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When we think about Puerto Rico, we typically imagine beautiful beaches, warm weather, and a people in love with their radiant blend of cultures. Although I'm a native Puerto Rican, when visiting the island in the summer of 2016, I experienced much more than just that. I experienced a journey back in time. It was a life changing experience from the city, all the way into the central mountain range. It started when I walked into the El Morro fort back in San Juan. What was expected to be a simple visit to a local monument, ended up being a walk through imperial Spain. The movement of tourists and city life seems to fade away as you walk down the stairs of the fort and become a Spanish soldier, ready to defend the land from invaders at any given time. Smoke appears from the old kitchens, the rust fades away from the cannons, and you soon find yourself watching for enemy ships inside one of the many, tightly spaced "garitas" surrounding the fort. Your imagination quickly transforms a casual visit, into a vivid journey through history. It doesn't stop there. As I left San Juan and made my way into the central mountain range, the sounds of a bustling capital city quickly turned into singing coqui frogs and the smooth breeze of the countryside. The air was humid and filled with a variety of sounds and smells; grass, fallen mangoes on the side of the road, food cooking on wood-burning stoves, people talking and laughing from a distance, my imagination took me on an epic journey back in time, once again. This time I was a young boy, running careless outside and through the fields, listening to the sound of my neighbors playing salsa and merengue music at full volume, and the voice of my grandmother calling from afar so that I could make my way back to her house for a dish filled with rice, beans, and fried meat, alongside fried plantains freshly picked from a tree in the backyard. I had visited the island many times before, but this time it was different. I did, in fact, go to the beach and enjoy the warm weather. I had fun and exciting moments with both friends and family whom I hadn't seen in a few years, but the last thing I expected, was to find an adventure in the simplest things I had once taken for granted, and to find beauty in the smallest details that I had often ignored. Sometimes all one needs is a little imagination to create exciting memories and to find an adventure in the ones we've already made.