Day 1 - What I love most about being Latino...


For me to explain this would require a separate blog with multiple entries.. in fact committing myself to this 30 day challenge, is in itself, a clear indication on how much I love the culture I come from and grew up with. Though I have to say, as a kid, I would not have always agreed with that statement. The best way I think for me to explain this entry is to pose this question - what if you found out you weren't Latino? I actually did encountered this question not so long ago, and it definitely changed the way I viewed everything.

I had joked for a long time that there was no way I could truly be part of my family - I looked different, acted different (my mother commented recently that of course my blood pressure is low because nothing ever bothers me, unlike her and my father who scream about the firmness of a tomato), and generally felt different. When my mother finally confirmed my adoption, and my sister gave the look of confirmation... the thought was out there, even if it was only for a moment - what if the culture I had represented for so long is not in fact the culture that belonged to me? At that point, I felt pretty horrible to think that I wasn't Latina and that everything I held near and dear to me wasn't rightfully mine. It was pain in my heart that I cannot describe and I suddenly realized how much of my culture surrounded me in my day to day ----- I had Puerto Rican & Dominican flags all over my apt, I was president of the Latino org on my campus, my alarm was set to play Marc Anthony and Don Omar ---- even some of my personal emails had "DRPR" in it... This was a classic example of you don't know how much you love something until it's taken away from you...

Turns out my blood has the spirit of Ecuador, so though I don't have Caribbean blood, I still have Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic attributes. I cook a mean pernil and could eat mangu all day... Sometimes there is no other word I can think of to say but coño ... and lets face it.... there's a feeling that we Latinos get when we hear the congas that we don't get when we hear Jon Bon Jovi (though amazing in his own right!).

If you ask me today, I am Ecuadorian, Puerto Rican and Dominican (I change the order depending how the person I'm talking to, and if I want to piss them off... mu ha ha). Yes I am all three. Don't try to tell me otherwise or my blood pressure will in fact rise as one poor soul learned the hard way... ~=|

Anyway, between the music, the food, the comradery and even the controversial histories of each country there's a lot to love about being Latino. I hope you have one in your life! Ha~

- Z