FINDING MYSELF IN JAYUYA

       

Piedra Escrita

              Every time I think of Jayuya, I feel like it was the place where I let go of my sadness, my fears, and failures. The moment I opened the balcony door of that modest guest house in Jayuya, I threw away my tears in the river. I saw, in the currents, a sack I was carrying full of emotions that were inhibiting me from the free life I was longing for. I knew that if I continued to look back, I would keep making the same mistakes and I would never get out of this crossroad in my life. 

             It was my first trip away as a single mother. I was tense and, to be honest, I thought that I was not able to achieve a trip alone with the girls. Like any other trip, I started out all excited and showing off my freedom. I wanted to demonstrate that I was not that super mom that has everything in control.  But that morning while I was driving up the mountain, taking curves and driving up steep descents for hours, I reached the moment where my legs betrayed me and the panic took over to the point that my friends had to assist me. At that moment I realized that I was not prepared, and that I was terrified with fear of change. On this occasion, I had people at my side who told me it was okay to feel the way I felt and that it was time to move on.

          

Jayuya blew my mind; this town has so much to offer that I did not have time to go to the aerostatic balloon, the indigenous museum and to visit more than one coffee plantation. 

Jayuya is very proud of its indigenous heritage, its archaeological and petroglyph deposits are evidence of the rich historical contributions that our native Indians left us. 

If you are a coffee lover, let me tell you that the locals are proud baristas (professional coffee makers), who have a friendly competition of who has the best harvest and who makes the best coffee. So, I recommend that you take a whole day to taste the coffee flavors of each plantation, it is the most barística* adventure you can experience (* a funky way of saying coffee maker world experience, this is not a real word). 

         Walking through town, visiting its community center, museums and seeing where the remains of Cacique Hayuya (an indigenous king) rests are just the beginning of the expedition.

      

We transferred to Piedra Escrita, an immense monolith that you can only reach by walking through a long wooden boardwalk. There you can enjoy the largest collection of indigenous petroglyphs in Puerto Rico. It is the most daring experience I have had with my daughters.

  

   We improvised one morning and decided to stop by Hacienda los Picachos.

 I loved seeing how they opened the doors for us even though we had not let them know of our visit in advance. They immediately began to serve us coffee with humble familiarity, as if we were locals. The plantation’s internal garden was beautiful, and majestic peacocks were walking along with the children while we enjoyed our breakfast. 

Back in Casa Cesar, I climbed to the roof to see how the owner of the guest house rustically toasted the coffee. While going up I observed the different guests in their balconies. Some played board games, others cooked in outdoor kitchens and others sang traditional Puerto Rican songs. This scenery gave me even more hope and optimism of all the things I still had to experience in this new path of my life.