St. Andrew's Episcopal Puerto Rico 2025
Friday, March 21
Today was our first day in Puerto Rico! Unfortunately, our flight was delayed two hours, making the efforts of waking up at 4 am useless. Upon landing, we met our amazing Global Works leader, Lindsey, who brought us much needed pizza for lunch. After eating and lots of sunscreen, Fernando, our beloved bus driver, drove us to Old San Juan. We met Alvin, another tour guide, for a tour around Old San Juan. We learned a lot of history of Puerto Rico and also visited an old Spanish fortification in San Juan. After some convincing, we headed to a street sorbet truck, and enjoyed a cup of refreshing sorbet. Alvin then took us to his favorite souvenir shops, which was loaded with jewelry, merchandise, and clothes. After learning that the red lights were not for the blind cats, we then arrived at the Big Yellow House. We settled in our rooms before having a quick debrief about our day. We then ate pasta for dinner before winding down. Some of us played volleyball while the boys played basketball. We then got ready for bed, and chatted for a bit and played a bit of uno. Preparing for a hard-working day tomorrow!
By Sanya S and Stella L
Saturday, March 22
Today in the morning some us went on a sunrise walk at the beach as we watched the waves. We collected shells and sea glass. It was such a relaxing way to start the day. For breakfast we had a delicious meal of pancakes, eggs, and potatoes.
After we all got ready to leave we drove up to the community of Villa Del Rio project . We went Willy, Angel and Eggy, the community leaders. We started learning planning what we were working on. Today we worked on building columns to support the cement. This job is very important because if it is not done right, it can cause cement that is poured into it to crumble. Some cut wires, some formed rebar, and some helped to assemble the rebar column. We picked some designated translators to help the people who don’t know that much Spanish be able to know what they were telling us. We worked until about noon. and then went to eat at Maria’s. After lunch we went back to work to finish making the rebar column. We made a stop at the beach after working to cool off and have fun. We all played volleyball and swam for hours. The day was a lot more eventful with great learning experiences. We ended the night with a documentary on Puerto Rico, and heard a nearby neighborhood party with a live Puerto Rican band.
By Zoe and Andrew
Sunday, March 23
Today we woke up at 7:30. We had breakfast at 8 and for breakfast we had French toast, sausage, and, eggs, fruit, and kiwi’s were the best. We left to work at nine and spent time building another rebar column. We learned the rebar columns in the house are for support just like our human skeletons. We we to Maria’s house for our last lunch there. For lunch we had rice, salad, and chicken. After lunch, we continued to work with the rebar. In total today, we made 2 full columns. Then we came home and some of us went to the beach and the rest of us relaxed. At the beach some people were able to see a sea turtle. Then at 5:00 people who were resting, went to go meet up with the people at the beach for an evening walk amongst the beach. On this walk we saw crabs, snails, dakari fall, and watched the waves crash on the rocks. After that, we came back to the Big Yellow House, and some of us played games and the rest talked amongst each other. Then we all ate dinner around 7:30. For dinner we had grilled chicken, salad, and rice. For dessert, we got cookies and ice cream. The food was really good but we were all so tired after the long day of working. Excited for another day in PR tomorrow .
-Alina G and Genevieve LB
Monday, March 24, 2025
It was our last morning at Big Yellow House, and we cleaned up before heading out. We took a short bus drive to a local swimming spot. The Taino people thought these waters were magical and healing properties. The sun was blazing and sitting on the hot rocks felt relaxing. There were many tadpoles and small fish. We all loved this spot. After that, we headed to lunch and we had delicious frozen drinks. We spent time at the beaches and did some souvenir shopping. The water was a beautiful aqua. Later in the evening, we headed to the bio bay, where we saw something like never before. It was glowing everywhere. We are going to miss the food, the heat, the community of Villa Del Rio, Maria’s cooking, all the cute dogs and cats, the ocean, and the breeze!
By Dakarai, Khloe, Stella, Genevieve, Alina, Zoe, Sanya
