Pan Carribean Struggle

If you have been wondering desperately where your favorite blogger went, and I know you have, well, wonder no more, gentle reader, because I am in Puerto Rico! Spring Break, wooooo! Or it would be, if I wasn't here with my parents. Like I am every year. What's that, Leah? Your diamond tiara is too tight? Its SO hard to be dragged to a glorious tropical island year after year? Tears for you! No, I know, I'm insanely lucky, I really am. This place is a beautiful little gem seated in pristine aquamarine waters and briming with culture, history, and nightlife! (Did I mention I'm now working for the Puerto Rican Tourism Board? Ask me about cheap flights!) No, but for reals, I do love it here, I have family here, it's great.

Except it's also an enormous struggle. Like, on a grand grand scale. Puerto Rico, as those in the know will recall, is neither its own autonomous country, nor is it a state. It is in fact a U.S. Commonwealth, which means it has all of the problems and none of the solutions or representation of a real state. Additionally Puerto Rico operates a lot like any other Latin American country, only it's far easier to get to, because you don't actually need a passport to fly here. True story. So should you ever visit this cute little button of a place you will find it overrun with fat tourists gawking at the tropical plants and scratching at their sun burns while the poverty stricken locals sell them rum, and, strangely enough, polo shirts. While there are many shops here where you can buy decorated shotglasses and meaningless items made of shells, there are also several upscale outlets where you can buy Ralph Lauren towels and Guess sandels. (I would recommend the towels, though, they are AWESOME).

So Puerto Rico is this lovely place where everyone has an ipod and nobody has a computer. In San Juan, which is the largest and most cosmopolitan city on the island, they periodically shut off the water for the entire city for several days at a time. Just because. ALL THE WATER. SEVERAL DAYS. Struggle. Now, thankfully, said event has yet to happen this year (though ask me about last year. I got stories). And the weather so far is fine, the rum free flowing (thank you, Deborah and Angel) and the stray cats all seem fairly friendly. So we are doing okay, as of now. But please, stay tuned, beloved reader. I'm sure I'll find some way to fail at this.

Longing for that Latin Beat? Ralph Robles has you covered, which is impressive, as I'm not sure if he is still alive. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0FjxImJMwE