Salsa!

Last night was beautiful. I went with 6 friends, including the head of UCLA Travel Study who is here for a week to evaluate the program, to salsa dance with 2 local girls whom we met at the beach.  We made sangria at Ava's (one of the girls from here) beautiful house in Old San Juan, and they hopped between places to salsa dance, ending at a place with the most incredible live music!  We were so sweaty by the end, and the girls and all of their friends taught us how to really salsa the Puerto Rican way! Of course, we weren't great, but we had the time of our lives. We walked back to the hotel, smiling and full of life and music.  I am so happy we met these girls, they are taking us out again tonight, and they are taking us to a demonstration on Sunday.  The demonstration is happening because Donald Trump is attempting to buy up one of the poorest but most historic parts of the island, La Perla, which also has one of the most beautiful views on the island.  I think the demonstration will be incredibly interesting, especially being able to be involved and speak with people about the issue of the wealthy buying up land and pushing the poor out, along with the privatization of what was once public, which seems to be a very big problem here as well.  It is so wonderful to speak with locals, because even going out at night entails talking about politics and current events with young adults such as ourselves.

We rented a car for Saturday to go to El Yunque, a supposedly wondrous national park here.  It's both cheaper and more liberating to travel to the park on our own and hike/swim in waterfalls to be limited by a structured tour.  We also want to save our money for when we go kayak in a Bioluminescent Bay, which is something that everyone says we have to do!

It is so nice to have Sergio, the head of Travel Study, here to help me process my experiences.  He used to be a student like me with the travel bug, and has incorporated that travel bug into his life as a Travel Study coordinator.  He was telling me that the feeling of guilt for being in such a beautiful hotel, observing the life of luxury that takes place in a part of the world where tourism is essential to the economy, while I am still processing my experiences from Ghana is tough.  He validated that feeling, but said that I do not need to feel guilt; rather, I need to appreciate the experiences I am having here, for we only have this one life.  Although I enjoy living more simply (so does he), there is also something to learn from being here in Puerto Rico, experiencing this culture.  I feel very lucky to have met him, along with friends here who have a similar mindset as I do about going out into this community and experiencing all we can during these next (now almost 3!) weeks.  I am finally feeling a bit more settled, and at peace.