Puerto Rico Hurricane Relief 2024 Session 2
July 2, 2024
Camp is great, the Big Yellow House is gorgeous! Today we toured old San Juan and learned about its history along the way. For lunch we got to try new foods at a traditional Puerto Rican restaurant, El Jibarito. So many of us enjoyed trying plantains! It was incredible to witness the pastel-colored colonial architecture and also observe the largely different lifestyles that are led here. Today’s climate consisted of overcast and some wind. Due to weather concerns we weren’t unable to enjoy the nearby beach, however, we played games like soccer, football, volleyball, and basketball.
To our surprise, we found many coconut trees at the big yellow house! We climbed the trees to collect the coconuts and cracked them open to try the juice! After taking time to learn everyone’s names, we all drank and ate like one big family! It’s nice to learn about others, we are a very diverse group, but we all get along so well.
Sophia A., Ava K., Nora C., Sean C.
July 3, 2024
Greetings! From the Big Yellow House. Today was a yellow day— we drove into the jungle on the big yellow bus underneath the big yellow sun. At work we got busy bending rebars, building columns, wearing big yellow helmets and bonding with our new happy family. We met the community members, Willam, Angel, Eggy and the person who’s home we are building, Raul. They all taught us amazing new things, and we met a little boy named Jordan who was so friendly! After a morning of hard work and heavy lifting we got back onto our big yellow bus and drove to Maria’s (Angel’s wife) casa/ nuestras casa- and ate delicious Puerto Rican food. Yellow chicken, beans and rice. Filled with excitement we went to the beach, the sun was out and the yellow sand was hot. We swam, played chicken fights and played volleyball with a big yellow ball- we are so grateful for the adventures we had today!
Summer A., Maya A., Bailey G., Caleb K.
July 4, 2024
After a delicious breakfast, we headed to the bus as rain started to pour from the beautiful Puerto Rican skies. Once on the bus, we took photos and played games, looking out the window at the lush vegetation and colorful infrastructure. We got straight to work with Angel and his crew who are so nice and so willing to teach us. At the worksite, we bent the rebar into rings to create columns for the frame of the house because the next step is to mix and pour the concrete which will work to ensure safety for the inhabitants. Some of us hard workers got to use power tools to attach plywood to the house’s exterior. When we returned to our Big Yellow House, we got to call you guys, the parents! We loved informing you about our amazing adventures and new friends. The phone calls were followed by learning about the history of this island through an informative documentary as well as a group reflection. Karaoke night was held after sport activities and dinner where we enjoyed singing “Party in the USA”, “Firework”, and many more as the fireworks filled the sky with a rainbow of colors. As our performances ran late, we went straight to bed to get ready for our day at the environmental conservation site. ¡Feliz Cuatro de Julio!
By Summer A., Veronika H., Brandon M., Ali R.
July 5, 2024
Top of the morning! We arose from our slumber to a hearty breakfast at 7am. After having our fill, we drove 2 hours to Eye on the Rainforest— sustainable forestry and rainforest enrichment project— in southern Puerto Rico. Upon arrival, we met Thrity (pronounced 3 like the number, then T like the letter, so she just writes it as “3T”), the project director.
We were split into groups and given tasks. Some spent the day pruning, others digging, others planting, and the rest cutting down trees. The weather kept switching up on us and downpouring intermittently. We hid from the rain under tree canopies and also ran to a little shelter— El Teatro— to wait it out. Meanwhile, Thrity spoke to us about “sustainable forestry”, the “biosphere”, and how we can contribute to the environment. We dropped off our composts and learned how our poop can become fertile soil.
At 1:30 PM after a long few hours of working, we had lunch at the forestry. We ate really good sancho and some fire meatballs! Some of us even got the chance to eat freshly picked passion fruit, literally right off the vine, and it tasted really really good! Shortly after lunch, we came back home to the Big Yellow House and were able to have a swim at the beach. A few local girls came over and played volleyball with us while their guardian brought us carne frita and quenepas.
After coming back from the beach, we ate dinner followed by a salsa lesson by Yara. We had a lot of fun and everyone learned how to dance by leading and following their partner. The end!
By Ray X., Charleigh R., Alizah O., Marcus L.
July 6, 2024
Mornin’! Today we had a heck of day! We woke up ready for another day of work, but this time was the most exciting. After 3 days of hard work, we finally got to pour concrete (which we really were looking forward too). With a yummy breakfast of French toast sticks, and a peaceful drive with reggae music we were ready to get messy! After a couple hours of hard work, we figured out a fun way to make the work more enjoyable and distract us from the heat. With lots of music and dancing that we learned from our previous salsa class, we were able to share our moves with the leaders in the construction site. At lunch time, we were greeted by Maria and her delicious food. We had some meatball and pasta which energized us for the next 3 hours of work. After pushing through, we eventually came to an end, and were able to take a peaceful drive back to the big yellow house and get changed into our bathing suits and jump into the ocean (we were covered in concrete). We played volleyball, and swam in the clear water for over an hour before we had to come back home. We cleaned ourselves up and then had an insightful meeting about the events of tomorrow (no spoilers!!) For dinner, we had hot rice with veggies and juicy chicken. We ended our service with some fun time with the people we were working with at the construction site. And that’s the day!
Maja B., Rebekah D., Will H., Ishan T.
