Puerto Rico: Hurricane Relief, Session 3 2025
July 8, 2025
We awoke this morning to some delicious eggs and French toast. We ate fast and got out the door quickly. An hour away was Old San Juan. We met our tour guide, Alvin, who showed us El Castillo San Felipe El Morro. Alvin also explained the various influences of different countries like Spain, England, Netherlands, and the U.S. on Puerto Rico at the castle, the best view of the Atlantic Ocean is from inside the bathrooms! Then, we had lunch at the restaurant El Jibarito. There, we tried the various native dishes such as mofongos, tostones, amarillos, and rice and beans. During lunch, Alvin treated the winners of his trivia questions to flan. Did you know that the first governor of Puerto Rico was Juan Ponce de Leon. After lunch, we visited several souvenir shops where many bought clothes or jewelry. As a parting gift, our leaders treated the crew to delicious popsicles from Senor Paleta. Then, we returned to the Big Yellow House and quickly changed into our swimsuits and headed for the beach. At the beach the girls swam in the waves, while the boys played some football, which was shortly concluded by heavy rainclouds. Upon arrival back to the Big Yellow House, the crew indulged in some much-needed R&R. After cleaning up, everyone was ecstatic to see Ricky pull up with dinner. Dinner consisted of chicken, rice and veggies, and salad. Fortunately, our leader, Sarah, shared her cake with the entire crew in celebration of her birthday. Happy Birthday, Sarah! After dinner, the group joined together to engage in some team-bonding activities, such as games like the human knot and participating in a community contract. We finished up the night by going over our plan for the construction site for tomorrow, which will be our first official workday. Everyone is so excited!
By Asher, Orla, & Ravi
July 9, 2025
Early at 6:30 we jumped out of bed with excitement for the workday ahead. First we indulged in a fantastic breakfast of eggs, pancakes, cheese sticks and ham. Once we stuffed our faces, we washed the dishes and got ready to leave for the site. Right before getting in the van Sarah organized an intense thumb war competition that amped everyone up for the hard day ahead. The voyage to VDR took 20 minutes by van. Once we arrived, we met the rest of the crew: Angel, William, Eggy and Jennilix. They enlightened us of the cement making process and then we were put right to work. The jobs consisted of 3 groups. One mixing the cement with a machine, one shoveling the ingredients into buckets and the final one passing the buckets of cement along to be poured. In order to create the cement we used ocho cubos de piedra, dos sacos de cemento, tres cubas de agua y finalmente diez cubos de arena. Once the cement was mixed, we shoveled into buckets and passed them along an assembly line to be poured into the foundation. After 3 hours of this labor we hiked uphill to Angel’s house where his wife, Maria, had prepared a lovely home cooked meal of chicken, rice, beans and salad. We were fortunate enough to be accepted into their home for lunch. After finishing up we trekked back to the work site for our second task of the day. The new job was transporting dirt to level out the floor of the house. We had shovelers filling buckets and wheelbarrows up with dirt and rocks which were transported via assembly line (once again) to the house. Finally, after 2 more hours in the scalding heat we packed back into the vans excited for relaxation / beach time. Once we changed, some went to the beach to engage in an epic football match that entertained the locals whilst the rest relaxed at the Big Yellow House. At 6:30 sharp Ricky pulled up with dinner of pasta, meat sauce and salad which we scarfed down. We finished the day off with an informative documentary about the economic and political state of Puerto Rico. As a group we dissected the video by discussing the various struggles and acts of resilience by Puerto Rican locals. Ultimately, we headed off to get some well-deserved sleep excited for the next day ahead.
By Dash, Asha and Maddy
July 10, 2025
At roosters crow we arose for breakfast at 7:30. Waffles, eggs, ham and fruit were served for our enjoyment. After we finished breakfast, Sarah lead us in group stretch circle. We popcorned around various stretches to prepare us for the workday ahead. We loaded into the green and white vans and began our adventure to the work site. There we were greeted by William, Angel and the rest of the team who lead through the plan for the day. The plan consisted of forming an assembly line to throw sand on the foundation, shoveled into buckets by other members then using a tamper to flatten it out. After snack break, we were interrupted heading back to work by the puppies that were sunbathing in the sand. Angel took her moment to safely move them from the worksite. Around twelve o’clock we began our track to Maria and Angels home, where they made us a lovely lunch for our second day of work. Salad, Fried chicken and Spanish rice were severed to us as we chatted about the day. We returned to the worksite shortly after to find that Jorge and Angel had laid down the first half of rebar. We went in with wires and nails to secure each intersecting point as Smooth and Jorge started on the second half. We completed our mission for the day before three. As we returned to our waters, we found Lauren was sunbathing like a queen in her chair. Live laugh love Lauren. Before we left an epic battle occurred between Asher and Bryan (mullet child). In the end a sword was broken, and an enemy was made. On our way back to the big yellow house, we made a pit stop at the local supermarket for snacks. Only an hour later we all found ourselves at the beach playing in the sand, waves and basking in the sun. Eli rocked his American swimsuit while playing football like a true patriot. We rushed home to shower before Ricky delivered our chicken and potatoes for dinner. After dinner we ran upstairs to meet Yara for our salsa lesson. Six weeks’ worth of lessons in one hour is a challenge for some, but our group picked it up quickly. We danced in a circle passing our partners to the next person rapidly after each spin. We concluded our class with Jacob reading the schedule for the following day. To end the evening most met under the gazebo while others read to conclude a very exciting day. We are so excited for the project ahead at Tropic Ventures in Patillas!
Sincerely your favorite leaders of the day,
Chloe, Angel & Jacob
July 11, 2025
At the first showings of daylight, we awoke, tired from the early morning call time we faced. After spending much time getting ready, breakfast arrived and was arranged by the group leaders, which consisted of some fluffy eggs, tender turkey sausages, soft French toast sticks, assorted fruits, cheese, yogurt, and some apple juice to finish it off. After everyone finished scarfing down their meal, we embarked on our hour and a half journey to Tropic Adventures located in Patillas.
When we got there, we were greeted by the ever-joyful Kobana (dog) and the expectant John (man), and he guided us towards the illustrious shrubbery that is the Tropic Adventures nature reserve. Whilst we were trekking, he handed out our tools, consisting of shrub clippers, a rake, and a few shovels, as well as informing us about the dangers of the cloth ripping razor grass, and the caustic sap of a multitude of plants. Following a quick snack break procured by Sarah, we ventured up a slippery slope, making it back to the nature reserve, exhausted and sore. But it was worth it, since we were greeted by 3T ‘s (program manager) delicious spaghetti and meatballs, paired with some scrum-diddly-umptious salad, lemonade, and her specialty dish of squash spaghetti.
We excitedly changed into our swimsuits in preparation for the swimming hole, Charco Azul. The water was refreshing and we all posed like supermodels draped amongst the glistening stone waterfalls. Finally, we traversed back through a dense canopy of tree coverage and mud to the vans. Unfortunately, our ride back lasted around two and half hours due to traffic, and tiredness and fatigue swept over the masses like the plague. Once we arrived, we came back to a satisfying meal of chicken, rice, and salad. Nevertheless, we ate to our heart’s content, with Eli consuming an entire chicken. After some free time and a quick meeting to discuss our group contract and values, we enjoyed some karaoke in the living room, then turned in for the night. From the most illustrious and highfalutin leaders you will ever meet. Nevertheless, we’re anticipating the grueling tasks that lay ahead: our last day of construction work with Angel, William, and the others.
Good luck to the other leaders (you’re going to need it).
Warm Regards,
Aayan, Jeremiah and Verna
July 12, 2025
At the ripe time of 7:30 we all sprung out of bed to a delicious breakfast of pancakes, ham, eggs, and succulent fruits. After that we headed to the worksite, where some were groggy and tired, and others were bright and ready for the day. For the first time this week we got Aux for the speaker where we created a group playlist including bangers such as Alright by Kendrick, Dancing queen by Abba, and Uptown Funk by Bruno Mars. After powering through the first half of the day we did our hike to the Marias house where we consumed chicken and rice with a side of salad (per usual). After our scrumptious lunch we walked back to the worksite and began the second half of the day. At this point people were split into different jobs throughout the day, compared to the morning where we continuously worked the same jobs. Through music and singing we kept the vibes high and powerful. After pouring a record breaking 20,000 pounds of cement for Jeannelix first floor of her house so that her grandma, who was suffering from dementia, was allowed to die where she was born, just the way she wanted. After changing out of our cement-soaked clothes, we found glowing red chemical cement burns on various parts of our body, but the popsicles that were offered to us helped to soothe our bodies. When we got back to the compound we washed up and gradually gathered to play a big game of volleyball. For dinner Angel, Willy, Jeannelix, Maria, and others came to eat some astounding burgers with us, also we got sprite and coke! After dinner we talked with them about our immense accomplishment and continued our volleyball game where Eggy smacked some of the other kids in the face. We also gave them a card where we all signed the back, and in return they gave us bracelets with unique and cool charms. Our great and hard day was resolved with group chat at the Gazebo. As this was our final workday we reminisced on our work and its impact on the community that we were living in and with. We have come so close as a group that not even previous groups records can stop us.
PS: We can’t wait for the day tomorrow, the river time and Bioluminescent Bay in Fajardo AK “Fun Day”!
Sincerely Sebastian, Lucienne, and Dan
July 13, 2025
This morning, we woke up on sadly our last day at the BYH. We all gathered around the table to reminisce on our last 6 days here in CG Puerto Rico. For breakfast we had a special mix of pancakes and waffles, eggs, ham, fruit, and of course a gogurt for a yummy sweet treat. We finished packing up the BYH preparing our daypacks for a long fun day ahead. After we were officially packed, we hopped our jolly butts into the van and headed to a natural rainforest spring to take a quick dip into the cool summer water. After jumping in, we took turns attempting to freestyle rap. Orla showed us all up with their fantastic freestyle skills. To follow up on our musical category, Smooth presented us with his own fire rap song blowing all of our socks off.
Afterwards, we ventured to a small beach town and ate at Terruño in Luquillo. While we were digesting that delicious meal, we walked around the tourist area to find some cool souvenirs and made a quick stop for some ice cream. We got back into the van and drove to Casa Coral at Luquillo where we enjoyed some very nice time and set our stuff down. Following that we engaged in a very intense game of cards. After this we wrote letters to our future selves about our amazing experience in Puerto Rico, and were treated to some delicious pizza and soda. At 7:30 we left for Kayaking in the Bioluminescent Bay, filled with neon-blue microorganisms, where we saw some very beautiful wildlife. We finished off the night with some team bonding and woke up bright and early to depart from Puerto Rico! We had such an amazing time and all hope to come back some day! Hasta Luego, La Isla Encantada!
Thanks from your best and last Leaders of the Day Maeve, Eli, Nayana, and Cade!
