By: Gabriel Mejia
Five Days with Our Homeland (Cinco Dias Con Mi Tierra) is one of the more popular events in Mayaguez, that’s why many people such as students from University of Puerto Rico – Mayaguez (UPRM), high school students from the surrounding area and others come to spend their time there.
“It gets us out of the classrooms,” said biology student Omar Feliciano, he is but one of the many students who decided to spend his free time in Five Days with Our Homeland.
Every year Five Days with Our Homeland comes back to the UPRM and every year hundreds of students come here to participate in this event. From herbs and plants to t-shirts and jewelry Five Days with Our Homeland has it all. And that’s one of the things that draw students in every year.
At the afternoon people, some students others visitors, cross the bridge in front of the Mangual coliseum that leads to Five Days with Our Homeland. Throughout the entirety of the week people have been coming and going through this spot to reach Five Days with Our Homeland.
For some students like William Gonzalez Five Days with Our Homeland is a break from the mundane routine of taking classes day in and day out. When asked what he thought was most distinctive of the event he said: “Every year when I go through the tents the smell of the horse manure catches me of guard.”
While some might be discouraged by small factors such as the smell in the area from the animals or the blazing hot temperatures common in outdoor events, things like this only seem to encourage some of the students as it brings back a sense of nostalgia of Five Days with Our Homeland in years past.
UPRM students seem to like the event but they aren’t the only group of people here. From Mayaguez and a few other south western towns school students also come here as an escape from their everyday activities and to enjoy some time with their friends.
“I love the atmosphere and the music when I come here,” said one of the students visiting the UPRM. With the atmosphere provided by the music in the background, the people talking and the animals making noise Five Days with Our Homeland feels like the sort of place someone can go to just to relax with a few of your friends for a while.
And that is exactly what many students, from the UPRM and surrounding schools, come here for. That being said not all students who go to Five Days with Our Homeland go for fun; many of them find themselves here to help around with the various activities while others find themselves here to complete work from their classes.
Now, when it comes to Five Days with Our Homeland students are at the heart of the event yet they aren’t the only ones present. People who have long since graduated or have never even studied in the UPRM still come to have some fun, look at the wares or simply just to see what’s around.
“I come here so I can spend some time with my nephew,” said Ana Rojas. Family fun, that’s just another one of the important qualities that make Five Days with Our Homeland such success among the people.
It seems that no matter the age people who go to Five Days with Our Homeland are bound to have a good time. Only a good rainfall could bring Five Days with Our Homeland down and even then it’s almost a tradition of sort.
Come Friday Five Days with Our Homeland will be closing once again until March 2012 and until that day arrives many students, from inside and outside the campus, will have to wait to be able to enjoy another week of escape. “Any reason is a good reason to take a break from class work,” Feliciano said. “It’s always been fun to go, and I know next year will be just as good.”
The Colegio Blogporter 
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