Loíza

So as you all might've heard about a billion times, I was born and still live in Puerto Rico. This winter break, I got to go back home after not having been able to go back for a year. This allowed me the great opportunity to go and see places that are very close to what we are trying to recreate for this show. Puerto Rico is very much modern, and has grown from it's poor beginnings, but there are some towns that still reflect the old pre-American Puerto Rico.

The specific town that I went to is called Loíza, which is the poorest town in Puerto Rico and is the one town that is still connected to our African heritage.

Now, I will apologize for the quality of the pictures, but for some reason my father saw it as a bad idea for me to go walking around unsafe neighborhoods with a camera. Instead, he chose to drive me around so that I could safely take pictures from inside the car. Trust me, in places like these people are not as friendly as they seem in the "Come to Puerto Rico" commercials.

Notice the bars in the windows and patio.

Much like what Andy showed us, this house with the bars on the windows and the patio reminded me of what Delita's place might look like.

Yet another house with an iron gate protecting the patio.

Again, another house with bars, this one with less of a welcoming feeling. Abandoned, even.

Painted mural much like you would see in Havana, Cuba.

As my father and I drove around Loíza, I saw this painted mural on the side of a building and I snapped a picture of it instantly. My father remarked that he had seen a place just like this in one of his travels to Cuba. In the far left you see two men playing "bongos", while to their right a man, with his hat off, dances to the beat. The mural to the right also shows a couple of men playing handheld drums called "pleneros". These are very typical puertorrican instruments, and have nothing to do with Cuba, but still show how music is a pivotal part in both cultures due to our shared African heritage.


I hope this helps!
-Jaime