The second week in San Juan has completely flown by! It has been such a wonderful, beautiful whirlwind. I am beginning to fall for our barrio, the community here, and this island.
On Sunday, my housemate, Anna Raquel, and I were invited to have lunch with Ana, a PIRE grad student native to PR, and her family. We drove up the mountain in the center of the island, which was a gorgeous sight. It was lovely to get to know so many incredible people. They made us feel completely at home. We got to try some typical food, like arroz con habichuelas and an acerola fresh from their garden. It was so much fun!
Bacalaoitos and pionono
Throughout this week, our Airbnb host took us to visit a small town called Piñones, where I tried some Puerto Rican fried foods- bacalaoitos and pionono. We also stopped at Condado beach. The wind was strong, and we were battered with sand, but the water was warm and clear. Later in the week, we visited another beach, Isla Verde. It was a headache navigating some unreliable public transport, but after two hours, we finally made it. As I continue to find here, the beach was beautiful. My favorite experience from this week was spending a day in Old San Juan to experience the first Puerto Rican parade in the city. There was music, art, dancing, and traditional Puerto Rican figures- cabezudos and vejigantes.
Exploring Old San Juan
Anna Raquel and I with a vejigante
Because our lab room is not available until next week, this week focused on recruitment for my research. To make connections with potential participants, I worked on finding people by word of mouth. I spent hours upon hours and walked miles upon miles at the university throughout this week approaching strangers to tell them about my study. I made a couple of friends along the way, but I also faced a lot of rejection. Currently, students at the university are taking finals, so I’m hoping I’ll have more success in the following weeks as I continue to be persistent. Regardless, I have a couple of sessions scheduled, and I am eager to start running my experiment!
The University of Puerto Rico campus
Condado Beach
Hi if you guys have the chance to go to beaches to the west side of the Island I HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!!! hope you guys have the best time ever!!!
Hello Rachel. It sounds you have a very kind Airbnb host that is showing you around the city. I’ve been also approaching students in my university to increase recruiting participants, and I received many rejections as well. I agree that is probably because it’s the finals exam season for them. In any case, I do think it’s very much worth it that we’re trying. Good luck with your study!
Hey guys! I hope all is well and PR looks beautiful! I am glad you guys have been able to travel within the first 2 weeks!