Puerto Rico Hurricane Relief Session 4

July 31, 2023

We woke up early to a French toast, egg and sausage breakfast. then we headed out to tour Old San Juan, our amazing tour guide Alvin took us to various monuments and provided tons of cultural knowledge on Puerto Rico. It was an incredibly eye opening and enriching experience. After the tour we stopped at a local restaurant and devoured the delicious meal provided. After Alvin’s mini quiz based on what we learned from the morning, a few of us got to enjoy one of the best fried cheesecakes with vanilla ice cream we’ve ever had. Once we finished up at the restaurant, we got to do a little shopping. To end out excursion, we all got to enjoy popsicles while taking in the view one last time. When we got back to the Big Yellow House, some of played wavelength while others caught up on some lost sleep. Around 4, we headed to the beach and then enjoyed some chicken and plantain after for dinner. Before bed, we had our fist meeting getting to know on another more and played some knockout, basketball and cards. Goodnight from your favorite kids!
Xoxo,

Julia B, Lindsay T, Darielys D and Sophia K

Aug 1, 2023

Today we woke up to a great breakfast and prepared for a great day of service work. We were introduced to Angel and Willie who showed us our work. They were very patient and taught us the beginning steps of our project this week. We all worked on setting up a wooden mold for cement. We were able to finish our task for today and are excited to work with cement tomorrow. After we worked for a while, we went to Maria’s House who presented us with a delicious meal at her lovely home. We devoured her wings, salad and rice! On the ride home it rained and thundered, so sadly we couldn’t get a beach day but we enjoyed very fun free time. Some of us played basketball, others played volleyball and some were listening to music and making bracelets. Lastly, We watched a documentary about Puerto Rico and learned a lot about the territory’s relationship with the United States. Then we continued to play games and talk before we headed to our rooms to rest after a long day!

Leif St C., Emilio H., Addie R., Ian A.

Aug 2, 2023

We woke up feeling like a million dollars knowing that it was our turn to be the cleaning crew today. The morning was awesome as we cleaned everybody’s breakfast plates with love, care… and hope. After finishing cleaning, we went to the construction site jamming to our favorite tunes in the car. We arrived with a smile on our face and a heart full of joy. Marco says “Wow, what a sight!” , followed by a loud “Puerto Rico!!!!” as he excitedly hopped out of the vehicle. We worked to the awesome playlist put together by yours truly. We made each minute amazing as we danced and danced and danced till our hearts gave out. We ate lunch with our new best friend Edwardo, who is quite the character I’ll tell you. We finished off the day on a very strong note after dinner. We not only made cleaning dishes fun, we got others not in the cleaning crew to join along. We love to freestyle and sing acapella as we clean, a new hidden talent we found as a group this trip. Beach time was lovely. As we attempted to mount people on their shoulders 1 by 1 to make a human tower, we had the time of our lives. Puerto Ricoooo! We finished the day with a salsa class that was groovy. Le damos en especial las gracias a nuestra bella instructora Yara. Amamos Puerto Ricoooooooo y la comida tambienn!!

Best,

Stephanie M, Billy G, Brady S, Jason S.

Aug 3, 2023

Hi everyone! Today was a great day. We had an early start with breakfast at 7 A.M., but it was made worth it by the delicious french toast sticks and sausage. After breakfast, we took on a trivial hour and a half car ride up a winding mountainous road to Tropic Ventures. Tropic Ventures is a mystical land of natural happiness. After a hard morning of protecting the endangered plants in the area, we had a delightful meal that fueled us through the car ride back. We immediately hit the beach. We even saw a horse in the ocean. We came back to have a splendid dinner consisting of breaded mozzarella with ham and salad. We then hit up the dance floor and finished off the night with some groovy karaoke. Today was fantastic for our group and everyone had a great time. Puerto Rico.

Kelsea P., Meredith P., Henry C., Marco A.

Aug 4, 2023

Hello fam, we started off the day as the new cleaning crew. For breakfast we had pancakes, sausage and fruit and then headed to the worksite. When we arrived at the construction site, we finished the wall by taking down the wooden mold while some of us were weed waking the property. Afterwards, we left for Maria’s house to eat lunch. However, before we consumed some fire food, we passed and carried around 200 cinder blocks in the hot Puerto Rican sun. Lunch was chicken wings and rice, yum, yum, yum! After lunch, we drove home, then deep cleaned the big yellow house. To be honest, some of our rooms were quite a mess and a tad bit scary, but we were able to scrub them clean! We then went to the beach and played water volleyball. After the beach, we hung out and ate dinner with the community that we did construction with. Then we took a group photo, said goodbye to Angel, Willy, Maria, Eduardo and Yarie. Lasty, some of us played basketball and then finally went to bed and rested for our final day tomorrow.

Mason G., Camden G., Emil M., Laudina B., and Henry S.