Cathedral School Puerto Rico 2024

February 22, 2024

Good morning, good afternoon and goodnight to our viewers. Today marks the first blog of the 2024 Puerto Rico Service Trip.

We were awakened by rain, which was widely unexpected amongst the group. As we loaded into the van, we were excited to visit the city of Old San Juan and experience what it had to offer. We were greeted by Mr. Corrigan’s friend, Alvin, and we began our tour of Old San Juan. During our tour, we got to immerse ourselves in the culture of Old San Juan, including multiple churches, statues and the highlight, El Moro. Following our morning of exploring, we stopped at a local lunch spot to get fueled up for the second half of the day, before we went shopping on a nearby street. We loaded back up into the vans for the Big Yellow House (where we stay), and got ready for a highly anticipated visit to the beach. Even after a long day, we got 100% turnout for the beach. After a long day of touring, we ate a rewarding and delicious dinner of chicken and rice. To compliment our day, we watched a documentary following dinner about the unfortunate events that have led to the poverty in Puerto Rico. We enjoyed and cherished our first day of this amazing trip. Tomorrow marks the first day of service which is highly anticipated amongst the group. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s blog!

By Dashiell G. and Reid H.

February 23, 2024
The day started with a frittata breakfast and soon after we loaded the vans ready to go to to Luquillo and meet our hosts at the Foodscapes Farm. We drove for around an hour and 45 minutes until we arrived. As we pulled up to the farm, Carlos, the main farmer at Foodscapes, greeted us with a warm welcome along with his cousin Cristian, his wife Anabelí and kid. We soon got started learning about different plants and what they do for the environment. We started doing our manual work and planted seedlings in the greenhouses. Soon after, we moved grass to be used for mulch, and dug up and collected turmeric. After our work, we ate a delicious lunch of veggie-burgers, pasta, and salad, cooked by Annabeli. We then went on a hike/tour of the rest of the farm, learning about the native plants of Puerto Rico.
After the fun times at the Farm, we drove another 30 minutes to a nearby river to take a swim. After the swim, we ventured into the main town of Luquillo to do some shopping and eat dinner. After about an hour of shopping, we went to eat at El Terruño. At the restaurant, we feasted upon some delicious fish, chicken, and most of all, Mofongo! Then enjoyed a 2 hour ride back to the Big Yellow House. Good night!

By: Caden C. and Ronan McD.

February 24, 2024
Today was a very long and eventful day, with construction, work, great food, and fun times at the beach. The group started the day strong with some great pancakes. After breakfast, we drove to the worksite where we met some amazing people who gave us instructions for the day’s work. The group then began digging and putting the dirt into buckets. This led to other people pouring dirt onto the floor to make the ground level. Once that was finished, we began putting in the rebar, and we learned that precise measurements are extremely important in construction work. Our last activity for the day was learning how to tie the rebar together and prepare it for concrete to be poured. After a long day of work, we finished with some delicious homemade food at Angel’s house. We went to the beach to have some fun and had an end of the day discussion reflecting on what we did today and we played a fun role game Mafia.

By Damian T. & Graham D.

February 25, 2024
We arose to the great aroma of French toast. Chowing it down on the way to the vans, we got ready for a day of hard cement work. The first step of the day was finishing the last bars of rebar and making sure everything was up to standards. We learned what ratio of sand, rocks, cement powder, and water were needed to create the ideal mixture of concrete. Some of us shoveled rocks or sand into buckets. Others heaved concrete and got it into buckets so it could be passed down a line and poured. It felt very good after we had finished the hard day of work. We were working at a sustainable pace and making adjustments we needed during the day. We then settled down for the most delicious wings and rice for lunch. After gulping down delicious food made by María, we cooled down at the beach. There weren’t many waves but we found other ways to have fun in the refreshing water. And we had a volleyball so we played on the beach. After we had thought our day was only going to be eating dinner, we were surprised with salsa lessons that were really fun! 🕺🏽Now we are headed to bed and are going to pass out.

By William R. and Pontus F.

February 26, 2024

Today, the sixth day of the trip, we finished the concrete floor of a house blown down by Hurricane Maria. It rained a lot and we got held up yet we still finished the job before lunch. We mixed concrete, shoveled into buckets, and poured it out again. In all, we made 45 batches of concrete. Afterwards, we went to Maria’s house for lunch. We ate spaghetti and meatballs. It was tasty. Then we went back to the vans to go back to the Big Yellow House, where we got ready to go to the beach. It was a very sunny day at the beach, the water was clear but the waves were small. We buried Titus, Damian, and Kaden in the sand. Then we returned home and got ready to have a party with community members from Villa del Rio. We ate chicken and plantains and got bracelets for our hard work on the house. Then we chatted with one of the constructions workers, Eggie, who we have become close friends with over the past three days. Then we prepared to go to bed. Good night.

By Titus and Thomas

February 27, 2024

Today we woke up and had a delicious French toast breakfast. We packed up all of our belongings and took a two hour car ride after breakfast to Tropic Ventures located on the Southeast side of the island. We met the owner of Eye on the rainforest, 3T. She gave us a small tour of the area. We ate open faced tuna sandwiches for lunch. Afterward, she gave us some background information about the damage that Hurricane María and Hurricane Fiona did to the rainforest. Almost all of their restoration progress from the last 40 years was erased. To help 3T, we dug up wild ginger roots on the side of a hill to prep it to plant cacao saplings. It was pouring rain, which added to the challenge of planting the trees, as it made the hillside extremely slippery. We then stopped and had some free time before we had dinner, which was an amazing veggie lasagna. After dinner, 3T gave us a presentation about the history of their efforts to preserve the rainforest and how devastating the hurricanes were. Tropic Ventures started to conduct research on different trees and wildlife in an area of almost 1000 acres of rainforest in Puerto Rico. To help preserve the plants, 3T and Tropic Ventures started to remove invasive plants and planting new saplings. In addition, they started to compost and recycle trees and waste. In 2012, Puerto Rico Hardwood was founded to prevent trees from going to landfills by turning the trees into wood products, such as furniture. On the site, there are even compost toilets where waste is collected and reused as compost for the plants.

By Matthew L* and Jackson M

*Matthew is the artist behind the watercolor painting (in the gallery below) inspired by the group’s time in Old San Juan!

February 28th, 2024

We arose and got dressed in the morning after being woken up by our English teacher. We sat down for breakfast and had pancakes and toast with nutella and a side of granola with yogurt. We then got ready to plant mahogany trees on a barren mud slide created by hurricane Fiona. We brought shovels and proceeded to create a pathway up the mud slide to find a flat surface to plant the mahogany trees. Halfway through planting, it began to rain, and we were forced to halt our project due to the dangers of slipping or creating another mud slide. We decided to take a break, and most people took the opportunity to change out of their cold wet clothes. After our short break, we were instructed to bring 2 cafe arabica, 2 yagrumo, a couple of cacao trees, and a bunch of patchouli to plant. We used a tarp and sticks to protect the plants from chickens and weeds. After planting, we had lunch which consisted of spaghetti and meatballs and then decided to go on a quick hike to a waterfall. The hike was roughly 10 minutes, and 3T showed us many plants native to Puerto Rico. She also showed us razor grass, which is a type of grass with serrated edges and it can hurt you if you are not aware. When we got to the waterfall the water looked murky because of the red clay and the morning rain. The water was actually very clean and you could rub the clay on yourself to exfoliate your skin. After the hike, we showered and had downtime while we awaited our next delectable meal. For dinner, Monique cooked up chicken stew with rice and salad. Then we lit a fire and played cards like a family 🐸. Good night from Puerto Rico 🐸 the frogs are loud

By: Kieran L. and Anderson O.

February 29, 2024

Today marked our final full day in Puerto Rico, and it was a memorable one. We started the day off with fluffy pancakes and beautiful views of Patillas mountains. Many people were amped up for the day, probably because of the Nutella that was at breakfast, and overall Monique’s amazing cooking throughout our 3 days in Patillas. We loaded up the van, signed the guest book, and said our final goodbyes and thank you’s to 3T, Monique and Mercury. We went to a beautiful swimming spot close by. The swimming was very enjoyable with the sun peaking through the clouds. Even still, it took some bribery to get certain people in the water. Following the swimming, we reloaded into the van, and headed off for Lechonera Los Pinos. Lechonera Los Pinos is a restaurant that offers delicious Lechón, which is a crispy pig delight that we learned about early in the week from our documentary covering authentic Puerto Rican foods. We then let the delicious food settle in our stomach’s as we headed back to the Big Yellow House, where we would spend our final night in Puerto Rico. Before we could do that though, we seized our final opportunity to go to the beach. It was a perfect moment at the beach, where the sun was out and the waves were flowing. It was an ideal final experience in Puerto Rico, but maybe not as perfect as the pizza we had afterwards. To capture our full experience in Puerto Rico, we all shared memorable moments and lessons that we got out of the trip with one another. It was a great exercise to hear from others, and it unified us more than the trip already had. It was a bittersweet final day, we really love this place but we look forward to seeing you all tomorrow night.

By: Reid H. and Kaden F.