One part joy, a splash of resistance, and a whole lotta bochinche

Secrets of the airline industry, jibaro history, fashion classism and critics, island 🏝️ karma PLUS our special guest: Gabriela Batista!

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Kristel Brinshot

Jun 02, 2025

Transcript

On this ✈️SPECIAL TRAVEL 🧳 episode of GITN2IT - We broadcasted from the beautiful island of Puerto Rico! we spill everyday secrets of the airline industry, the humble Jibaro hero, fashion classism and critics, island 🏝️ karma PLUS our special guest: Gabriela M. Arrufat Batista!

I'm a firm believer that when a place calls you, it means it's about to teach you a lesson. You may or may not want it or feel ready for it, but your only mission is to just show up. Puerto Rico was that for me.

I started a fashion project 3 years ago inspired by my first trip to PR. It was just after peak pandemic and I was in a creative rut searching for anything to wake me up inside. And it did. The sunsets, the coquis, the waterfalls immediately brought me back to myself, and this time around I couldn't wait to return to feel that ‘main character’ feeling again. But I have been a different person since then, and part of me was nervous that I had hyper-romanticized some place because of who I was at the time. Like seeing an ex lover after so many years, and expecting to still be in love. Ugh.

The perfectly planned trip begins- and nothing goes as planned.

@bigworldtienda fashion project shot in Culebra, PR

To be a main character is also to allow the side character to enter the story and change it. Their job is to veer you off course into a fun new adventure, miss a flight, end up on a mountain on a horse, push you through some tough mud.

My favorite 🐴 neighbors blocking traffic

That is Gaby. A self-proclaimed Afro-Caribbean bartender baddie (who tells me she proudly served Bad Bunny her signature cocktail ) , her irresistible aura quickly took us from total strangers at the bar to distant cousins cracking jokes at the family bbq. Gaby popped into my story at the perfect time; after a long day of travelers diarrhea , food poisoning, and delayed Airbnb experiences due to weather. I didn't know it , but all I wanted that day was to be one of the girls at “piano night” causing a ruckus with a stiff drink in hand.

Being here got me thinking about the pressures to create ‘good’ art, and fast. I kinda don’t believe in either. The best art isn’t always the perfectly planned and executed concept. I think it comes from happy accidents, the mistakes, the mishaps, the perfect chaotic moment that pushes you right out of your comfort zone, and into the zone of genius. It’s when your camera dies and you need to shoot on your cousin’s flip phone, or your outdoor set gets rained on so you say fuck it and make the rain the main event.

Art, like travel, is about risk taking and much more exciting when you embrace it for what it is instead of trying to make it what you THINK it’s supposed to be. The key is this: sometimes the fun is not in doing the picture perfect hangout at the beach, it's in embracing the unexpected- stay indoors during the storm and talk to people, have a few drinks, laugh, and just be yourself. Pay attention to what the world around you is trying to teach you. A.I could never.

LOCK IN & GITN2IT HERE

I wanna dedicate this episode to the people of Puerto Rico who despite weathering so many metaphorical and literal storms, they never hesitate to make you smile, share their culture and make you feel at home. They deserve our attention, our helping hand (after all they gave us Baby Miko and Bad Bunny), the least we could do is make sure the coquis keep singing their song of resistance, and RESPECT the land so this island doesn’t become another colonial disaster story lost and forgotten.

X Kristel

Grab a coffee ☕️ , and let’s GITN2- the bochinche!