Saklan School Puerto Rico 2023

December 1, 2023

We stepped off the plane and were finally in Puerto Rico! The humid air was a bit of a shock but we were finally there! We met our guides for the week, Sam and Lauren, and had a delicious pizza lunch at the airport. We took a picture to show we had made it and then we took two vans to our lodging for the week: the Big Yellow House! There was a little time to settle in and change and then we headed off to the beach. On our way, we saw lots of coconuts and palm trees as well as street cats, chickens, and dogs. When we arrived at the beach, we set our towels down and went to play in the sea. People spent time enjoying the waves, playing three flags up, snorkeling, and wave riding. We even went searching for coconuts so we could have fresh coconut water. When beach time was done, we walked back to our rooms to get ready for dinner. At the end of the day, we were placed into two teams for the week and we earned points for our teams by having good sportsmanship. We did a few more activities and the day ended with everyone going off for some much needed sleep.

By: Kori and Eleanor

December 2, 2023

Once we woke up early we had an amazing breakfast catered to us. After breakfast we left for San Juan. We felt the ocean breeze all throughout the tour around Old San Juan. We walked through the rainbow colored streets and visited many statues as well as Juan Ponce de Leon‘s house. After we visited all the old historic buildings – including the famous fortress – we had a hardy lunch. Then we went to the neighborhood of Santurce and saw beautiful urban murals. Several murals represented the history and culture of Puerto Rico. We went home and plunged in the ocean and ate dinner. Then we played team work games. It was a very special night and we all sung and ate cake for Noah’s birthday. Then we calmed down for bed. Good night!

By: Yiannis and Mars

December 3, 2023

Today was our first workday. When we got to Villa Del Rio, the community where we are going to be building houses. The locals welcomed us with open arms. We then met William, Angel, and Eggy And they showed us the ropes on building with rebar. We were challenged with understanding the instructions in Spanish but we had help from our chaperones and we were able to understand how to help. After an hour or two of construction we had a lunch break and we ate delicious food prepared by Angel’s wife Maria. After the break we went back to construction to finish the rebar columns. Then a couple hours later we finished up and went back to our vans to go home. We were all hot and tired so we decided to cool off in the nice and cool Atlantic Ocean. When it was time to head home and shower we all went home and  cooled off. After walking back and showering we played some relay races with our teamwork groups. After that we learned how to dance salsa with Lauren and we all had the time of our lives! After this packed day we were all exhausted and got ready for bed, and as you could probably assume, we all fell asleep within minutes.

By: Sam and Caleb

December 4, 2023

This morning we woke up and had waffles for breakfast. After that, we left the big yellow house for Villa Del Rio. Today we worked with concrete for our community service. The long assembly line that helped us lay down the concrete for the foundation of the house made it easy. Our class teamwork made the work go a lot faster than it would with their original team of workers. This experience was enlightening, because it was a new experience where we got to help people in need. The hot day made it so much harder to do our work, yet our team pushed through the struggles even in the hardest of times. Our teamwork and collaboration lifted spirits and morale for not just our class, but everyone. After we left the worksite, we went to the beach and played in the water. Later in the night, we ate dinner and made teams to create fudge to present as a gift to the community we are helping. Buenas noches!

By: Noah, Nikko, and Oliver

December 5, 2023

When we woke up, we got ready and went straight to our last day on the worksite. We worked on removing cement supporters and filling in the landscape with dirt. After a few hours of work we ate lunch at Maria and Angel‘s house. Then we came back home and had some beach time. Next, we went back to the big yellow house and got ready for a quick sunset hike. We took photos at the top of the hill then drove back to Maria and Angel‘s house for a Christmas celebration with the community members we had met on our trip. At the party there was delicious food and extravagant fireworks. Although we were having fun, we had to say our goodbyes and head back to the big yellow house. When we got back we were all exhausted so we quickly packed for the next morning and went to bed.

By: Mori, Kiran, and Jameson