Otro Día en "Paradiso" - Another Day in “Paradiso”

Today I went to the country house up on the hills, the place were my inlaws lived for many years. That place from where I've tempted many of you with the pictures of its awesome views.  Sadly, since the passing of my father in law, and the move of my mother in law to the city, the beautiful gardens no longer thrive. Missing are all the orchids and many other flowers that surrounded the yard. The coofee plants that served as boricua christmas trees, adorned with ripening coffee beans, no longer thrive. Fifteen feet high plantain plants bearing foot long plantain bananas, that looked more like palm trees are no longer cultivated. Nature is working fast at claiming what it is hers. Hornets are building their nests everywhere they find a suitable place, and a bee colony has made it's home inside the walls of the old laundry room. The trails where we used to escape to become part of nature are no longer passable. You can no longer hear the the roosters sing, neither the hundreds of ...

On our recent flight to Puerto Rico, I discovered that canes can be deceivingly used in order to break some airlines rules. While waiting to board the flight to San Juan, there where an unusually high number of passengers using canes, several of them also needing wheel chair assistance.  On this flight there where about six or seven persons awaiting wheel chair service. When the gate personnel called on those needing wheel chair assistance, a line quickly formed, some where already sitting on wheel chairs, while others were standing, and pretty much all had canes. The gate staff asked one lady who had arrived on a wheel chair, and was now standing, where was her wheel chair, she replied, "it's over there, I have to get it". Earlier my wife had seen the lady get up from the wheel chair, and walk to a coffee stand, without any problems whatsoever, but she did't think much of it. Now the lady was being boarded early on a wheel chair. On the line we also saw an elderly ...

Several months ago I came across an old  acquaintance, someone from my childhood neighborhood, who grew and studied in the same schools I did. The last time I spoke to him was during the summer of 2008, during a reunion our group of friends had, after 31 years of being apart. We spoke briefly, as he was always somewhat shy, but we managed to catch up with gone times. Several months ago I visited the bakery he owns and he was there, at least so I thought. I greeted him, and he looked at me puzzled. Do you remember me? I am Edil, I use to live in Tallaboa. He still looked at me stone-faced. I don't know who you are, he said. The establishment was full of people, I felt embarrassed, as the employees and customers looked on.  I left the store confused, knowing that the  person I was speaking to was the same friend I grew up with, the same one I spoke to 4 years before, at least so I thought. That same day I called my friend Socorro, who also knew him, and had also seen him fo...

Paseo Atocha, Ponce PR (Foto Edil Rentas) Las viejas calles de mi pueblo,  tumultuosas, parlanchinas, abarrotadas de transeuntes  despistados por sus compras, llenas de olor a frituras, a café expreso y domplines, adornada de flores en venta, de billeteros y limpiabotas, de palomas en vuelo, de viejos predicadores de ventanas abiertas  y balcones adornados con tapices polvorientos, carros cotorrientos van, guaguas gritonas vienen, anunciando los especiales del sàbado en la mañana, y la gente alborotada entra en cada comercio abierto desmadrando escaparates  como si el fin se acercara, y en las vitrinas adornadas los pobres cuelgan sus ojos soñando lo que no tienen, lo que quisieran comprar y en la esquina el limosnero extiende su mísera mano, el niño triste lo mira  y el adulto lo desprecia pero una mano generosa le aventa una moneda, toda la calle era bullicio, toda la calle era vida, qued...

Many years ago we visited the National Zoo in Washington DC. One of the exibits was a huge gorilla that was in a cage set beside a walkway, with a wall to wall glass partition dividing the cage and the people. Immediately following the glass on the bottom there was a ledge about foot and a half high where the gorilla sat, with his back on the concrete column, and his right side again st the glass. He was sitting with his right leg up and bent towards his chest and his right elbow resting on his knee, while his left leg lay rested on the floor.  I approached the glass and stood right by him, he looked up into my eyes, directly into my eyes, for a several seconds, then looked at another person's eyes, then another, then another. He kept switching, his look from one person to another, as if he was seeking an answer. An answer no one there could provide. I mean, we were separated by only a few inches of glass, but I could almost read his thoughts, his never ending question. Why am ...