Cathedral School Puerto Rico
April 15, 2018
Today we went as a group on an amazing tour of Old San Juan. We learned about the history of the city and why so many countries wanted it. We visited the oldest fort built there, the second oldest church in the western hemisphere and learned that the names San Juan and Puerto Rico were originally switched. After the tour we went to the Cerro Gordo beach which was very warm. Then we played football in the backyard of the big yellow house and ate dinner. We reflected on our day in our groups and went to bed.
Today we went to Villa del Rio. We worked on Reinaldo’s house. As a group we put cement in a certain area of the hurricane damaged second floor. We had a good lunch and played basketball. In the afternoon we did more cement work. Later on we went to the Ralph’s house, a family from CSB. We ate, watched TV, played cards and swam. After the wonderful dinner we came back and watched a documentary on the rainforest which we will go to tomorrow.
-Nick Y., Nick S., Nick R., Kenson M.
April 18, 2018
Today we had to wake up an hour earlier to get to Tropic Ventures. The van ride was around 2 hours, but people brought cards and we all had fun in the vans. When we got there we met 3T and learned about what we were going to be doing. Following this, we went down through the razor grass and ferns to the muddy road. We used pickaxes, hoes and shovels to dig a water ditch on the side of the road in the wake of a landslide. After about 3 hours of work, we ate Puerto Rican food while 3T told us about her story during the hurricane and her reforestation efforts. We went back to work and covered a puddle in the mud to stop flooding, we said our goodbyes and started the drive back. We arrived home and were surprised to find a cat in the house who we promptly named Lil skirt because she would always run into the house.
-Varun R., Holden B., Baker M., Spencer R
April 19, 2018
Today was our last day in Villa del Rio. It was hard to leave because we had gotten to know the place and the people. We finished pouring cement for the retaining wall in Anna’s house. After that we went to lunch and enjoyed some fried chicken. We had a goodbye ceremony with our friends in Villa del Rio and headed back to the big yellow house. After going to the beach, we cleaned up the house and waited for the nights events. We enjoyed hamburgers and salsa lessons with our new friends. It was a sad goodbye and we will never forget this experience.
-Lochlain S. Cooper K. James D. Andrew L.
April 20, 2018
Today was a fun, exciting adventure. We started off by driving for two hours to El Yunque National Park. We took a short walk down the river where we swam for an hour or two. After this, we drove to Luquillo and ate lunch. After lunch, we had time to go shopping and buy souvenirs. After shopping, we all piled in to our vans to go to our house for the night. Tyrone, the owner of the house where half the group is staying, greeted us and showed us where we were to sleep. The house was very nice and had a beautiful view of the beach. After that, we packed a bag with stuff we needed to go kayaking in the bio-luminescent bay. When we got there we got into groups of two, jumped into our kayaks, and headed towards the bay. After we finished the 30 minute paddle to the bay, we went under a tarp to be able to see the microscopic bio-luminescent organisms. Then we paddled back to our vans, drove to dinner, ate, and headed back to our hotels for a nice sleep before we leave for the airport tomorrow.
-Callahan M., Ale M., William A., Ethan K.
