Saturday, August 29, 2009

The Calle Las Palmas Bum

So after a hard day of work, Dan, Stephen and I returned to the Santurce apartment to find a homeless man chest-deep in our dumpster. FYI, homeless guys strolling Calle Las Palmas is not out of the ordinary. This one in particular sets up shop in the median of the street during the day. Although he always seems cracked out, he’s pretty harmless. As we pulled into our parking spot early that evening with our rims still spinning (not really), we noticed the unprecedented amount of garbage tossed out of the dumpster, powerless to the whims of the ocean breeze. Half the garbage that was previously in the dumpster was now on the street. We decided not to get involved. After an hour or so, I decided to look at the bum’s progress from the 3rd floor terrace. I expected something like post-tornado wreckage, but what I saw blew me away (pun intended). Everything that he decided to keep from the dumpster was neatly packed into cardboard boxes, as if he were putting away dominoes. Not only was the rest of the garbage picked up, but the bum went above and beyond returning what he displaced and picked up everything in the surrounding area. He was the neatest bum I’ve ever encountered. Either he was so hopped up on the rocks that he felt the need to clean everything or he was really smart and picked up all the evidence of his illegal foraging. In conclusion, this was either an exceptional hobo or crack is good for you.

Stay tuned for the premiere of our upcoming video series titled, “Illegal in the U.S., fun in P.R.” Essentially, the crew will gallivant about town while partaking in activities illegal in the States, but commonplace here on the Isle of Enchantment (Most of these will be traffic violations).

Wednesday, August 26, 2009


Whadya know, Fernando Silva straight schoolin' fools. He's probably telling people about how he can catch 99% of all animals with his bare hands. In reality, he is beyond humble, but everyone knows he is the man.

This one of those trails I was talking about. Beautiful, but as this past weekend proved, dangerous when raining (which is always).

First Post...Segunda Parte

As previously mentioned, Stephen, Dan, and I work at the Centro Buen Pastor en Caguas. Caguas is a 20-25 minute drive south of San Juan into more of a foothills terrain. The center is run by a group of Salesian nuns. This group of nuns laid claim to this beautiful 18-acre plot of land at the beginning of the 20th century. The land around the Centro consists of a few farming plots, but mostly a hilly rain forest. Technically, this area is between Caguas and Guaynabo, two fairly large towns. The area in between has developed into a low-income community called La Loma. The community is plagued by an overwhelming amount of problems: a terrible economy, widespread drug use among its citizens, violence, lack of government funding, lack of public services, and an overwhelming sense of apathy towards self-betterment by the people who could possibly make a difference. The Centro Buen Pastor is a mixture of a convent, a community center, and retreat center. The nuns reached out to the town and to various contacts in San Juan to help them best use the land and their will power to support the community. The aggregate result over many years is a tightly knit group of leaders and stakeholders in the Centro, coming from all parts of San Juan with a variety of skills.

Over the past few years, a collective effort titled Proyecto Siempre Verde (Project Always Green) developed steadily. The idea of the project is to make the rain forest more of an ecotourism attraction. In doing so, the hope is that the community will have an avenue of potential unity, the project will bring in revenue, and that the revenue will create self-sustaining jobs for La Loma members (tour guides, maintenance, management, etc). The nuns truly believe in the powers of eco-therapy and the spirituality inherent in nature. A lot has to happen before any of this is realized, though. We are in the midst of developing trails through the forest. There is much to see and learn while in the forest and this is precisely what the project is trying to capitalize on. Puerto Rico’s formation is unique to the Caribbean. A mixture of lava, tectonic plates, and sea vegetation deposits resulted in PR having thousands of endemic species of plants and animals. The man that knows everything about all these species and about everything in general is Fernando Silva. Essentially, he is in charge of Proyecto Siempre Verde. He is also a cross between Bill Murray and Jean Reno. The man is amazing, I can’t say enough about him. He is a professor at one of the larger universities here in PR and he also is the founder of the environmental agency INCICO. Fernando speaks and people listen. He speaks clearly and extremely slow, as if everything he is teaching you is the secret to a happy life. I love it. He also routinely and nonchalantly catches lizards, snakes, and other animals with his bare hands.

Anyways, over the past year or so, Fernando has carefully selected and trained high school and college-aged students from La Loma to become tour guides once the trail preparation is completed. This past weekend, the tour guides and us voluntarios stayed overnight at the Centro. This weekend was a trial run for the tour guides, but it also was a chance for us to get to know them better and to learn what they have been learning. This proved to be extremely difficult. I understand 100% of everything that people like Sylvia, Fernando, and Sister Nancy say, but the youth seem to have a different language. They speak unbelievably fast and don’t pronounce all of their syllables. For instance, they don’t pronounce “r” or “s” at the end of words. For someone still trying to learn more and more Spanish, a missing “r” or “s” is devastating to comprehension and the learning process. We definitely experienced some resentment from the group, but overall, everyone seemed to get along.

Recently, and after incessant grant proposals, the Centro Buen Pastor has received a decent amount of funding from various organizations. This funding will go towards the development of Proyecto Siempre Verde. For instance, parts of the trail need stone steps, some areas need bridges over the creek, and certain points would benefit greatly from established lookout decks. United Way is coming in September to help us create an office for PSV. Last week, we began the conversion of an old maintenance building/shack into the PSV office. This shack was disgusting. I’ve never seen so many cockroaches, lizards, and rats in one location. For a video that shows some of the destruction, check out Stephen’s blog. It seems to me that much of what I will be doing in the immediate future is working side by side with the tour guides, architects, and Fernando, preparing the trails. Once we make some headway in that department, I will get a chance to put my business skills in action. Being a marketing major, I think part of the reason I was selected for this position was because they need someone to help them bridge the gap between the trails being established and the actual people coming in to take part in the experience. I think I could really make an impact here. I don’t mind breaking my back at the start because it gives me more than enough time to familiarize myself with the project and its philosophy. I’m confident I’ll come up with something beneficial, because after all (in the eloquent words of Jay-Z), “I’m not a businessman, I’m a business…man!”

To help in developing the trails, the Centro enlisted the help of the nearby University of Puerto Rico in Rio Piedras (the professor is an old friend of Fernando). A class of about 16 architecture students focusing on community service projects will be working with us to professionally design our work plans. We met them this past Monday and they seemed very enthusiastic about the project, at least more so than the tour guides. They also spoke better Spanish. We could understand them much more than the tour guides. They also were very friendly and interested in what Stephen, Dan, and I had decided to do here in Puerto Rico. We went to a local authentic restaurant/hang out after the workday and got to know each other better. All in all, it was a solid, productive day.

The nuns, though, if they could speak English, would most definitely tell my blog readers: Don’t get it twisted! By that, I mean, the word “tourism” is misleading. As I mentioned, eco-therapy and the soothing powers of nature are the focus of the entire project. Even before Proyecto Siempre Verde became a reality, many groups (youth groups, students, business offices, etc.) have been coming to the Centro to partake in various group therapy sessions. As you can imagine, establishing the trails and an educated tour through the forest would be an excellent addition to the already successful therapy weekends. From what I gather, the ideal weekend retreat group would have a schedule something like this (beginning Saturday morning): brunch, slide show introduction to the Center and its programs, taller (group activities), lunch, daytime tour on the trails, dinner, break, nighttime tour highlighting the many nocturnal creatures present, sleep, morning bird watch, breakfast, conclusion of weekend.

That is where the Santurce crew is at right about now with its job situation. We will be heading to the Cantera project for the rest of the week. Cantera is another project much like PSV, but it is much further along in its establishment. We understand, though, that fresh ideas are stocking out and that there might be a place for us, or some of us, to help out over there. Hopefully by next week I will have some sort of solidified work schedule, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I weren’t any enlightened than I am now. ¡Asi es la vida!

Keep reading. That last post was almost straight business. No me gustó. I’ll try to make some funnier posts next time around.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

First Post...Primera Parte

Before I get going, my roommate Stephen and I are both writing Google blogs. Sometimes we will cover the same stories, sometimes not. It would be impossible to update ya’ll on everything crazy that happens here, so we will try to split up the stories. We also have been taking different video snippets with our cameras, so we will also have different videos on our blogs. I encourage you to check out his site if you want to be as informed as possible. Here is his blog URL: http://thebeachlifeinpuertorico.blogspot.com/

I apologize for the delay in posts. We do not have internet in Santurce and are limited to trips to Starbucks every once in awhile. Also, there is so much to say! I promise I will catch up soon.

I arrived in San Juan on Tuesday the 11th. After I claimed my luggage, I had no idea where to go. Thankfully, Sylvia and Harry (two PRCSC coordinators) quickly found me. The rest of the volunteers flew in shortly thereafter. Once we collected everyone, Sylvia took us to one of her favorite authentic, Puerto Rican restaurants in the city. It was the first time any of us tried mofongo, pernil, and tostones…but everything was delicious! Sylvia is great to be around and a wonderful resource for all things PR. She is 70 years old, but I would’ve guessed 55. She has a lot of energy and really sinks her heart into this volunteer program.

We had the next day off to acquaint ourselves with each other as well as with PR culture. That included the realization that our apartment is nothing like home, that driving around San Juan is always an adventure, that sleeping past 9 is impossible because it is already about 88 degrees, and that the only UV rating they have here is labeled EXTREME. There are 4 other volunteers in the program. Stephen, Tesia, and Meg are domers while Dan is the lone representative of Lehigh. Specifically, I live with Stephen and Dan in Santurce (Sahn-tour-say) because we are all working on the same project in Caguas. Meg and Tesia reside on Orocovis (Or-o-co-veese), where they teach English and organize extracurricular activities.

Santurce is the only district of San Juan that does not have a shoreline. Sure, the south end is the San Juan bay, but if you saw the beautiful coastline, you would be jealous as well. Santurce is literally enveloped by an extensive metropolitan highway system. If you find yourself trapped in between Highway 1, Expressway Diego, and Highway 26, you are in Santurce. Roll up your windows! I live on the third floor of an apartment complex. Oscar, an ND grad in his 40’s, owns the building. His contribution to the PRCSC is letting us live in the third floor loft. His import/export business takes up the first two floors. Santurce is renowned for its food markets and delectable, low-cost eateries. Despite this, the neighborhood is a bit rough. We live across the street from the two largest housing projects in San Juan. We were advised not to walk around after about 7 o’clock. Good thing we’ve got our reliable, mid-90’s Honda Odyssey to shuttle the crew around. I know I complained about the lack of Santurce beach spots, but I will admit that we have gone to multiple beaches already and not one was more than 10 minutes away. A 15-minute walk straight north of the apartment will put us in the Condado resort area with beaches a plenty.

Orocovis has nothing in common with Santurce. We dropped the girls off at their casita (small house) on Sunday. It is an hour and 15 minute drive southwest of San Juan. Specifically, we have to travel straight west along the coast and then straight south through the mountains. Orocovis is said to be the geographic epicenter of the island. The drive south is incredible: beautiful mountains, rolling green valleys, and dangerous roads. We were instantly greeted by the few or so nuns that are overseeing the work done by the girls. These Salesian nuns also live in the casita next door. We had a feast for lunch and afterwards commenced a grand introduction to anyone and everyone involved in the Centro Allespi and the after-school program. Everyone had a big smile on their face and the children running around were some of the most adorable I have ever seen (next to my goddaughter, of course)! Orocovis is extremely rural, nestled in the mountains and tucked between forests. It rains daily there (3 times in the 3 hours when we were there), but the showers last 10 minutes and then the sun pops out and dries everything up in an instant. Also, a decent amount of people in Puerto Rico speak basic English. But, the farther into the country you go, the more the English disappears. This will be hugely advantageous to Meg and Tesia as they are less advanced Spanish-speakers. They will learn Spanish the best way possible. I can only assume they will have a similar experience to mine in Mexico, where no one spoke English. I think the girls are going to have an incredible experience in Orocovis. They don’t have anything except for the wonderful people, the beautiful scenery, and the satisfaction that they are teaching the children valuable life skills. I think they will realize that’s all that truly matters.

Part 2 coming soon!

Wednesday, August 19, 2009


This is our wonderful shower that does not drain. Good thing we have a garden hose on the roof.

Rain clouds are always stirring up

This is the beautiful sunset I get to see from my apartment

Rain Clouds

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Monday, August 17, 2009

Welcome

Hey everyone,

I have officially been in Puerto Rico for a week. I can't even begin to describe all that I have already experienced. This past week was jam-packed with orientation sessions, meeting important PRCSC financiers with no less than 5 names, and, of course, multiple trips to the beach.

I will put all my thoughts together at some point this week and update the blog with a few stories. As for now, I'm still trying to figure out my work schedule and settle into somewhat of a routine. Once everything starts to flow more smoothly, updates will be more frequent.

I'll leave you now with a video. It's a quick tour of my apartment in Santurce (a district of San Juan).