Puerto Rico: Hurricane Relief Session 2, 2026
July 8, 2026
This morning we woke up at 6:30 am, earlier than anyone was used to (WAY TOO EARLY). We all met downstairs to enjoy our first breakfast at the big yellow house. We ate fruit, eggs, sausage, and exactly 3 french toast sticks per person. We departed for the drive to old San Juan at 8 am. While driving to our destination we ran into some obstacles which delayed our arrival. When we arrived we met our tour guide, a local from Puerto Rico, who took us around old San Juan. She taught us about the history of the area spanning back 500+ years. Our favorite fact was that the 2nd narrowest house in the world is in old San Juan, and we even got to see it. After an hour of our walking tour we ended up at the fort built by the Spaniards to keep other nations out of Puerto Rico.
After this long tour, we were all very hungry so we went to a local Puerto Rican restaurant for lunch. We had either chicken, pork, or beef for our meal and it was very delicious. After lunch we went souvenir shopping and we bought keepsakes to remember our trip and also gifts for our friends and family. We also got to go to Marshalls where we saw a giant dumpling squishy. We finished off our trip to San Juan with a popsicle from a local ice cream shop.
Once we arrived home we got to cool off by a trip to the beach around 5. We swam around and played football. The water was so salty it burned our lips, nose and eyes. On our way home we saw a mom crab and a baby crab crawling to the beach. Everyone took a much needed shower and enjoyed a nice dinner of chicken (surprising), rice, and salad. After dinner we got a rundown of our day tomorrow and we were excited to hear we’re going to work with cement tomorrow.
By: Piper, Brianna, Joey, Arnez
July 9, 2026
Today was our first day of work. Through sweat and a whole lot of sun, we powered through. Our objective was to build a floor for community members Furo and Carmen. By the end of the day, we finished about half of the floor. Our group gained skills in the use and production of concrete, as concrete was used to build the floor. The jobs on the worksite consisteted of pourers, scoopers, and passers. In a unanimous decision, our group decided that the difficulty of the jobs went in that order. Pouring the contents of the buckets into the cement mixer created a ton of splash-back – pouring was the hardest job. While not as difficult, the scoopers faced their own struggles: the weight of the rocks, the repetitive scooping, and the bucket transportation. The many passers also faced hardships: the sun, weight of the buckets, and the dreaded hill.
All of us worked very hard and were rewarded with a delicious lunch from community member Maria. Her house welcomed us with kittens, dogs, and a home-cooked meal; the meal was the best of the trip so far. Upon returning to the Big Yellow House, anyone who wanted to go to the beach could. At the beach, one group decided to look peacefully for seashells while another decided to play three-flags-up in the ocean, including the locals whenever they could.
From water cup relays to Puerto Rican Trivia, the PR X2 Olympic Games had it all. Other games included full body rock-paper-scissors and pictionary. The P.R. Chicos won the games in an upset victory. Despite the many joys of the day, the highlight was Jojo’s 17th birthday. We sang to him four times (once in Español). He was celebrated with cupcakes, ice cream, and a great time.
Overall, it was a successful second full day in Puerto Rico!
-Tyler, Noah, Jojo, Gabby, Milani
July 10, 2026
Have you ever been to Puerto Rico? Well we have so now we’ll tell you our experiences on July 10th. To start it off the day we had a good breakfast with some eggo waffles before we headed off to work. At work we continued to finish what we had left for ourselves yesterday. Our goal for today was to finish filling the back porch of Furo’s (A local Puerto Rican who has contributed greatly to global works and the locals) house with concrete. We carried buckets full of cement along an assembly line. Thanks to our speedy and effecient work we finished earlier than expected. We pushed through many challenges, carrying heavy buckets, mixing the concrete, and shoveling the many materials needed to make concrete. After the work we put in the back porch was finally completed we all lined up for a photo with Furo and his family. We all headed back to the black vans we came in to go to lunch. Now let me tell you this food was very delicious. After the food we played with Angel and Maria’s very cute puppies and kittens at their house where we had lunch. We then headed back to the Big Yellow House where we headed to the beach near by to cool off after a long day off work in the heat. In the beach we was playing around in the ocean making a good friendly time with eachother making memories and laughing together. After we got back from the beach we all went into the shower to refresh from everything that we done from the day. We then had dinner after washing off, We had fries porchchops and sweet cookies to end off with deserts. We then played Mafia as a group for a nightime activity to end off our nighnt. And thats goodnight from Puerto Rico.
By: Sky, Luke, Justin, Omar
July 11, 2026
A note from your islanders:
Today, we took a new path. A path into the jungle. Our day started bright and early at a crisp 6:30 A.M, when we ate breakfast – thanks to the girls in room two. We hopped into the vans for a nice long road trip (about an hour and a half), praying we wouldn’t have to pee as we traveled up the winding roads to Las Casas de la Selva. There, we were greeted by a sweet dog named Cobana who guided us to 3T (the forest preservation specialist). 3T explained to us the importance of rainforest conservation and showed us to a trail that had been devestated by Hurricane Maria. The rainforest was covered in Razor Grass and ferns that were hindering the growth of the native trees. In order to tackle these plants, we split into three groups, each named after one of the important trees: Maho, Mahogonay, and Alsubo. Each group efficiently clipped and tugged on the Razor Grass and ferns, searching for the “motherload” of roots. After three hours of hard work, our section of the forest was cleared of unwanted plants and we could finally see through the trees! When we got back to the homestead, we were treated to a homecooked meal of spaghetti and meatballs, followed by an array of cookies. With our bellies full, we changed and hopped straight back into the vans to a short hike leading to a refreshing water hole called Charco Azul. As soon as we got there, we waded into our first freshwater swim of the trip. We exited the waters as we watched locals dive from the tall rocks into the hole and made our way back to the vans. Another hour and a half later, we made it back to the Big Yellow House! Around seven, our dinner arrived and we all enjoyed our meal and shared stories of the day. To finish the day off strong, we sang rounds of kareoke and celebrated eachothers presence. Another tremendous day in PR!
-Anna H., Ana O., Yawen Z., Sophie R
July 12, 2026
Before you begin your venture into our day, take some time to read this joke! one time I met a guy with a rubber toe, guess what his name was (answer is at the end of this blog)
Today was the squad’s last day on the job with our lovely community. We started off the day strong with some eggs (again), sausage (again), and let’s spice it up: some pancakes!!! Then we hopped into our vans with our new and improved assigned seats with the goal being that the group gets to another level of deepness and understanding of one another. You will be glad to hear that today our workcite was a pretty quick drive and no one got carsick! Once there, we were greeted by the usual crew (shoutout to Angel, Willy, and Eggy). They quickly put us to work without much explination because they knew that we were pro’s at pouring concrete, but this time we were building walls! Walls for what you may ask? Walls for an office for Danny, who owns the local hardwear shop and helps out our community. We were so locked into a flowstate that we finished all 3 walls by lunch and Danny now has an office and safe spot for when the next hurricane comes. Let’s not forget that what made us so fast at getting this job done was our insanley tight knit group and crazy good playlist that was booming from a massive speaker.
Once we finished the job, we all changed out of our super concreted clothes and headed over to Maria’s for lunch and to visit the cute baby cats (or EL GATO as Anna might say). Maria cooked us some very delicious chicken nuggets (because a meal doesn’t exist if it isn’t chicken) alll of us are big fans of Maria’s meal so there wasn’t much left over. At the end of lunch Talia gave us a very inspiring speech about the effects that Hurricane Maria had on Angel and Maria’s house and the community around them. We learned that Angel and Maria had lost everything in the hurrricane and didn’t live with a roof on their house for around 3 years. Despite this, they decided they wanted to work to fix their community before fixing their own house. This gave us a deeper understanding of Angel’s life and his deep passion for helping others. When you first meet Angel you can see a very goofy, but stern, happy guy. But when you learn this information it gives you a total perpective change and it is safe to say that we all look up to him as an amazing role model.
After hopping into our vans and heading back to the BYH, we all unfortantely were told to begin packing. This meant no beach, but it is ok because we made just as many memories packing together! Not to be biased but we think the girls did a better cleaning job. In the midst of packing, cleaning, and talking, somehow everyone managed to shower and take some VERY cute pictures. Due to a big downpour we all gathered in our meeting spot and began to debreif the service part of our trip. Everyone was asked to think about a challenge they faced or a question they still had. We all had some very thoughtful words and we have all been so moved by our community. For dinner Angel, Eggy, Maria, and Camil came over for dinner and we all ate pasta together. Angel gave us a speech on the power of community and the importance of the new generation making a change in the world. Let’s just say some tears were shed and our group will miss this.
P.S. The answer to the joke is Roberto (Rubber-toe)!!!!
By: Isabel, Rosalind, DeAna, Alexis
July 13, 2026
We began our day knowing that it would be our final time at the Big Yellow House. As we packed we enjoyed a great breakfast by Ricky which was house potatoes, eggs, ham and fruits. When we loaded up the van, we started our trip listening to all kinds of music that brought us together. Our first trip of the day was the lucious and natural El Yunque Forest. We spent around an hour at its secluded, scenic swimming hole. Skipping rocks galore, water marco polo, floating around the pool, and so much more were but a few main activities occuring. Upon leaving the forest, we were all ready for a delicious and fulfilling meal and splendid time souvenir shopping. The restaurant, El Terruño, left everyone full, tired, and ready for some time to spend money. We began at kiosk 20, the restaurant in which we dined in, and explored a plethora of kiosks consisting of delightful desserts, elegantly crafted jewelry, and numerous beautiful clothing and objects all at our grasp. This was only the beginning half of our jam packed joyous, adventurous day.
After our shopping spree ended, the day continued with Casa Coral, our temporary home for the day, holding all of the bliss we would experince later on today. The beautiful Casa Coral crafted by both Angel, Willy, and their dedicated team awaited us. Only a few feet away from the home was a gorgeous scenic view of both the clear blue Puerto Rican water and sand. To begin the great adventure all were waiting for, we were split into groups of two. The first group would participate in Paddle boarding led by Ramon, while others stayed behind and basked in the scenic views of the beach.
Tonight we engaged in Puerto Rican culture by learning the basics of salsa from our amazing leader, Lauren! This was a fan favorite activity that that brought unity, and togetherness. We participated in an anonymous activity consisting of following a prompt by tapping people on the shoulder if they fit the category- for instance if you have a March birthday you would step into the circle while everyone else had their backs turned, whilst the people with March birthdays would tap the people that would match the question like “Tap the most stylish”.
We also had a reflective final activity called “Rock, Leaf, Stick”. Rock you would say something you rocked, leaf for something that you will “leave” in PR and last but not least stick is what will stick with you forever. This was a moment in time meant to be one in which we reflect on not only our lives before, but our lives during the experience, and how we wanted to move forward afterwards. It was one that made us all truly think about the people we want to be in the world and what we must do to get there. If we were to leave readers with anything, it would be a few wise words from Angel of Global Works: community can do so much more than the government can if they unite.
By: Serenity, Maren, Aijanah, & Alaia
