One day I saw some kids pass by in front of my house and down the hill with wooden homemade cars, which they built out of boxes, with two wheels in front and two in the back. They steered it with a rope tied to the front axle.

I built one for myself and joined them. I was having a good time playing with the kids, but a week after that my older brother [Rafael] saw me coming down the hill with the others and came to me, taking my car away and carried it in front of our house by the steps and broke it in two pieces. I went in the house and started to cry.

I was 8 years old then, my brother was 14 but he was mechanically inclined and very intelligent for his age. Without my knowledge, he was building another car for me. I think he felt very sorry for what he did to me that day so when he finished it he came to me, took me to the lower part of the house where he had it and said to me, "Here. I hope you like it." I took it and climbed into it. It was just like a real car. It had a steering wheel which was connected to the front axle.

When my brother was older he made a real car with an old chassis he found in a junk yard along with other parts like wheels, tires, etc. The car came out very good. It was a Ford. He bought a motor very cheap. When he finished, which took some time, he tried it with his friends going all around town but I didn’t see that car anymore after that. I don’t remember what ever happened to it. As far as the car he made for me, I had it for some time and later I gave it to some other kid.

From Mayaguez, where we lived for l8 years, we never traveled much around the island. We only visited the closest towns. We always visited Rincon where my grandmother lived.

My uncle [Francisco] had a very big farm where he grew sugar canes, fruits and many other products. He also had cows that produced milk. Some times I went to visit them and he let me carry the pails full of milk. I loved to go there. There were many high hills in the farm grounds. He even had a big tank of water that had pipes long enough to bring water to the town.

The town of Rincon was very small but also very beautiful. The house was on the edge of the town and the beach was very close. We walked there all the time for a quick swim. The water there was always very clear and warm with temperatures from 75 to 85 degrees.

We made many trips by train...about an hour from Mayaguez to Rincon. it was only twenty miles. When we got there the first thing I used to do was start running until I got to my grandmother [Etelvina]'s house before the others. I always wanted to see her first, then after I saw her I went to my uncle's house to play with all my cousins. There were nine brothers and sisters, not counting their parents.

My uncle always brought some milk, eggs, vegetables and meat to grandmother. By then, she must have been about 65 years old. At first the farm belonged to them, but when her husband passed away, my uncle took it over.

One day when I was walking around the farm I was close to some sugar canes. I picked one of them and started to chew on it...then kept walking with one of my cousins. We walked about thirty yards when I saw a beautiful mango tree. I stopped to look at it, then there was a mango already ripe. It was on a low branch and I decided to pull the branch down until I was able to grab the mango with my other hand. Everything was going fine, but there was a beehive and the whole nest fell on my head.