Butterflies Blue

OLD SAN JUAN OLD SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO Present Day The blue and purplish cobblestones that laced the long, hilly street called Calle del Cristo by the original Spanish inhabitants glistened brightly as Layla gently strolled along the road. She was arm in arm with her new man, Daniel. Daniel was a burly, bronzed Hispanic male whose light brown eyes occasionally gazed deeply towards her as they walked. They had only been walking the streets of Old San Juan that afternoon for a few minutes when Layla heard the bustling noise of locals eagerly setting up tents for an event. "Look. It must be starting soon," Layla said as she smiled and gently squeezed Daniel's arm. He was not startled but sensed her excitement. "Yes, dear. Looks like they'll be ready in a few hours." Daniel pointed to the red and blue banner flapping in the brisk easterly Caribbean winds. The winds not only brought the new couple coolness and relief from the warm November day but also a saltiness that they could smell and even taste in the air. The banner revealed that the San Juan annual culinary arts festival would begin at five p.m. and last well into the night. "Do you want to go? We can eat some local cuisine," Daniel asked, awaiting her response. "Hmm, that would be interesting. I've never had Puerto Rican food. How is it?" "I think you'll love it." Even though he had never lived on the island, Daniel had traveled to Puerto Rico on several occasions and enjoyed eating his people's traditional food. He also enjoyed cooking Puerto Rican food and sharing that experience with his friends and family. "There is a dish that you should try. Mofongo. It's made with plantains, which are green bananas, and topped with whatever meats you want." "Can they top it with fish?" Layla inquired. Daniel was amused and smiled. He knew that Layla recently started only eating fish. She was a pescatarian, but he secretly wanted her to try different foods on this trip. "Sure. You can get mofongo with fish. But you can also have it topped with other seafood: crab, lobster, conch, shrimp… or even pork or chicken. You can get any flavor that the Caribbean offers." Despite her reluctance on previous occasions to try new things when the couple dined out, Layla was now eager to step out of her comfort zone. She had only officially started seeing Daniel two months ago, although they had known each other for years. This was the first vacation that they planned together. She had always wanted to see places outside of the United States, especially exotic places that her friends had never traveled to before. Once, Layla went on a day trip to Montreal when she first moved to New York about twenty years ago. But she did not consider that brief excursion to Canada anything extraordinary. There was something about Daniel's sense of excitement about his past travels around the world that challenged Layla and encouraged her to get away from it all. She wanted to get away from her work, the freezing, snowy winter, her family, and even the fears of past relationships. When Daniel offered to take her to Puerto Rico for Thanksgiving, she eagerly accepted. "I think I'll try the conch. I don't even know what that is, but it's not anything that I've ever eaten before. It just has a sexy vibe to it." She giggled. She wanted to say that the word conch reminded her of the word for the male s****l organ, but her shyness and unfamiliarity with Daniel made her reluctant. Instead, she slyly asked, "Does it taste like gooey duck?" Daniel visualized the large phallic mollusk with its lightly golden siphon and laughed. "No, honey. To be honest, I haven't eaten gooey duck before. I've seen it on TV with that bald-headed guy who eats all these strange foods. What's his name? I can't remember. He seemed to like it. I've always wanted to try it though." Layla secretly loved that Daniel ate exotic foods from around the world, but she would never let him know. Years ago, he offered to cook her kangaroo rendang, a curry dish. Daniel found an Australian recipe on the internet adapting the traditional Indonesian one. He cooked it the previous year for himself and wanted to try it again. Daniel had explained to Layla how the lemongrass, coriander, and cumin seeds in the curry paste combined with the desiccated coconut flakes, coconut milk, and cardamom to give the kangaroo meat a fragrant taste. He loved it and thought that she would too. Layla, however, was reluctant to try anything so unfamiliar, especially because it was a friendly marsupial that Daniel recommended to consume. She derided that suggestion when he made it. But she was willing to eat conch for dinner later that night. Because the festival was hours away, in the meantime, the two continued walking down Calle del Cristo. They could see signs for the various restaurants, art galleries, and boutiques that lined both sides of the street. Other travelers, who had disembarked from the cruise ship docked at the port of Old San Juan, were carrying shopping bags with purchases from the local craft and artisan shops. Layla decided that she wanted to look inside one shop to see what they had to offer. An electronic bell rang as she opened the door. "Bueno. Welcome to our store." A skinny, pale Puerto Rican woman greeted them as they entered. She stood behind the cash register in the middle of the store checking out another patron. Both Layla and Daniel smiled at her and returned the greeting. After looking around the small shop, Layla walked to the glass-encased jewelry display case near the front of the store. She looked haphazardly at the various items for sale, hoping to find something that she liked. Daniel dutifully followed her. "You should get these," Daniel said as he pointed to a pair of oval-shaped earrings featuring a Puerto Rican flag. A white lone star was nearly centered in the triangular blue background. Three red stripes and two white stripes alternated to fill the remaining glossy background whose edges were scalloped. Because they looked unique and were representative of their trip, Layla asked to try them on. Ultimately, she decided not to purchase them. She then perused the far left corner of the store. There she saw numerous hand-carvings of the three wise men. Some carvings had a Puerto Rican flag situated in the middle of the base. "Daniel, what are these?" Layla was unfamiliar with the story of Three Kings Day. Daniel proceeded to tell her of the celebration of the visit of the three magi when Jesus was born. He also explained that the holiday is traditionally celebrated on January 6 and that typically Puerto Rican's exchange gifts on Three Kings Day rather than on Christmas. "We never celebrated it in my house. In fact, I never heard of it until I was an adult," Daniel added. The two continued perusing the store, bought a few trinkets for themselves, and a gift for Layla's youngest daughter, Amirah. After completing their purchase, they walked further down Calle del Cristo past Calle Fortaleza until they reached the Chapel of Christ the Savior.