An honor to be a Puerto Rican

“I see people here in America that are from Puerto Rico. They are very proud of where they are from. I see parades on TV and flags on their cars. Yet they are here in America and NOT in Puerto Rico. So there must be some reason they don't like it there otherwise they wouldn't be here”.

           

Through this comment we can note that the Puerto Ricans are very proud from where they are. No matter where we are we always let the people know that we are from Puerto Rico, and we say it with pride. Personally when I went to New York once, I saw a car that had stickers and flags of Puerto Rico and that was something that made me filled proud. Finally about the last sentence of the comment, the only thing that I have to say is that in Puerto Rico things are not good economically and most of the people go the United States searching for a better life; but what people don’t know or realize is that most of that people come back to the island because they noticed that there life was not the expected. Therefore that doesn’t mean that they don’t like the island. Finally what it can be say of the person who wrote the comment is that he felt that pride and honor of the Puerto Rican in America. For example the National Puerto Rican Parade. The National Puerto Rican Parade takes place annually along Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, on the second Sunday in June, in honor of the nearly 4 million inhabitants and over 4 million of people of Puerto Rican birth or heritage residing in the United States. Therefore, this is a visible demonstration of the strength of the Puerto Rican community in the U.S.A. In my opinion the mission of the parade is to emphasize the achievements made by thousands of Puerto Ricans in business, government, and industry to inspire our youth and instill a strong sense of self worth and pride in our community.

The Beauty of Antigua

In the last section of A Small Place, Kincaid admires the beauty of Antigua. She describes the beauty as being being so intense that it is unreal. In this section, she states: "It is as if, then, the beauty - the beauty of the sea, the land, the air, the trees, the market, the people, the sounds they make - were a prison, and as if everybody that is not inside it were locked out". Therefore, through this quote we note that Kincaid addresses the mixed blessings of Antigua's beauty. In this quote, the outsiders are locked out of understanding what the live of the insiders are truly life. So, the insiders are locked in in a similar way. The inhabitants are only a part of the unchanging scenery of poverty.

The Relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States

The second section of A Small Place, deals with the memory of the old Antigua that Kincaid had. She mentioned that "The Antigua that I knew, the Antigua in which I grew up, is not the Antigua you, a tourist would see now". What the author refers about these is that the time in which she grew up it was the era of the colonial possession of Great Britain.
According to what Kincaid tell us in the story, the arrival of the British to Antigua was the worst thing that ever happened to Antigua. They arrived and everywhere was turned it into England. Every single street was named in honor to an English man. Therefore, it is understood that the English took possessions of the lands of the people of Antigua like them. Also by the arrival of the Britain, the Antiguan people were ruled by the English. In other words, the Antiguan had their rules, they had to do what these strange people said because if not, that could be understood as if they were against them.
Therefore, Kincaid's primary argument against colonialism is about the destruction of a culture natural development, since the English used them as slaves. The black people in that time were not allowed. An example seen in the story is the one about the Mill Reef Club. The Mill Reef Club was a private one that only white people could be there. The only black ones that were allowed to go were the servants. Also, for that time were people who had work as slaves traders, like the Barclays brothers. Therefore, it can be say that Kincaid did not feel more at home because she was imposed by the rules and a way of life by other people that she didn't even know.
Finally, this history can be compared to the one between Puerto Rico and the Americans. The Puerto Ricans came under the military control of the United States of America after the ratification of the Treaty of Paris of 1898. In the Treaty of Paris, Spain renounced  all claim to Cuba, ceded Guam and Puerto Rico. This treaty brought significant changes. The named of the island was Porto Rico not Puerto Rico and the currency was change from the Puerto Rico peso to the United States dollar. Also the government lottery was abolished and the cockfighting was forbidden. Therefore, it can be say that the Puerto Ricans cultures was being lost. The arrival of the Americans also made new political groups. It was at this time that Puerto Rico had its first governor, Jesús T. Piñero, appointed by the Government of the United States.
In conclusion, the Puerto Ricans adopted the culture of the Americans since they took possession of us. Implying, that our culture through that time was lost.

My First Trip to South America

In 2002 I went to South America with my family (my parents and sisters). In South America we visited Chile, Argentina and Brazil.
It was in Chile were we stayed on a winter resort named "El Portillo" for a week. That was the second time that I saw snow because the first one was in Alaska in a trip that I did with my family. In "El Portillo", was the first time that I ski. I took some lessons with my two sisters to learn and be able to ski on a steep mountain without falling. After being a week on the resort, we went to Valparaíso in Chile. In Valparaíso we visited what it used to be the house of Pablo Neruda. Pablo Neruda was a Chilean poet, diplomat and politician. Also in Valparaíso we went to Viña Del Mar, the place where is held annually a musical festival.
After being in Chile we went to Bariloche. In Bariloche we also went to ski. On of my favorite things that we did were the snowmobiles. It was an unforgettable experience. Finally in Argentina, we saw the Aconcagua. The Aconcagua is the highest mountain in the Americas, located in the Andes mountain rage, in the province of Mendoza.
Finally, we went to Brazil. In Brazil we went to "El Pan de Azúcar" (Sugarloaf Mountain). The Sugarloaf Mountain is a peak situated in Río de Janeiro. Its name is said to refer to its resemblance to the traditional shape of concentrated refined loaf sugar. Another place that we visited in Brazil were the Iguazú Falls, which forms the boundary between Argentina and Brazil. This is one of the most amazing things that I ever saw in my life.
In conclusion, this is one of my favorite trips that I have done with my family, it was a unique experience.

From the View of a Tourist

A Small Place begins with Kincaid's narration about the perception a tourist will have if it goes to Antigua. The first thing that impressed me was that for Kincaid a tourist is morally ugly. This is seen when she describes a tourist as "unattractive, fat, pastrylike-fleshed". Here she shows that physical ugliness is part of tourism  as well. In my opinion, for the author a tourist is ugly because she thinks that the tourists make use of others for their pleasure. In other words, that take advantage of people poorer than them. Kincaid also make reference that what seems something beautiful and new for someone, for others means a source of difficulty. An example shown in the book is the one about the sunny, clear sky of Antigua. This type of climate indicate that Antigua was lack of rainfall, so for the people that lives there means scarcity of water; but for the tourist it means beauty. 

In my opinion, I do not agree completely with the author since tourism helps the economy of the country; and not only help the country economically but also let others learn from your culture and history. Therefore you can not call ugly to someone that helps you in a certain way. In my opinion is an honor that other people learn about your country and culture because that is what define us as human beings.  

Finally, another thing that impressed me were the Japanese cars. The Japanese cars are an example of the kind of detail a tourist might observe without understanding its significance. The reality was that most of the cars were Japanese because the government make loans available for cars, but loans for houses were not easily available. That was the reason why the taxi drivers had such luxurious cars and the houses were beneath the status of the car.

In my opinion I agree with Kincaid because when we are tourist we do not see the reality of things and all seems beautiful. Therefore, the reality is that we do not know the significance of things since we are in a country that has a different culture. 

Helping vs Cheating

The chapter eight is about helping vs cheating. In my opinion I agree with the author because one should not allow others to copy your work since thats how the teachers evaluates the students and know de capacity of them. A problem that the author found in the school was that the teacher were the ones that inculcate the students to cheat. "The teachers not only let them cheat, they teach them how, they encourage them". Therefore that was the reason why the students think that they were helping others.
Another problem that the author found was that from the earliest childhood the Puerto Ricans were taught to be cooperative, not competitive. He was so amazed that made a comparison between the Puerto Ricans and Americans. The author mentioned that "A Puerto Rican student will let his neighbor look at his test paper because he wants to help him get a good grade. An American student will hide his paper from his neighbor because he is only interested in getting a good grade himself".

                                                    

Therefore in my opinion it was not the fault of the students since they were teached to help others.  The problem was that they were not aware that they would not pass the course if they let others to copy. Therefore the work of the author was  to explain the students that it was good to help others but that  they should not help them on an exam.