Compass Montessori Puerto Rico 2026
April 8, 2026
First Full Day in Puerto Rico!!
Calm mornings waking up near the beach, hearing birds chirp, and eating delicious home cooked meals. Gathered together, we traveled by bus and observed the busy city life of the town of Luquillo as it passed by. Upon arrival in Old San Juan we met our tour guide, Sara, who taught us about the culture, the people, the symbols, the music, and the history of Puerto Rico. Together with the tour guide we walked through the town and ended the tour at El Morro, a castle created as a place of defense in Puerto Rico that was used up until WW2, where we split up to explore the castle grounds. Afterwards, we walked to El Jibarito were everyone enjoyed delicious meals of Mofongo and Arroz con Habichuelas, and a nice cold glass of juice or soda. After filling our bellies, we walked to a strip of shops where everyone was able to explore and souvenir shop! Once we finished shopping we walked to our bus, reflected on our day together, and began the journey home. Back at Casa Coral everyone changed into their swimming suits and got ready for a refreshing dip in the ocean and a small river that was close by. Everyone enjoyed their time spent in the water, playing with friends, and taking in the natural beauty of Puerto Rico. Ending the night on the beach, everyone came together and played a rewarding game of volleyball. Back home we all waited patiently for dinner by playing cards, corn hole, and making fond memories together. All together this experience, our first full day in Puerto Rico (can you believe it!!), turned out to be just as rewarding as it was tiring. We all came out of the day with brand new understandings of Puerto Rican life and culture.
By Sarah, Tessla, Bri, and Zuri 🙂
April 9, 2026
We woke up to the sounds of waves crashing against the sand and gorgeous weather. We ate a breakfast of fresh fruit, pancakes, and potatoes. We jumped on the bus and said goodbye to Casa Coral, we had a two hour journey ahead of us to get to Villa Del Río. Through winding roads and a tropical forest that looked unreal we made it to Casa Maria, our service site. We are helping a family of six who are currently cramped into a small house, three rooms are being built on the back of the house. We met the builders Angel, Willy, and Eggy who welcomed is with kind smiles and loud laughter. We worked for a few hours creating wooden frames which will hold concrete to create the walls of the home. We also cut long pieces of rebar in half, which was a very fun challenge. We walked to another house close by where our generous host Maria served us lunch, she was kind and welcoming. We ate a delicious meal of fried chicken, rice, and salad. After a while of cooling down at Maria’s we went back to work. We began securing the woods walls with rebar and wire. We worked alongside some Montessori seniors from Puerto Rico also working at the site. At 3:00 we were done for the day. We said goodbye to the worksite and drove to the place we will call home for a few days, The Big Yellow House. We all walked to Cerro Gordo a beautiful beach nearby. We splashed around in the waves and played football after having some fun we went back to the Big Yellow House. Dinner was served and was delicious as every one of our meals have been. We ended the long day with Salsa lessons with our instructor Jara. We struggled at first but after awhile we couldn’t stop dancing. Today was a day of new experiences and trying things that could be a bit uncomfortable, but we all had fun and are excited to continue this adventure.
By Riley, Mars, and Elle
April 10, 2026
Starting day 3 in Puerto Rico, we had a full spread for breakfast of pancakes, sausage, eggs, and fresh fruit. Our bus arrived shortly after and we drove to the construction site for our 2nd day of service. We continued to cut rebar and tie it before starting to make cement to build the walls. We split into groups, half of us made the cement by putting together rocks, sand, water, and cement. The other half made an assembly line and passed buckets full of cement down to people who poured them into our molds for the walls. After that, we went down to Maria’s house for another delicious home cooked meal of spaghetti and meatballs with salad for lunch. After lunch, we continued to work with the rebar before getting back into the bus and returning to the Big Yellow House. Some of us got changed into swimming suits and we walked down to the beach. We then walked back to the Big Yellow House, played some sand volleyball, took showers and ate a yummy meal of chicken, fried rice, rolls, and salad with little pastries for desert. After dinner, we watched an impactful documentary about Hurricane Maria and the effects and destruction it had on the people and island of Puerto Rico. We then played some more sand volleyball before going to bed and resting for our full day tomorrow.
By Carissa, June, and Zander
April 11, 2026
Our fourth day in Puerto Rico began with an early wake up call, and a hearty breakfast. With a full day of work ahead we arrived to our last day of service where we put the finishing touches on our project. Our last lunch from Maria consisted of sandwiches, which we mowed down before returning to the Big Yellow House. We enjoyed time at the beach, swimming, relaxing, and playing football. We came back and started preparing for dinner. We were sharing dinner with various members of the community that we worked with. Before dinner, we played hide and seek, volleyball, and frisbee. During dinner, we shared delicious chicken, made amazing conversations, and learned more about the personal lives of those we had spent the last days working with. After dinner we asked various questions to the members of the community, and then headed to bed. It was bittersweet to say goodbye but we will always remember the people we met and memories we made.
By Ben and Mars
April 12, 2026
We started this Sunday with a delicious breakfast of waffles, sausage, eggs, and fruit. We drove up into the central part of Puerto Rico and through the lush mountains to the town of Utuado. We visited Campo Sofia a school similar to our own and met Mica, who welcomed us with a beautiful opening ceremony alongside Ray and Cindy. After gathering around a bonfire together we hiked though the forest, gathering some purple volcanic clay and headed down to a calming riverside. We split into two groups and headed off in separate directions. One group traveled upstream and engaged in a soothing activity where we ground the clay into a paste and covered ourselves with it. The other group headed downstream and covered themselves in a clay mixture as well. Both groups jumped into the water and swam downstream where we were shown ancient petroglyphs that taught us about the lands history.
After our swim we headed back to the main building and enjoyed a delicious lunch of basmati rice, beans, sauerkraut, sweet potatoes, chocolate chip cookies, and lemon grass lemonade. The food was made by Samantha a parent in the schools community. After lunch we headed back to the Big Yellow House where we took our last trip to the beach. We finished the night with some pasta and a couple rounds of group games.
April 13, 2026
We started the day by waking up nice and early so some of the students could go and do a short morning hike to an overlook on a cliff. After the hike we ate a breakfast of eggs, sausage, and French toast then cleaned the rooms. We than said goodbye to the Big Yellow House and got on the bus to head back to Casa Coral, on the way we stopped to do some souvenir shopping and have lunch at a local restaurant. We ordered mofongo with chicken pork and also arroz con avichuelas. After lunch we got on the bus to go to Casa Coral. When we got back to Casa Coral we unpacked than headed to the beach to do some closing activities and ceremonies. These included sharing things with the group about the trip and what we learned. We also talked about how the trip changed us and how it will affect us when we get back home in a positive way! After the activities we had some time to ourselves where we wrote letters to our future selves that will be mailed in 6-12 months, before dinner we hoped in the vans and drove to a place called Bio Bay where we kayaked through the mangroves to a bay where we could see bioluminescence in the water. We finished off the day with a dinner of nice warm pizza. We will miss Johan and Karina with their great personalities a lot! While we are upset that we have to leave such a magical place I can assume for the group that everyone is happy to leave the humidity and heat.
By: Bryce, Silas, Eli, & Otis
