Tourist for a Day

Last Tuesday, February 24, I went on the adventure with my friend Ana of being a tourist for a day at Old San Juan, a place that I have visited countless times. But this time was definitely different I prepared myself to be a visitor for the first time. I put on my tennis shoes, my shots, my t-shits, my cap, and my backpack and transformed myself into a tourist. Firstly I went to a shop and got a map, because I was getting into character, and what a better way to be a tourist than with a map. The store owner started to speak to me in English, because I think that he imagined that no Puerto Rican will need a map at Old San Juan, I responded to him in English and even asked for a good place to eat traditional food. Finally I went to La Mallorca with the directions given to me by the store owner and the map and ate chicken breast, rice, and beans.

After lunch, we went to El Morro and admire the view, took pictures, and ran and jumped on the green field.

After that exhausting walk under the sun we decided to go to a coffee shop and drink some good Puerto Rican Coffee. On the borders of map that I had were many sponsors, and one of them was ‘Café Don Ruiz’, so we went to that amazing and exquisite coffee shop. I drank a well deserved cup of coffee and Ana drank a frozen coffee with caramel.

After that we went for a walk and saw ‘El Totem’, the Princess Passage, the entrance of San Juan; admired the cobbles, the colonial architecture, and the balconies. We also entered this time really for the first time, souvenirs shops and saw everything you can imagine about Puerto Rico from key chains to towels. I also went to the Tourism Company of Puerto Rico and they gave me flyers, magazines, maps, and information about the different adventures you can do in Puerto Rico.

This unique experience of being a tourist for a day in a place that I have visited before many times, made me pay attention to things that I usually, in a normal visit, don’t pay as much attention. For example, in a normal visit I probably wouldn’t go to a traditional place to eat, definitely don’t enter souvenirs stores, probably don’t walk and admire all San Juan like I did last Tuesday. Another thing is that I was treated like a tourist because I spoke in another language and they treated me differently in the way that asked me about my trip and exhorted me to go to some places. If I talk in Spanish they assume that I know all about Old San Juan, and that is not always true.