Another Great Week!

As I’m sure most of you heard in person during student phone calls on Saturday—the trip is going great! The group took the ferry back to the main island from Vieques almost a week ago, and after a short pit stop at the best burger stand in San Juan, headed to the Toro Negro Rainforest for two amazing days of service and adventure. Not resting a minute, the group spent their two transition days at a luxurious campground at Camuy Caverns—luxurious in that it actually had bathrooms and showers. No one even cared that the showers were ice cold!

I just got off the phone with Cat, and she gave me a full run-down on the week. Here's the news:

Adventure Report

The group loved our rainforest guide, Raymond. He was personable, knowledgeable, and according to Cat and Tony, who keep a sharp eye out for such things—his outdoor adventure and safety skills were impeccable. Everything Raymond did was done correctly and by the book, and that’s a good thing, because get a load of what they did:

• Jumped into the coldest river in PR
• Scrambled up steep mountain streams (in full climbing gear)
• Rock-Climbed up crazy waterfalls (ditto)
• Ziplined across deep jungle canyons dotted with stands of banana, pineapple, and coffee (double safety ditto)

An unexpected bonus on adventure day was an amazing lunch, home cooked by one of the local village women. This lunch was a highlight of the day for many of our students, and rivaled the exciting adrenaline rush of rock-climbing and ziplining. Yum!

Service Report

The day after the Toro Negro Adventure, Raymond took the group down the road a few miles to a favorite local swimming hole which was in bad need of a total clean-up. Tony and Cat are especially proud of the work the group did on this day—when they arrived, there was garbage everywhere, and the place was a mess. The swimming hole was beautiful, of course, right under a waterfall, right by the road—a perfect place to hang out and enjoy nature—except for all the trash! The group rallied, threw themselves at the task with enthusiasm, and did not stop until it was done. When they left the spot in the afternoon, it looked 100% better. Nothing can improve on nature, of course, but our group did a great job minimizing the human footprint on that particular piece of Puerto Rico, and learned a great lesson: it is possible to make a difference!

Student Notes

This week the student notes are not student generated, since all of you just had a first-person report over the weekend. The following notes reflect what Tony and Cat want all the parents to know about their great kids.

Svyat continues to impress us with his enthusiasm towards every facet of group living and activities. Svyat is always the first person ready—for anything.

Jack is connecting well with everyone in the group, including those he probably would not have connected well with back in school (this is a good thing). Jack is like everyone’s little brother!

Carlos is really psyched about using his Spanish, both when he needs it to communicate with locals, and when he is speaking it just for fun.

Elon is courageous and willing to try brand new activities such as camping, outdoor cooking, waterfall climbing, and others—things she has never ever done—and she is doing them with growing success.

Daria is becoming more and more social and outspoken—a student who at first seemed very shy is now cracking jokes and speaking her mind! Daria is getting very comfortable with the group.

Anna-Rose is becoming more comfortable with camping and being outdoors—she’s making friends easily, and having a whole lot of fun exploring Puerto Rico with the group.

Thomas aka T-Brizzle is the most fun and easygoing guy in the world. He is always the first to laugh, always thinking ahead, always prepared for what’s to come with a great attitude, and communicates creatively and effectively in Spanish.

Imani has shown a wonderful independence, and has demonstrated a great ability to look after herself—she is totally reliable, and is really enjoying everyone in the group. Imani has loved using her Spanish on the trip so far, and can’t wait to start her family homestay, so she can take advantage of the great language learning opportunity it offers.

Gabrielle has been having an absolutely fantastic time expanding her comfort zone. She is excited about all the new things she is trying, and is really looking forward to starting family homestay week. She is fitting in really well with everyone in the group.

Simone is amazingly friendly, generous, and accepting. She is very aware and in tune with what is happening around her. She approaches each new challenge with an open mind, eager to experience as much as she can every single day.

Aly has consistently been her fabulous, bubbly, enthusiastic self. She has made friends easily and thrown herself wholeheartedly into every single activity, and is really excited about starting family homestay week. The maturity she has developed over the past year shows clearly, as does her consideration for others.

That’s about it for this update, folks, except to say that homestays start tonight, and the group has a really fun week of service, peer interaction, and outdoor activities ahead of them. Look for a brief blog update from Cat and Tony around midweek, and a full update just over a week from now.