EL BORICUA 3109- C VOSS DRIVE EL PASO, TX 79936 elboricua.com Celebrating our 10th Anniversary A Cultural Publication From the editor . When I was a child and living in Puerto Rico, a long time ago that is, there were acerola bushes everywhere. You could find them on the side of the road, by pastures, en el monte, by the beach, and in peoples yards. They are called West Indian Cherries in English. Acerolas are sweet and tart as well. Acerola is a large, relatively fast growing bushy shrub or small tree (to 15 feet). Fruits are round to oblate, cherry-like but with 3 lobes. They are bright red (rarely yellow-orange) with thin skin, easily bruised. The pulp is juicy, acid to sub-acid occasionally nearly sweet, with a delicate flavor and apple notes. The fruit is very high in Vitamin C, up to 4,000 mg per 100 g fresh weight, but typically around 1,500 mg C. Green fruits have twice the Vitamin C level of mature fruits. Fruits develop to maturity in less than 25 days. Seeds typically three with fluted wings, forming a triangle. Many aspects of seed viability have not been studied. Doesn’t this picture make your mouth water? acerola – grows wild in the island Siempre Boricua, Ivonne Figueroa JULY 2005 JULY 2005 EL BORICUA PAGE 2 EL BORICUA is Published by: - Editors and Contributors - BORICUA PUBLICATIONS El Paso, TX 79936 ©1995-2005 Boricua Publications All articles are the property of Boricua Publications or the property of its authors. Javier Figueroa -El Paso , TX Publisher Ivonne Figueroa - El Paso, TX Carmen Santos de Curran Executive Editor & Gen. Mgr. Food Editor & Executive Chef Luis R. Claudio Boricua Sports Editor Dolores Flores – Dallas, TX Language Editor Send your email to: elboricua email Website: http://www.elboricua.com Nellie Escalante-Dumberger Wilfredo Santiago-Valiente Arte Boricua - Editor Contributing Editor WEBSITE Design courtesy of *MarkNet Group, Inc. Subscription information Search for us in Tere Matthews EBSCO Library Database. Desiree Collazo Poet Laureate Journalism Intern of EL BORICUA A la orden . Cassie López Midge Pellicier Who’s Who Editor Contributing Editor Advisory Panel Members EL BORICUA is a monthly cultural publication, established in 1995, that is Puerto Rican owned and Paul Figueroa operated. We are NOT sponsored by any club or Dolores M. Flores organization. Our goal is to present and promote our Carmen Santos Curan "treasure" which is our Cultural Identity - “the Puerto Javier M. Figueroa Rican experience.” EL BORICUA is presented in Fernando Alemán English and is dedicated to the descendants of Puerto José Castellanos Ricans wherever they may be. Ivette Farah Mildred Lanie JULY 2005 EL BORICUA PAGE 3 La Tiendita Visit la isla . Have you ever visited the Park of Camuy River Caverns? Or walked through the beautiful State Forest of Río Abajo, Cambalache, or Guajataca? Have you ever fixed your eyes upon the red earth where the pineapples are planted between Barceloneta and Manatí? If you have answered yes, you have been in the Puerto Rican karst region. The karst is that region of limestone, which is characterized by subterranean rivers, mogotes, sinkholes, canyons, valleys and caves. Mogotes are tall beehive-shaped hills of limestone, often covered by dense forest. Millions of Trabalenguas . years ago sediments and skeletons of marine organisms accumulated at the bottom of shallow seas and eventually hardened to form limestone. Geological Paco Peco, chico rico, movement elevated the limestone to the surface. Through time, the tropical le gritabá como loco climate with its intense rains and flash floods sculptured the limestone to create a su tío Federico. a spectacular topography of mogote karst, channels, cliffs, caves, caverns, Y éste le dijo: depressions, sinkholes, and an enormous network of tunnels and cracks. Lots -¡Poco a poco, Paco Peco, poco pico of water circulates through and accumulates in these underground formations. The rain, which falls in the karst zone rapidly travels from the recharge areas (such as sinkholes, fractures, and cracks) and is conducted underground to the discharge points (springs and water holes). In many places, these conduits are Refrán Puertorriqueño . in fact caves, created by that very same flow of water. Al que se muda, Dios lo ayuda. The karst topography can be observed in the northern section of the island between Loíza and Aguada. We can also see isolated karst outcroppings at other points throughout the main island such as Aguas Buenas, Cayey and Cabo Rojo, as well as on the adjacent islands of Mona and Vieques. YOUR AD The karst region occupies some 617 square miles, approximately 20 percent of Puerto Rico's total land mass. This is the area where the conical topography of the mogotes is most developed, particularly to the west of the Río La Plata. FITS HERE The karst region contains our greatest source of underground water. Practically all the municipalities from Dorado to Hatillo and the industries located there utilize these reserves. Many of the northern rivers and other BORICUA . bodies of water also receive a significant part of their volume from these underground fountains. is a powerful word. It is our history, The karst provides a habitat for many species of plants and animals, including it is our cultural affirmation, some species that are rare, vulnerable, or facing extinction. A walk through the it is a declaration, karst region permits one to observe beautiful plants including rain palms, fan it is a term of endearment, palms, broom palms, rose trees, little three horned devils, and several types of it is poetic . orchids. If looking for animal life, one may have the opportunity to observe . it is us. Puerto Rican boas, several species of bats, blue tailed iguanas, forest guaraguaos, the beautiful San Pedritos, and many other species. Read interesting island trivia . Printed with permission. at Photos of Puerto Rico.com JULY 2005 EL BORICUA PAGE 4 July 3, 1935 Cheo Feliciano, musician - dob Gerardo Rivera, Lawyer and TV personality - July 4, 1943 dob July 9, 1909 Gilberto Concepción de Gracia was a founder and first president of the Partido A Walk through the Rainforest Independentista Puertorriqueño. Born in By: Alexa Fernández, Staff Writer Vega Alta Concepción received several degrees in Puerto Rico and the US. He died We walked the concrete path in El Yunque. in San Juan on March 15, 1968. I remembered the trail. Last time we did this was two years ago: my mother, Chrissy, and I, huffing July 17, Luis Muñoz Rivera, poet, speaker, journalist, and puffing, feeling a cold dampness as we walked at 1859 politician, head of the pro-statehood Liberal a 45-degree angle. Most of the trail was like this; we Party. Muñoz Rivera served as Resident were exhausted and exhilarated when we reached the Commisioner in Washington. He was born in peak. Although it was the lowest peak, it was an Barranquitas and died in San Juan in 1916. accomplishment in itself, this ascension to glimpse above the trees of this vast rainforest. July 17, José S. Alegría, poet, writer, lawyer, and Now I climbed the trail again, while my 1886 politician, became the president of the Puerto mother waited in the car with my niece and nephew. Rican Nacionalist Party, and director of the Mónica, Liza, and David joined me on the trail. We Puerto Rican Insitute of Hispanic Culture. wondered how the concrete was brought up here to Alegría died in San Juan in 1965. make this trail. The plants were huge - parts of the July 17, Juan Alejo de Arizmendi y de la Torre was a trail were damp from the mist of the rainforest. The 1757 Catholic priest who became Puerto Rico's coquies sang their songs, some at a higher pitch than first native Bishop. others. It was pointless to locate them; I have never seen one in all of the years that we had gone to July 21, Jesús T. Piñero is appointed first native Puerto Rico. But what lovely music! We listened 1946 governor of Puerto Rico. for the next one to sing. We stopped to rest, careful not to step out of the trail - at some points, it was the July 22, Aida Alvarez was appointed by President only surface to walk on. We met other hikers and 1949 Clinton in 1997 to head the Small Business tourists who were on their way down, many of them Administration or SBA. She became the first told us that we didn’t have long to go. These Latina to head the SBA and the first Boricua strangers comforted us with words of to be appointed to a cabinet position. Alvarez encouragement. is from Aguadilla. We reached the tower. I felt revived and alive. We climbed the last few steps to claim our July 25, U.S. invades Puerto Rico through the port at reward: the view. It was breathtaking - both because 1898 Guánica of the altitude and the sights. Only air surrounded The Puerto Rican Flag, designed in the later us, like the air that encloses a bird in flight. A mist July 25, part of the 1800's, becomes the island's hung in the air - it caused a calming feeling that 1952 made people in the tower speak in whispers and low official flag. tones. When I turned to see the view from different July 25, angles I could see where the mist began, how it Puerto Rico's Constitution Day 1952 passed over the trees. The air up there was cool, damp, and windy - the perfect ending to a long hike July 27, Dr. José Celso Barbosa, physician, that left us sweating and panting for fresh air.