Amazing Adventures Continue!

Since last Tuesday we have been filling our days by playing games with the local youth of Maimeyes, reflecting on a successful friendship camp, and eating tons of fresh fruit while enjoying the thrills of zip-lining and canyoneering. While at La Finca (aka Samnyasin), the students created and implemented an amazing friendship camp which included painting an awesome mural, playing a wide variety of both silly and educational games, and creating an elaborate scavenger hunt around the farm. The students really enjoyed getting to know the local youth, the strength of the bonds that they formed was evident on the last day when they had to say good bye. During the afternoons, we took full advantage of living on a farm with a beautiful river and volcanic soil. One afternoon we went down to the river to swim through an amazing gorge. On the way, the students discovered a series of paint rocks and soon were covered with intricate designs. Later in the week we harvested clay from the soil and went down to the river to coat ourselves in a cleansing purple layer of mud. We looked like members of the Blue Man Group if they had existed during the time of the dinosaurs.

On Friday we packed up and headed down a curvy road which leads to the heart of the Toro Negro rainforest, which brought cool air, fresh passion fruit and tons of bananas. The next morning we joined Raymond, our guide from ACAMPA, for an adventure upriver and later a zip-line tour through the canopy. When we first jumped into the river, we literally jumped into a 12 ft deep hole that was formed by the pounding of a beautiful waterfall. With our helmets on we all plunged in, attempting to reach the bottom and springing back up with huge smiles on our faces. Afterwards, it only got better as we were instructed to literally scale waterfalls. We climbed upriver learning firsthand about the local plant and animal life as we sampled various edible flowers and leaves and felt the river shrimp nipping at our toes. At the end of the river portion of our day, we roped up and rock climbed up a 30 ft waterfall, Travis put up a new route, impressing the local guides. After heading back to camp for an amazing lunch featuring local cuisine, we went into the forest for a windy and rainy zip-line adventure. Despite the inclement weather the student’s spirits were high as they flew through the air over waterfalls, while attempting 360’s. We returned to camp that afternoon tired but content with our incredible day of adventure.

After doing some service work in the morning, Sunday brought us along the southern coast, heading through Mayaguez, the epicenter of the Caribbean Olympics, all the way back to Tupi, our surf instructor’s, house. Monday brought clean laundry and our first day at the Boys and Girls Club of Aguadilla. Our students really enjoyed getting to know some of the Boys and Girls members and are excited to run activities for them throughout the week.

Student Notes: the students wrote blurbs for one another this week

Last week was spent running a camp for local kids at Samnyasin. Dylan always showed up with a positive attitude and, even though he did not speak Spanish, he was still the first volunteer to explain games and answer questions. After camp we went to Toro Negro Rain Forest for three days. He had a great time riding the zip-lines and, although it was freezing cold, he did not complain. Dylan also has many hidden talents; he is a talented chef and has crazy veggie chopping skills.

Emory put forth a lot of enthusiasm during the friendship camp at La Finca. Even thought it was tiring he was very patient with the kids, especially the littlest ones. He contributed a great deal to the planning and preparation of the group scavenger hunt. When we went zip-lining he wasn’t scared at all and enjoyed himself very much, even though it was freezing and raining. He was very gracious at dinner despite it just being macaroni and cheese which took very little effort to make. He was also very good-natured during the game of mafia. I appreciate having him on this trip because he has a good sense of fun and is generally helpful with whatever we do.

Emily is a great friend to everyone, always lending a hand to do you a favor or make you feel better. Although she sometimes gets nervous about certain activities, she always manages to conquer her fears and fully participate. She is always up for having fun, and is also a great friend for huddling up in sleeping bags to talk for a long time.

Jeremy’s willingness to participate makes him a positive role model for all. This, along with his seemingly infinite knowledge of facts and pure hilarity, makes him a priceless member of our group. You’ll always find him with a smile and a helping hand, even when he has an injured finger. During our first friendship camp you could always find Jeremy translating some Spanish, leading a game or just generally making himself useful. We would all be lost without our very own Jeremy Chimene-Weiss.

Sinika has had a terrific week. Her bright smile shines throughout the day and she brings a great sense of humor to the group. On Saturday she seemed to be a bit hesitant to climb through the jungle and scale the waterfalls. But, by the end of morning, Sinika was practically running up the waterfalls. We love having her as part of our group!

For the last week, Tia has been open to all of our activities. At camp, she helped out as much as she could. She painted for a full day even though she didn’t really want to. Tia took risks and surfed which she was both excited and nervous about. She was very nervous for the zip-lines. It was her first time and she did a great job trying something that was out of her comfort zone. Knowing that she was too scared to go on the zip line at camp – this was a great achievement. Tia has definitely been adventurous lately. It’s great to see her accept challenges.

Charlie has been an active leader since the beginning of the trip. His humor and leadership make Puerto Rico a lot more fun than it already is. He also lets people have what they want, for example in the rain forest when everyone wanted to climb the waterfall first, he volunteered to go last even though he really wanted to go first. I really like having Charlie on the trip with me because of his leadership, humor, lack of selfishness and a whole lot more.

Lili was very positive, adventurous and took initiative with the little kids in camp. Every time I saw her at camp, she had two young children at her arm and another begging Lili to give him her camera. She volunteered to be the scribe at almost all the camp planning sessions while simultaneously leading the meeting. During zip-lining (which was in freezing cold rain), Lili never let her positive attitude die and continuously laughed at the situation we were in. When we came to a small, natural pool of water in the river on our way to the final zip line, Lili was the first person to jump in the cold water and make her way to standing under a waterfall which gave her endless joy, a symptom of her happy attitude that day. When I went in the water and wanted to enjoy the waterfall, Lili moved out of the way to allow me access to the fall. Lili is always the first to suggest a game of presidents in times of boredom. Throughout the week, Lili has brought joy, a positive attitude, kindness and a sense of adventure to our group, making huge contributions to the camp and everyone’s overall experience of the trip.

I have only known her for a couple of weeks, but we have shared a lot of memories. Silvana is funny, crazy, gullible, but very smart (like when I need to know how to say something in Spanish). She knows how to lighten the mood and bring people together. She has the funniest faces and the craziest laugh. She knows how to make the kids who don’t want to participate at our camp want to with her positive attitude toward everything. When something bad happens, she just laughs. I’m going to miss her when we go home.