Unique archaeological discovery in Luquillo

Featured story




Have you ever been to the beach at Luquillo? You know Balneario de Luquillo - La Monserrate, ya that one. Well did you ever imagine that you were swimming over a possible sunken ship? No, what about the the partial remains of a human being? If you're like me you are like no way, not at Luquillo, I've been there hundreds of times. Well, yes way.

Called in to investigate a report of human remains, Wednesday police divers may have made an archaeological discovery in Luquillo: bones and possible artifacts from a colonial-era ship. The divers found a cannon, pieces of a ship, human bones, a sword and a medal engraved with the name Isabel II, said Sgt. Angel Rivera Rodriguez, a spokesman for Puerto Rico's police department.

Divers were dispatched to Playa Monserrate after a fisherman reported finding what he thought were human remains, Rivera said. The artifacts turned up in six different spots across the sea floor, said Laura del Olmo, director of archaeology at the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture, which sent a team of experts to the site.

According to archeologists, the pieces appear to be from the 17th or 18th century but further analysis is required before their exact age can be confirmed, she said. Divers planned to continue exploring the area for more artifacts, Sgt. Rivera said. -- Mc Don Dees

This article by Mc Don Dees was originally published July 31 in Dondequiera at http://blog.dondees.com.

(photo by wallyg)

Lee y Sueña Tour de Lectura

In the First Person

When I first came to Puerto Rico, one of the first things I tried to find were the libraries. The first one I found was when I moved to Caguas when I discovered the location of the Caguas Municipal Library by accident. At the time the only book stores of any merit were Thekes in Plaza Las Americas and Bell , Book, and Candle. As someone who has spent most of his life with his nose in a book, this was, uhh, a big shock. I remember wondering to myself, how does everyone find a good book to read, or where can they find research materials to read for a project?

I know know the truth of the situation. The reason why there aren't really any good public libraries (well which really isn't true there is the Bucapla Library and the Manati Library), the real reason is that the majority of the populace doesn't read anything deeper than the El Nuevo Dia, which is quickly being replaced by the photo-heavy Primera Hora.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who believes that this might be the root cause of a lot of the challenges we face on the island. So when I heard about the First Lady's program to reinforce reading to children, "Lee y Sueña", I was impressed and pleased.

The Read and Dream Program is an initiative of the Office of the First Lady. It is attached to the Department of Family and is developed by ASPIRA, Inc. de Puerto Rico. It was created in 2006 with the aim to provide parents and caregivers the tools needed to develop the habit of reading to their children every day.

This weekend and next "El tour de lectura" will make stops in the Jardin Botanico de Rio Piedras and the Parque Luis Muñoz Rivera. This Saturday, July 12th, at the Botanical Gardens, celebrities such as Elwood Cruz, Jessica Cristina, and Karen Cintrón will lead families in the reading of entertaining stories. In addition there will be marionettes and theatrical shows.

Then next weekend, Sunday July 20th, at the Bosquecito in the Luis Muñoz Marin Park, the tour will make another stop. The same activities are planned. Both activities are scheduled to start at 1 p.m. and last until 4 p.m.

For more information call (888) 359-7777 or visit the programs website at www.leelesatuhijos.org. -- MC DON DEES

This article by MC DON DEES was originally published in Donde Quiera at http://blog.dondees.com. Visit this blog.

Puerto Rico American Idol Auditions

Despite my disdain for the show and it's evil twin Objetivo Fama, there is no denying that I'm in the minority, because both dominate the ratings. And so it is, that for the first time, American Idol will conduct auditions for the 8th season of the show here in our little corner of the ocean.

On August 2nd, in the Coliseo Jose Miguel Agrelot, the production team from American Idol will conduct auditions. While the trio of judges, that I think everyone universally hates, but is strangely attracted to, will not be present at the auditions, it is rumored that they will be present when they begin to whittle the list of local contestants down. Or whatever it is they do during the course of the the show, because, I truthfully have never seen an episode of the program. Of course, since I've been doing the whole starving entrepreneur thing for a while now, cable is a distant memory. Anything I want to watch now has to come via BitTorrent, and believe me, my bandwidth is too precious to be spent downloading episodes of American Idol. In fact you can probably count on one hand the number of shows I do consider BitTorrent worthy.

While Puerto Rico has been excluded from the first seven seasons of the program, due to the popularity of Objetivo Fama (OF), I guess they want to jump on the bandwagon and see if they can duplicate the following of OF. I'm skeptical, because there are many factors that work together to make OF so successful here in PR. I guess we'll soon find out. If you start to hear people talking about American Idol everywhere you go, then they will have succeeded.

To participate in the auditions, participants must be between 16 and 28, and be willing to travel to the United States. Two days before the auditions, the production team of the program will be giving out bracelets to aspiring singers, which will determine the time of their audition. They are hoping that will limit the usual insane behavior that that usually accompanies an event of this magnitude. I wish them luck with that, LOL. -- by MC DON DEES

(This article by MC DON DEES was originally published in Dónde Quiera at http://blog.dondees.com/. Check out the blog.)