The adventure of being a tourist

            How to be a tourist, when you’re not a tourist? Well, that’s a really good question and my task to do last week when I had to pretend I was a tourist. Where I decided to go? As a tourist besides of the rainforest one amazing place to be is the Old San Juan, that perfect place with a lot of history, restaurants and a lot of walking during the day. So I decided to go there and pretend to be I was a tourist during my first visit to “La isla del encanto”. I woke up and I called some friends and then I thought: How should I dressed if I’m playing a tourist”? The stereotypical thing is to put on a short, a shirt with a tropical print and a hat, but I decided to go as my own way as a tourist, I wore a short, a tank top, my favorite snap bag and a pair of vans. 

    After that we left home, and started our trip to Old San Juan.   We got there and found out there was a huge cruise ship, so I had the idea that I wanted to be not just only a tourist but a tourist that came from that perfect cruise ship. We parked at the Doña Fela parking and the journey began. We started walking and I decided to go “Bahia Urbana” because that’s where the cruise ship was and I wanted to start it of the right way. We walked around there and took a lot of pictures in that kind of new place in San Juan. Then I decided to go to“El morro” that monumental fort that everyone talk about and shows in every Puerto Rican postcard and even in some vehicle’s registration panel. I had to admit that I’ve been there like a hundred times, but every time I got the view is just breathtaking a kind of view that makes you feel like it’s your first time there. I bought a “piragua” and just sat in one of the walls to just admire and see the island from a different perspective. Since we’re on a drought period the weather was perfect (a little too hot) but just perfect, with the sun, blue skies and the wind directly from the sea refreshing your body. Basically all we did was talk and have fun while watching the amazing view. We spent a few hours there, and then we decided to take a walk and go through all the streets from “Viejo San Juan”.  

At the end of the day I was really tired of walking and I decided to return to the “Bahia Urbana” when all the people goes to sit and watch the cruisers come and go. As local I’ve always visited this old city to escape from my life routine, but even though, I always get impressed by all the good things, people and views that this city gives us as a part of our history and culture.

Perception( A Room With a View)

A Room with a view is a story about the love of a young  English-woman named Lucy Honeychurch and George Emerson. This love story takes place in Italy, specifically in the city of Florence at the times of 1900’s. Lucy and her chaperone, Charlotte Bartlett, visited Florence for the first time. Once they arrive to Florence they stay at hotel when they meet the Emerson’s. After many situations between Lucy and George she had to go back to England an face her reality of marrying another man named Cecil.

The name “A Room with a View” symbolizes the perfect image that every tourist have when they travel to other countries. Here, we can see desire of having a view from their room that look like a magazine cover picture. This is a similarity that Jamaica Kincaid exposed in her essays of the differences of being an insider and being a tourist. The fact that Lucy and Charlotte wanted a room with a window that shows a great view, reminds us what Jamaica Kincaid was talking about of tourists in Antigua.

In the movie when Mr. Emerson was talking during the first scene he said one quote that explain the vision of the locals; “I don't care what I see outside. My vision is within! Here is where the birds sing! Here is where the sky is blue!.” Words that literally describe the point of view of the local people have of their country. Also we can see this in Kincaid’s essays when she describes the reality of the Antigua residents.  Other quote that support that point of view is when the Reverend said; "We residents sometimes pity you poor tourists not a little...handed about like a parcel of goods from Venice to Florence, Florence to Rome, quite unconscious of anything outside Baedeker. Their one anxiety to get done and flew and go on elsewhere else." This quote also shows what residents think about tourists.

            Other thing that I found interesting is the fact that tourists and residents have the same perception that turns to be what we called, stereotype. There was a part when Mr. Emerson mentioned that; “Women like looking at a view. Men don't.” Quote that for me result of a stereotype example. Also there was a moment after the fight at the plaza, when Lucy said; “I mean, Italians are so kind, so lovable, and yet at the same time, so violent.”, showing us another example of how people tend to stereotype by one impression.

           

            For me this movie was the perfect representation of what Jamaica Kincaid tried to explain in her essays. Also we can see a lot of aspects from Peter Roberts essay; “Identity”.

"The Puerto Ricans helping method"

In this chapter Cooper talks about a “controversial” kind of helping method that most of the Puerto Rican students tend to use. Method, that for now I’m going to call the “Puerto Rican helping method; but, is this cheating or it’s just part of our culture as Puerto Ricans? The truth is that my personal experience reflects that Puerto Ricans are really helpful and always tend to help each other in “everything”. Thing that it’s not that different in school or academically works; and that’s where the author takes place to write about the line between helping and cheating.

Through the chapter he mentioned how students tend to do home works in-group without realizing that this action could be cheating. As a college student and Puerto Rican I’ve experienced this all the time, from a home test through professional works. Some people just explain to others when they have doubts but there are times when we/they only five the answer to the whole group to try to save time. This comes with many consequences that in the future will be harmful to the person who is getting help. It’s all about perspective but seeing Cooper’s point of view make us see as a cheaters.

For me this method is part of what we are and what we’ve been learning through all the years. And it’s difficult not to use it when everyone is so familiarized and okay with it.  It should be noted that I’m not saying that I’m one hundred percent in favor of this but it’s just so “normal” that I can’t argue about it.

"A source of Communication"

In a world divided by race and culture, language is one of the sources we have to communicate to each other, but not just as a source of communication, language cant tend to be seeing as a political thing. Point of view that most of Puerto Ricans have since the 40’s when the United States of America took possession of our island. Back there the American culture was introduced to Puerto Rico and with them, their main language, English. Language that most of the people took as a political symbol and many of then can’t seem to let go the idea that English is a bad thing, or the representation of the bad guy (the Americans).

Right now English is named as our second official language and it’s teached in every Puerto Ricans school but in a really poor way if we refer to the public education system.  But is Puerto Rico the only place where language is seeing as a political symbol? No, this is a situation that is happening all around the world and one example is the United States, where recently Coca-Cola took a song called America, the Beautiful for a commercial and sang it in different languages, thin that most of the US citizens took as an offensive thing just because they think that if you’re in “America” you have to speak English.

Now, back to our situation in Puerto Rico my point of view or personal opinion is that having the opportunity to learn another language is a privilege, specially English, since it is known as the Universal language or the dominant language of international business and global communications.

          

DIVERSITY

"The concept of diversity encompasses acceptance and respect. It means understanding that each individual is unique, and recognizing our individual differences.  These can be along the dimensions of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs, or other ideologies.  It is the exploration of these differences in a safe, positive, and nurturing environment. It is about understanding each other and moving beyond simple tolerance to embracing and celebrating the rich dimensions of diversity contained within each individual." (Gladstone,University of Oregon)

        

Behind the "Paradise"

In this book  “A Small Place” by Jamaica Kincaid, we can experience different point of view of the island Antigua located at the Caribbean. This story is about the history, social status and the reality that lies in there. Once you’re reading the first chapter you can see the point of view of Jamaica as a tourist and how the people from the outside perceive the island. It describes how beautiful Antigua is, the side of the perfect place to vacation in the middle of the Caribbean sea but ignoring the reality of those who lives in there.

 Everyone (including myself) plan their vacations without caring about the place that we are about to choose. We try to pick that perfect place, with an awesome view, beautiful beaches and also that immaculate hotel where everything you want to experience is going to spend the whole days resting to trying to escape from our  life routine. But there’s a big difference from perceiving a place from the eyes of a tourist as being an insider. We know that those who comes to Puerto Rico and stay at the expensive hotels doesn’t know what it’s really on the inside, our culture or what we really are. Tourists just see what they want; that image that they create based on the magazines or perfect images that they have seen. But there’s so much more inside of our island. That “much more” is the point that Jamaica Kincaid wants to remark on us. There’s a culture behind those magnificent hotels, there is people who work as hard as you can’t imagine giving a good impression. Also everything that we see it’s just for our convenience because the reality is far from what we receive from them.

Once you get through that tourist experience you get to the second chapter where Jamaica wants to give the perspective of Antigua as a colonial island. The truth behind that Paradise, their roots, the things that they have to get through to be what they really are right now. A cruel reality for an island full of “black” people, or the majority were subordinated by the minority, the white people who came from England and those White people are the  ones that has been preparing that “fake” Paradise or trying to make every part of that island a part of England, their roots, to make a Paradise for their own, invading the peace and lives of others.

 Finally, by reading this all I can think is our situation or I can say I dare to compare the reality of Puerto Rico with Antigua. For me every island on the Caribbean has some similarities on their realities or history, they seem to be the perfect getaway, the perfect Paradise to spend a vacation but they have been through the same oppression or same margination of black people, the natural habitats of that “paradise”.  Reality that Jamaica Kincaid wants to make sure we see, and maybe take conscience that, our perfect getaway has another reality, a hard one for the people who lives there.