Our plan was to wake up pretty early today and head back to Cocobana for some delicious vegan food again BUT

First of all, we all slept like crap. Turns out John is a snorer. And he snored. All. Night. Long. Not only did he snore, it was sooooooo LOUD. It was bad and noone slept well.

So we didn’t wake up early, we slept in late. THEN Cocobana was closed. We thought it was closed because it was Sunday. Turns out they’re closed because it’s Father’s Day and what is a more casual holiday State side, Puerto Rico takes it more with love. Pretty much EVERYTHING was closed today.

We walked until we could find anything open and ended up at a lovely little restaurant where I had some delicious guava and cheese. It was pretty dang good! So was my caprese sandwich. We filled our bellies and headed to the beach!

We found a beautiful little spot just past some shady trees and enjoyed our afternoon. It was so nice! The water was just warm enough where it didn’t hurt too much to go in, the sand was warm and the sky was clear. It was great! Tons of people out wind surfing and flying kites because it was so windy.

After some swimming and relaxing, we headed back to the hostel to get our stuff. Max was coming to pick us up and take us back to base! Which was really nice.

We got back, changed, grabbed our bags, found Max and headed out! We had to stop and pick up one more person and then it was back to base.

Once we got there, Sam and Alan and to check in and get settled. I met up with Nora and Tom to chit chat. They were headed to a pig roast with Nico and Steve and asked if I wanted to tag along. I said yes and we headed out.

Turns out it was to the wrong party. Well, for what Tom and I thought. This party was people drinking beer, dancing on their driveway, and listening to music. Still fun, but not quite what we thought. Nora left to run to the store so Tom and I decided to head back and find Zoë.

Zoë knew where the actual pig roast was. Turns out it was at Danny’s house. Danny is our materials guy and the guy who helped me inventory the tool room. A group of us walked over to his house, literally the opposite direction of the other party. Arriving there we found his family and loads of volunteers.

Sam and Alan had joined us too! It was a nice night. We were fed some delicious food, sat around in chairs and hammocks, and just talked. Hung out. It was a great way to end a Sunday.

We got to sleep in and it was soooo nice! I slept on a real mattress instead of an air mattress! It was great!

We woke up this morning and found a place to eat! Across from our hostel is a beautiful free library that is filled with SO many books. It’s so cute!

We found this- Sam found this- beautiful vegetarian/vegan restaurant that we decided to go eat at and it was SO good. I had an eggplant flatbread and a delicious smoothie. We were so determined to eat here again, all of us loved our food. We sat, ate, chatted, and decided what to do the rest of the day.

Our original plan was to get a rental car and drive to the rainforest. But, because we woke up so late, took forever to decide where to eat (but so worth it!) and got to the rental car agency, it was probably going to be too late to go. There was weirdly a line at the agency and not enough people working. It was going to take forever before we got a car. We decided to bail on that plan and just head to Old San Juan and look at the forts and sites there!

We grabbed an Uber and holy cow! It dropped us off at Fort Morro in Viejo San Juan and it was SO beautiful. Just open fields of grass where people were picnicking, flying kites, relaxing. It was lovely. I wanted to just grab a book and read! But it was so windy.

From there we paid to enter the fort and began to explore. And wow. Just wow. The entire fort takes you a journey through Puerto Rico’s Spanish colonization, fighting off Spain’s European rivals, the fort’s purpose and the ultimate take over by the United States.

Fort Morro was build by the Spaniards once the arrived to Puerto Rico as a defense against any other invaders. Many believed Puerto Rico was the key to the Caribbean and wanted it. Fort Morro served as a space for guards and militia to keep guard, sleep, eat, and access to weapons to defend what they claimed as their land. From 1539- to the 1800s the Spanish held rule over Puerto Rico, Cuba, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Argentina, Venezuela, and Chile. In the 1800 due to civil wars and tensions with the United States, only Puerto Rico and Cuba were still held by Spain. Eventually, the U.S. and Spain went to war for 109 days which resulted in Cuban Independence and Puerto Rico occupation.

As we know, this occupation still holds today.

As we explored, we took in the beautiful beach views and did lots of walking and climbing. We saw some iguanas, which are an invasive species here. I wanted to take a close up picture butttt…no go.

After exploring Fort Morro, we went walking around Old San Juan again, looking at chachkie shops and going to Umbrella street! We ran into Mohammed and some other AHAH folks while exploring too! Eventually we settled for dinner at Los Green Go’s. Ha. Ha. Ha.

The food was okay. We had nachos…that were missing cheese? Not really sure how you can still call them nachos but they were okay.

After dinner we grabbed an Uber back to the hostel. We walked into our room only to find a new roommate, John! From Colombia. He’s an electrician who’s been on a crazy travel journey around the world and is wrapping up his world tour here in Puerto Rico. Spanish being his first language, Sam and Alan came in clutch and were able to chat with him a lot. I could understand with gaps, I could answer in English.

We were all going to sit on the roof for a little bit when John asked if we wanted to join him for a drink. We said sure, one drink, and he said he just needed to shower and get ready. We sat down on the roof while John got ready and were immediately overcome with exhaustion. All three of us were so tired and didn’t really feel like having a drink but he was so nice, so we waited. After a while, we were giving up on him and headed back down to the room. Who was there? John. With beer ready to go. So we hauled ourselves back up to the roof for a beer where lots of conversation happened and the fight to stay awake was real. Finally, we headed down and straight to bed.

Alright! Got to be back on a roof today. But! New day, new team. Today I was with Sisco, sometimes known as Disco Sisco, Whitney, Olivia, Kerrie and David.

We went to a house where they had pretty much already finished the project. We just had to seal some patches and finish one last small part of the roof. Oh, also mold sanitation (sani) in one room inside the house. This was exciting for me because I’ve literally done nothing but cementing and chipping at cement for two days, plus inventory.

Kerrie helped me out, we got a bucket of sealent and paintbrushes and took the stairs (yes, stairs!) to the roof to seal spots that were spray painted. It was SO white and shiny. It was a completely different roof than what I had been looking at the last few days. After sealing those patches, Whitney kicked us all off the roof and him and David sealed the rest! That was it for us.

Sisco and Olivia were going to do sani on their own. It was a tiny room and at that point would have been too many people. We decided to start loading up the truck with what we could. While we were doing that, Bally (a project coordinator) came to check out the site. Since the rest of us literally had nothing to do until they were done with sani, Bally told us to go two doors down to meet up with Steve and Richard. Steve and Richard are part of a critical repair team. AKA, windows and doors.

This is where things got real fun. We got there, David immediately began helping Richard with a window. Steve looked at Kerrie and I and asked if we wanted to help remove a door. We said sure!

It was the front door.

It was SO COOL. Steve has a background and close to 40 years experience with construction so naturally this was nothing for him. He was so incredibly kind. He wasn’t annoyed or bothered that Kerrie and I literally had no idea what was going on. Instead he took the time to explain what we are doing and how. It was so great.

We started by taking the door off the hinges. We tried to take as many screws out as possible but some were so old and rusty, we had to use a sawzall and just…saw? To get the rest off. Sparks were flying. I got burned. It was awesome. Before I knew it, the door was off. Kerrie and I carried it to the back. Once we got back, Steve busted out a saws, crow bars, hammers, and we just went to town on this door frame. It was so much fun. Steve was a blast, just doing his thing and letting us help. After that, we grabbed the new door to measure it in the frame and see how much cement we would need to fill around the space. I was excited to see what the next part was, but the sani group finished which meant we headed back to base.

Once we got back to base, we unloaded the truck, took a break, and loaded the truck up to head to a new house! We grabbed supplies from the roofing tent and headed out. The new house is just around the corner from base, so half of us walk there.

This house is for a 92 year old woman. Following Hurricane Maria, she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. She had 9 children, 8 are adults now, one has passed. During the week from Tuesday- Thursday she stays at her house and her son, Tony comes and stays with her to help take care of her. Friday- Monday she stays down the street with Tony’s sister. Her husband was a vet who passed a few years ago. Now her children take care of her. She loves to dance and walk off…which is scary because she forgets where she is.

After Maria, FEMA denied help to this family. In order to get support and help from FEMA you have to show the deed to your house as well as go in person to sign paperwork and ask for help. Tony said he went on behalf of his mother, because she is not in the right state of mind to be able to deal with and sign the documents. FEMA told him no. It had to be her, or her power of attorney, who was his sister. His sister was unable to go. FEMA denied them any help. They were out of their house for 9 months before Tony and his siblings were able to get back in there and start fixing it up. It was the house he grew up in, it was his mother’s home. He said he wanted to fix it up for her, because she was such a great mother.

Which comes to us. The inside repairs that Tony has done has made the house somewhat livable. We are doing the roof and sani for them so that, hopefully, they can start getting their lives back to normal.

We climbed on the roof, assessed what was going on and began cementing immediately. After power washing and blowing off debris, we got one side of the roof canted before we had to stop for the day.

After that, we headed back and it is FRIDAY! That means the work week is done, beers are to be had, and Sam and Alan arrive to Puerto Rico! I walked to the colmado with Tom and Gianna and we all had a beer on the roof.

Sam set up a hostel for us in San Juan. Sisco gave me a ride with Whitney, Jessica, and Shakyia. But before we left, it was bamboo tennis time! Earlier this week we decorated bamboo sticks as bats to play Bambu Tennis. It’s basically just baseball with bamboo sticks and tennis balls. The game was today, against a community team and we had to play for a bit before we could leave.

Bambu tennis was funny and so incredibly sweet. The whole community came out, they sold concessions, there was a trophy, and we played against their community team. Technically, we lost. But they gave us the trophy anyways 😂😂 we seem to lose at sports a lot around here but get a lot of sympathy from the community.

After that, we headed to San Juan. The drive was about 45 minutes. Sisco dropped me at the hostel and I grabbed an Uber to Viejo San Juan to meet up with Alan and Sam.

Friday night took a turn. Everyone was dressed up ready to go out and dancing. I was over here like “hmmm..my chacos or my work boots? What’s more fitting?” 😂

It was still fun. We went to La Factoría, which is a cool club? Bar? Not even sure. You walk in and it looks like a typical bar with places to eat and snack. However, if you follow a door around the corner next to the bar, you enter another room with another bar and loads of people doing salsa! The astheic and vibe was killer! The walls were exposed, it was dim lighting, and there were white lights hung everywhere. It was beautiful. BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE. If you follow another door next to the bar, you enter a techno room with another bar and DJ. Theennnnnn there was another room like the first, a casual eating place with a bar. It was insane! But so cool. We jumped around to various bars and clubs. Karaoke ones, pool halls, and it was fun. We didn’t stay out too late and eventually headed back to the hostel to pass out. It was just Alan, Sam and I sharing a room.

Wow. I was tired this morning. I woke up at 5:30 which was just a little too early. I felt like I was slow moving. Everyone was. The energy on base this morning and really all of today was just… tired.

I was assigned to a new roof today, with Sisco. However, they wanted to have the group that stayed on base yesterday for inventory to stay and finish it. The idea was to hold is back an hour to combine everyone’s individual lists into master lists for each location. It didn’t take an hour. It took ALL day. Going through each list, combining totals, reading other people’s hand writing. It was a long day. Frustrating for me because I definitely had some thoughts on how we could have improved our process. Plus, the energy from others in the group wasn’t good either. Clearly some people didn’t want to be there and instead of just making the best of a bad situation, they just got lost in their unhappiness and let it run the show. I found that frustrating.

There were two other teams on base, one cleaning it and one prepping it for hurricane season. All three base groups had a rough day. There was this adorable little white dog that kept sneaking into base that everyone kept taking her back off. Meatball, who we call our base dog can’t actually come on or stay on base. No dogs/ animals can for health reasons. But this poor little lady was less than a year old and recently had puppies. They were giving them away on the corner yesterday and today she is looking for them. It is so incredibly heartbreaking. She wouldn’t take food or water anyone was trying to give her. She was just searching and crying and it was awful. No one liked it. TK, one of the volunteers who stays on base and runs base duty, lived a previous life of working and rescuing dogs from no kill shelters. This was particularly hard for her and she just broke into tears. Like I said, it was a rough day.

After the last plyer was added to the list, we were done. I went and laid in a hammock as other teams got back. Slowly, one at a time our little group of friends appeared. Tom got in a hammock when he got back, folllo d by Nora upon her return, and eventually Zoë came and sat with us too. We talked and hung out until the afternoon meeting.

The meeting was sort of tense, with lots of discussion and debate around the little white dog that’s been searching base. If you’re here volunteering you most likely (I would hope?) have a caring heart. Animals can fall into that category for a lot of folks. The struggle came between rasing funds to get her spayed and updated on shots versus giving that money to the community that we are all here for. It was tense. Everyone said their piece and it felt unsettled.

On Wednesdays they do volunteer of the week, apparently, and today they passed off the crown. The crown is literally a purple hard had that has “Volunteer of the Week” written on it in sealent. It’s adorable. We had all voted and this week it got passed to TK! She deserves it. I can’t find words to describe the energy and love that pours out of her. She loves hard. Whether she has known you for five minutes or five years. She’s a single mom of an adult child who raised her own her own in Wyoming. Winning this had TK in tears again. Good tears this time though. It had just been such a bad day and this was such a good part of it.

After the meeting there was a group of us going to a nearby waterfall! I was so excited to go!

Until I was actually on my way and had the worst headache and was so incredibly sick. Road here, not so hot. It’s scary driving. They’re narrow to a point where two cars can’t fit side by side, not to mention everyone who parks on the shoulder adding to the madness. They are windy, filled with pot holes and super hilly.

But wow, was it beautiful. The drive was eye opening to the island. You saw so much beauty and at the same time where so much damage had taken place.

We got to the spot, followed a small trail back and WOW! A little slice of paradise just waiting to be swam in. And swim, we did. The water wasn’t freezing, but it wasn’t warm. The rocks were slippery and took some manuvering. Mohammed and I agreed to just drive in together all in one go. It was the best way to do it! It felt so nice! Zoe just jumped straight in from the top of the rocks, Tom was already swimming around and everyone was just making their way into the water. I swam over to be under the waterfall behind Mohammed. Oh my gosh, did he have the best time. He got under it, turned around and the excitement and smile on his face was pure, authentic, and genuine happiness. It was sweet to see.

After a while, some people started to climb up and past the waterfall. I was not planning on joining…but.. I couldn’t resist and I caved. We followed the water back for quite a while, sliding and falling a few. It was beautiful and so fun! After we got far enough back, we turned around knowing everyone would be waiting for us. There’s also a volleyball game tonight.

We scurried back down the waterfall, got back to the trucks, rinsed off muddy feet at a house across the street and headed back. This time I rode shotgun.

Back on base, we rounded up whatever dinner was left and devoured it. I walked over to the Volleyball game to watch and cheer on everyone. The volleyball game is played weekly against a group of players from the local middle school. They definitely kicked out butts. They even tried to extend the game to allow our team to catch up. It was so bad, but so fun. Afterwards, they did a thing I’ve never seen before. They had two players from each team crouch down, almost in childs pose, with all four heads face down but in the middle. Everyone else held hands in a circle around them, rotated the circle with sort of a run to it, then ran at the four people in the middle and started patting their backs really hard. I have no idea what it means or represents. Noone on base does. But they do it every week 🤷🏼‍♀️

After that, I came back, showered and crashed.

Ooookaaay. Today I got pulled from the roof to stay back and help with a project on base. Literally, they need to count all supplies and items in:

– Roofing Tent

– Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) Tent

– Tool Room

– Pressure Washing Room

– Supplies Tent

– Blue Conex

Danny, the nicest guy you’ll ever meet, does this every month by himself and it takes him a month. Today, we have myself, Brian, Miledys, Olivia, and Hannah to do it with Danny around to help.

This was a tall order. I can’t even begin to explain the amount of things that are here. We started together in the roofing tent, having to identify the item, what type it is, manufacturer, how many, how many are damaged, who counted it, and any additional notes for each thing. Every freaking type of sealent and acrylic latex bottle and freaking caulk guns and chisels.

We divided and conquered the roofing tent and everyone then split. I ended up in the tool room. I mean, I know some tools. But holy shit. There were SO many. I felt like I was constantly asking “What’s this?” “What is this called?” and “What does this do?” Lucky for me, Danny was hanging in the tool shed working most of the day and he helped me out. It was cool, actually, because instead of just answering me and brushing me off, every time I asked he took the time to explain what it is, what it does, and how it works. It was pretty rad. It’s exactly how all teachers should be. I learned a whole lot today, more than ever. Who knew there were so many types of plyers? Not me. Also, I literally know where everything on this base is and how many we have of it. Including the machetes. FIGHT ME.

After the tool room, I met up with everyone in the blue Conex. This shed was HUUUUGE. It houses all the CGI equipment, plus all the windows and doors.

And every screw type and size. I learned about concrete screws, galvanized screws, hurricane ties, speed squares.. so many things! We had so much to do in this shed and it was hot as hell.

Meatball (who’s name isn’t really meatball) is a local dog that guards our street and hangs outside the base. He’s adorable, kind, walks everywhere with anyone off the base, everything! He came and laid with us while we worked. Miledys, Olivia, and I were in the back at one point counting ropes and fall harnesses and it was steamy.

That was it. This is what we did ALL day. It rained at points, but we just kept going. At one point, while Olivia was counting rakes and generators, she found a tarantula! A little guy who looked super dormant and surprise! He wasn’t. She got him on a broomstick and out of the base, back to his natural habitat. Plus, lots of lizards. Their blue bellies are so much bigger than ours at home!

I felt so gross after today. So many things were rusty, dirty, and covered in I don’t know what. We washed some of the trucks we rent on the island and I helped a little bit with that and just got grosser. BUT! I couldn’t shower yet because tonight, after our meeting and dinner we all played a rousing game of kickball! Haha!

It was incredibly fun and people were pumped to play. I explained how to play to Tom, who’s English with no experience in baseball and Nora, who’s German, with an understanding of baseball with an adorable little diagram. Nora explained to us a game they play at home, which is exactly the way we play Dodgeball at La Mesa. But, it’s not typical dodgeball.

We all headed out to the field behind base to play. Meatball was even out there with us, running around, hanging in the sidelines. Two local kids came out to play with us while parents and other community members came to watch in the stands. We had a freaking blast! It was seriously the best time. Zoë kicked ass and was so committed to it. There were a lot of people from other countries on the teams who had never played before which made it even more fun. Trying to remember all the intricate rules and contingencies was hard. Like, the part where Tashi (who’s Nepalian) circled around to home, scored us point…..and then continued to run around the bases again in the same run because we had forgot to mention once you hit home, you stop running. Whoops. Everyone was laughing, cheering and seriously just having the best freaking time.

We’ve been doing a variety of dorm wars and on Friday, we are playing bamboo tennis which is baseball with bamboo bats and tennis balls. Tonight, one of the staff members set it up so people could decorate their shirts and bats for more points. I went into the dining hall and found Nora making a shirt so I started coloring a bat. I’ll take a photo Friday of it, cause I forgot. I went to bed the latest so far tonight!

Day two in the field and we were out the gate early! We were loaded up and left before 7:00am.

I rode in the truck today with Aaro and a few others to site. On that ride, Aaro gave me some more details about the family we are helping.

The house we are working at is for a family of five. Julio is who we usually see, because he let’s us in the gate when he gets home from work. He works the night shift and sleeps during the day while his wife is at work and three kids are at school.

Except for the part where we are doing in construction on his roof???? Poor guy probably doesn’t get much sleep.

Their house is pretty large and the only rooms that are livable are one bathroom, the kitchen, a living room, and a bedroom. For all of them. Oh, also they have three beautiful birds and a four legged (but three pawed) pup! The rest of the rooms are covered in mole because they are all leaking so much when it rains. And it RAINS here.

Tom and Nora were placed on a different team today, staying on base to help clean. Everyone rotates this job. Joining us for the first time was Melissa and Denise instead.

It was another beautiful morning on this roof! The views are unreal! People’s houses just…in the middle of a beautiful natural jungle. I can’t get over it! I unpacked a lot of the tools into as much of an orderly fashion as I could.

Aaro had me finish creating a canal with a rotary hammer which I spent the morning on. I was creating a path for the water to flow to the drain pipes we had busted out the day before. I got to wear a mask because I was blowing up so much concrete and dust. After carving out my canal, I had to remove large debris, sweep up as much small debris as I could, and blow off the rest to clean out the space and prep it for cementing.

Today definitely went slower than yesterday. I think it had to do with the heat, it was significantly hotter today than yesterday. While my arms didn’t look red, they freaking hurt. The sun on them just stung like little needles. Wasn’t much I could do except continue to put on sunscreen.

After that, Marissa and I worked on busting out four other drains on the roof. They have old PVC pipe in them and are too small for the amount of water moving through them. We had to hammer through the concrete, take out the old pipe and make the hole bigger for the new pipe. It sounds simple, but it took so mich time.

This whole experience has given me a whole new appreciation and understanding for construction and construction workers. You can spend so much time doing the simplest thing, feel accomplished when it happens and simultaneously feel like you didn’t actually DO anything all day.

We had lunch, together again under the carport. We sat mostly in silence today. The heat and humidity we’re brutal.

After lunch I learned how to mix and lay concrete! This was new and run. We actually have an additive for the concrete to slow down it’s drying process so we can lay it out where we need correctly. Without it, plus the heat, it dries before you can even get it off your tool. It’s crazy! So I spent a lot of the afternoon doing that with Marissa and Ryan. We concreted a lot. Sealing off everything hoping to avoid any future leakage.

After that was done, Marissa and I went back to working on knocking out the other drains.

Julio came up on the roof to check it out today and talk some things over with Aaro. It was cool he came up.

Literally, that was it. It was such a long day, leaving at 3:00. Yet, feels like we did so little. Obviously other people were there too, working on other parts. But that’s all I did today and it took all day!

We brought everything back down, loaded up the truck again and headed back to base. We stopped at the cómado and some people got snacks and ice cream. I enjoyed the AC and we walked back. I got to talk with Ryan a bit more. He’s a sophomore in college in New Jersey and he’s real quiet. He is incredibly knowledgeable about what is happening around here and can answer every question. We got back to the base and unpacked the truck..I got to dump the trash….yaaaaaaay.

I showered, changed, and relaxed/chatted until the 4:30 meeting. This is where I learned that I had chores tonight. Yaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyy. I was to sweep andop with Susan. She’s from Central Florida and retired.

So after dinner, we did our due diligence and swept and mop the entire kitchen, dining area, and bathroom hallway. As we did this, we realized that Aubrey (volunteer from France) as on food/dishes/kitchen duty and her team totally bailed on her! They left her to do it all, refusing to do chores! So, Susan and I began to help her with that because that is A LOT to do for one person. We were there until after 7:15, sweaty as hell. After that, I was exhausted. I just relaxed and eventually went to bed. A lot of people went to the local pizzeria for karaoke but I just didn’t have it in me to join. It has been a long day.

Thanks to those of you that have donated!! I appreciate it SO much. It isn’t required for us at all. Just something I want to do. This place is amazing and what this organization does and wants to do for people is truly beautiful.

Fundraising sucks. There’s no easy way to ask people for money. There’s no easy way to not be bummed when people don’t, even if you know it’s for a reason.

But seriously, if you can. Just $1 can even help. Skip your morning Starbucks run, make food at home instead. It all adds up and helps.

School’s out, summer is here, and my blog is back! I’m excited to start sharing what I am doing again this summer, particularly this trip.Right now I’m in Yabucoa, Puerto Rico working for All Hands and Hearts. AHAH is an organization that is committed to disaster relief in affected areas. They are all over the world- Florida, Nepal, Dominica, Mozambique, among many more. They are also here in Puerto Rico, working with the community to help rebuild what they can from the mess Hurricane Maria left as she passed through in 2017.Yabucoa is where Hurricane Maria touched down. This destroyed a city of over 37,000 people who call Yabucoa home. The storm hit the hardest here and so many of the people are still recovering. AHAH has committed to being here, but only until November 2019. I’m looking to help Yabucoa, AHAH, and the volunteers here by trying to raise some money for the organization. It helps tremendously. It allows the volunteers to have sleeping quarters, food, and water so they can do amazing work all over! If you can, please donate just a little bit to the cause. Everything helps. Whether it be $1 or $10, it’s all loved and appreciated.I’ll be here for the next two-ish weeks, learning about AHAH, Yabucoa, and the people that live here.Today was day one, which of course was filled with traveling and getting here. I flew from LAX to JFK to SJU. At SJU I was picked up by the kindest man, Gerardo, and brought to base! I really messed up on tipping Gerardo and it’s stressing me out, I feel so bad. I’ll see him again, I just feel like a jerk who is too cool to tip. So, you know, carrying that around until I can fix it.

The vibe here is nothing but love, support, and acceptance. You really feel it from the program leaders here. We met Nick, he’s been here over a month and he gave us (me and a couple) a tour of base. He showed us the main office, the solar panel spot, the home garden, tool and boot sheds, sleeping quarters, kitchen, free stuff, bathrooms, showers, everything! They’re switching over to making everything gender neutral which is pretty fabulous. There is a pavilion, hammocks, and a roof. From the roof you can see an adjoining baseball field, as well as watch games on it, and local houses around the city.It’s so beautiful here in Puerto Rico. There is green EVERYWHERE. It’s magical and jungle -y and just… an enchanting place. I’ll take more pictures of the site and around base later share.After the tour, Nick showed us our bunks and that was it. Work is Monday- Friday while the weekends are free to do whatever as the volunteer sees fit. There weren’t a lot of people here and I wasn’t quite sure what to do with myself to be honest. So I set up my bunk.

And rested a minute. Took my Kindle outside to read. Talked to some people. Raided the fridge for some cucumber and eventually sat down to work on a community puzzle of Mt. Rushmore. Working on that I got to talk to quite a few people! People who had gone were returning, other new people arrived. A group was going out to get burgers and offered to bring me back one! This was great news because I was starving but didn’t want to walk to the store. People are kind.While they were out, I finished the puzzle with some help, met more people, and read my book. There are SO many people here from New York. There’s two schools, colleges, doing some type of volunteer trip and they come here.I ate my food as the sunset and got in bed by 7:30. I’m real tired and have to be up by 6 tomorrow! The adventure has started off slow but I have lots of hope and excitement for tomorrow! Hopefully I’ll make some friends! 😅