Montessori Community School Puerto Rico

May 5, 2018

At the beginning of our trip, we arrived at 4:15 am to go to the airport. On the plane most of us either went to sleep or listened to music. When we arrived in San Juan, we had lunch at the mall and then we settled into our rooms at Casa Coral. After we settled in we went to our first restaurant. There we had a variety of amazing food including, but not limited to, chicken enchiladas, burritos and tacos. After dinner we went to the bioluminescent bay in Fajardo where we experienced the organisms that when disturbed, light up in the water! After, we returned to the hotel and rested after a long tiring day.

– Nick H.

May 6, 2018

We’ve had a great first full day! After waking up at Casa Coral, we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast of muffins, sliced fruit, bagels eggs and toast. Not too long after we got a run down of the day and piled into the vans to visit El Yunque, the cloud rain forest. Surrounding the trail were beautiful flowers and ferns, and all other kinds of plants. After a pleasant walk, we arrived at a water hole, where we spent the rest of the morning relaxing and riding down currents. When we grew tired, we hopped out and dried off and headed to a restaurant to relax and talk with each other and of course, eat good food. Following lunch, we got into small groups and shopped for souvenirs at los kioskos. All tired and happy, we took the hour long ride to Big Yellow House where we had beach time, dinner, and a group meeting. In all, we have had an awesome day!

– Olivia R.

May 7, 2018

Hola! Today was our first day of starting community service projects. We met a couple who’s home had been destroyed during  hurricane Maria. And through communication (with the help of translators), hard work, and fun music and dancing we were able to mix batches of concrete and pour them into things that would eventually support the ceiling and roof of the house. We were very productive and collaborated as an a community to help others, and have fun doing it! We can’t wait to start again tomorrow.

-Susana T.

May 8, 2018

Today we switched our original plan on working on Saumaria’s house, and decided to complete our first project. When Angel’s family saw us return, their faces lit up. We completed our project on their house with smiles on our faces. During lunch, some of the boys played basketball against some of the students from Georgia Tech. They seemed to be having lots of fun. After lunch, we all got to work on making cement at Saumaria’s house.

Early today, before we worked on Angel’s house, we witnessed a freak accident where a frightened pony was strangling itself by running around a cable, which caused the lead rope to twist around until their was nothing left to twist. Angel (our community leader) jumped out of the van to help the horse. There was some struggle in the process, but everything worked out, and the pony was fine. After our work at Saumaria’s house, we visited the pony to see that everything was good. The family AND the pony were both very nice! We had lots of fun today and some memories we will never forget.

-Savannah B.

May 9, 2018

Today we did a lot! We started out with a buffet breakfast of pancakes and scrambled eggs. After, we climbed into the vans and drove to villa del rio in our ongoing community service efforts. We mixed and poured concrete columns around the cinder block walls to reinforce them and support the roof that will be put in the future. After working for about 2 hours we took a lunch break and had French fries and chicken fingers! We got back to working and mixed a new batch of cement and finish up the columns then we headed home and washed off all the cement and dust. We had a great time at the beach in the rain and then headed to dinner. Then, we had an official opportunity to interview and ask the community members questions and a translator (Michelle and Ingred) helped. If ignited the flow of curiosity about Puerto Rico. Then it was off to bed!

-Lucien G.

May 10, 2018

Today we worked on the cement floor of a young family’s house. The goal was to create a safe place for the two young boys and family to live and start their family roots.  Sadly, we were unable to complete the cement floor ourselves, but thanks to Tyrone’s group (another Global Works group) by the end of the day the floor was done! The fourth day of work was definitely one of the hardest, but we powered through it as a class. We had to say goodbye to Angel and the community but they have changed us as a collective group and individually and will always be remembered.

-Jessie D.