SanSe 2014

San Sebastian street - packed

When you mention that you will be in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico in January to anyone from Puerto Rico, their immediate response is, "Oh, so you'll be here for SanSe."  Then their face changes, and they go into a list of negatives about the event.  It's loud, dangerous, dirty, full of drunks.  Go out in the morning, see all the artists, and then lock your doors after noon. There are so many people you are going to get separated and lost... The stories and the advice went on and on.  You would think this was only coming from the older generation who couldn't keep up with the antics of a late teen, early 20 something crowd - but no.  As I talked to younger people in and around San Juan, they all said that they avoid the festival. 

Well, this didn't bode well as Jon and I had no way of avoiding the festival, we live on San Sebastian Street which is where the whole thing takes place!
It is a 4 day event with 4 stages for live music and performances, 100's of booths for artisans selling their pieces, 100's of booths for food vendors, and every bar and restaurant is open day and night (almost). Parades start everyday around 4:00.

Let's start with the parades...

Shows during the day.

Trying on a new look.

The parades are a combination of organized processions including different community groups, stilt dancers, giant heads, musicians, and impromptu bands or performers who just have enough people to march down San Sebastian Street and get the crowd hyped.  Both types are a blast.  The music and the energy of the people is infectious, and the crowd is ready to join in at a moment's notice.  People bring their instruments including drums and horns and indigenous percussive tools to the SanSe festival the way we would carry a water bottle, "Gonna need this when we get there!"

The artists are fantastic.  Selling jewelry, sculpture, leather goods, glassware, clothing, paintings; you name it, and it was for sale at the festival on every end of the financial spectrum.  The food is typical street food, there's a lot of grease and sugar and it's really good for soaking up alcohol.  Yes, it is a street festival and drinking in the streets is allowed.  Medalla (beer) and Gasolina (punch with alcohol) are the national drinks of PR.  And they are sponsors of the festival.  We had to partake!
Transportation in and out of the city is by public bus only.  You must park your car 1 - 2 miles outside of Old San Juan in a garage and then take a bus or walk into the city. The buses get crowded and the weather is perfect , so many people choose to walk. The streets leading into the city are packed as well as all of the streets in the old city.  The festival hosts 500,000 people in four days.

Loving it!

Jon, making a new friend.

So what did we think?  We loved it! It was certainly a luxury having an apartment to retreat to when you needed a bathroom or a little space, but we had a great time.  Friday night we checked out all of the stages, and settled on one with DJ's.  Storm Trooper was the first and Jon's favorite.  Badass was the second and my favorite.  We danced and drank and made friends.

DJ Storm Trooper lighting it up!

Saturday we headed to the artisan booths which were packed.  We helped the economy as good tourists should.

Keeping everything fun and safe.

What impressed us the most was that there was no fighting or rude drunks or filthiness as detailed in the prophecies we had heard.  Everyone was happy and dancing and hanging out.  And the best part, every night at 2:00 am the Police SHUT IT DOWN.  Everything closes, everyone has to get to a bus or ferry or be walking out of town.  Then the elves come out.  The elves get rid of all of the trash, all of it.  They wash all the streets with water and sanitizer.  Everything is shiny and new every morning when you wake up.  And when the festival is completely over, the elves take down the stages and remove all of the booths in the middle of the night.  Absolutely incredible!

From Puerto Rico - energy drinks, we don't need no stinking energy drinks!

Stranger in a (not so) Strange Land

As any child or adult can attest being the new one in class or on the job is always a little difficult, a little awkward, a little insecurity inducing.  But when you don't have a new class or a new job to report to, it does present a unique challenge when trying to make friends.  This is where Jon and I found ourselves here in PR. Jon is working remotely from his office - no new people to meet here.  And I am not working.  2 months. Hmmmmm....  Tick tock.....  Crickets.....
You have no choice but to just put yourself out there.  It started during football season.  The only place in town that had the Patriot's games was Chicago Burger.  The night of Pats vs. Denver (I know, don't remind you) we met Julio there with his brother and niece cheering on the Broncos.  Many beers and a Denver win later we exchanged phone numbers.  Julio is a gregarious, generous Puerto Rican who must have inherited these traits from his mother.  We were meeting him for drinks and on the table were Pasteles - a pork dish cooked in banana leaves that are a favorite here.  He told his mother he was meeting his new friends from Maine, and she sent these for us to have.  Yummm!  In addition to keeping us well fed, Julio has offered guidance for getting around the island, and the above and beyond moment was getting a doctor's appointment for a friend of mine who was catching her cruise ship here in Puerto Rico and experiencing eye troubles.  Now that's a friend!

Pasteles

During the SanSe festival, I was having trouble translating the quote on a piece of art work.  Jorge walked up and offered his bilingual assistance.  Ten minutes later I am laughing and chatting with he and his fiance Arelis. Arelis is a Spanish teacher by day, and a (wait for it....) Ballet teacher in the evenings!
While Jon was away in NYC, I took the initiative once again to just GO OUT and meet people.  There is a bar across the street from my house, and I went in and ordered myself a drink.  By the end of the night, I was discussing Puerto Rican and Cuban history and culture in a mix of Spanish and English with my 73 year old drinking companion, Tuti, and Doctoral candidate/Bartender, Eduardo.
But the real watershed moment came one night on my way back from Yoga.  My phone is buzzing with text messages from Jorge and Arelis wanting to get together for drinks, I walk by the bar and Eduardo yells, "Tina! Hola!"  and our landlord and his wife stop their car to pull over and tell me they'll be around tonight if Jon and I want to hang out.

Our apartment

From Puerto Rico - 
You wanna go where people know, 
people are all the same, 
You wanna go where everybody knows 
your name.

Using Your Native Tongue

It was Jon's idea that we travel to a Spanish speaking country.  I don't say this in a blaming way, I love it here!  And I love being somewhere with people and places that are different from my daily surroundings.  I say this, because prior to traveling to Italy last year, I learned a little - let's keep it real - very little Italian. But while we were there for 10 days, I had enough Italian and Spanish to get us meals, rooms, purchases, and some new friends.  If you know Jon, you know that he is a quiet man in general and tends to let me do the talking. So when he mentioned that he wanted to spend two months in a Spanish country, I suggested he learn the language.
In true Jon fashion, he went all in.  While we were still in Maine, he spent an hour a day using Rosetta Stone. He also worked with a Skype tutor from Mexico for an hour two times per week.  Arriving in Puerto Rico, we quickly found a teacher, and we now have lessons with her for an hour twice a week.

Jon and our Maestra, Elsa

As anyone will tell you, learning a language has many pieces to the puzzle.  We work with our teacher, we have workbooks with exercises, note cards and post-its label the entire apartment, and we are still using Rosetta Stone several hours per week.  The other challenge is to get out there and speak.

Verbs for use in the kitchen

Some adjectives

And don't forget useful expressions.

I took 4 years of High School Spanish and two semesters in college.  The most impactful language experience I have ever had was 10 days in Ecuador when I was 15 years old.  Immersion is a trial by fire in learning a language.  Your brain needs to stop translating and searching for words and you are forced to open your mouth and speak and use sign language/mime and listen actively for phrases.  And so, I am comfortable doing just that when we travel to a non-English speaking destination.  Jon, well, he took Latin. And remember the part about him being quiet in English?  Yah, this has been way outside of his comfort zone.  But, I must say how genuinely impressed I am by him. The truth of the matter is, you do not need to speak Spanish in order to get around here.  90% of the island is bilingual.  Jon could have taken the easy way out, but he knows he would have missed out.

Learning a foreign language is a selfless, generous act, that really serves one purpose: to get to know
people, places, and things that are different.  People around the world learn multiple languages in order to learn more about different cultures.  To understand a different point of view, or in some cases, be able to better argue their own.  The point is, learning a language is stepping outside of your world and stepping into someone else's.  I have been blown away by young people in Italy who spoke perfect English, and invited us to dinner and drinks and to talk politics and lifestyles.  And our ability to speak Spanish here, albeit broken and in the present tense only, has created moments at the SanSe Festival, in Plaza De Armas, at Aqui Se Puede; with perfect strangers whom we now call friends.

NOT USING GOOGLE TRANSLATE:  Esta mucho trabajo.  Pero es necesario cuando viaje aprendir el idioma de la pais.  Muchas personas va a los Estados Unidos.  Y hablamos con ellos en ingles.  Entonces cuando Americanos van a las paises no habla ingles, nececitamos hablar les idioma. O aprende "Hello" "Good Day" "Thank You" "Please".  Cuando trata, muchas personas ayudate y va a aprendir y tiene muchas nuevos amigos y tiempos felices.

From Puerto Rico: "Open your mouth and speak!" Elsa Gomez, Maestra De Espanol