My Adventure As A Tourist

When I first heard about our latest assignment, I was intrigued. To be a tourist in my own backyard has been the most fun but difficult tasks given to me by my professors this semester.  I mean, think about it for a minute. How do you pretend as if home isn’t home? And in my case, how do you act as if alcapurrias aren’t a delicious food you’ve had many times before? I am not a good actress to begin with.

So, I decided to take on a role similar to the one of Bill Bryson one of the times he visited Europe by himself. Just like he narrates in his book Neither Here Nor There I went about Old San Juan, on my own to discover and explore what the town had to offer. I thought this could be a great practice run for when I get the opportunity to go to Europe and get lost there. I started off my little adventure at El Morro, of course. I later went for ice cream at Ben & Jerry’s since I’ve given tourists guidance there myself.  One of the most funny parts of my day was constantly asking for directions and getting looked at like “girl, I know you’re Puerto Rican”. I’m not quite sure if I blew my cover or not. It proved to be a little challenging when I’d talk to people in English and they’d struggle with it when they certainly didn’t have to. Having this experience made me feel a little bit like the ugly tourist that Jamaica Kincaid describes in her book A Small Place. Perhaps one could say that the incident when I was greeted in spanish but I responded in eglish where I got looked at funny points to the whole identity issue.  Despite this, people were very helpful and kind. I would say being a tourist for a day made me appreciate the wonders of this little island even more. I think everyone should try to be a tourist for a day in their country. It’s definitely an eye opening experience, it chaged by perspective on things.

http://www.puertoricodaytrips.com/el-morro/