The Road of The 78 Prayers, A Pilgrimage Home To Puert Ricoe to

What began as a "hey, imagine if we...", became this collection, this photo journey. It documents our mission to visit and photograph the Placitas, the formal town centers of all 78 towns on the Island of Puerto Rico. We'd visited the Island many times before, but this time was different. Although it was going to be an amazing adventure, this wasn't going to be some sightseeing trip, this was meant to be a gift for our kids, a real labor of love. We wanted them to have a record of all the towns of Puerto Rico, some small but tangible connection from here in the Diaspora to the island. So, we carefully planned and recorded our trip through the Puerto Rico landscape. We share our checklist of towns and daily driving itineraries in the event there is an interest in replicating any leg of the trip. The photos speak proudly as each town on the Island, and the 2 towns that are separate Islands, have their own moment in the spotlight. It is our hope that the photographs of your town will serve to bring you 'home'. It was an emotional experience documenting the simple beauty of these places and their ability to transport you through time. An unforgettable adventure as we covered 78 towns in 22 days. During this time, we laughed a lot, ate delicious food, swam in the ocean, climbed mountains, sat in waterfalls, renewed our vows, cried & visited with our Ancestors. We grounded ourselves in our homeland and met beautiful people to share the journey with along the way. Our hope is that you will take this adventure along with us and use this book to navigate your own reconnections from the Diaspora to the island. At the end of each town's highlight, we've left a space for you to write, record feelings, and memories about your own visits, jot down names, stories, and bits of family history. The collection of photos is a beautiful way to connect at family gatherings, encouraging elders, our Abuela's, Tio's, and Cousins, to share family stories, memories, and oral histories. The storytelling borne of our elders is potent medicine in healing the connections of the Diaspora and our connection to the Island. Collect your stories in this book and let it be something you use to gather together, to tell your own story or leave for your children.