The group trickled into the San Juan airport all day Wednesday. Once the group was together we headed to the hotel with enough time for some orientation games on the beach and a quick dip before enjoying an authentic Puerto Rican meal. We spent our first full day exploring Old San Juan and getting to know one another. We finished it off with a wonderful dinner of burritos, prepared by Sienee, Asher, Vera and Aubre. The next morning we woke up early to make our way to Fajardo to catch the ferry to Vieques. We settled into our campsite with plenty of time to enjoy the beach. We had an early dinner so that we could go to the BioBay to swim and kayak with the bioluminescence. Over the next few days we went snorkeling off Mosquito Pier, learned about the history of the island at Fort Conde, played in the waves at a black sand beach and got to know the residences of Esperanza. While we were at the black beach, we took a break from the bright sun, to build some sand castles. Check out the photos of all of our wonderful creations! Yesterday we started talking about our upcoming Friendship camps. We will be meeting the Mameyes children tomorrow afternoon, so we wanted to start preparing a few games to play with them. We brainstormed some activities and then spent some time teaching them to one another by playing them – everyone is extremely excited to get started!
Today, we drove to La Finca and were greeted by a decorated porch in honor of Michael’s 14th Birthday. We enjoyed dinner and an amazing all-organic cake, made with bananas from the farm, which we finished off with Root Beer floats, per the birthday boy’s request. Evening activity was a shower for everyone, after many days of only being able to rinse off with salt water this was a much anticipated event.
Tomorrow we will explore La Finca, hopefully go swimming in the morning and then lead our first Friendship Camp!
Student Blurbs:
Asher led an active warm-up for morning exercise today (he was the first student to lead the morning activity), which everyone enjoyed. He loved learning to snorkel, taking to it quickly. He also takes a leadership role in his cooking and cleaning group, always looking for the next dish to wash. Everyone in the group feels his positivity.
Nicki really stepped up during a group initiative that involved using bandanas as stepping stones to cross sandy “lava.” Despite “loosing” an arm she shuttled the group across, staying positive even when it was challenging. She really enjoyed swimming in the BioBay and is excited to return to Old San Juan to explore more.
Maya has been enthusiastic and engaged since she arrived. Her energy and creativity is contagious. She was an integral member to her sand castle group, which created a lovely spiral design, complete with flowers. It might be hard to convince her to leave La Finca behind, she is already asking about whether or not she could rent a room here in the future.
Aubre is super excited to be exploring new parts of Puerto Rico and her heritage. She asked great questions of all of our guides in Vieques. She was particularly excited to hear that an old train that was used to transport sugar in the late 1800’s, which is currently abandoned, is soon going to be moved to become a public monument.
Sienee has been very courageous, embracing all aquatic activities. On the first day of the trip, she swam in the ocean for the first time. After some encouragement, she swam in the BioBay, which was her highlight of the week. She has enjoyed getting to know everyone in the group. She made friends quickly and is looked up to in the group.
Joceline is a natural leader. She sees what needs to be done, and steps up to help make it happen. The group appreciates her enthusiasm and her openness. On many occasions she has supported her peers, helping them to try something new. She loved getting to swim in the BioBay – she was one of the last ones to get back in her kayak, not wanting it to end.
Wyatt is eagerly learning many new words and phrases in Spanish. He loved playing in the ocean at Playa Negra and he added a lot of creativity to the back-story of the family living in his group’s sand castle. He is stepping up to help out often, offering to help with dishes even when it isn’t his day to clean.
Michael celebrated his birthday today with root beer floats! He loved swimming in the BioBay and adds a lot of humor to the group with his enthusiasm and willingness to laugh. Michael’s curiosity and genuine desire to explore the world around him helps the group get more out of our experiences.
Duncan is an enthusiastic member of the group. With his strong background in camping, he has been helping others put up tents and cooking on camp stoves. His cook group made an amazing dinner of pasta with a veggie sauce that everyone is still talking about.
Vera is enjoying getting to know everyone in the group. Everyone really appreciated her willingness to help them with their Spanish. Her cook group made an incredible dinner of BBQ chicken and salad, which took a while to cook, but was well worth the wait. She loves getting to swim in the ocean, and was excited to go snorkeling and see all of the different types of coral and fish.
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