March 8th – We left Fajardo relatively early today to arrive at La Perla, a small coastal community that sits outside the walls of San Juan, before it became too hot. We worked in the community garden and greenhouse, pulling weeds, creating compost, and painting railings.

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We enjoyed a large lunch at a house of a kind La Perla community member’s before heading to a grocery store in Old San Juan to purchase sandwich-making materials. After gathering the necessary ingredients, we headed to a lovely park to construct said sandwiches, which we were planning on handing out to those in San Juan who needed dinner that evening.

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Once we finished building and packaging the sandwiches, we set out in the guagua to find those who wanted them. We became increasingly popular as night set in, and we happily gave away at least half of the sandwiches. We left for dinner after about an hour and half before heading back to the hotel.

March 9th – Today we set out for Food Scapes Caribe Farm, where we would be spending the entire day. The farm, located in the mountains of Luquillo, is entirely organic and very environmentally friendly. Carlos, who owns and runs the farm, had us pulling weeds out from under plantano plants (watch out for red ants), repotting oregano, and clearing trails before we stopped for lunch.

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We returned to work after our (completely vegan!!!) meal, finishing what we had started in the morning. We had some time before dinner after this second shift, so we played some games, of both the board and physical variety.

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After dinner (again, entirely vegan) and games, we headed back to the hotel. We will be spending tomorrow there as well, and I believe we’re all looking forward to it!

Anabel