Fayerweather Street School Puerto Rico 2026
February 9, 2026
Everything went smoothly in getting to Puerto Rico. When we arrived, Global Works members greeted us and we piled into two buses to head over to the Big Yellow House. When we arrived at the Big Yellow House we had an orientation meeting with our Global Works team. After orientation we ate some delicious hamburgers before heading to our rooms to settle in. After we had some time to gather ourselves, we built our community agreements for our stay. When we were finished brainstorming, some of us walked to the beach. We saw three stray dogs. Once we finished our beach adventure we ate a traditional Puerto Rican meal of beans and rice, salad, and chicken. When dinner was finished we had an end-of-day orientation before settling into bed for lights out followed by a good night’s sleep.
By Duncan, Antonia, Maribel
February 10, 2026
Today was the first full day of our Puerto Rico trip! It was an extremely eventful and enlightening day. We kicked it off with an early morning breakfast to fuel us up before setting out to Old San Juan. We met our tour guides who informed the group about our itinerary for our jam-packed day.
On our tour, we explored places like the Catedral de San Juan, El Morro, and La Fortaleza, diving deeper into San Juan’s rich, multifaceted history. After having a delicious, classic Puerto Rican lunch, we did a little bit of guilty souvenir shopping. We then hit the road again to head off to Santurce, where believe it or not, the traffic was almost as bad as in Boston.
Santurce is a vibrant and deeply historic neighborhood of San Juan, whose colorful streets are painted with meaningful and symbolic murals. We were astounded by the profound nature of the murals, whose messages reflected the act of resistance from people all over the world against gentrification and other subjects.
Tired from a long day of tours, heat, and walking, we took buses back to the Big Yellow House, where the traffic was arguably worse than Boston’s. During the last hours of light, we bathed in the sun while playing various group games. The sun set as we enjoyed flavorful rice, beans, chicken, and plantains. Finally, we closed the night with a group reflection about our day in San Juan, the lessons we learned, and the exciting upcoming activities of the rest of our Puerto Rico trip.
By Andrew, Isaac, and Niklas.
February 11, 2026
At 8am, we bussed to Finca Semila for a morning of service on the farm. We split into four groups where we engaged in various projects: planting peas, bagging dirt, helping create a wall of plantain trees and moving chairs for the afternoon lunch. After this, we learned about how cacao beans are grown and processed before trying some of the farm’s finished chocolate. We also took a tour of the greenhouse where we learned about the process of grafting a cacao twig to a seedling in order to maintain genetics and expedite the process of bearing fruit.
After the tour we had a delicious lunch of rice, beans, chicken, and salad at Finca Semila. We had the opportunity to buy the farm’s chocolate bars and then loaded on a bus to head back to the Big Yellow House. In the afternoon, many of us went to the nearby beach. Following dinner, a local salsa instructor came to teach us the foundational steps to this Puerto Rican dance.
By: Emmeline, Tessa, and Vivian
February 12, 2026
Our last day in Puerto Rico – today we made a lasting impact. We volunteered to help make the foundation of a house with concrete. After we packed up our things from the Big Yellow House and headed to our worksite in Via Del Rio we got quickly briefed on the process of building concrete foundations. We learned how to make concrete and not only did we make strong concrete foundations, we also made strong teamwork skills and friendships. We used a zigzag conveyor belt process where we would pass down buckets full of concrete to one another. It was messy but fun and rewarding. After our work period, we got served a home cooked lunch by one of the community members named Maria. After a day full of hard work we loaded up onto the bus where we had an hour and a half drive to the town of Luquillo where we checked into our hotel and settled in. Our last day in Puerto Rico was definitely a day to remember.
By: Aleyna, Emma, Rosie & Daniel
