killed in a car jacking a few days ago or the family members of the fast food manager who got shot in the head in an armed robbery on Thursday[I think]).

About family

I love couple night with my parents (just so you can have an idea of what couple night is, my husband and I go out bar hoping with my parents and end up in a nice restaurant having a late supper). They like to travel around the island, eat in good restaurants, drink the good stuff and share a good time without being judgmental. And that takes me to today's topic; family. As anyone could tell you, there is nothing more important in life than family. When you cultivate good family relations, you can always count on having a majestic support group, to help you and comfort you but also to have fun with. To have a supportive and trustworthy relationship with your family can mean the difference between feeling happy and fulfilled versus feeling lonely and depressed. People should always try to be close to at least their immediate family, you know, mom, dad, brothers and sisters, after all they are the people who saw you and supported you while you soared towards the success lined skies, and that should count for something, I know that in my book it does.

Today is Sunday and I have a horrible migraine, it feels like my brain want to explode from inside my head and my eyes will just pop out. So I guess no post today. Sorry.

On Animal Sanctuaries and Puerto Rico

I’ve always thought that a man’s character is defined by the way he treats animals, but I never thought that it would actually come to define not just one man, but a whole country. Puerto Rico is coming to be defined by their constant abusive, unpleasant and elitist behaviors of abandoning the weak and innocent while feeding the arks of the rich and rotten. 

Not so long ago, it made it made headlines all over the world how a bag full of live dogs was dumped over a bridge and into a crowded street here in the island of Puerto Rico, well, what is happening now with the animal shelters and sanctuaries feels exactly like that is happening all over again. Thousands of animals are suffering a cruel and uncertain fate because of the ignorance of the human race.The political parties and the government are so entangled in their own shady amoral agendas that they are forgetting who they work for and why were they placed in their stations in the first place. Animal shelters flooding and losing everything, the government ignores them, animal sanctuaries being used as pet dumpsters, the authorities do nothing. Laws to protect animals are passed but not acted upon. Illegal breeding mills and dog fights happening all over the island, the authorities prefer to ignore them. And then we dare to have a tourism slogan that reads "Puerto Rico does it better".

 But I don’t wish to dump all the guilt unto the government’s hands; that would be like blaming the sun for being hot and lethal for I believe the key element here is people. Our actions as individuals are defining and marking the image and fate of our beloved country. Pet owners who are constantly acting in irresponsible ways, treating animals as is they were property that can be bought and disposed of at will when you no longer feel like owning it.  He who owns a pet and is capable of disposing of it like disposing of a bag of garbage is capable of abandoning a child at any moment, no remorse felt.

More than sad I believe it to be shameful, and it takes to say that I am ashamed to live in a country where life is not respected, where humans think themselves superior to any other creature in the planet, but treat each other like scum. a place where animals are not respected but humiliated, mistreated, abandoned and killed without hesitation. It is time to stop worrying about political affiliations, if X candidate visits sex shops or if Y candidate loves to eat donuts, and start thinking about quality of life, the state of our morality, of our souls  and whether or not we have lost of our true purpose on Earth.

On confrontation and independence

The last couple of weeks have given a very loud and clear message; some people hate confrontation. They hate to be confronted or to confront others around them, even if those people’s actions are affecting your life for the negative. As I was talking to a friend today, I got a plausible reason for this evasive behavior. It’s simple, it’s just a matter of manners, and you don’t want others to perceive you as hostile, aggressive and impolite. Therefore, you prefer to suffer in silence that which is killing you softly.

 I disagree. No, I will not deny that confrontation is a hard thing to do (especially if you are a woman who has been raised to be polite and obedient, you know, to be a “good girl”), but it is necessary for you to live YOUR life. By confronting those who make us uncomfortable we are removing obstacles from our lives and at the same time standing our ground, something that will let other know clearly, specially to those being confronted, that you will not tolerate manipulation, thrash talk and/or abuse. In life, part of growing and being an adult is claiming your independence, and personal independence starts by loving, supporting and respecting yourself and your decisions.

On Cars and Car Accidents

     My husband is always accusing me of being a bad driver and yet, I haven’t caused a car accident in the 6-8 years I’ve been driving (yes, I got my driver’s license a bit late in life) however, that does not mean that weird things have not happened to me on the road and considering the latest one I would like to share a few of those experiences. Maybe you have been in the same situations.

With the KIA

1. Brake Trouble- the brakes of my car got stuck and then broke while I was stopping at a red light in the highway on my way from Isabela to Aguadilla, there was a loaded truck behind me.

2. The car went crazy and turned itself off, refused to turn on again and when my husband arrived to help me, the car just started, just like that… as if nothing was wrong…douchy car!

With the Corolla

3.It overheated while I was stopping for a red light in “El Mani” on my way to Mayaguez and that’s not the worst part, it turned itself off so I had to push it out of the way…by myself…under the rain…wearing heels and a dress. I’m 5’3’’ and at the time weighted 115 pounds. So you can imagine how easy (NOT!) it was to get my car out of the way at 9:00 am in a crowded highway.

 4. A student rammed me in the parking lot when I was already parked, she just pressed the gas while talking on the phone… and the rest is history.

      So as you can see here, my accidents have been that, just accidents, caused by forces outside of my power. Still, there is a lot of crazy people driving out there that have lost respect for their cars and the power these have to be turned into weapons and damage others as well as yourself. So please, if you are driving, be smart, use a hands-free or the speaker-phone, do not text, be courteous to other drivers, and pay attention to the road. It can save your life as well as the life of others.

Re- designing

Today I took my car to the repair shop because the AC  was not working (and in this tropical weather AC is a must), turns out it had been a mistake from the mechanic, he left one cable adrift, and that messed up the car. And that took me to think, how many times does the domino effect destroyed something you have been planning for quite a while? Just one thing is left unattended and BAM! in your perspective, everything else goes to hell. Well, in that case we have to adopt a new term, re-design. If you are focused on everything that has gone wrong you will have no space in your mind to enjoy the things that actually go ok. So let's learn to move with the flow of things, and everything will end up just fine I don't know, it seemed kind of important for me to share this.

Welcome to Puerto Rico, A Paradise!

A 19 year old mother of 1 is assassinated by her "husband" in their own bedroom. 
http://www.elnuevodia.com/victimadelsilenciodelossuyosjovenmadredecomerio-1216606.html

 A man jumps from a bridge into the highway to kill himself
http://www.elnuevodia.com/hombreselanzadesdepuentedelaautopistaluisa.ferre-1216997.html

Kidnapped man in the town of Humacao
http://www.elnuevodia.com/secuestranahombreenhumacao-1217085.html

Townspeople kick the crap out of guy after finding out he killed his underage pregnant girlfriend
http://www.elnuevodia.com/palizaalsospechosodeasesinaramenorembarazada-1213360.html

Public school in Rio Piedras goes on strike
http://www.elnuevodia.com/paroenescueladeriopiedras-1216759.html

Raid in a club that was hosting "parties" for minors
http://www.vocero.com/puerto-rico-es/ley-y-orden-es/continua-abierta-discoteca-de-menores

Man shot and his wife wounded in their own home.
http://www.vocero.com/puerto-rico-es/ley-y-orden-es/asesinan-a-hombre-y-hieren-de-bala-a-su-pareja


And it's only Tuesday!

What Fairy tale is your life? The one in which everyone dies and no one gets the happily ever after...Oh, wait!

As I was browsing through Facebook and thinking about news that I had just received, I saw this little ad that said ““Plikity Plank”(for privacy purposes no name shall be revealed) is using “What Fairy Tale is your life” app, would you like to use it?” and  that sent my brain into overdrive.

 In order for everything to make sense I have to share the news I had just received, my half brother had an accident yesterday and is in critical condition in the hospital and piecing all the info together took me to the formulation of a conclusion; no life is a fairy tale, and to make people think that their life can become one or end like one is a cruel and abusive thing to do. It is because we are raised under this misconceptions that we grow up thinking that life is going to be welcoming, that there I something great in the world with our name on it, just sitting there, waiting for you to go and pick it up so it can magically give your life a happy ending; news flash! There are no happily ever afters.

The world is a constant source of movement and in order to survive within it you need two things and two things only, to work hard and to be in the right place at the right time. In the end it all comes down to your own efforts and probability or as some like to call it ‘luck’. I know I will have readers saying, “but you are saying that because you are angry at the world right now” and to those I have an answer, No, I am not angry at the world, I am being realistic, nothing will come to you like magic, and in the best cases, even when it looks like it does it does not matter the level of talent if you don’t get to know the right people to help you develop it. Do you have any idea how many talented people are out there that never got their big break? Why? Wrong place at the wrong time. Do you have any idea how many innocent people die on freakish accidents cause by other people? Thousands, around the world, daily. Why? Wrong place at the wrong time. And please, I don’t want the religious saying “Well, it was God’s plan” or “The Lord works in mysterious ways” Because if I am as important to him as everyone tells me I am, he could take a few seconds of his busy agenda to at least warn me of his plan. No apologies this time, if you got offended by anything in this post, then, sucks to be you.

On Marriage

Among the people I  know, there are very few married couples who will say that they got married because they wanted to. When you ask couples why did they get married, a myriad of reasons will come swimming to the surface like a 5 year old desperately fighting the waters to avoid drowning, however there are very few couples that their first immediate response will be “We got married because we wanted to”. That takes me to think that, as much as we would like to say the world has evolved, there are institutions and human fears that have remained the same along the ages.

               

      When I got married, the priest who officiated our ceremony (we got a church wedding to please the family but that’s another post) said a few things that got to me because if my feminist believes, but the one that got to me the most was that, according to the bible I was accepting a commitment “to serve God and my husband”. “To serve” ummmm, I guess I had a problem with that because nowhere in my husband’s part of the contract said he was supposed to serve me. And if I am to serve him, wouldn’t that make me his subordinate? Don’t get me wrong, my goal here is not to attack religions or their ceremonial requirements (that’s also another post), but to highlight that in reality, when it comes to the institution of marriage nothing has really changed, and what’s worse those in charge don’t want to change it either. Women are still seen a property of the men who marry them, marriage is still seen as an exchange of goods and, the stamp which makes sexual activity affidavit socially valid. I believe that to be wrong. When the idea of marriage was presented to me (and I continue to use my marriage as an example for I do understand that every couple is different) I saw it as a merger between equals; like partners signing a contract, agreeing to start the design and construction of a beautiful project together; as equal investors and therefore equal shareholders. I was never able to see it as a bridge to economic stability, neither as a ticket to leaving my legacy to the world via the birth and eventful lives of my children. Why must we stick ourselves in the archaic foundations of marriage that come from times where women were worth the amount of cattle her family had to offer? Wouldn’t it be better to just modify and adapt the concept to the times and situations which are our accurate reality? Marriage today is not the same experience it was 100 years ago, therefore it should not be catalogued the same either. Nowadays, people should be able to feel comfortable enough within a relationship to see and treat marriage as an evolved institution in which partners incur voluntarily because they love each other and want to spend the rest of their lives with the person they choose, as an equal, not as a servant or as a master and be accepted for it. Why do we insist in seeing I marriage as a death sentence, when it can be a way to make you a better person while helping someone else become better in the process also. Heck! Why see it as an eternal fight to the death when it could be the most precious mutual support system?  If the perspective presented were to be taken into consideration, I think it would most definitively eliminate any problem to make marriage available to anyone who would like to take the journey into spousehood, regardless of gender or creed; for then marriage would actually be a “I did it because I wanted to” kind of thing.

You're not a 100 dollar bill, not everyone is going to like you.However...

 Regardless of who you are and how you act, people will always have their awkwardly fantastic (as in fictitious) opinions about you. I mean, you could be a declared saint and there will still be people that will find something wrong with who you are, what you do, what you wear and more importantly, what you think. Why do I say this, well let’s just say that just now for no specific reason I started reflecting upon a situation that happened to me a while ago with a certain person that for anonymity’s sake I will call, DUH!. DUH! was seen by everybody as a happy go lucky person filled with the knowledge of traveling the world, to me, DUH! Seemed like an ok person, so I decided to be-friend DUH!. One time when we were having what I considered an academic, open minded argument, I told DUH! that I considered war an unnecessary thing, responsible for destroying so many lives and yet, soldiers became soldiers because it was their decision, so whatever happened next to them once enrolled it was not only the government’s fault for creating conflict, but also the soldier’s fault for becoming soldiers. My point was of course personal responsibility; don’t blame unto others what is a consequential misfortune of your fully aware, conscious decision taking. DUH! Took it in such a personal way that up to this day it (will refer to the person as it to maintain full anonymity) will not speak to me, it won’t even acknowledge my presence in a room and has told people horrible things about me, my personality and my personal believes. So I guess it really doesn’t matter what you do to try to make other people be friendly with you, they will still paint the picture of you in their minds that better suits their perspective of reality, so might as well just keep walking and enjoying life being who you are and not who anybody wants you to be.