Anne Palmer

For the first week of our trip, we spent our time in Orocovis, a small town in the middle of the Puerto Rican countryside. We enjoyed seeing beautiful mountains, exotic plants, and amazing waterfalls. We even spent one day walking through a huge cave at Rio Camuy park. Throughout our time in Orocovis, we got to experience the lives of Puerto Ricans living in the countryside. The people lead simple lives in small homes spread out in the mountains. What surprised me, was the generosity of the people. One day we split up into groups of 2 and spent a few hours in a family’s home. Our family cooked us an amazing lunch! On another day a restaurant stayed open 4 hours later for us to cook us dinner! Even though people are spread out they still have a community where they come together through school and church. It was nice to take a step back from our busy lives in Chicago and gain perspective on how others live in the world.