Revisiting the Island (Pre-Travel Post)

Within this past year, I have been able to add to my list of countries visited. For that, I am grateful to my mentors that have not only made this possible for me but also given me the insight to travel woke. In adding these countries to my list, I include notes of how social issue manifest internationally.

In the wake of a family emergency that sent me packing to Ecuador the day after finals, our final Bonner trip to Puerto Rico feels like I'm on another mission south of the border, but with a twist. I am excited about our trip to the island. Two years ago, I backpacked the island, making it my mission to avoid tourist trap and enjoy the island for what the community itself had to offer. In returning, following the destruction of Hurricane Maria, my heart aches for my fellow Latino Americans who face the repression of governmental systems that do not represent the Island’s community and the inadequate response to the need that followed the devastation of hurricane Maria. 

Two things stood out to me the most from the book The Battle for Paradise. 1) The urgency of Naomi Klein to write a book that captures and honored her communities voice in the face of devastation and the burning desire to rebuild on their own. And 2) Klein’s ability to capture a feeling that is felt throughout South America, what she conceptualizes as the islands weariness ‘from outside experiments.’    

I think back to Fajardo, the city we will be staying this week. It was there that a kind women, with a 25-year-old son living in a northern New Jersey, welcomed us into her home. We hadn’t showered in two days and unable to afford the hostel next door, this woman found no trouble in letting two outsiders into her humble home, even showing us her garden. The people of Puerto Rico, like many of the people below the Rio Grande, are different from its northern powerhouse neighbors. For whatever the governmental or social equation may be, the result is the same; community wellbeing over everything.

 I look forward to traveling to Puerto Rico because, just as I sit in my classrooms with the intention to bring back the information to my own community, I land with the intention of letting the environment impact me so I can apply what I've learn back in my community. I look forward to having a less insta worthy time and a more organic connections that with the people of Puerto Rico.