Los Viajeros Puerto Rico 2026
June 18, 2026
Hello Parents,
Welcome to the first blog of this trip! Here, we will recap the events of the day and reflect on the rest of the week.
Leaving home, we felt relieved because we don’t need to take care of the responsibilities at home and we can get away from the city life. In continutation, we are able to experience a new place and emerge ourselves in culture. In Puerto Rico, we can do new things and have fun that is different from our usual summers. Leaving our usual life doesn’t seem to affect us and we are all settling in well.
After getting off our flight, there was a mix of emotions. Some people were ready to explore and have fun while others were sleepy and wanted to lie down. When we were driving to where we are staying, we noticed there was a lot of energy in the neighboorhood. Things such as people blasting their music and people on the beach made our surroundings feel alive and makes us exited for the following days.
We are staying at the Big Yellow House, a three-story lodge right next to the beach. It also has outdoor seating, a beach volleyball court, and a kitchen and living area. The Big Yellow House is about an hour away from the airport that we arrived and will depart from, in addition to also being an hour away from Old San Juan, where we will be exploring tomorrow.
Once we got to the Big Yellow House we went over the house rules. We were put into groups to help complete tasks. There is a blog writing group, a cleaning crew, the Leaders of the Day/phone collectors and a translating group. For dinner we ate rice, chicken and salad. After dinner, we got together and talked about our comfort zones – and realized that we all will be pushed into our growth zone this week. We then came together and decided how we wanted to show up as a group. We all made goals for ourselves and talked about how we can support each other to reach our goals.
We are looking forward to many things. Primarily, we want to go out to the beach and have fun under the sun. We are also very excited to go to Old San Juan tomorrow, and discovering Puerto Rico and going to the cultural restaurants will be an expected highlight of our day. We are also super hyped for ice cream, which was promised to us before we get back to the Big Yellow House.
By Marcus, Eli, Laure
June 19, 2026
Greetings Parents,
Welcome to the second blog of our trip to Puerto Rico!
Today, we learned about the history of San Juan in a walking tour. We visited landmarks of San Juan and discussed the history of each one of them. We learned about what used to be the prison that held six hundred people while the capacity was only 200 people. We tried limbers from a window stand, limbers are frozen fruit juice that was invented for a pilot that would ask for frozen juice after a flying to San Juan. We visited “El Morro,” a military fort where we explored the history of it on our own. El Morro was used by the soldiers of Puerto Rico to defend their land. We also got to experience a Puerto Rican restaurant and ate meat, plantains(in 3 different ways!), and rice and beans. After lunch, we went souvenir shopping in the streets of Old San Juan. Once we got back, we got ready to go the beach and walked over. We swam in the ocean and had lots of fun. Once we got back we showered and ate chicken, plantains, and salad. In the evening we had a salsa class where we learned new fun steps and created a dance to do with our friends with traditional salsa music. The first full day felt great and we can’t wait for more to come.
By Polly, Violet, Livia
June 20, 2026
Salutations fellow parents,
Today we went to Villa de Rio, where we begun constructing a house for a family. It is a family of 5 who currently live in a small space. We worked with members of Villa Del Rio who only communicated in Spanish. Our translator team, tried their best to try and translate the instructions. This opportunity was a chance to immerse ourselves in the rural areas of the country and deepen our understanding of typical Puerto Rican lives. We used wood panels and ties to create a mold for a cement wall. To complete the job, we had to first, take the ties out of the wall because it was secure using metal pipe to twist and pull them out. Our second responsibility was to start building the wall, the wall had to have clamps to secure wood behind the walls. Finally, to conclude our day we headed to the beach as cooldown where the water was warm and the sand was beautiful. As we were swimming one of us noticed a sea turtle who was casually swimming in the water. It was an amazing moment. Then, we went on a small hike up this hill which we got an overview of the beach and water, it was scenic and gorgeous. As we close day 3 of our trip to Puerto Rico, we are excited to see more iguanas, have more laughs, and make more memories.
By Zoe, Cecily, & Judah
June 21, 2026
Hola parents,
Today was our second and last day of working at the Villa de Rio, Oh no! It was such an amazing experience and only a little hot, wink, wink. We learned lot about what it means to be in the community and ways that people like us can help. We got to make so many nice friends like Eggy a wonderful soul of the community. We all also become friends with the stray cats and dogs like Triple Tee and Salem Witch Trials. When we were done building our great big wall we ate ice cream with our new friends!!! Woohoo!!!! It was the perfect way to end a perfect day. But wait the day wasn’t over yet. We hoped back in The Wawa and held back tears for the absence of Eggy in our lives. We got back to the Big Yellow house and enjoyed some afternoon popsicles. Then we tanned on the grass and headed to the local beach with the other fellows who were having such a nice time in the agua. That’s how you say water in Spanish. We all had a fantastic time in the beach and played games all together. Zoo Wee Mama!!! We can’t wait to continue our time in Puerto Rico. I hope you all had an amazing fathers day!
By Suzanna, Jojo, Lauree
June 22, 2026
Hola parents,
Today we woke up extra early to head to our activity of the day, which was hiking to a river spot to swim. Breakfast was good because everyone is a big fan of the French Toast but we ran out of juices to we ended up just drinking water. The ride to the river took about 1.5 hours. Along the way people chatted with each other while others tried to sleep. When we got there we played with the pets of the people who were guiding us and everyone introduced themselves. After that, we started going down a path that was covered in vegetation and stopped to collect some purple clay for our clay bath. We coated ourselves in the clay and then we were able to jump into the river. The river area was owned by Meika and her family, it was a majestical place that we were allowed to enter. The water was very cooling and the clay was good on everyone’s skin. Ray, one of the instructors showed us Petroglyphs, ancient carvings from the Tainos that were discovered after Hurricane Maria. It was something special, and something worth learning. Afterwards, we ate delicious burritos with rice, beans, and vegetables. Once we said our goodbyes to our guides, we headed back to the house so some of us could relax at the beach. As we approach our next day, we look back on the fun we had today and prepare for a super early morning tomorrow!
We’ll see ya’ll soon!
By Zoe, Marcus, and Violet
June 23, 2026
Hola Parents,
Today we packed our bags and headed to a cacao farm and helped with landscaping the gardens in the farm. We cleaned the area round the trees, pulled weeds, and learned about the agriculture and economy of Puerto Rico. We also learned that 87% of the food that comes into Puerto Rico imported from different countries. After we enjoyed a meal of rice, mashed potatoes, and chicken made by locals. Shortly after we tasted cocoa beans and were given a sample of the chocolate that only contains 40% cocoa and sugar. After this we were given a truffle of either coconut or pistacio filling and was told to smell all the chocolate before we taste it. Right after this we were allowed to participate in a trivia game were the award was extra chocolate, and then headed to the farms gift shop. Then we drove an hour and a half to our new home for one night, Casa Coral. Casa coral is right of the east coast of PR and theres a beautiful lake four us to swim in. After swimming we enjoyed a Puerto Rican dinner and cooking class! We made mofongo, plantains, and picado. We learned how to dice vegetables, grind garlic, and smash and peel plantains the correct way. We are sad it’s almost over, but we still have some things to look forward to!
See you guys soon!
By Cecily, Livia, Maisie
June 24, 2026
Hola for the final time from Puerto Rico,
Today was our last day in Puerto Rico, and had to be well spent. So, this morning some of us woke up to watch the sunrise. It was a beautiful experience for everyone involved, and opened our eyes to the other beauties of Puerto Rico. We enjoyed a breakfast of bagels and sandwiches, and then it was time to paddle board. We followed a brackish river feeding in from the ocean, and was led by a guide into the mangrove swamps of Luquillo. In terms of history, we learned about an old railroad that once ran through all of Puerto Rico. We also were educated on the way that nothing is wasted in nature, as termites make their nests out of dead wood and feces. Furthermore, we learned how to identify black, white, and red mangroves. Along with the flora, the fauna of Puerto Rico, we learned, is also widely diverse. We were taught about the seven-foot leather-back turtle, and its path from the beach as a baby to the ocean. After, we enjoyed a quick swim in the river. Now looking back on this past week spent, we can take in the small moments and reflect on the community, beauty, and culture here in Puerto Rico. The trip was an opportunity to be exposed to a new life, and that is what happened. Each individual on this trip experienced something special, learned more Spanish, and able to see other parts of the world. We all hope that some time in the future we have an experience like this again and will not forget the lessons we learned.
By Eli, Suzanna and Zoe
