{"id":5541,"date":"2017-06-27T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-06-27T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-09-12T15:37:58","modified_gmt":"2020-09-12T19:37:58","slug":"so-your-character-is-from-puerto-rico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victoriagracehowell.com\/staging\/6258\/so-your-character-is-from-puerto-rico\/","title":{"rendered":"So Your Character is From Puerto Rico … Featuring Lilivette @ Reviews by Leeve + Kathryn @ Nose Stuck in a Book"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\nIt’s time for this week’s So Your Character is … Post! This is a weekly segment where I interview lovely volunteers from around the world to give you a firsthand account of being a citizen of their respective country or having a disability. I’m hoping to encourage international diversity, break stereotypes, and give writers a crash course on how to write a character from these different places on our planet. If you haven’t checked out last week’s  So Your Character is from Mexico … be sure to hop on over there and give it a read!<\/span>
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<\/span> Puerto Rico is technically a territory of the United States, so I’ve known some people who’ve gone there for vacations. I know it’s very tropical and they speak Spanish there, but I didn’t know much beyond that, which is why I’m happy to have this post by Lilivette and Kathryn!<\/span>
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<\/span> Disclaimer: The content below may be culturally shocking to some. Each of these posts are as uncensored as possible to preserve the authenticity of the cultures of each of the interviewees.<\/span>
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I am Lilivette and I live around the north part of the beautiful and small tropical island of Puerto Rico. I am currently a college student, and I enjoy wasting my free time reading, writing, playing video games, reviewing things at my blog and having close encounters with nature and a nice time with friends!<\/span>
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My name is Kathryn Calderon. I am Puerto Rican and Peruvian. I am 23-years-old. I am an artist, graphic designer, blogger, and future film producer and scriptwriter. My favorite word is preposterous and I an avid reader. I am a Kingdom Hearts, Disney, and Bollywood enthusiast. I live in the southern hemisphere of the United States at the moment but I was born and raised in NY. Hobbies include art, makeup, photography, dancing, watching movies\/tv, and reading. My occupation is a full-time student going for my Masters and I work from home in a home business.<\/span>
\nBlog<\/a>\/\/Twitter<\/a>\/\/Instagram<\/a>\/\/Goodreads<\/a>\/\/Pinterest<\/a><\/span>
<\/b><\/span> What do you feel is unique to your country? Landmarks? Celebrations?<\/b><\/span>
\nLilivette: <\/b>Something that I feel is unique to my country? I\u2019ll have to go with our mixed culture and language! Our culture has been touched by Spain and the US, so it is a mixture of both. And our mother tongue is Spanish, but it\u2019s pretty much Spanglish <\/i>(Spanish + English) these days, but besides that, our Spanish is also mixed up with African and Ta\u00edno words, and that\u2019s pretty much why I feel like it\u2019s something unique. Some other things I think as unique from our country is one of our native music: la plena, and of course, our little coqu\u00ed.<\/span>
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Balneareo de Rinc\u00f3n, Rinc\u00f3n by Lilivette<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Kathryn: <\/b>As a Latin Woman living in the United States for me the unique things in this country are the places and festivals that celebrate my culture. For me, that would be the Puerto Rican Day festival and parade in NYC and the different Latinx\/Hispanic festivals in different states like NY, GA, Florida, etc. Also, any time I can find a restaurant that reminds me of Puerto Rico and Peru I feel warm and homey. But when I go to Puerto Rico I think Old San Juan is extremely unique because of all the history. I also think the different museums my Tio Danny has art in and the mural he painted are unique spots as well (I forgot the name of them at the moment.)<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Camuy by Lilivette<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Naranjito by Lilivette<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n


<\/span> Tell me about your country’s environment. What are some of your favorite places?<\/b><\/span>
\nLilivette: <\/b>Our environment is like any other normal and humid tropical island, and even though humidity can be a pain in the butt, I love it! Some of my favorite places are the beach, the rivers that lay hidden around the center of the island and just inner tourism; going to famous places like: El Morro, El Castillo San Cristobal, La Parguera<\/i> and more! They\u2019re just so beautiful, fun, peaceful and inspiring places! <\/span>
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\nKathryn: <\/b><\/span><\/span>In America sometimes, I don\u2019t feel comfortable certain places because people will look at my family with such hatred and it is something that is hard. As a Christian I give my love to people no matter their race, gender, sexuality, color, ethnicity etc. So, it can be difficult and lonely when you don\u2019t get that same respect just because of what I am. When I go to Puerto Rico I feel free from those prejudices but I can have whole new ones because some people there don\u2019t feel I am Puerto Rican enough because I didn\u2019t grow up on the Island. Both places have good and bad for me but I still love both and call them both home. My favorite place in America is the country side of Pennsylvania and my favorite place in Puerto Rico is El Yunque and the historical town in Ponce.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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El Morro, San Juan by Lilivette<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Tell me about your country’s food. What are some of your favorite dishes?<\/b><\/span>
\nLilivette: <\/b>This right here is my favorite question! Food? Thought you\u2019d never ask! Our menu is pretty big and tasty, but our daily dish almost-always is rice, beans and any kind of meat! But that aside, some of my favorite dishes are: mofongo (which is pretty much a small ball of mashed fried plantains stuffed or surrounded with chicken soup, seafood or pretty much anything you want it with), alcapurrias (these are a delicious combination of green bananas, meat and other tasty stuff, they\u2019re also fried and gold for your breakfast), bacalaitos (which are heaven on earth but I don\u2019t know how to describe them, they\u2019re fried and have cod on the inside), arroz con gandules, pasteles, dulce de coco, besitos de coco (which are some sort of candy made with coconut flakes, sugar and vanilla; and they\u2019re so soft and tasty, God) and I can go on mentioning more dishes! There are just way too many, but these are from my top 10 and they\u2019re very delicious, feel free to google them and wonder how they taste like!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Mofongo<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Bacalaitos<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Kathryn: <\/b><\/span>Ah the food of my people is something truly magnificent. It is something that truly brings the people together. Some of my favorites are pernil, arroz con habichuelas, tostones, alcapurria, pasteles, bacalaitos, mofongo, and chicharron de pollo. There is a lot of other food that I love but that is just some of my favorite dishes.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Alcapurrias<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Dulce de Coco<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Tell me about any different speech patterns in your country. Slang? Idioms? Words for things such as \u201cbiscuits\u201d instead of \u201ccookies\u201d?<\/b><\/span>
\nLilivette: <\/b>Like I said before, our mother language is Spanish, but it\u2019s mixed up with English, and some African and Ta\u00edno (I forgot how this language is called) words. The different thing about our Spanish is that our \u201cr\u201d is really messed up, I don\u2019t know how to explain it in English, but if you hear Puerto Ricans talk with any other Spanish speaking person, you\u2019ll understand. Our slang is pretty dirty, but I have to admit that it\u2019s something that makes us \u201cus.” And I will finish my answer for this tricky question by saying that we always forget the name of things and go around yelling for someone to bring the thing that\u2019s over there on top of that big thing in the kitchen. See what I mean?<\/span>
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\nKathryn:<\/b> <\/span><\/span>For Puerto Ricans it is all just different dialects depending on where you are born. Within the Island there are different dialects and there are different dialects of people born on the Island versus people born in the United States. Then in America the way a New York Puerto Rican might say something can differ from a Florida Puerto Rican and so on. It is all the beautiful language of Espa\u00f1ol but just as with any language you have different dialects and sometimes different words.<\/span>
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\nDescribe briefly a regular day in your country.<\/b><\/span>
\nLilivette: <\/b>A regular day in my country will pretty much include waking up, having breakfast, taking your meds and then going back to bed and cry\u2015oh wait, that\u2019s my regular kind of day, sorry, haha. Joke aside: I don\u2019t know, a regular day on my little island would probably include waking up, getting breakfast, reading the newspaper, driving to work or University or anywhere you\u2019d like to go, lots of traffic, getting back to your house or going somewhere else, and if you\u2019re in the mood by the end of the day, you go out and watch a movie or have fun or I stay in your house like I do. Like in any other country? Unless it\u2019s Christmas season, \u2018cause Christmas season rocks \u2018cause you\u2019re pretty much partying since Thanksgiving Day \u2018til \u201cEl d\u00eda de Reyes\u201d! <\/span>
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\nKathryn:<\/b> <\/span><\/span>As I stated I wasn\u2019t born on the Island so I wouldn\u2019t know from first hand but since they are sort of part of America things are similar to how we in the states live according to my family. I think one major difference is all of their school wear heavy uniforms (I have seen them and they look HOT.) But they go to work, school, movies, etc. just like the states. But they have that added benefit of beautiful beaches, Spanish food everywhere even pinchos on the side of the road as you drive, live music on beaches and sidewalks in some places, and just a rich culture. <\/span><\/p>\n

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\nHow does your country compare to others, especially the States since my audience is primarily American? Environmentally? Politically? Culturally?<\/b><\/span>
\nLilivette: <\/b>I won\u2019t and can\u2019t compare it to the States, but they\u2019ve influenced enough on our daily basis. On the other hand, I can compare our environment and part of our culture with Dominican Republic, Cuba, and many other close islands because we\u2019re all neighbors and brothers from another mother! Why? Because besides being tropical islands right next to each other, we pretty much share the same roots, history, culture, language, tasty dishes AND beautiful locations across our islands!<\/span>
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\nKathryn: <\/b><\/span><\/span>Again, since I don\u2019t live there I don\u2019t know firsthand but I know some things second-hand. With the recent hurricane devastation, a huge loss is in the medical field. My grandparents told me many doctors have left so that has left many people sick, dying, and in major need. They use the same money currency as America and they have their own government but they are sort of under America (I don\u2019t know all the technicalities of their politics.) But they have governors, mayors, judges, etc. So, it is pretty much the same legal system and government system. Also, a big difference is in the language as I am sure you know and the food is primarily Spanish. <\/span>
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\nBriefly describe three historical events of your country\u2019s you feel are important.<\/b><\/span>
\nLilivette: <\/b>\u2022 <\/span>     El Grito de Lares: El Grito de Lares was a small revolution for Independence from Spain that took place on Lares, Puerto Rico on 1868. I feel that this is an important event because things were bad on the island by that time and it was nice to see that people were willing to fight for them to get better, and even though they failed, they managed to make some things right: five years later, slavery was abolished on the island, two years later, the first political parties were created in Puerto Rico, and “la libreta de jornaleros” got radicated. <\/span>
\n\u2022 <\/span>    Tratado de Paris: This was the treaty that ended the Hispano-American War (the war between Spain and the United States) around 1868. This treaty also ended up ceding Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to the USA. This was an important event because it made everything on the island change forever.<\/span>
\n\u2022 <\/span>    1948 elections: These elections were important because they were the first democratic elections on the Island where the people were able to choose their first governor: Luis Mu\u00f1oz Marin.<\/span>
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