By Micaela, Julianna, & Kendall
Today we started our last day of service in the town of Vega Alta. We quickly ate breakfast, which included french toast, eggs, and fresh fruit, and in high spirits headed to the work site.
Today, we would be working on Ángel and Maria’s house. Ángel has been helping with all the other projects and Maria has been cooking our lunch everyday, so it was really nice to be able to help them today. Unlike the past couple days where we had a machine mix the cement, today we had to mix the cement by hand. This was a very tedious process that William took a lot of time explaining.
First, we had to pass up 10 buckets of sand, 3 bags of cement, 8 buckets of rocks, and 5 buckets of water by a human chain. After each ingredient was added, we had to meticulously mix it, making a moat for the water. Once this was completed we would pass the filled bucket of cement up to the other workers. We ended up making 10 batches of cement and filled 5 columns and beams.
It wasn’t all hard work, though; during our breaks we turned on the music and sang and danced with Ángel, Maria, Willy, and the other workers. They were particularly enthralled by Hunter and Christian’s dancing, with Maria secretly recording Hunter and Christian busting down. Finally, after a little bit of work after another great lunch cooked by Maria, it was time to say our goodbyes. The night before Sonia had helped us prepare something in Spanish to say to the workers to express our gratitude. Willy, Ángel, and Maria also expressed kind words thanking us for our working and saying that they will never forget us. We took many pictures (and selfies!!) with everyone. They gave us Puerto Rican bracelets to remember them by, but we all know that this was an experience we will never forget.
After an exhausting first half of the day, we used the time when we got back to just chill. Some of us watched Drake and Josh while others were outside playing football. Tonight’s dinner consisted of leftover pizza, potatoes, chicken, and beef.
Finally, it was time for the long awaited Salsa dances. We partied up and began the lesson. At first we were a little stiff, but after we began to feel the music we began to loosen up. After practicing our routine for almost an hour, switching partners every so often, it was time for our final dance. Girls were in the middle of the circle while guys were on the outside. After doing the routine with your partner, the girls would turn to the next boy. By the end, we had it down. Catch us at prom with our newly learned moves.
We ended the night by making ice cream sundaes and watching Big Time Rush. Tonight is our last night in the Big Yellow House before moving to our next hostel. We had some amazing times at the Big Yellow House, but it is time to pack up and move on to our next adventure!
