Mayagüez, Puerto Rico

Paola González sells flower bouquets and arrangements at a small stand in the mall in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. Vendors like González are taking advantage of foot traffic at the mall since COVID-19 restrictions have eased.

Mayagüez, Puerto Rico

From left, Alfredo Martorell, Félix Gómez Polanco and Nelson Guardiola play cards after COVID-19 restrictions were lifted in Paseo Georgina Morales, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.

Mayagüez, Puerto Rico

Roger Olán removes a beehive in Dulces Labios, a neighborhood in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. Residents requested Olán’s services since the hive had been growing for more than a year on a local building.

María Judith Olivera prepares sugarcane guarapo, a sweet juice she sells to people visiting Calle Norzagaray in the historic district of Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. Olivera, who harvests the sugarcane herself, learned how to make guarapo from her family.

Aguada, Puerto Rico

Construction worker Eduardo Cabán helps restore Parroquia San Francisco Asís, the Catholic church in downtown Aguada, Puerto Rico. The church has been rebuilt multiple times since it was founded in 1692, and it’s undergoing a new restoration while church services are minimized due to the coronavirus.

Guaniquilla, Puerto Rico

Muralist Elvis Arroyo paints the Puerto Rican flag on a gazebo roof in his community of Guaniquilla, Puerto Rico. Community beautification organization Los Guardianes de la Costa de Guaniquilla commissioned the rooftop mural, which will be visible to the airplanes that fly over the coast.

Añasco, Puerto Rico

Ismael “Cano” Pérez carves oak wood with a chisel and lathe at his workshop on the coast of Añasco, Puerto Rico. Pérez has been making wooden mortars, a skill he learned from his father, for local restaurants and individuals for 40 years. He says he feels the passing of the years; his hands no longer work like they did before. He plans to leave the space to his grandson who also does woodwork.

Mayagüez, Puerto Rico

Ras Waly, left, and Kevin Otero admire the sunset while playing music in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.

Mayagüez, Puerto Rico

Jacqueline Villarubia practices the drum at a small art studio in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. This drum is a key instrument in bomba, a genre of music with roots in Africa and now traditional to Puerto Rico. Villarubia wanted to understand the genre and decided to take private classes to learn the basics. She practiced a rhythm called calindá first, and later one called holandés, which is characteristic of Mayagüez, on the western part of the island.

Moca, Puerto Rico

Ada Hernández works on a piece of mundillo lace in Moca, a town in western Puerto Rico. As she moves the bobbins, cotton threads intertwine to make the lace. The threads are then held in place with pins to maintain the spacing of the pattern. Hernández has been making mundillo lace for more than 50 years.

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Sylma Escobar, a senior marine wildlife rehabilitation technician, feeds Taicaraya, a baby manatee. Department of Natural and Environmental Resources personnel rescued Taicaraya in May, when she was found stranded on the beach in Punta La Bandera, Puerto Rico. After the rescue, Taicaraya was transported to the Caribbean Manatee Conservation Center for treatment and rehabilitation. The Caribbean Stranding Network, along with the Inter-American University of Puerto Rico, created the Caribbean Manatee Conservation Center to research, rescue and rehabilitate animals and to educate the public about manatees and other marine species. The Conservation Center cares for the animals in order to later release them.

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Sharon “Chachi” González Colón one of the original founders of Colectivo Moriviví, a collective of women artists, paints a mural of a girl with soapy hands and bubbles, titled, “El Distanciamiento es Físico No Social” in Santurce, a neighborhood in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The mural intends to be a message of prevention, support and solidarity in the face of the coronavirus.

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Pigeons wait for tourists to feed them at Parque de las Palomas, a park and tourist attraction in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. Ever since the coronavirus arrived in Puerto Rico and the government declared a curfew on March 15, tourism and business have suffered. Now, with a new executive order, most businesses are beginning to open with required precautions, though some remain closed for safety reasons.

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Héctor Perdomo Encarnación sells masks on Avenida Juan Ponce de León, a main thoroughfare in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Before the coronavirus hit Puerto Rico and the government declared a curfew on March 15, Perdomo Encarnación worked in the construction industry. His work was halted to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Now he sells masks, which his friend makes, Monday through Friday in the San Juan communities of Santurce and Condado.

Orocovis, Puerto Rico

From left, Laila Torres, 16, Jezael Torres, 12, and Ilianys Miranda, 8, load soil into a wheelbarrow for planting in Orocovis, a mountainous town in central Puerto Rico. Approximately 14 children have been meeting at the Solidarity House, in the Miraflores sector of Orocovis, since early July for ecology camp. At the camp, known as the Miraflores Children’s Agricultural School, children plant and harvest food and learn about inclusive language, agroecology and sustainability.

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Sharellie Vega passes ice cream to Juan Rivera, in black face mask, and Estefanie Figueras at Heladería Georgetti, an ice cream shop in Río Piedras, a neighborhood in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Until recently, customers couldn’t enter the shop due to the coronavirus, but the business stayed open by using a side gate as a service window.

Mayagüez, Puerto Rico

Lemanuel Colón ties a lure to his fishing pole on Playa Bramadero, a beach in Mayagüez county, Puerto Rico. Colón says that because his class and work were canceled as a result of the coronavirus, he’s decided to learn something new with his friend, Josecarlo Rivera. “It’s our first time trying to fish, to learn something different,” Colón says. “We’re helping each other, giving each other a hand.”

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Bianca Rodríguez holds a cardboard sign that reads “university students only” at an entrance to the University of Puerto Rico, Recinto de Río Piedras, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where students can claim free boxes of food. Employees and volunteers from the Deanery of Graduate Studies and Research, the Rio Piedras Urban, Community and Business Action Center and Mesón de Amor, a community project, have distributed the boxes once a week for six weeks to help students who have been economically affected by the coronavirus.

Rincón, Puerto Rico

Javier Vélez displays his artisanal woodwork in at a public market known as Art Walk in Rincón, Puerto Rico. Artisans from Rincón and neighboring towns come every week to sell their wares or crops, since the town gets a lot of tourism. It is common to smell coffee and hear people speaking and enjoying the cheerful atmosphere.

Humacao, Puerto Rico

Eric Rodríguez, 11, fishes with his family at the Humacao Nature Reserve in Humacao, Puerto Rico. The land, previously dedicated to the cultivation of sugar cane, was designated as a conservation project in 1986.

Humacao, Puerto Rico

Eddie Cruz Rodríguez, 59, has been selling “granos,” a fried dish made of ground rice, water, salt, oil and a small piece of cheese, in Humacao, Puerto Rico, for the last 42 years. He inherited the business from his parents, Bartola Rodríguez Santana and Fausto Cruz, who founded a granos factory in 1950.

Humacao, Puerto Rico

Participants walk during Relay for Life, which took place in Humacao, Puerto Rico on May 18. Relay for Life is a community event hosted by the American Cancer Society since 1996, and now takes place in over 22 countries. During the event, participants walk or run around a track for 12 or 24 hours to raise money for the organization.

Caguas, Puerto Rico

People pause to admire Edwin Vélez Camacho’s Bengal cat, Tafari, during an event in the Jardín Botánico y Cultural William Miranda Marín in Caguas, Puerto Rico.

Humacao, Puerto Rico

Beachgoers stroll along the pier on the beach in the Humacao municipality of Puerto Rico. Behind them is a good view of Cayo Santiago, popularly known as Isla de los Monos, or Monkey Island.