San Juan, Puerto Rico

March 26, 2007

Week 3

Weekend Trips

Although we’ve been here only two weeks, when we arrived we were anxious to explore everything the island had to offer. On the weekends, we are no longer students living in San Juan; instead, we are transformed into tourists with a vicious appetite for everything Puerto Rican. We know all of the best places to visit due to the recommendations of the professors and fellow students who came here last year, but we must not forget that the most valuable resource on the island are the residents themselves. One of the techniques we used for finding the best local restaurants during these first few weeks was to simply ask a person on the street for a recommendation. It takes a certain amount of confidence to be able to do this, especially if you are not sure if the person speaks English, but in the end, it always pays off. Puerto Ricans are very friendly people in general, and they are tolerant of our questions as long as we are polite and respectful.

A Journey South

On Sunday, I and two other intrepid explorers woke up early to journey to Ponce (a city on the south side of the island) with our professors. Our first stop after breakfast was the museum of art, where we gazed open-mouthed at some of the best Caribbean, French, Italian, and Dutch paintings I’ve ever seen. They also had a beautiful garden behind the museum, but the fountains were bone-dry due to the droughts in the region. After spending two hours in the Museo de Arte, we took a break for lunch and then hit up the local Ponce Museum for a taste of the local history.

Later that afternoon we took a short drive to the Taino Village, a village replica and museum of the Taino people in Puerto Rico. The replica and the holy grounds are situated in the exact spot where the Taino lived and worshiped. The Taino were living in the Caribbean long before the Europeans came to the Americas, and it was fascinating to see their progress as a society from ancient times up to the point where they were all but eradicated from the earth. Our guide pointed out that their influence can still be seen today; for example, the words chocolate and canoe all stem from a Taino root word. On our way out of the village, we witnessed a pack of wild horses pausing for a drink in the riverbed below, yet another reminder of the beauty of the tropical paradise surrounding us.

A Journey West

My favorite trip so far was actually a trip for our project. On Thursday, the professors took Sarah and me to the west coast of the island, a drive of more than three hours along the north edge. Our goal was to visit the Juan A. Rivero Zoo in Mayaguez, a site that we had discovered in our research on exotic species. The primary reason for our visit was to interview the head veterinarian on site about his beliefs surrounding exotic species and any potential projects for expansion at the zoo.

Upon our arrival, we were whisked inside the administration building of the zoo and into the office of the friendly vet, who answered all of our questions with a smile. We knew instantly that he was a valuable source for our project, and so we promised to keep in touch with him over the next month (we also invited him to our final project presentation). We also got an insider’s tour of the zoo, and we were allowed to go into the zoo’s laboratories and yet-to-be-opened expansion exhibits, which were very impressive.

None of us had known that the facility existed at all, and we were stunned by the size of the zoo’s exhibits and their remarkable operating budget. As the sky turned grey and the clouds unleashed a textbook tropical downpour (dry one second, then suddenly torrential) we watched the birds in the aviary frolic happily and bathe themselves in the warm water. Hopping from exhibit to exhibit in a futile attempt to stay dry, we made our way across the park to the lion and tiger areas. After seeing these massive animals sleeping in peace during the rain, my day was complete, and most importantly, our mission for our project was more clearly defined. By helping the DNER with their exotic species, we can help the world’s endangered and threatened populations and avoid the pointless killing of animals in captivity.

During the car ride home, I fell asleep with the vision of the snoozing lions in my head, and I dreamt about someday returning and asking the lions what they dream about ever so peacefully.