Yare Marbonilla was born in Puerto Rico.

She's a professor and a writer.

I mean someone in a neighborhood called Country Club.

She says, if you came to this island as a tourist, you might not see the island the way she does.

Your hotel would have a generator.

Your resort would be clean.

But in her neighborhood, since Hurricane Maria, everything's changed.

Well, if you walk down the street at night, you'll see very little because the street lights are still not

working. And if you walk down during the day, you'll still see a lot of buildings that the paint

was eroded after the hurricane and that hasn't been repaired.

Still a lot of boarded up windows.

Some of the fast food restaurants, their signs have gone.

So there's just like an empty pole without a sign.

Outside the city, Yarramara's met people who are still living under tarps.

There's bridges that were washed away that haven't been repaired also.

So outside of San Juan, it's much, much worse.

Yeah, I was going to say, like, you're describing a pretty desolate situation, but you're in the middle of the city.

Yes, yes.

The weird thing about this desolation, though,

is that it's not the whole story of what's going on in Puerto Rico.

Most Puerto Ricans, they're just helping themselves.

They're not really waiting for either the local government or the federal government.

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