The pandemic shut down many activities, concerts, and festivals this year. For Puerto Ricans, even the New York City Puerto Rican Day Parade was canceled this year.
This year the city of Orlando put on a successful show of culture during its own 5th Annual Florida Puerto Rican Parade and Festival. Last year this activity was cancelled, but organizers decided to go ahead with the festivities this year, and to dedicate them to first responders as a way of thanking them for their service during the pandemic. The parade and festival were also dedicated to the Puerto Rican towns of Cabo Rojo and Moca.
The festival included prominent figures of Puerto Rican music and sport including Olympic Gold Medalist Jasmine Camacho-Quinn who made her appearance on one of the parade floats.
As always, music was a prominent part of this year’s festivities. Crowds gathered at the Orlando Magic’s Amway center to continue the party atmosphere. Performers included trovador Andres Jimenez, merengue band Limi-T 21, salsero Frankie Negron, and rock band Algarete.
Besides providing a great atmosphere for dancing, the festival also gave vendors an opportunity to interact with the public. There were artworks of all sorts, most of which included the Puerto Rican flag the unifying symbol of this festival.
One improvement festival organizers should address was a shortage of typical Puerto Rican food. There were only a few kiosks that served Puerto Rican favorites such as alcapurrias, bacalaitos, and empanadillas. Next year it would be nice to see a few more food vendors catering to everyone’s appetite.
It was a hot and humid day on the festival grounds but there were plenty of kiosks set up to quench the thirst of festival-goers. Whether you wanted to partake in a mixed drink, a piña colada, or a tropical fruit juice, there was something for everyone to wet their whistle.
If the dancing and singing were any indications, this year’s festival was an outstanding success.
The Boricua en la Luna blog reviewed a few Puerto Rican restaurants in the past.
Now that The Boricua en la Luna relocated to Tampa Bay, Florida, it should not be as hard to find more Boricua restaurants like it was in the Baltimore-Washington D.C. area.
This week something unique happened while exploring the town of Zephyrhills, Florida. Known for bottling its pure waters and serene spaces, Zephyrhills is probably the last place you would expect to find a Puerto Rican restaurant.
Despite it all, there it sits, a bastion of Puerto Rican gastronomic excellence in a town of about 17,000 people.
Corozal Restaurant is a testament to hard work and family unity. The original restaurant was founded in 1994 by restaurant worker Angel Jimenez in the city of Bayamon, Puerto Rico where the restaurant received much acclaim.
After moving to Florida, Mr. Jimenez’s daughter Jeanette and her family opened the second Corozal Restaurant. Opening in a small town with not many Puerto Ricans (at least at that time) some in the family were concerned about how successful this second venture would prove to be.
Just like the line from the movie Field of Dreams, the Jimenez family proved that “if you build it, they will come.” The restaurant thrived despite its unlikely location, drawing regular business from patrons driving from as far away as Tampa, Ocala, and Orlando.
“Maneuvering a successful advertising campaign was key in growing our customer base,” said Corozal administrator Sheila Jimenez. “It’s important that you let everyone know that you are there and open for business.” An innovative way Corozal has done this is by advertising live music performances Saturdays and Sundays.
Corozal Restaurant is known for its powerful paellas, searing seafood, perfect pork chops, and marvelous stuffed mofongos. So if you are looking for a place where you can get satiate your cravings for Puerto Rican comfort food, what better place than Corozal Restaurant where their slogan is “eat like you’re home.”
For more information about Corozal Restaurant’s hours, menu, and specials go to their website here. You may join the many happy customers that have made Corozal their favorite Puerto Rican restaurant in Florida.
With many potential adventures to be had, Fort Cooper State Park should be on the bucket list for people touring the west coast of Florida. It is located about 40 minutes south west of Ocala. The park is not overly crowded adding to its charm. All its qualities make Fort Cooper the perfect destination to get out, have fun, and while still social distancing.
At the edge of historic Inverness, Florida lies a hidden jewel of the Florida State Park system. Fort Cooper State Park is a bastion of wildlife including alligators, deer, bobcats, and most of all birds. In fact, this park forms an important part of the Great Florida Birding Trail providing the fauna of the park over 700 acres on which to nest and graze.
Upon arriving at the park, visitors come across the ranger station. Here patrons pay the $3 per person fee and can also get maps and information pamphlets. The park rangers can also assist you with understanding the park rules and with emergencies in the park. This information is especially important so you can follow the park rules and avoid a fine.
Fishing and boating are popular activities on Lake Holathlikaha. The staff enforces a strict no-private boat rule. Only park rental canoes and paddleboats are allowed on the water. For those wishing to partake in fishing and boating on the lake, it is recommended that you arrive early as the number of boats and canoes is limited.
If you are the adventurous type, the park offers other activities like hiking and swimming. Although some patrons may be skittish about swimming in the same waters as alligators, Fort Cooper allows swimming whenever the water level on the lake is high enough.
There are plenty of other activities on the more cautious side, for a whole family to enjoy. Fort Cooper is perfect for bird watching. The Lake and park are home to many species of birds. During our visit, we observed several common moorhen swimming in the marsh, as well as various heron snatching fish from the water with their long beaks.
The park offers visitors facilities for tent camping and for picnics. If you want to plan an activity such as a birthday or anniversary, you can reserve the spacious pavilion that includes BBQ grills and adequate parking spaces for guests.
First-time patron Jason Lawrence said he was impressed at the quality of the facilities of the park, as well as how close it was to his father’s home in Inverness. Lawrence plans on going fishing here with his father when he visits him in the future.
A warm June breeze blows through the Navy Yard area of Washington D.C. It’s a lazy Sunday afternoon and the city is bustling with life. Less than a year ago, COVID measures had D.C. residents sheltering at home, making areas like the 1300 block of 4th Street South East somewhat of a ghost town.
After months of sheltering in place, Tricia Ortiz a Puerto Rican resident that lives in the District decides to invite friends to La Famosa a popular Puerto Rican restaurant in the area. Before the pandemic hit, I wanted to try this place says, Ortiz. She chose this establishment to meet up with friends she had not seen prior to the state of emergency shutting down dining in at restaurants.
Entering La Famosa restaurant is like being transported to a bar reminiscent of the ones you see in Old San Juan. Its white tile decor serves as a backdrop for a classic-looking blackboard containing typical Boricua menu items like fried chillo (snapper), bistec encebollado, and tripleta sandwiches.
La Famosa is lucky to be around. According to the June volume of the Journal of Environmental Health, as many as 19% of restaurants in areas of the United States were forced to shut their doors due to severe cuts in profits caused by pandemic restrictions.
There aren’t many Puerto Rican restaurants in D.C. and I always wanted to try this one says, Ortiz. Indeed a search for Puerto Rican restaurants on Google only yields three restaurants in the area with a smattering of other Latin American and Caribbean restaurants clouding up the search. For Boricuas in the D.C. area, it would be unfortunate to lose any of these restaurants because there are already so few of them.
Restaurants that are able to innovate are more likely to make their way back to profit. La Famosa was able to stay afloat in part thanks to online ordering and touch-less pay technologies. Ortiz and her guests order their meals by scanning their table’s QR code with their smartphones. This technology not only makes it easier to quickly order what everyone wants, but it makes splitting the check an effortless endeavor.
When the city allowed diners to return in a limited capacity La Famosa also had the advantage of having outdoor tables that helped them to comply with new guidelines. The view of renovated classic buildings surrounding the restaurant gives a welcoming ambiance as patrons wait for their meals.
Catching up on conversation Ortiz and her guests are quickly served their food by the server. They ordered the canoa (a sweet plantain “canoe” stuffed with codfish), a pork mofongo (fried green plantains mashed, fried, then stuffed with fried pork, and an octopus salad. It’s good says Ortiz as her guests and she samples the Puerto Rican menu.
Even though most of her guests were full, the traditional Puerto Rican deserts were too much of a temptation and they order some quesitos (a sort of Puerto Rican cheese danish) to go.
Restaurants have a way to go to make up for the losses of the pandemic. If the amount of patrons dining at La Famosa is an indication of recovery, however, then this restaurant is quickly making up ground. Combine this with its warm atmosphere and varied menu of Puerto Rican comfort foods, La Famosa is well underway to making a full recovery.
To visit checkout La Famosa’s webpage, or visit them at 1300 4th Street SE, Washington D.C.
Few salsa bands can rise to the level of being an institution within the genre. In Puerto Rico, we are lucky to host two of them and they proudly wear the name of their country within their own group’s name. We had the pleasure of interviewing the director of one of these iconic institutions.
Luisito Ayala and the Puerto Rican power have been making music for more than 42 years. This is greatly in part to Ayala’s work ethic and dedication to both his music and his orchestra.
In this podcast, Ayala tells our podcast some exclusive information about the future of the band. He teaches us about the early beginning of the Puerto Rican Power and what it took to take the group from a humble beginning playing cover music to being nominated for a Latin Grammy. Ayala also shares pearls of wisdom about what it takes to be successful in the music business. As a leader to his band members, he walks the walk and leads by example to show his younger band members not only how to achieve success in the industry but how to maintain it.
The pandemic affected Ayala and the Puerto Rican Power as it has affected many other musicians. Canceled tours and private activities cut into revenues. This has not deterred Ayala. He is positive in his outlook that the music industry will bounce back harder than before. With easing COVID restrictions and people getting an itch for wanting to go out to enjoy listening and dancing to live music, venues are starting to contact his group again.
Ayala is already planning upcoming tours and starting to book venues internationally. The Puerto Rican Power is back in the studio and Ayala has a very special surprise for all of his fans. To find out about the exclusive information Ayala shared with us, make sure to tune in to this first episode of The Boricua en la Luna Podcast.
As the sun goes down on the Baltimore Inner Harbor, there’s a noticeable change. After more than a year of restrictions, the sound of music permeates the air.
Caceres is one of the organizers in SalsAddicts, a community of people living near the Baltimore area that love dancing Salsa and Bachata music. Today the group is meeting in the deck in front of the Four Seasons Hotel. Caceres starts up the playlist on his iPad and people slowly start to trickle in for Saturday’s SalsAddicts meetup.
As the sunsets beautifully on the horizon of the inner harbor, Caceres tells me about what makes this group special. We have people from all nationalities that come from places as far away as Pennsylvania to dance with us says Caceres. We started the group in 2020 with hopes of bringing people together to enjoy Latin culture through salsa music.
SalsAddicts’s setup is simple. Organizers like Caceres announce when and where the group will meet on the SalsAddicts Facebook Groups Page. After that, anyone is welcome to join in on the fun. There is no charge and anyone walking by can join in without needing to register.
During previous COVID restrictions, meetups like this one were impossible without breaking city ordinances. While the state of emergency still exists in the State of Maryland, the latest emergency declaration by the state merely encourages continued use of masks by non-vaccinated people for indoor public settings, continued social distancing, and avoiding large gatherings.
Organizers for this meetup are sensitive to these recommendations. Caceres says this is one of the reasons their latest activities are outdoors. He also mentioned that they encourage mask-use for anyone not vaccinated and for all those that wish to do so in keeping with Maryland State and Baltimore City recommendations.
As the sun disappears, the city lights and the ambient lights illuminate the deck. Tonight was a good turnout with approximately twenty-something people coming out to enjoy a social activity that was completely restricted just a mere few months before. As the people start to show their moves on the dance floor, things seem just a little closer to normal. SalsAddicts demonstrates that there can be a balance between observing pandemic guidelines and having fun.
Gaffney Fitness Center on Fort Gearge G. Meade, Md. implemented strict social distancing measures for service-members utilizing their facility during the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo by Ricardo Hernandez.
With over 152 million blogs on the internet, the world of blogging can be a pretty difficult one to get into. For US Army veteran Luis Soto he kind of fell into the world of blogging.
“I’m proud to be Puerto Rican. We come from a small island with such talent… we have such smart individuals, we have a rich culture, great food, beautiful people, it’s a beautiful place. I’m very proud to be Puerto Rican.
Soto started blogging and streaming while he was still on active duty, posting everything from trips with his wife and family to video game streaming. His posts started out as a hobby, but personal hardships made him consider honing this skill into a business venture.
Soto left the military and moved from Maryland to Colorado where his wife’s family is from. His army credentials in IT helped him secure employment as a system administrator at Regis Jesuit High School, a private catholic school in Aurora, Colorado. “I got promoted in one week [which was] a huge pay bump says, Soto. The job security and pay offered by this school would be short-lived.
Sotos’s wife Brandi was pregnant at the time and the hour and 36 minutes commute took a toll on his ability to be there for his expecting wife. “It was rough, Brandi gave birth and it was really hard for me to help her… I just decided to talk to the IT director and I told him hey I’m going to have to resign,” Soto recounts. Thankfully his disability pay with the VA was good enough to hold him over and pay his bills during this time.
Being at home Soto decided to try and turn his hobby into something that would bring some kind of income. “I entered this competition and I wanted to see how good my skills were and I ended up winning,” says Soto. His win helped him secure three sponsors for his vlog and streaming channel, “and now I’m here getting paid just to stream, make videos, talk to people, [and] play games… I never thought that would happen but it’s almost like a little dream come true. Soto now goes by the handle Mister Vulture and creates contact for Twitch, Instagram, Twitter, and Youtube.
“Now I’m able to spend time with the family now able to help take care of the baby [and have] a healthy relationship,” said Soto while babysitting his son while his wife was at the beauty salon.
Facing back-to-back unemployment first from the Army and later from his IT job in Colorado how was Soto able to land on his feet in such an inspiring way? Soto says it’s a mix of perseverance and risk-taking. “Everything I do I try to make sure I have a way out, it’s something I learned years ago. Sometimes you have to take a leap of faith… and if it doesn’t work out at least I can say I did it and I made it somewhere.
Justin Bearce is one of Soto’s subscribers. Bearce knew him while serving in the US Army and didn’t know that much about his blog until one day he was talking with him about video games and trying to start a YouTube channel.
“I saw his stuff and I was entertained by it…I can definitely see the effort he puts into it because it comes out really well… I also notice how the quality has grown over time as he’s done more and got more experienced with it… I can definitely tell he enjoys it,” says Bearce.
A mechanic by trade and a hobby gamer, Bearce enjoys the subjects Soto covers in his videos. “Video games…. and doing things outside of the home… or working on his cars… those are pretty solid topics to cover on his blogs… and just how well he presents it and how [he] communicates with his audience…he does well with that… he looks in the camera… speaks clearly… [and] has little funny moments that happen naturally… he doesn’t force it…” Bearce observes.
Beside making enjoyable content, Soto is inadvertently sharing his culture with his audience. Bearce mentions that “Just knowing that he’s from…. Puerto Rico and he came here started doing this… it definitely brings what his experiences are to… someone that hasn’t been outside of the Continental US… and I think that’s one of those unique things that makes it a unique blog.”
If you want to check out Soto’s blogs and channels you can subscribe to Mister Vulture at the following links:
CoViD-19 created hardship for millions of people throughout the United States. In less than 10% of CoViD cases, children and teens were not as impacted by contracting this infection as their parents. Young people, however, were impacted in other ways.
Pandemic countermeasures forced students to change physical classroom attendance for online classes. Since March 2020 however, some minority students have not received any education. Future Ready Schools concluded that “as many as 16.9 million children lacked home internet access.” Before the pandemic, a study conducted by Michigan State University found that “students who do not have access to the Internet from home or are dependent on a cell phone alone for access perform lower on a range of metrics, including digital skills, homework completion, and grade point average.”
Roberto Clemente Charter School in Allentown, Pennsylvania is also adjusting to the challenges of a pandemic education. With about a 90% Hispanic student population, this school faces many of the challenges minorities face nationwide.
According to National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES), about 67% of students nationally were moved to a distance learning format involving the use of online resources. This is a tremendous disadvantage for 23% of Hispanic and Latino students who according to the U.S. Census Bureau do not always have computer and internet access.
Mitza Morales, principal of the middle and high school at the charter school is in charge of implementing measures to effectively keep her students engaged in the learning process. “All our students have laptops and access points provided by the school,” said Morales. She was quick to point out that while access is only part of the challenges faced by her and other educational institutions, it is a significant one.
Distance education comes with a set of challenges for both teachers and students, Morales pointed out. She believes it is not only enough for all students to have the tools they need to communicate virtually if parents, teachers, and students do not come together and do their part in the education process. “For some minorities, it is important that they have a sense of trust [with their teachers]” says Morales. She states that her students perform better with teachers that take the time to ask about their personal issues and not just follow a “straight to business” teaching model.
Simple things such as learning to pronounce a student’s name correctly can go a long way. Morales explains that sometimes minority students feel teachers that don’t care enough to do little things like learning to pronounce their names correctly give an impression of not caring about their individual issues. Taking a vested interest in their lives goes a long way now just as it did before the pandemic.
Improving distance learning procedures is an interactive process for Roberto Clemente Charter School. Morales regularly meets with both students and teachers for invaluable feedback on how distance education is working. During one of these evaluations, a student explained that teachers were “trying to teach too many topics at once” during face-to-face meetings. Students found that overwhelming, so Morales spoke to her teachers about the issue and they adjusted to more focused lesson plans that turned out to be more effective.
In education, you get better results when you tailor methods to individuals as much as possible. “There are students that will need more interaction than others and these are the students that will be the first to come back into the classrooms,” said Morales. The school is also looking into measures for advanced students to enrich their learning by facilitating partnerships with institutions that will allow them to audit college classes.
For those students that have fallen behind, the school has plans to help them catch up to where they need to be. Morales mentioned school plans to implement summer classes specially geared to help these students.
According to Morales, the measures implemented at Roberto Clemente Charter School had the result of keeping most students at the academic level they should be. She will be the first to admit however, that it is inevitable for student learning overall not to be affected given the level of disruption the pandemic caused during these last two school years. “Currently, about 35% of students school-wide are in danger of failing at least two classes… Pre-CoViD it was about 15%,” Morales reports.
The full extent of the disadvantage to students this period of education will cause is yet to be seen. What is clear is that there have already been significant effects and that we must continue to adjust to them for the sake of our children’s educations.
The Three Wise Men: Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar. Public domain image
Puerto Ricans certainly go all out during Christmas. We proudly boast that we have the longest Christmas celebrations in the world. In fact, we start celebrating promptly after Thanksgiving. As Noche Buena (Christmas Eve) arrives your friends and family gorge themselves on pastesles, arroz con gandules, pernil, and coquito (all traditional Puerto Rican Christmas staple foods). If you’re religious you may also go to the Misa de Gallo (midnight mass) to sing aguinaldos (carolls).
You were tired afterward but no, your friends hyped you up to go do some parrandas before heading home. Parrandas? What are those? You soon find out. All night into the early dawn, you go from house to house, singing, playing instruments, dancing, eating, and drinking some more. Great, now I can rest you say, but no… now your kids are opening their Christmas presents so you give up and resign to rest later.
That evening, however, your friends are back to wake you up for another round of parrandas and you start to wonder what is holding these people together… It’s that Christmas spirit… or more likely the Christmas spirits you all keep drinking as you go from house to house. You somehow keep this partying going intermittently and you make it all the way to New Year’s Eve where you again celebrate with more of that delicious food you had all throughout the season so far. You count down the clock, as it strikes midnight eat twelve grapes for some reason, and you continue to celebrate like crazy as the new year arrives. You sigh with relief as you somehow make it home and settle in for some rest, figuring Christmas is finally over… that is until the next day when Rafael and your friends are back again and tell you that they are doing another parranda. What the heck is going on here, you ask yourself as you feel an anxiety attack coming on.
Before you start thinking you lost your mind and are living a moment similar to the one Bill Murray had in the movie Groundhog’s Day, there is something important you should know. For Puerto Ricans, there are still more traditional Christmas days left to celebrate in January. What are these celebrations you say? I got you!
Before becoming a U.S. Territory, Puerto Rico was part of the Kingdom of Spain. Under Spanish rule, Puerto Rico was Roman Catholic and observed many traditions derived from the church. At that time, Santa Claus did not bring presents to Puerto Rican children. Instead, we had the Tres Reyes Magos (Three Wise Men) bring us presents on the 6th of January. This of course has to do with the biblical story of the Epiphany where the Magi traveled from distant lands following a star to Bethlehem so they could find the son of God, worship him and gift him with gifts of myrrh, frankincense, and gold.
When I was a young boy I remember the traditional routine that all children follow to have the Reyes Magos leave us a present. Unlike Santa who greedily devours the cookies and milk left for him by families on Christmas Eve, the Reyes Magos only ask for hay for their camels. Children therefore get a shoebox and take it to their yards to fill it with grass to feed the Three Kings’ camels. After you fill it up as much as possible, you cover up the box with its lid and leave it underneath your bed. At that point, you go to sleep and when you wake up in the morning the shoebox is gone and replaced with presents.
I feel a little guilty that my sister and I killed this beautiful tradition. This happened because our parents (who were going through tough financial times) told us that we had to choose to have either Santa or the Tres Reyes leave us presents. Why would we choose Santa? Well, he did leave his presents a whole 13 days before the Reyes Magos did. We also usually had to go back to school the very next day after the Three Wise men left their presents and barely had any time to enjoy them. The adult in me is sad that we lost this tradition, but I understand how much of a struggle that would have been for younger me to wait that long for presents.
One good thing about 6 January is that even when your parents can’t afford presents, you can still get gifts. Traditionally the city and state governments buy gifts for children, all you have to do is line up to get them from your friendly local politician. Kids get their toys and the politicians get their photo-op with kids… a win-win situation for everyone.
So the Reyes Magos left their gifts, we ate and drank some more, and went to more church services… are we done yet? Oh no, not by a long shot. Now it’s time for the Octavitas. “For Pete’s sake what the heck is that,” I hear you saying. Well, quite simply it’s a bonus 8 days to keep on partying, eating, drinking, and doing more parrandas. Ok, what happens on the 8th day? Surely everyone chills out by then right? Come on, how could we close out Christmas with a whimper? At the end of the Octavitas we have one of the largest, loudest, and funnest festivals on the Island… Las Fiestas de la Calle San Sebastian (The Festival of the San Sebastian Street) in Old San Juan. Yep, you guessed it, more drinking, eating, dancing, and performances by famous artists and performers.
Ok what’s next after that? Wait you haven’t you had enough? Go get some rest. Christmas is over dude.
