General Impression
Overall Rating: / 10
Awesome experience, lots more free time than expected but learned a lot and made some great friends.Country
Puerto Rico is very different from the continental United States. There's not really a designated tourist area, and its interesting seeing the areas that are more gentrified than others. 2 buildings next to each other will be wildly different, one extremely well unkept with air conditioning and right next to it will be a building in pieces with barbed wire surrounding it. It never felt as dangerous as people make it out to be. People are friendly and most everyone speaks English and Spanish.
Project & Staff
Staff was extremely helpful and checked in regularly. Our contact person also provided us with additional volunteer opportunities outside of our assigned project. I enjoyed working with CRES is the urban garden, learning about their mission and the different plants in Puerto Rico and the coastal impact. It was very cool learning about these individuals livelihoods and their hopes for the Puerto Rican environment. It was also fun living in the hostel dorms, getting to meet other volunteers and making new friends.
Tips
Always carry bug spray!