During spring break, I had the absolute pleasure of visiting the beautiful island of Puerto Rico. During this time, I was able to work with countless amazing staff members, community members, and new friends. It all started at 3:30 AM on Saturday, March 1st. Our group had the pleasure of an early flight at 5:30 AM to get to our layover in Baltimore. After a 5-hour layover in Baltimore, we were on our way to San Juan. I watched the mountains turn into houses, houses turn into communities, and then the communities turned into the beautiful city of San Juan. When we walked out of the airport, I felt the warm, fresh air hit my lungs and the sun hit my face. We were picked up in the Caras con Causa white van, which I already miss dearly, by our outstanding coordinator, Adriana. We got to the hotel, checked in, ate dinner together for the first time, went to the 24-hour grocery store that we frequently visited, and called it a night.
On our first full day in Puerto Rico, Jasia, an employee of Caras con Causa, and her daughter, Naomi, kindly took us on a tour of Old San Juan. At first, I was surprised to see Jasia bring her daughter along while she was working; however, it soon occurred to me that without Naomi by her side, Jasia might not have been able to join us at all. In the nonprofit world, there is a lot of hard, on-the-ground work, and for countless people, balancing work and family can be a significant challenge, especially when you have to care for your child while also working. Hearing Jasia share that Naomi had the best day ever was incredibly heartwarming and inspiring. It was a reminder that the people at Caras were welcoming to us and wanted to give us the best experience we could have. In Old San Juan, we were enamored. The sights, the ocean, the birds, the stray cats, the cobblestone streets, the architecture, the brightly painted houses, and the people really drew us in. So much so that we would go back to Old San Juan twice during the week and spent our last night watching a man play the flute and piano for hours, but we will get to that later!
In Old San Juan, we walked through a church that was also a museum and most importantly saw Castillo San Felipe del Morro, which is a historical landmark of Puerto Rico. It is the fortress that the Spaniards used to defend Puerto Rico from invasions by the British, Dutch, and pirates. It was huge and deeply rich in history, with many plaques and educational materials provided. After that, we ate some delicious sandwiches and hit the town! Fellow group member and friend SJ and I bought some souvenirs and then wandered off on our own to find a man playing piano in an overlook that was so stunning, we used the rest of our “tourist time” to sit and look out at the bay and listen to the man play. After that, we got back to the hotel to eat a delicious pasta meal and got ready for a night out. We played card games, went to the beach at night, and explored the Puerto Rican nightlife, and we were not disappointed.
On Monday, the real work began. On this day, we were able to actually see and spend time at Caras. We got to see LabCom in the flesh, both the elementary side and the high school side. During this time, we got a crash course in Caras’s purpose, in terms of focusing on the interaction between the environment, education, and the community. We also got a crash course on the surrounding ecology. Particularly, we learned about the nearby wetlands and canals where they take water and soil samples for data collection with students. At this time, we met with Michael Fernandez, the founder and Executive Director. This meeting was pivotal for our group and for me personally. Our group was able to ask him countless questions. We were able to get key soundbites from this interview. On a personal level, speaking to Michael reignited the love I have for my major. At this time and with the United States’ current societal context, being a senior environmental major who wants to work with nonprofits has never felt worse and more scary. It has been very cloudy and unmotivating to feel devalued because of my aspirations within this field, but he made me remember that this work is important and is making a difference. He talked about resiliency, integrity, and honesty like they were givens and never undermined how important the work was to him and to the community. I will cherish that feeling as I walk across the graduation stage in a few short months. Overall, the meeting with Michael was very eye-opening, inspiring, and really put things into perspective for us as a group and for us each individually.
After speaking with Michael, we went on a community tour with Juan, the lab coordinator and head biologist. We were able to see all the spots they take samples from within the small communities of Cataño and Vietnam. This included seeing their pollinator garden and mini forest they have in Vietnam, a small community located on the coast of Guaynabo and Cataño, which fell victim to an illegal expropriation at the hands of a career politician. Michael made a documentary about this displacement of individuals and he started the lawsuit that would lead to the ending of this illegal displacement. The Mayor’s goal at the time was to rip out the people and their houses to build what was called “The Guaynabo City Waterfront project,” a mixed-use complex that included a hotel, an aquarium, a boardwalk, a ferry terminal, and a gym to gentrify the location based on its natural beauty. It overlooks the San Juan Bay and is a breathtaking site to see. This was deeply impactful to learn about before actually visiting the community and hearing about what it used to be like before they started deconstructing things. But it’s not all sad; Caras is helping reclaim that land with green spaces like the free and accessible pollinator garden and mini forest. The mini forest specifically is tracking tree growth of trees that were planted about 3 years ago. After our first day at Caras, we went back to the hotel to freshen up, got dinner, had ice cream, and played more card games.
On Tuesday, we started the day with deforestation efforts to eradicate an invasive plant in Cataño, so that they could plant native species in its place. One of our group members got strapped into a machine-like weed whacker, and the rest of us had large scissors for the roots and leaves. After that, we had an absolutely amazing home-cooked meal at the community center, as we did every day we were there, and headed back to Caras to fill bags with dirt and plant seedlings! We ended up planting over 190 seeds, mainly including white mangroves. After some freshening up and another amazing dinner, we headed back to Old San Juan to explore more of the city at night! We found a new guy this time who played the flute and watched the night sky over the water.
On Wednesday, we spent the whole day at LabCom to test it out for ourselves. Before we could get to that, though, there was a big pile of topsoil and compost that needed to be separated and shoveled into their respective bins. This was not the original plan for the day, but Caras was facing a power outage that occurred the night before. This was the biggest pivot that we had to make during our time there. This was some of the sweatiest work I have ever done, but it didn’t take too long with all of us and our new friend who worked at Caras, Yahir, helping! After that, we had a meeting with Juan where we discussed what actually happens in the lab. From this conversation, we expressed that we wanted to test out the water and soil for ourselves to get a taste of what future students would be doing while using the lab. So, we went and got a water sample from the nearest site, the Malaria Canal, and tested the water for many different things. We tested the pH, temperature, conductivity, salinity, amount of dissolved copper, nitrites, iron, and more! After writing down our data, we were able to go see the mangroves that they have actively restored around the bay from their hardwork. This part was very educational because I learned that there are different kinds of mangroves that are planted specifically for environmental reasons; for example, the black mangroves are planted closest to the water because their roots grow and form the best protection from things like flood events. After this, we got a mural tour in a neighboring community, so we could get some context and an uncolonized view of the island. There were countless beautiful murals that symbolized many different things, like the natural habitat and ecology, the exploitation of Puerto Rico’s resources, its history with factories taking over, U.S. colonization, and more. This was a very tiring day, so after that, we got dinner, and I slept for 11 hours (by accident, but a happy accident).
On Thursday, we got to see El Yunque, the national rainforest! It was magical, even if Adriana’s mountain driving made me car sick in the back of the van, and I had to take a Dramamine. We saw the beautiful mountains and greenery. After that visit, we were able to spend some time at the beach. The water was the perfect temperature and not too salty, the sand was warm, and the sun was hot. I could not have asked for a better day!
On Friday, our final full day with Caras, we started the day by painting an elderly woman’s home in her favorite colors: green and purple! This was not the original plan for the day, but again we simply smiled and took on whatever was asked of us. She said she loved it and was super sweet. After that, and the best homemade lunch ever, we got to go to the Rio Abajo Forest Preserve, which had an entire section dedicated to butterflies and an aviary that houses the critically endangered Puerto Rican parrot. This was very fun to see all the different types of birds. Plus, we rode an incline to get to it! After that, we hiked up a mountain (and by that, I mean we got driven most of the way up, went up one really steep, paved road, and climbed 200 steps) for the most breathtaking view. I cannot even describe it in words.
On our final night, SJ and I got our belly buttons pierced, and we all sat together for hours listening to the same guy from before play his flute. I was entranced by this experience; there is simply nothing better. The air was warm, the moon was bright, we could see Orion, and the music continued to flow. The only reason we eventually left was because they were packing up the chairs and tables we were sitting at! It was the perfect ending and sent off because Puerto Rico gives me the same feeling as sitting and watching an alluring artist make their art. The next morning, we had to say goodbye to the darling Adriana and started our journey back to Pittsburgh. On our final flight, we all got to sit in the same row <3
And then, on the way home from the airport, the bus, our dear 28X, broke down, but that’s a story for another day!
All in all, I finally understand why people rave about study abroad programs. I have been elated ever since and don’t know if I will ever fully process it. I didn’t expect the bond to form so quickly between the people I was with and the organization we are working for. I was worried we were not going to do enough, or meet their expectations, but they were very welcoming and up front with us in every aspect. There was no question unanswered and I have felt very level-headed since being back, with an excitement I did not have before. The only challenges I felt like I really faced was the fatigue and the heat, but both were easily manageable. Sleep and coffee along with A LOT of water chugging had my back the entire trip. This reminded me of something we discussed in the reading “Points of Discomfort: Reflections on Power and Relationships in International Service-Learning” by Erin K. Sharpe and Samantha Dear (2013). I was uncomfortable with the speed of it all and the heat, but that was something that was unavoidable and I could only adapt. There was a lot of need to be flexible on this trip, which I believe my group members and I handled gracefully because we knew that it was something we needed going into the trip from previous class discussions.
Being with Caras, Rick, Adriana, and the other seven people in the group left a feeling in my chest I don’t know if I will ever feel again, like sunlight radiating within my heart. I am excited now to give Caras some good promotional material and get more universities interested in working with them!
