Friday, July 20, 2018 Talent Show The talent show always amazed me. Each class would be told about the show early in the week, so they would have time to prepare and to sign up. The institute always had some very talented singers and dancers that would fill in. The Friday night talent show was no exception to amazing talent. Only two people were scheduled to perform, Jordy a friend of Pamela’s (AWNHI’s Administrative Director and a Colon Therapist) and of course Miss Leola. Both sang, and both are extremely talented. Again, I did not take a single photo. I guess I was just too darn busy enjoying the show. In the end, 4 more people performed, Joy, Robin, and Pearl all sang and each was beautifully talented and unique in their performance. The 4th walk on performer was a gentleman from Greece. He and his wife were there and both spoke conversational English. He performed and told several jokes and to be honest we all laughed and laughed at his jokes. We could not understand half of what he was saying, but that made it even funnier! He was having a great time and laughing himself at his jokes which made us all laugh even more. I don’t remember the last time I laughed so darn hard.
Speaking of hidden talent, my friend Sandra worked at the Institute while I was there. Sandra is an extremely talented woman. Born and raised in Puerto Rico however, she spent most of her adult life in New York in the entertainment business. Sandra was in several movies, performed as a singer, dancer and later owned and ran a theater company where she produced and directed several plays. At some point Sandra was drawn back to her homeland and ended up working at the Institute. She still did some modeling and acting gigs in Puerto Rico, (mostly San Juan) and wrote and directed several plays around the island. I would go see her perform whenever I could and even when to a few of the plays she wrote and directed. All would be in Spanish, but Sandra would write a scene by scene synopsis of the plays for her gringo friends.
Here are a few photos of Sandra from about 2009 during a performance and the other at work with Alec or bookkeeper at the time.
The weekend finally came! I had plans on Saturday to spend the day with Sandra. I was very pumped about seeing her and although we hadn’t seen each other since 2009, we had stayed in touch over the years by phone, email, and more recently, Facebook. I was very choked up when I first saw my old friend and I must say, it was hard to pull myself together.
We drove all over my old neighborhood (Rincon) and stopped at a few of the beaches including Steps Beach (Playa Escalar). I used to walk my neighbor’s dog and we swam here in the morning before I had to go to work. This is where I would see most of the Helicopters looking for drug deals going on and “aliens”. Sometimes I would see yolas abandoned on the beach here with clothes and empty water bottles scattered around. I would always wonder if they made it or were detained before they could make it to the “safe-house”. I know I used this photo before, but I love Steps Beach. I spent many hours walking, snorkeling and swimming at this beach. There used to be an octopus that lived in the old pilings here. I’m not sure if he is still alive, but he used to be quite friendly.
You know we talked for hours. We sat on the patio overlooking the ocean and talked. We just picked up where we left off like it had been a few months instead of several years that we had last seen each other. The photo below is of mango’s I picked up from the ground at the resort Sandra now works at. The mangoes were left abandoned when they fell from the trees. The passion fruit were given to me by the owner of Sana (a local vegetarian restaurant). I always have and always will love the fresh fruit in Puerto Rico!
Sandra had not known about Annetta’s passing so, of course, when she dropped me off she had to stop in to visit Miss Leola and offer her condolences. Leola always a gracious hostess, was almost as happy to see Sandra as Sandra was to see her.
I cannot even explain how wonderful it was to see my friend. I swear, I will do everything in my power to make sure we find a way to see each other again before another 9-years slip by. Until next time Sandra, I love you and am sending hugs and positive vibes your way.
Next post will be After the Hurricane with Manuel. Until next time, take care and buy some type of exotic fruit!
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