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One of Samuel Lind’s prints…..and one of my favorites.

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Samuel Lind

Samuel Lind shows one of his sketches which is also being created into a metal sculpture.
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Samual Lind

We visited a local Loizan artist, Samuel Lind. He shared his story, his inspiration for his artwork as well as how the African and Taino Indian history of Loiza is translated through his artwork.

He is a charming and humble Artist and his space has a powerful spiritual energy.

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St Patrick’s Church

A statue of St Patrick stands on the altar of the church.

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St Peters Church in Loiza

We visited St Peter’s Church in Loiza. Our Tour Guide, Jesus, told us about the history of the church and the area. Its the only church in Puerto Rico with its main entrance facing a river instead of the plaza. The entrance was placed in this manner in order for St Peter to keep the waters calm and prevent flooding.

The Church is the seventh oldest church in this hemisphere.

St Patrick is the patron saint of Loiza. He was selected as the patron saint when the crop had an ant infestation and the town decided they needed "divine intervention". The town selected the name of three saints and decided to have a lottery. St Patrick won the lottery.

In time, when Ireland learned Loiza had selected St Patrick as its patron saint, a family which was travelling and owned many of the sugar cane fields donated the statue to the church.
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Dancing to the “BOMBA”

We visited the Cultural Center in Loiza and listened to traditional Afro-Puerto Rican music called Bomba. Part of the Team joined in and danced to the music.
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I have a correction….

In my earlier post I wrote Loiza was in the southern part of the island. I mixed two towns on opposite sides of the island. Loiza is in the northeast. I had confused it with a town called Guanica….. Oooops…….
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Enjoying some breakfast…..

Today we will driving to Loiza, on the southern part of the island to learn more about its African history, culture, festivities, and of course, food, but before doing so part of the Team met up this morning to have some breakfast. Pictured below (from left to right) Jessica (NYC), Aran (Boston), and Brenda (PR).

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We end the day…….

Christine briefs the Team about the success of the day before heading back to San Juan.

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LA INICIATIVA COMUNITARIA

Today we went to La Universidad Inter-Americana de Bayamon to meet with the students of the culinary program as well as the staff from an organization called La Iniciativa Comunitaria.

Founded in 1992, La Iniciativa helps provide social services to struggling populations in San Juan including the homeless, drug-addicted, and residents living with HIV/AIDS. In partnership with the Inter-American University culinary program, CulinaryCorps will work with a select group of the Iniciativa population from all service areas to teach basic kitchen skills and create a balanced, budget and tasty meal for them to execute at home. Part of the meal will be shared by students, chefs, and the IC group.  The rest of the meal will then be packed up for distribution throughout San Juan.

The CulinaryCorp Team was divided into five groups to make the meal. Each group was assigned two culinary students and the IC staff was rotated among the groups. The meal made included a Green Leaf Mediterranean Salad, Veal and White Bean Chili, Cheddar and Chive Cornbread, Pico de Gallo, and Chocolate Chip Cookies.

We ended the day by sitting and enjoying some of the meal we had created. Below is a picture of the entire group enjoying the meal.

It was a fantastic day! A pleasure to work with Chef Silvio, Brenda and their talented and energized students, as well as the IC Group.

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