Tourist for a Day

As an assignment for the class we had to act like we were tourist in our own country, Puerto Rico, for a day and observe peoples reactions and how we where treated. In my first try I went to buy a “pincho” in Rio Piedras acting like I was from England. To do this first I went with a friend to the place where they sell “pinchos” and stood in front talking with an English accent for some minutes with a friend I brought. 
Then I went to buy the “pincho” telling the guy that I wanted one of those meat sticks, but it all went downhill because if it wasn’t enough that he felt skeptic about my English precedence I had an encounter with a friend that started to yell to me in Spanish from the other side of the road. So in conclusion that attempt was totally foiled and the guy who was serving me did not look very happy that I tried to fool him. After this happened the next day I went to old San Juan to visit my father and we went out to eat so I took advantage of this moment to give it another try. I told my father about the assignment, but this time I decided to do the role of a Dominican because it seemed more believable.

The highlight of the evening was when I asked the waiter to explain to me the difference between a “Mangú” and “Mofongo” both plantain based dishes, it’s one of the funniest things that has ever happened to me in a restaurant. So this attempt was successful, but the treatment from the waiter and the people around us was mostly normal. Maybe it was because we are accustomed to having a Dominican presence in the island and it’s a very similar culture. We where not treated as tourist and no special treatment was giving, but it was indeed a fun experience with my dad and one that we may repeat some other time.