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Sunday, March 27, 2016

The One Where I Pretend To Be A Tourist

Okay for starters its very hard to pretend to be a tourist when you have a hard time sticking to one language for an extended period of time. I went to Old San Juan on Wednesday, taking advantage of the fact that my cousin was visiting from Miami and her son only speaks English so I had all the excuse to not talk in Spanish while in public. But for some reason I found myself slipping between English, Spanish and Italian for pete's sake I'm not even FLUENT in Italian.

We went to San Felipe Castle or as we know it best, El Morro. Believe it or not for a Puerto Rico native (and proud) I had never been to the inside of El Morro ( I apologize to any offended Boricuas) and let me tell you it was not hard at all to be awed at everything, I mean come on LOOK AT THAT:




While taking the tour my cousin and me started having fun with my assignment, I started to pretend to have a british accent and when I accidentally slipped into Scottish we started giggling like idiots but it was so much fun.  At one moment I stepped away from my family and went down this really steep staircases and the steps were HUGE I got winded just thinking about going back up them again but the view was worth it.



When we finally left the castle and were walking back to the car so we could go eat we stopped to get a Piragua (snowcone) and when it was my turn to tell the gentleman what syrup flavor I wanted my brain sorta short circuited between Frambuesa and Raspberry and when I did finally speak and say Frambuesa it came out with such an American accent that my cousin paused to look at me in shock and I just burst out laughing when we finally walked back to the family when she just looked at me with a What the heck was that face. After the snowcones we went to Pirolo to eat and the waiters were very welcoming and nice especially when they heard us speaking english.

Overall it was a very pleasant experience, some people were very nice to us while some sneered at us even if we were in one of the most famous tourist spots in Puerto Rico and its not strange to see or hear other people speaking another language. I think it was more because of the fact that occasionally me and my cousin burst into random songs from Broadway Musicals than because we were "tourists". We didn't have any bad experiences (though I suspect the piragua guy charged us more for them because they were $3!) and everyone was nice very nice.

And with this I leave you with my latest obsession (and the cause of more than one weird look when we burst into song in San Juan), its from the Broadway Musical Hamilton: An American Musical written by our very own Puerto Rican, Lin Manuel Miranda (so proud) and its all kinds of amazing and it is very emotionally painful to know that I might never get to see this musical (more importantly with HIM as Hamilton) but I hope the rumors of a Live Recording are true. Please, if you have the time (and motivation) please listen to the soundtrack, its amazing (pls).

ANYWAYS, goodbye ladies, gents, and celestial beings, heres your song:



Also BONUS! Please appreciate actual cinnamon roll (too pure for this world) Lin Manuel Miranda freestyling on Jimmy Fallon:




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4 comments:

  1. Yadiel R. Ortiz JiménezMarch 28, 2016 at 9:18 AM

    Well, you sure had a fun and funny trip. It's nice to see you enjoyed it. I've only visited "El Morro" and I agree it is an amazing structure, one I'd like to visit at night. The whole language slip up happens to me all the time, mostly cause I talk in Spanish, but think in English so I struggle to find the right words or simply forget them and merge them into a weird hybrid new word. No way! I paid 1.75$ for my piragua you should ask for a refund! Usually if one visits tourist spots lie we both did people really don't mind or care what you do or which language you speak in as long as you leave them alone. hahaha

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  2. UnknownMarch 29, 2016 at 8:54 AM

    As I read your post what stood out to me the most was the fact that you had never been to the inside of El Morro. I couldn't help but remember a friend of mine who had never even been to the outside of El Morro. Also, I found it to be very interesting that the piragua guy sold you one for more money just because he thought you were a tourist. That happens with tourists everywhere. Overall, it seems like you had a wonderful time with your family.

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  3. UnknownMarch 29, 2016 at 11:04 AM

    First of all, you got definitely got ripped off for that piragua. And even if it's unbelievable that you have just visited, I'm glad you did before you transferred, it is definitely a national treasure! It seems like you enjoyed your activity to the fullest, Old San Juan is definitely the pinnacle of touristy places. By the way, loved the addition of Lin Manuel Miranda, he's another national treasure, wish I could see him perform his play!

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  4. Maria LugoMarch 30, 2016 at 5:54 PM

    I enjoy reading this post so much! I actually felt I was having a conversation with you in my head because you’re parenthesis all come from the verbal language you do everyday. Yeah, I don’t know if you understand me what I just said, but still it was really good. It sounded so much fun and I actually can’t believe this but I also haven’t gone to the inside of “El Morro”; it looks beautiful. I’m glad you had fun doing this assignment and got to spend quality time with your family, the pictures are really good too!

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