Lancaster Country Day School Puerto Rico 2026
February 28, 2026
We started our journey early and had a fun, calm time at the airport. Once we landed in PR, we met our guide for the week: Lauren! Then we had lunch at a local restaurant overlooking the ocean. We got to try new foods including plantains and mofongo. After lunch we took a tour of old San Juan. We saw weddings, cats, and lots of fascinating history and architecture. We learned fun facts like Puerto Rico means ‘rich port’ after the gold mines filling the island. We also learned about an inspiring woman named Doña Felisa Rincon de Gautier , the first woman mayor of San Juan, she was also a fashion designer and created the idea of the Head Start programs. She was such a woman of the people, that she flew in snow for the Puerto Rican children to play in. Our day ended with a dinner of rice and chicken plus a team meeting. Good first day!
By: Siena W. & Grace D.
March 1, 2026
Today our group explored Utuado, the inner rainforest in the mountainous region of Puerto Rico. At the mountains we connected with the elements. We started the hike with a bonfire then we meditated and hiked through the forest. On our hike, we saw some very ancient petroglyphs that represented the elements. We continued our hike to go down to the river and see newly discovered petroglyphs that were revealed by hurricane Maria. We even did masks using 68 million year old clay. On this hike, we all overcame our own fears in different ways. Some tried new foods and others jumped into a river from a short (and safe) cliff. For lunch a very kind local woman made our group lunch with locally sourced and grown ingredients such as sweet potato salad, sprouted lentils with Asian dressing, chayote ceviche, and for desert there was cookies made with local cacao and hibiscus. Everyone tried all of the foods. Then we all went to the beach near the house we stayed at and played various games in the ocean. Then we had dinner and played board games, basketball and volleyball… and maybe lost a few balls over the fence. We ended the day by packing for tomorrow’s move and getting ready for another exciting day to come.
By: Shawn N.
March 2, 2026
Today our group began the day by packing our bags and departing from the Big Yellow House. We drove to the beach where we would have our surfing lesson. We learned how to safely stand up on our boards. The next few hours were filled with great waves, overcoming obstacles, mixed in with a few collisions. Surfing was tiring, but also so much fun! After our lesson, we were given coconuts to drink from. It was delicious! Then we had the option to go back into the water, which many people did. We enjoyed playing in the waves and flinging seaweed at each other. Next, we headed to lunch at Ocean Lab Brewery, where many enjoyed the classic American cheeseburger and fries combo. The view of the ocean was breathtaking. On our way out of the restaurant, we encountered some parrots who danced to Bad Bunny with us and said goodbye with a loud and startling shriek. We then drove to our current accommodations, Casa Coral. It is such a a nice place to stay! There is a beautiful lagoon right next to the beach where we can swim! After we settled in, many enjoyed a swim in the lagoon and some chose to hang back and stay in the house. The water in the lagoon is warm and fun to swim in. We then regrouped and ate a wonderful dinner. Shortly after, we walked to our salsa dancing lesson. We danced with a lot of spirit, all having a spectacular time! We then headed back to Casa Coral and wrapped up the day with some cookies. We had such a busy day but we enjoyed all of it very much!
By: Samantha and Olivia
March 3, 2026
Today we started our day with a breakfast of waffles. Then at 9:00 we got on the bus to head to the construction site. The bus ride was about a hour and a half and we drove through san Juan to arrive at the community of Villa del Rio. We didn’t hit any traffic on the way. Once we arrived we got off the bus and met Angel, Willy, and Eggy. They gave us instructions on how to be safe and what tools to use in order to build out the walls of a local family’s home. We learned how to make the wall moldings and had to hammer nails, use crab claws, and place boards onto the crabs. After that we went straight to business by bolting boards to the cement. After that, we nailed large planks to the 2 by 4 that was bolted to the ground. Next we learned what ties are. They are a long piece of metal that connects the boards. Then, we started placing the crabs to the end of the ties. The crabs are almost like latches that hold the board to the tie. This will all come in handy when we pour in the cement tomorrow. After that, the walls for the children’s bedrooms will be complete!
After our morning of work, we took a lunch break at Angel’s house cooked by his wife Maria. There we got chicken nuggets, rice, and salad. Everyone was very friendly and we learned that they have seven dogs! After lunch we headed back to the construction site. There we tied rebar together. Rebar are stakes that stick up through the concrete and they act as the skeleton of the walls. When we got home we relaxed for an hour where most of us got acai bowls. Then we went swimming in the river by our house. We ended the night with a pizza party and some of us played games while Grace led some of the girls through a yoga class. Today we enjoyed helping out the family and had a great day!
By: Tyler and Luke
March 4, 2026
Today on March 4th, we continued the work on the house for Ashley and Alfredo. We took the 1 and 1/2 hour drive up to Villa del Rio, and split into two groups. Groups A and B took turns placing walls on ties and hammering crabs onto the boards against the wall. The work was hard, but very rewarding. After a few hours of work, we went to María’s to have her homemade spaghetti and meatballs for lunch. We also spoke to the construction leader’s (Angel) grandchildren while we ate, and played rummy. When lunch was done, we went back to work, nailing more walls onto the other side. Even while it rained, we finished up our work and had a final talk with Angel, with Lauren acting as our translator. They were grateful for our work and gave us bracelets as thanks. We were all very thankful for this opportunity, and had a great time! We all felt so rewarded. When we went back to Casa Coral, we had some down time and went to swim in the lagoon nearby. Then we ate another dinner of Puerto Rican staples – rice, beans, meat, and some plantains. Then we did a reflection about our work and our time so far. Today was rewarding and full of fun, we’re looking forward to tomorrow!
By: Kay
March 5, 2026
Today we started our day with a good breakfast. We had pancakes and potatoes that were very scrum-diddly-umptious. Then there was a minor setback. The swimming hole we were supposed to go to in the El yunque rainforest had flash flood warnings from the sky crying. So then we improvised and went to the visitor center in the El Yunque national park. We went exploring there and found lots of gifts for ourselves and others. Afterward, we went to some beachside kiosks for some souvenir shopping and to get a delightful lunch. The lunch was full of fun, chicken and grouper fish and some people got virgin piña coladas. Behind the kiosks was a beautiful and soft beach to swim and walk on. Then Mr. Fernando drove us back to Casa Coral, and we got to chill and play lots of card games. Later, we all went outside to start our paddle boarding adventure. We learned all about the four different kinds of mangroves. We also learned about the leatherback turtles and their eggs. It was also full of fun with many people falling in and splashing. For the end of our day we showered and ate a Puerto Rican dinner of chicken, rice beans, breadfruit fries, and some leftovers. We finished off the day with some games and our nightly meeting. We are about to go to bed because we have an early morning so we can have another fun day tomorrow!
By: Caroline & Zara
March 6, 2026
Today we woke up early to watch the sunrise on Luquillo beach. After we watched the beautiful sky change color, we came inside to eat a delicious breakfast! There was a slight mix-up with the timing with our caterer, which had delayed the time we had to eat breakfast but fortunately we ate quickly and got on the road! We had a shortish-medium car ride to the dock where we got our gear for snorkeling. We then got on to our boat called “the Sea Titan” we then had an hour boat ride to the coast of Vieques island where we snorkeled for about 40-45 minutes. After we snorkeled we went to playa Puntarenas where we docked and were able to swim on the beach and enjoy refreshing drink but a fan favorite was definitely piña coladas. While on the boat we had lunch which was sandwiches, pasta salad, and fresh fruit. Grace and Olivia found a really big and cool stingray and pointed it out the rest of the group. The ride back from the island was very bumpy and also very splashy. On our way back we were very tired from a long day of swimming and snorkeling. After the boat ride we had drove back to Casa Coral to play games and relax. Until we walked to a restaurant called Ernestina’s to eat. Dinner was rice, beans, and chicken, which was very good. On our walk home we stopped at a small shop to get ice cream (paletas in Spanish!) which were very tasty. After we had completed our walk back to casa coral, we sat and relaxed and went to bed before a long travel day tomorrow.
By: Nehemiah and Jovan
