Moorestown Friends School Puerto Rico 2025
June 23, 2025
On the first full day of our trip, our group leaders (Lauren, Hunter, Prem and Johnny) woke up everyone at 6:15am. We had a delicious breakfast at 7am. We were served sausage, french toast, croissants, and fresh fruit. After that we went on our adventure to old San Juan were we visited numerous historical sites such as fortresses, castles, crypts, and churches. While there we learned the importance of the architecture and city planing which allowed for ventilated streets and a completely protected city. We went to a historic jail cell and El Morro castle. We had another nice meal at an authentic Puerto Rican restaurant where we got to pick between beef, pork, and chicken. Then we got some time to look through a Puerto Rican gift shop and had time to pick out souviners for family and friends. We then went to a popsicle store for a nice dessert. Then, we headed home. Once we got home, we put on our bathing suits and more sunscreen and took a short walk to the beach. While there we collected shells and played a short game of football with a hallowed out coconut. We returned to our housing to have a nice dinner including grilled chickens salad, potatoes, and rice. After the meal we watched an insightful documentary that explained to us the struggles of living in Puerto Rico. We then reflected on the video and got excited for our service projects tomorrow.
-Lauren, Hunter, Prem and Johnny
June 24th, 2025
On our first day of service work, we started with a nutritious breakfast of eggs, pancakes, turkey and sausages. As the group leaders, we had to clean up before we could leave to get on the bus and start working at the construction site. We are helping build the walls of a house by mixing and pouring cement to make walls for a family. We met a bunch of kind and helpful people like Angel, William, Eggy and Jinalax. They helped us feel more confident about working and building with concrete. Before we came here we all thought that a language barrier was almost impossible to overcome. Lucky for us we had a translator in our group! Sadie was able to help us understand what everyone was saying. We started our work by picking which jobs sounded interesting to us. We made an assembly line to help us be quick and efficient. We started working at 9:15 and ended around 12:40. We had some breaks in-between. For lunch, we had yellow rice and pollo guisado. Maria made all the food for us and we ate it in her house. It was absolutely delicious. We even had some extra time to hang out with Camille, Abraham and Bryan. We ended up finishing 50 bags of concrete at the end of our time. We all worked our tails off to finished a whole wall and ended up starting another one. Once we had finished our goal for the day, we went back to the Big Yellow House and had some free time at the beach. Then, we had pasta for dinner, called our parents, and ended with some fun games and a group reflection.
Adios,
Sadie, Bryn, Aiden and Will
June 25, 2025
Our third day of Puerto Rico began with a truly eventful start. Regarding the breakfast, we had a variety of foods to choose from which included ham, eggs, waffles, and a selection of fruit. After arriving at the worksite, we met the owners of the house we were constructing, along with their kids. This demonstrated the importance of our work on a personal level, and how it benefits others. We ended yesterday having finished one wall of the house, and with our improvement in collaboration and communication, we finished the work today. After our lunch, the leader of the job site, Angel, gave a meaningful and impactful speech on how much your mindset affects the outcome. As a bonus, we then learned that we broke the record of concrete bags used, ending with 120 used bags, 5 more than the previous record. Our next stop was Casa Coral, a beachfront villa, sitting among a beautiful lagoon leading into the ocean. We then swam and paddle boarded in the river. After a nice dinner, we walked to downtown Luquillo and had a lesson with our talented salsa instructor, Yara. On a funny note, we saw a ginormous spider on bench. To conclude our day, we went home and had a group meeting to settle in before bed.
-Arianna, Nolan, Ayaan, Nicole
June 26, 2025
On our last day of service work, some of the globals went on an early morning workout lead by our leader Sarah. We then had breakfast which included eggs, pancakes, fruit, toast, ham, and potatoes. For our service today we did trail maintenance, by picking, cutting, and racking plants or trees. Overall, we built a whole new trail for many people to enjoy rather than destroying the homes for wildlife for fancy resorts for only a few. For lunch we chose between sandwiches and gyros. We rode the bus back right after lunch. We met an iguana who was very interested in us.
In the afternoon, we dunked into the lagoon before our paddle board adventures started. We had a tour on the paddle boards with Ramon who also helped with our trail. Ramon taught us about the importance of the mangroves and turtle hatchings. Later we had free time which led into dinner. For dinner we had chicken, steak, beans, and rice. At the end of the night we had a reflection on the rose, buds, and thorns of this trip. Adios!
-Margo , Alexa , Luke , Diem
June 27, 2025
Friday, June 27th, 2025
On our final full day, we started the day with a great breakfast including pancakes, eggs, fruit, potatoes, and veggies. After eating, we went on a scenic hike that led to a beautiful river where we swam. Although the rocks were slippery, we enjoyed the clear teal water and small fish. It was great to have a day of fun and relaxation after a long and hard week of service work. Later on we ate lunch at Kioskos including chicken, fish, or mofongo.
Next we walked to a beautiful beach with super clear water where you could see the marine life under you. It felt so nice to be in the nature we worked so hard to protect. After having free time to swim and shower, we ended the day with kayaking. First, we paddled through a rainforest with a buddy in the kayak and ended up in a big lake. When the sun had gone down, the water was glowing as we touched it with our hands and paddles. Although the ride back was hard while going against the current, when we arrived back we had snacks and water waiting for us and headed home shortly, happy to sleep after a long day. There were some mixed feelings preparing to leave Puerto Rico tomorrow, many eager to see family and friends but will always remember the work we accomplished on this trip.
By Anna, Sarah, George, Brayden
