SANSE 2020

The celebration of the 50th anniversary of the San Sebastian Street Festivities lasted 4 days, they began on Thursday, January 16 until Sunday, January 19, 2020.

This year there were fewer artisans and attendees which may have been influenced by the emergency being experienced throughout the southwest of the Island due to earthquakes and constant seismic activity. Since many asked to cancel the event, but the reality is that it is a way to make a living for the artisans who prepared for months to present their works. The Institute of Puerto Rican Culture proposed to postpone the artisan fair for February, this causing only about a quarter of artisans to attend this activity.

I decided to attend on Saturday, January 18, I arrived early to find a good parking spot. You could walk very comfortably through the streets, first I walked around to see where the artisans and food were, then I decided to go down San Sebastian Street and there I found several artisans. I took the opportunity to acquire two serigraphs on the 50th anniversary of the festivities. Since I had never been to El Adoquín I made a stop at the bar, where the Medalla beers were being put in ice so that they could be nice and cold.

I sat for a while on a bench in front of the community La Perla to appreciate the landscape and take some pictures. The day was perfect, very nice temperature!

My fourth place to visit was to drink something at El Cafetín, where I had a drink of Tito’s vodka with natural tamarind juice.

On the way there I found a character dressed in period. While enjoying my stick as we say here in Puerto Rico, some friends of mine arrived, bought their drinks and began to climb the street of San Sebastián. That's why when you go to these parties, you listen to people sing;

"Voy subiendo, voy bajando

Voy subiendo, voy bajando

Tú vives como yo vivo yo vivo vacilando".

I needed to buy a t-shirt for my daughter, grandchildren and son-in-law, so I took advantage of it and approached the kiosks of the artisans to acquire them. On the way I stumbled upon a tobacco kiosk and bought several for my brother, since the craftsman told me that he cultivated the leaves here on our Island but that they were Cuban seeds, with the fame that Cuban cigars have, I thought they should be good and I acquired several.

In these parties one can take advantage of and get very nice gifts made by our artisans, taste meat skewers, empanadas, chicken wings among other things in the different kiosks, and enjoy different artistic talents with their music.

I passed by the stage near the Tótem Telúrico and there was the musical group Limite -21 who had those present singing and dancing. It had people remembering the school proms from back in the day with the different themes from different eras they played. Then came Pirulo y la Tribu, who played the drums and thanked for being after he shared a video about the beautiful landscapes of the Island while singing.

Thus the day runs with several platforms at different points at different times, sometimes at the same time delighting people with different live musical genres. At the end of the day you share with friends, family and even make new friends, it's all about enjoying good music, food and appreciating and acquiring different types of crafts. For some Puerto Ricans it means the holidays that end the Christmas season.