The "Faces of Strangers: #38" Story

Antonio

It was an ordinary day.  Sitting across from Antonio asking if he can print out our boarding passes for our flight home from Puerto Rico the next day.  Antonio is the Concierge at the Intercontinental Resort in San Juan.  I told him he may have to wait a few minutes before trying, since he could only print them for me within 24 hours of our scheduled flight time.  So, we began a conversation that lasted over half an hour.  He asked where I was from and I told him Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  A smile crossed his face and he told me, "I lived there for a year in the early 2000s."  Now, what are the chances that a young Hispanic man living and working on the island of Puerto Rico in the Caribbean Sea would have lived in Amishland, PA.  Well, I got to learn about his journey through life from his childhood to his position at the Intercontinental San Juan.  Antonio was born in Puerto Rico over 30 years ago and when he was a young child his mother moved to the United States leaving Antonio in Puerto Rico with his father.  Upon graduation from high school he decided to made a trip to see the mother, brothers and sister whom he barely knew.  He told me the neighborhood where his mother and family lived and I told him that is where my daughter lived a few years while a student at Millersville University.  He stayed for a year, working two jobs, but only after he was able to obtain his driver's license, social security card and other necessary documents that had been stolen from him shortly after he arrived in the states.  Upon his return to Puerto Rico he attended and graduated from college and eventually landed the job with Intercontinental San Juan.  We did have a chance to talk about his homeland and he gave me some tips about travel in Puerto Rico.  Very interesting and knowledgeable guy who finally handed me my boarding passes and told me to give him a call if we ever plan to return to Puerto Rico again so he can help us plan another vacation in his homeland.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.