Puerto Rico on Film

Mar 27

The last time I visited Puerto Rico I had to be like 14-16 (I’m 29 at the time of writing this) and we stayed with my great grandma in her high rise condo with no AC and nothing but a fan to keep my sweaty body cool. I remember waking up covered in mosquito bites and she lovingly said “mira nene”(Look baby) while motioning to a balm of anti itch cream in her hands that she also had a fingertip full of to slop on my skin. She made me some of the first sweet plantains I ever liked in her kitchen from the darkest plantain I had ever seen…they were delicious.

My great grandma passed away this year at the age of 99. She lived in Puerto Rico as far as I know, her entire life. I’ll admit we weren’t necessarily as close as we could’ve been but I have some fond memories of her. The entire family was making another trip to Puerto Rico post funeral to wrap up some of her affairs she left for family.

Although it wasn’t necessarily a vacation. I intended to make the most of it since this was my first time back since I was a kid and I’d hopefully be seeing some family I haven’t seen in years. I was excited to experience the culture that is a part of my heritage as an adult and smell the salty air and see the Island the best I could over the course of two and a half days.

In that short time I saw two beaches, San Juan, Arecibo, Aguadilla, Cabo Rojo and even had Lechon (Pork) somewhere in the mountains with my Grandpa, Uncle & Mom.

I wanted to make sure I came back with something to remember the whole trip so I brought 5 rolls of 35mm film in a Darkroom film pouch that clearly said “DO NOT X-RAY”. Kodak Gold 200, Portra 400, two rolls Ultramax 400, and a roll of HP5 I never shot. TSA - Thank you for hand checking my film.