Puerto Rico, mi otra Patria

At the age of ten, I was sent to Puerto Rico to stay with my dear Grandma, I remember leaving New York in such a rush that I couldn't say bye to my brothers and sister, that was a very confusing day for me, but little did I know that this day was not going to get any better, arriving in P.R. was something I will never forget, there I was in this strange place meeting all these new people that were supposed to be my family on the other side, they pulled me here and there all day luckly, I did understand spanish but I couldn't speak a word of it.

My Grandma and I lived in many places in Puerto Rico, places like; Adjuntas, Bayamon, Guaynabo, Aguadilla y Hato Tejas. While living in Bayamon I would go fishing with my uncle and cousins, I had never gone fishing before and learned alot about it with them, we would go to a place called Cataño right off the Bacardi factory to fish or to Isla de Cabra. Then we moved on to Adjuntas I don't remember the name of the school I attended while in Adjuntas, but it was right in town and the only high school at the time. Adjuntas is a very small and humble city of hard working country folks, on the northern part of Puerto Rico, it is the birth city of most of my mothers side of the family. There I learned alot about farming and how to work the earth, my grandma and I raised farm animals there like chickens, ducks, and pigs. I lived in many different places and went to many different schools, but the one I remember the most was at Rafael Hernandez intemediate school in Guaynabo. I had to walk at least 3 miles to get to school. I remember somedays it would be so hot down there that I would be soaking with sweat by the time I got to school, Yea I know this sounds like one of those "WHEN I WAS YOUNG....." stories but its all true, And like in Adjuntas my grandmother had a small farm with chickens and ducks, part of my routine was to help with the animals, they had to be fed, cleaned and let out and those were things a Brooklyn boy like me wasn't used to.