Puerto Rico Hurricane Relief 2024 Session 3

July 12, 2024

Buenos dias familias! Today we set out on our adventure to Puerto Rico! It was quite the roller coaster to get to the Big Yellow House. Many flights were delayed due to thunderstorms, but eventually we all made it. A group of us arrived in the morning and got to explore the beach. The beautiful Puerto Rican coast amazed us! We enjoy the view of the greenery and the sandy beach. The water was very warm and pleasant. We swam for around half an hour and then made our way back to the Big Yellow House. Dinner was delicious, chicken, salad and plantains. After more people arrived we played card games on the patio like BS and Spit. After we were done on the patio, we headed upstairs to play bonding games with our group. We went around and shared names and what we were most excited for during our time in Puerto Rico. Then, we did some team building exercises and got to know everyone.
Now we’re heading to bed to get some rest before our tour of Old San Juan tomorrow. Goodnight!

By Tabby, Lola Jane L., and Keira

July 13, 2024

Buenas noches familias! Today we woke up bright and early at 6:30. We had a nice breakfast of French toast and cereal. Then we boarded the bus to Old San Juan. The bus ride was about 40 minutes and we got to see beautiful views of the greenery from our bus seats. When we arrived in Old San Juan, we met our tour guide, Alvin, and began our journey! We started by walking through Paseo de Princesa, or “The Princess Promenade”. The beautiful pathway features unique cobblestone streets of cobalt, denim, and slate blues gifted to Juan Ponce de Leon from France! After trailing many of these stunning streets, we arrived at a lookout point along the city’s wall overlooking the ocean. Before our final stop, our guide took us to various churches featuring beautiful architecture built from limestone and mud, as well as Ponce de Leon’s family home and garden! The garden presented us with exotic plants like Bird of Paradise, Lobster Claw flowers, and rubber trees. Our last destination was El Morro, a waterfront fort in Old San Juan. The fort has four different levels, with the lowest at sea level. The fort not only provides its visitors with a unique history of battle, but also showcases spiral staircases, high arches, and waterfront views. After touring the fort, Alvin took us through many different local shops that sold trinkets, art, and Puerto Rican merch. Many people bought gifts for family and friends and we got ice cream bars before getting back on the bus. After a very long bus ride back due to traffic we chilled and played cards for 45 minutes.

Afterwards, we all walked down to the beach together and spent about an hour swimming and playing. After the beach, we all came home and ate a large and tasty dinner of rice, chicken, and salad. After dinner, we did team building activities in the yard, including lining up in birthday order without speaking and doing an activity where we learned about each others’ comfort zone. After these activities we created our community agreement and signed it. Lastly, before we went to bed we wrote this blog and went to bed.

By Lola L., Pierce, Ellie, Kiera

July 14, 2024

Hola familia y amigos (friends and family).

Today was day 1 of service work, where we had the opportunity to help rebuild a home in Villa del Rio. We had a welcoming and supportive team that were with us throughout the entire process. And Kamila who helped translate❤️. The group was split into two smaller groups. One was focused on laying down poles to stabilize and create a strong roof. The other group worked on the stability of the house by using gatos (red long poles) and drilling them into the floor and nailing them afterward. At first it was intimidating by most but with the support of our peers and of the workers like William and Angel, we felt incredibly comfortbale. After a hard day at work lol, we traveled to Maria’s home for lunch, where we had seco de pollo con arroz (chicken stew and rice) and more. It was so gooood, many of us went for seconds! She was so lovely and we even got to chat about her stray cats and her family. After, we took the bus back to the big yellow house, and headed to the beach down the street! We got lucky with a hot sunny day. Some of us traveled on a hike to view the cliffs overlooking the ocean. It was scenic, hot, but super fun. The water was blue, calm, and refreshing. We came back, showered, and sat down for dinner. There was alfredo pasta with your choice of protein: chicken or meatballs. Lastly, we ended the night with a documentary en la sala (in the living room) and learned more about the relationship Puerto Rico has with the United States, alongside many more fun facts. We had delicious popsicles while watching the film🤪. And now we are headed to bed.

¡Hasta mañana¡

By Kamila, Lola Jane, and Cassie

July 15, 2024

Today, we had a nutritious breakfast and discussed our plans for the day. Everyone got ready and we headed to the work site! It was hotter and sunnier today than yesterday. We continued the same work in the same groups, half of us on the roof and half on the ground. We made significant progress on the house, listening to 2010s pop music to keep us energized! After going over plans for tomorrow, we headed to Angel’s house for lunch – which was delicious. Then, we took the bus home and many of us played games on the way. When we arrived home, we were greeted by 6 iguanas in the yard!

After a very quick 45 minute break at the Big Yellow House, we decided to make the short trek to the beach. Unlike the first day, it was bright and sunny, which is perfect for a beach day! We swam, took a bunch of silly, cute pics, and laid out on our towels to soak in the Puerto Rican rays. Eventually, many of us wanted to go on a trail walk to see a beautiful view. We made this trip yesterday, however, Sebastian had not yet taken this hike, and wanted to do it. At the cliff, huge rocks were splashed by waves, with tiny hermit crabs and sea snails living along the shore. After a million more pictures, we headed back to the Big Yellow House to shower and get ready for dinner!

After a delicious dinner, we had a short break before our salsa dancing lesson. In this lesson, the instructor introduced the basics of this Puerto Rican dance. She taught us the hip, hand, and foot movements. After getting down the basics, we moved to dancing with partners to music. The class ended with a dancing circle where everyone danced together. Overall, salsa dancing was a very fun and unique experience!

By By Billy, Ava, and Lila Grace

July 16, 2024

Today we woke up at 6:30am, and had breakfast at 7am. We had a 2 hour bus ride to go the Eye on the Rainforest. We had to take a detour because of a past landslide. On the way there we played music, told stories, and some people fell asleep. Once we got there we took a SUPER DUPER long hike, under the hot tropical sun, because the bus couldn’t fit in the long windy driveway. Pierce and Sebastian had to carry the giant jug of water (good job). It was fun. Once we got to the parking lot, we were all handed plants and shovels to work. The plants were endangered endemic plants; With some only having 3 adults left in the wild. We hiked down into the rainforest, and learned how to dig the proper holes and plant the plants. Halfway through hiking, Sebastian was tasked with scaling a tall muddy ridge, to plant a rare plant. Lila Grace was holding the plant and Sebastian was digging the hole. Pierce was climbing the ridge too, because he had the ribbon to mark the plant. All of the trees were spiky and we had nothing to grab on to. After the tree was planted, Lila Grace and Pierce made it down with no problem. Sebastian had to go down with a shovel, and since all of the trees had spikes on them, there was nothing for him to grab onto. He was using the shovel to grab onto something to get down when he tripped on a vine and had to do the classic tuck and roll maneuver. He was alright. Then the group hiked on a bit more and grabbed handsaws to trim back this really pretty tree, and the leaves were edible. The leaves tasted like lemon soap.

When lunch came, we saw chickens and Isabella said that she wanted to cook and eat one 😇. For lunch we had rice, meatballs with a tomato- guava sauce, beans, and salad with a lemon ginger drink. On the bus ride back, we played a game called pass the phone where we pass it around the bus and everybody puts a song in the playlist to play.
Everybody played a lot of songs because there was a lot of traffic on the bus ride back. The ride back was two hours and 30 minutes. We also told EVEN MORE STORIES!!!! Then, when the group got back to the big yellow house, we all chilled out on the patio, played cards, took naps and told EVEN MORE STORIES!!! The group split in half with a few going to the beach to watch the sunset, and a few staying behind to play games and tell stories and spill tea. We also played volleyball. We had dinner before we went to the beach for dinner. We had Mofongo, chuleta chicken and salad. It was very tasty 😛.

When we went to the beach to see the sunset, we decided to do a photo shoot and it was a bit zesty 😝

After the the photo shoot, we decided to take a swim. But sadly, it was cut short by the lightning. We saw a beautiful view of the sunset.

The other half of the group stayed and continued to play card games; we played spit and BS. We also talked about the crazy controversies in our different schools.

When everyone came back we did karaoke, where everyone ate down real bad at singing n rapping😛

We kicked the night off the vivir mi vida by Mark Anthony, (Jrge is a crazy good singer) fallowed by Empire State of mind, with Sebastian and Pierce. After an hour that seemed like 10 minutes, the night ended with California girls, with Cassie, Isabella, Keira, and Ellie. Fallowed by Call Me Maybe with Sebastian, Ava, Lola and Tabby.

Okay that’s it we’re tired goodnight 😛

By Isabella, Sebastian, and Mahreen

July 17, 2024

Today we woke up at 7:30 and had breakfast at 8:00. The group ate breakfast together with a beautiful sky in the background. We then proceeded to get ready and got on the bus at around 9:00. Today we were going back to resume work at Eileen’s house. The project just required cement to finish the roof. We worked persistently till 2:30 while putting our sweat, blood and tears into our work. Upon finishing our hard work on Eileen’s house we took the bus to Maria’s, we ate spaghetti and meatballs. Personally I found the food delicious. 😋

After a long day at work, we were all thoroughly caked in cement so when we returned to The Big Yellow House, everyone made a mad dash to the showers. A few of us went down to the beach and the rest of us hung out around the house. Before we prepared for our guests arrival, we read books in the hammock and played cards.

At 7:30, our friends from the worksite, Angel, Maria, William, Raul and their families came to join us for dinner. We ate hamburgers and cupcakes while our guests talked to us about the importance of our work. They gifted us bracelets with the PR flag🇵🇷.

After we ate we played volleyball and then tag with Eggy. We started out playing freeze tag, but then we finished with a type of tag called “infection”. We had lots of fun scaring each other all over the large lawn. After tag some of us played basketball while others had an impromptu photo shoot! 📸 Then we all settled down and started to pack up our things in preparation for our day in El Yunque.

Today was a challenging day but a fun day even more so!!!

Ben, Ellie, Tabby

July 18, 2024

Today we had a fully packed day all together! So packed that our blog is formatted a little differently but enjoy some of our favorite moments from the day!
– climbing on the rocks at las pailas, a river in El Yunque
– Messing around in the new room hostel where the boys are staying for the last night in Luquillo
– kayaking up stream
– Kiosko shops
– Stacking the rocks in Las Pailas
– Climbing the rocks
– pizza at Casa Coral
– Souvenier shopping
– Biobay, but some were expecting blue shimmering water. The moon was bright so we used tarps to see the phytoplankton
– Our last breakfasf together
– Ants on my feet on the beach

We ended the evening and our unforgettable week together by writing letters to ourselves which will get sent in the mail in a few months. It was an incredible week and will be a bitter-sweet goodbye. See you soon, beautiful island!

Written by all of us!