Thursday, May 20, 2010

Puerto Rico

One gawks at majestic sunsets, another conquers terrains and still another discovers culture and tradition. The best thing about traveling to a country like Puerto Rico is that you get all these and more; you experience people. To say that Puerto Ricans are the most hospitable in the world is still a gross understatement.

One great thing about hovering the globe is that you begin to challenge notions, say your standard of hospitality. I grew up in a country where guests and gods are equals but it never occured to me that one main criterion to qualify a god is omnipresence. While I was busy serving my guest, my counterparts in Puerto Rico were not merely servants but companions to a visitor.

One day you walk the parks of Ceiba and someone offers to guide your hike up El yunque mountains, every step of the way. He patiently waits while you catch your breath and he willingly takes your pictures from the edge of a cliff a meter from the foreground. When you reach the peak, he shows you what un fantastico mundo we have but, at the back of your head, you begin to realize that it's really warm strangers that make a wonderful world. He walks you down and drives you to the best markets that serve the best local food as you admire the quiet majesty of Luquillo Beach. And then he says goodbye, and you know you're definitely better than before you met.

One night, you walk the strips of Old San Juan from calle to calle and someone grabs you by your shoulder and lets you in for empanadilla and pina colada. You admire their way of life, how it's so easy and relaxed, how it reminds you of home.

One afternoon, you find a stranger offering you arroz con pollo when all the shops sign cerrado for a local electoral parade. And then you learn that Puerto Rico's reputation for beauty does not come from beauty pageants but from the ordinary guy or girl down the aisle smiling at you as you walk by.

One day, after months have gone, you're feeling lonely, you reminisce. And then someone writes you an e-mail saying how much he misses you and thanking you for that little encounter you had even if it were just for a few fleeting hours climbing up that mountain. It touches you as you know he had to walk kilometers to the city just so he can use a computer to write you an e-mail. He says his name is Benjamin, but you know you won't forget him throughout your lifetime even if he doesn't. And that's hospitality.

It's true what they say about traveling- that you never come back the same. But when you see Puerto Rico, you never come back at all because, for starters, you had me at Hola!

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