Beloved/Despised Puerto Rican Beans

I enjoy cooking very much, especially trying new things and especially something as culturally beloved as the traditional Puerto Rican rice and beans.  Rice and beans are a staple in daily Puerto Rican cuisine.  So I ask my sweet neighbor, Tata to teach me how the Puerto Ricans do it.  Since then we enjoyed rice and beans at least 3 times a week.  I made it for all our guest, and felt very pleased that I had learned something so important to Puerto Rican culture.  Now I use the term "enjoyed" loosely.  Adam LOVES rice and beans!  No he LOVES LOVES LOVES rice and beans.  This recipe is very nostalgic for him as it is very similar to what he ate on his mission in Bogata Columbia.  Everytime I made them, he had a look of ecstasy glaze over his face!  Ironically the big boys had a look of pure torture glaze over their faces when they sat down to eat and saw the token 5 BEANS on their plate that we would insist they eat!  In fact Jackson said the other day, " I never want to go back to Puerto Rico so that I don't have to eat the beans."  So very funny to me.  Asher loved them, and was always willing to enjoy a cup full!  Well we are back in the states now, and as I suspected I'm having trouble finding the authentic ingredients to recreate this Puerto Rican specialty.  The pepper used to make a sofrito is very specific, as well as the pink beans, which are nothing like red, pinto or kidney.  I've tried Mexican ( I know its not Mexican but I thought it was a good try) grocers, and simply looking in my local Lin's grocer but no luck.  Until last Wednesday, I may have found what I'm looking for!  I found a pepper in Albertsons called a Hungarian Wax Pepper, which looks extremely similar and smells right too!  So I thought I check out the beans at Albertson's too, and sure enough in the dried bean section I found pink beans.  I've never made it from dried beans though.  I thought this was funny about the Puerto Ricans, they made there sofrito from scratch (its very easy; simply saute onions, peppers and garlic in olive oil) but they always used canned beans.  I guess when you make it daily, you don't want to mess with soaking/cooking beans.  Anyways I'll be experimenting this week, in hopes to recreate some Puerto Rican atmosphere, here in St. George.