Puerto Rico Winterim

Mar 20, 2023, Written by Charlotte, Maddie W, and Sam

We woke up to the sound of roosters crowing and the sun shining through the windows. We then set off to breakfast and were graded by Riki's little pancakes. We loaded up into Gladys and Marie, the cars. After a short ride into the village of Billa del Rio, we met and William, Angel, Maria, and the rest of the crew. After a short introduction Rafa, Charlotte, and Avery translated instructions for the rest of the group. We then headed over to the work site, where we split up into two groups. One group started digging some trenches to lay concrete on Wednesday. The other group went back to the house and got the rebar to put into the new trenches. The groups then did a lot more digging in the hot sun taking many breaks in the shade and drinking crisp, icy water. Soon after, we had a delicious lunch cooked by Maria to feed us. Danny (the driver) was a bad boy and did not wash his plate. Then we continued to dig out the holes to prepare for cement laying. We finished the work by talking about who we are helping: This family lost their home in 2018 and has been trying to rebuild. The family has struggled because the father has been working with no time to spare. We then headed back to the big yellow house to prep for the beach. During the beach excursion, there was a group playing volleyball in the water, a group reading books on their towels, a group playing Top Gun: Maverick football, and a group working on their tan. After the beach, there was a short break, and then it was time for dinner. There was a table full of love and bugs. Dinner was ribs, chicken, and a sexy veggie. After dinner, everyone but Danny did their dishes. Randell, the dance instructor, attempted to teach us bachata and salsa, and we had a good dance party. Randell was really good at barking. He started by teaching us by ourselves first then we switched to partner dancing. Rafa was leading the pack with his amazing dance moves. Then Maddie took the floor when she danced the night away (with Danny). After the dance, we made a circle (Mr. Lewis’ favorite thing in the world). We then shared highs and lows, some of the highlights being: talking with Abrahan, a young kid from the village, and some students petting the goat, Rafa mopping the bathroom floor, Ms. Deardorff dancing with Randell, Julie saying bienvenido to William our instructor. And then we pisces and waved the night away (Rafa was shirtless)

March 21, 2023, Written by Avery, Gemma, and Rafa

This morning we had a scrumptious breakfast of waffles and pancakes at 8 am after being woken up by an angry rooster. Again. After breakfast, we scurried over to the worksite like a pack of insects, excited for a hot day of work. We spent a couple of hours in the hot sun working on digging the rest of the holes and securing rebar, taking a break in between for a yummylicious lunch made by our favorite puppy and human mom, Maria. We spent the afternoon working with rebar until we got rained out by an afternoon shower.  Then we got changed and played with a teeny-weenie teacup chihuahua. Then we said “adios muchachos'' and headed back to the big yellow house to get ready for the beach. Some people fell asleep. Anyways, on the beach, people went for walks, naps, and swims. A pineapple was found buried in the sand, and then we consumed it. Yum! When we came back to the house, we had dinner, and pizza and justice were on the menu. The justice piece is up to interpretation. We ended the night with a cute little group chit-chat about sorprendidas about Puerto Rico. Peace and waves, cutie patooties (❁´◡`❁)