The day started off around 6:45 am. We got on the bus and took off to Isabela a town in the north-western part of Puerto Rico. It was about a 3 hour bus ride from Loiza to Isabela. We arrived at Villa Verde, a surf shop in Isabela and had a brief talk to with our instructors about the plan and what we were going to do. We then had to drive about 25 minutes to Rio Guajataca. The river flowed into the ocean and it was very beautiful and had large schools of fish that were swimming close enough to the surface you could see them. We were taught how to paddle board and the correct way to paddle. Balancing on the paddle board at first was a little difficult but once you got a hang of it was quite easy. We paddle boarded through the river going up stream for about 30 minutes. We arrived at a big tree and we all jumped off the tree into the water. It was very refreshing. We paddled back to the beach and relaxed for a bit, then got back on the bus to go for lunch. We stopped at a barbeque place for lunch. The food there was delicious and plentiful. After we had lunch we drove about 35 minutes to meet our instructors and Nicholas. We went over a little presentation about autism on the beach and then had the opportunity to watch our instructors teach two young boys with autism how to surf. I thought it was very interesting and really cool how the instructors taught the boys. After the beach we got back on the bus and headed home.
The trip today was very interesting and showed us how relevant social capital is here in Puerto Rico. People here are so rich in culture and seem so happy with everyday life and so excited to show tourist the beauty of their country. I thought the trip was good and showed us a different way to work with kids with autism. It was really cool how these kids could surf and none of us on the trip knew how to. The instructors took time out of their day to help the kids with autism and have fun with them. It truly was a remarkable site to see these kids surf.