Back from a Three-Week Hiatus

Monkeys in Costa Rica, colonial architecture in Nicaragua, snow in New York

After a two-week adventure in Costa Rica and Nicaragua, followed by a one-week visit to New York, I am finally back! It was an amazing trip and a wonderful experience. I will be posting photos and entries of the cities and parks we visited as soon as I can. While in the Big Apple, I was able to see a lot of my family and friends. It also snowed while I was there! It was fantastic!

Back here in Puerto Rico, as I resumed my early-morning runs, I came across the teacher's strike. There is a public high school right across the University of Puerto Rico's athletic field, where I go running, and there were quite a few police officers and protesters gathered at the school's entrance. For almost a week, thousands of public school students have been unable to attend classes due to the strike. The governor is now seeking court action to force all teachers to go back to work. Shouldn't he have done this earlier? Most who attend public schools in Puerto Rico come from low-income families. This teacher's strike, which does not affect private schools, is yet another reason why there is such a huge gap between the haves and the have-nots.

Access to a good education should be available for all. There is obviously something awfully wrong with the way the government is handling this situation. Education is the key to a brighter future. We all lose when the education system in our respective countries fail to do an adequate job in educating its population.

Voting in Absentia

I excitedly rushed to the mailbox across the street this morning in order to make the 9:30AM pickup. The primary election in New York is on Super Tuesday, February 5th, and I definitely wanted to play my part as a responsible citizen. Luckily, I am still considered to be a New York resident and I can vote in the primary elections, as well as the presidential elections in November. On the other hand, Puerto Rico does not possess the right to vote for the U.S president. This is quite an irony, as those who are born in the Island of Enchantment are automatically U.S citizens.

Since I am eligible to vote in the U.S elections, I wanted to take full advantage of my rights. The last time I sent an absentee ballot was when I was away for college, and it also marked the first time I was able to vote. I consider it to be a privilege to be able to take part in the electoral process. Unfortunately, I know too many people who have lost faith, or can care less about politics, and simply don't vote. Such people don't believe their vote will result in any change. Voter participation has always been low in the U.S, and I think this is a tragedy. Now more than ever, we need to do our part and fulfill our duties. Given the current economic challenges facing the U.S, the war in Iraq, and the disastrous outcome of the Bush administration (in general), I think there should be a financial penalty given to those who are eligible to vote but choose not to.

(Please note: the image above was obtained from www.wvvotes.com)

Adios to Public Transportation....

This time of the year, if I were still living in Manhattan, I would probably be shivering in my boots waiting for the bus or dashing to the subway station to avoid the bitter cold. I definitely don't miss the winter, but I do miss public transportation. Ironically, when I lived in the big city, I longed for a car, as it was the quickest and most convenient way to get out of the city. Of course, the grass is always greener on the other side.

Nowadays, besides going out for my morning runs, I rarely go anywhere without my car. This island has been refered to as the "L.A of the Caribbean" with good reason. Every family has at least two cars. As a result, there is always traffic, especially in densely-populated regions such as the San Juan metro-area. In fact, many of our out-of-town visitors are always surprised to see bumper-to-bumper traffic during rush hour. As I can best put it, life is nearly impossible here without a car. It's a shame how the government has failed to provide an adequate public transportation system. There are public buses, but the service is (at best) unreliable. The train system, el tren urbano, does not go to the most frequented places, such as Plaza Las Americas (the biggest mall in the Caribbean), the airport, and Old San Juan.

For me, the most frustrating thing about being stuck in traffic is the feeling of being unproductive. I'm wasting my time, and so are thousands of others. We're also adding to global warming. Since moving down here, my carbon footprint certainly has not improved one bit.

Move over Brangelina!

(Source: El Nuevo Dia, January 16th, 2008, p. 67)

He may have lost the constitutional vote to rule his country for the next 60 years or so, but the Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez is doing quite well with the high oil prices and... his new lady love. So, forget Brangelina. They were just sooooo yesterday. The hottest couple of the moment is Chavez and Naomi Campbell. Perhaps, it was the meeting of two hot-tempered people that sent sparks flying. When I saw the the pictorial above, I just couldn't stop laughing out loud. On the blurb, it says: "I never knew he could be dominated." On the bottom, where it says "El Toro Domesticado," it means "domesticated bull." Well, I guess that's just a sign of love, isn't? Don't we just live in such a crazy world these days?