July 14, 2006

I was watching VH1's show World Series of Pop Culture. If you don't know what that is, it's a game show. Teams compete against each other answering all sorts of questions related to pop culture. So the episode I saw tonight had this team called "El Chupacabra". When they asked the first participant from the team what that meant, the girl did answer correctly...almost.

She said the mythical Chupacabra was from Mexico. MEXICO!!! Oh no, honey...Chupacabra is as Puerto Rican as "el coqui" (our national tree frog). Unfortunately, the legend of the Chupacabra started right here on this island. The Chupacabra is this animal that kills and sucks livestock's blood. People who swear they've seen this creature say it's like a cross between an ape and a bat. I don't know. Do I believe in the Chupacabra? Uh...No. I laugh anytime the news reports on a suspected Chupacabra attack and use it to scare my sister. :) It's been a while actually since there's been a report on it though. The last one I know of was that it had attacked the livestock at this fair type thing next to the Montehiedra mall.

So why do people associate the beginnings of the Chupacabra animal with Mexico? I don't know. Maybe it's X-Files fault. They had an episode once where a Mexican guy (in Mexico) turned into a Chupacabra. Yes, there have been sightings and reports of it in other countries, Mexico being one of them. Even so, the X-Files was wrong and this girl was wrong. As much as I wish it wasn't, the Chupacabra is from PR.

People, do your research: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chupacabra