This document provides contact information and logistical details for coordinating a volunteer trip to Puerto Rico. It includes contacts for housing, the community organization where volunteers will work, and previous coordinators who can provide advice. Tips are given for food, transportation, activities, and ensuring volunteers have a meaningful cultural experience through Spanish translation and reflection on Puerto Rican history. Coordinators are advised to be flexible and communicate extensively with all parties involved in planning the trip.

1. Dear 2015 Coordinators,
CONGRATULATIONS!! GET READY FOR AN INCREDIBLE EXPERIENCE
THROUGHOUT THE BEST TRIP OF YOUR LIFE!! Here’s some important information that
will be of much help to you this academic year and during the trip:
Contact Information (everybody prefers to keep communication in Spanish):
Housing: Christian Community Center
Email: ccccaimito@gmail.com
Address: Carretera 842, Km 2.6 Caimito
Rio Piedras
Puerto Rico (between Guaynabo and Caimito)
Reverenda Isabel Martínez: (787) 215-2825
Reverendo Juan Figueroa: (787) 810-2910

2. Site: Iniciativa Comunitaria
Main Office: (787) 250-8629
Address: Iniciativa Comunitaria, Inc
CII Quisqueya
San Juan, 00917
Puerto Rico
Alex Serrano: aserrano@iniciativacomunitaria.org
Office: ext. 207
Cell: (787) 462- 7910
Marissa Galán: magalan@iniciativacomunitaria.org
Office: ext. 208

3. Paola and Nick (2014 Coordinators):
PLEASE don’t hesitate to call us text us, email us, whatever if you need ANYTHING or want
any more advice before or during the trip!!
Paola Peynetti: ppeynett@bu.edu, (857) 600-5800
Nicholas Amadeo: namadeo@bu.edu, (603) 703-8874
Our trip email:
Trip email: buasbsanjuan@gmail.com
Trip emai password: BUvolunteer!
Our trip twitter (for 2014 but you can change it to 2015): @ASBSanJuan. Password:
BUvolunteer!
Hashtags: #ASBoricuas, #SunJuanHereWeCome
SORRY THIS IS A LOT OF INFO WE JUST WANT YOU TO HAVE AS GREAT A
TIME AS WE DID!! Our biggest piece of advice in coordinating this wonderful trip is “go with
the flow.” In PR, “I’ll be there in half an hour” could really mean, “I’ll be there in 15 min” OR
“I’ll be there in 3 hours.” There is only so much planning you can do...everything will fall
together when you arrive, also. Here are some specific tips/advice! Enjoy!
MAKE SURE PEOPLE REVIEW SOME SPANISH BEFORE GOING, AND YOU MUST
HAVE AT LEAST ONE NATIVE SPANISH SPEAKER ON YOUR TRIP. TRANSLATING IS
TOUGH

4. For food:
1) Our site provided us with lunch one day at Compromiso de Vida (Tuesday), they gave us
hot-dogs. Otherwise, we made sure to go to Costco to buy food for the whole week and
also buy bread, cold cuts, cheese, lettuce, peanut butter, jelly, etc. for everyone to make
their own sandwiches every morning. We also brought granola bars and fruit every day
for snacks.
2) We shopped at Costco, which was awesome!! Otherwise, Walgreens has alright food for
the first day, or for basic breakfast and snacks.
3) The water from the faucet is SAFE to drink!!
4) Budget wisely because we had to use extra funds. Make sure everyone takes part in
cooking at least once so that it doesn’t all fall on you! Also they should all help washing
dishes and cleaning up after each meal.
For housing:
1) As you’ll notice, you have two contacts--Reverenda Isabel Martinez and Reverendo Juan
Figueroa. Isabel handled all of the planning/answering our questions beforehand (mostly
by email, and VERY SLOWLY) and then Juan was our main contact once we were
actually in PR. He’s awesome.
2) There is no street address (kind of a strange area). You should call Juan once you rent the
cars, and then he will give you the address of a bank where to meet him so he can lead
you to the house.
3) The housing is so cool! It is a house in a Christian community with a kitchen, bedrooms
(with bunk-beds), one bathroom, 2 (cold) showers, and all the sheets and towels you’ll
need. There was also a lot of sun screen, bug spray, first-aid kit stuff left behind from
people who had stayed in the house before us. The kitchen has utensils, plates, everything,
so don’t buy that stuff when you go shopping.
4) The stove is gas powered (the gas is hooked up under the house and you need to turn it
on/off each time you use it). There is one washing machine and one dryer but they take a
reallyyyy long time to work, so start doing laundry a few days before you leave & don’t
let your volunteers count on being able to do laundry throughout the week. It’s expected
that we leave everything as we found it--meaning you have to wash all the towels and
sheets you use.
5) We got into some trouble with the “donation” of $15/ person/night, because they
wouldn’t fill out the W9 form. Be sure to contact them very early on and check with the
CSC to see if you can just fill out a personal check of some sort instead of doing actual
paperwork, because CCC doesn’t really like to fill out forms. At all. This was difficult.
You need Spanish-skills and a LOT of patience. Make sure to clarify expectations on
both ends way before the trip.

5. 6) Parking at housing is rough--the entire neighborhood uses one very tiny parking lot.
Whatever you do, DO NOT PARK IN FRONT OF ANYONE. The police will come to
your door at 5:00am if you do.
Iniciativa Comunitaria--Community Service Site: ALEX SERRANO
1) This is probably one of the most amazing organizations you will ever work with--they do
the most amazing work and are the nicest, most loving people you will ever meet.
2) Aim to contact Marissa or Alex at ICI very early on. They are pretty relaxed there and
sometimes slow to respond to emails and phone calls. You may need to send repeat e-
mails to get detailed answers about what kind of service they plan for you to do, etc. Be
sure you get a detailed, confirmed schedule of service each day because we had a
free day by accident! (If you do have a free day, plan it out well- we went to El
Morro, Museo de las Américas, and Old San Juan).
3) Check out the website: http://www.iniciativacomunitaria.org/
1) Iniciativa is a community health organization that services mostly the populations of San
Juan that are affected by HIV/AIDS and drug addiction. They have 13 on-going projects
under 3 umbrella categories: direct services, education and prevention, and community
outreach. Everyone who works there does it because they are truly passionate about
helping others...SUCH a great place, you’ll see.
4) As far as service, they will have you do a variety of things at their different projects. One
day we visited their hospital program, Pitirre, in Bayamón Regional Hospital (BRING
PANTS), and visited the headquarters and some other programs like the HIV clinic, the
Syringe exchange program, BregaBien (their youth program); another day we worked at
Compromiso de Vida I, their women’s residential detox center, helping residents set up
email accounts, learn basic computer skills, painting some of the fences in the building,
etc. Another day, we helped clear a trail near Cayey, in a rainforest where they’ll
organize a summer camp for the youth of BregaBien, and we also helped Alex figure out
a curriculum and structure of this said camp to encourage kids to go, how to involve
volunteers, and how to make the program sustainable. It was awesome. Another
5) We suggest you contact and definitely try to meet and work with: Alex (PR), Marissa
(Compromiso de Vida), and Liza (787)385-2880 (Iniciativas de Paz). THEY’RE ALL
INCREDIBLE AND SO INSPIRING.
Fun Things to Do!
1) Definitely go to El Yunque rainforest! Make sure you print directions to the visitor’s
center (that’ll bring you to the main area where you can go hike/swim in waterfalls :) La
Mina is the name of the main waterfall where everyone swims--it’s so beautiful!! Use one
of the full days you have (Sunday after you get there or the Saturday before you leave) to
spend there.

6. 2) BEACHES!! Isla Verde (go to La Plage beach bar/restaurant), Ocean Park, Luquillo are
the ones we went to after site two days and on the Saturday before coming back...all
amazingly beautiful. You can also go to Condado and Escambrón.
3) On the Saturday before we left, we were going to go to Isla Culebra (the number 5 most
beautiful beach in the world). This is from the 2013 coordinators: DO THIS. You have to
wake up super early and be at the Ferry terminal in Fajardo by 5am (it is about an hour
away from housing) to stand in line (just send 2 people) for tickets to get on the ferry.
When you get to Culebra, go to Playa Flamenco. SOOO WORTH THE LACK OF
SLEEP! Bring plenty of sunscreen--this was the day all our volunteers got burned. There
are places to buy snacks and drinks. Instead, we spent all day in Luquillo, stress-free
about the ferry times and extra driving, and it was awesome, too.
4) We went to Old San Juan a few nights, just to walk around, listen to people playing
music in the street, and dance salsa at Nuyorico! Also in Old San Juan is El Morro, a
castle which you must visit. It was about $6 per person to get in, but the views are
priceless. We also went out to dinner in Old San Juan one night--if you plan to go out on
Friday night make sure you make reservations.
5) The day that our service got cancelled, we went to the Museo de las Américas to
encourage everyone to learn about and reflect on Puerto Rican history and culture!
Other Tips/Advice:
1) Make sure your drivers are VERY comfortable driving. There are some wind-y, very
small streets, and aggressive drivers in PR. Your navigators should also be really good at
reading GPS’!!
2) Pin everywhere you go on a smartphone, since a lot of places don’t have street addresses.
Be patient with all things involving driving! ESPECIALLY MAKE ALL YOUR
VOLUNTEERS PIN THE HOUSING SITE!!!! BRING USB-CAR CHARGERS
BECAUSE YOUR PHONES WILL USE UP A LOT OF BATTERY WITH
NAVIGATION AND CALLS!
3) Review some Spanish phrases with your volunteers before leaving. Even teaching them
how to say buenos días can help your volunteers make a connection with the people
you’ll be working with.
4) Since you got this position, you obviously speak Spanish. And this will be very important,
as a lot of people you work with with speak 0 English. You will have to translate a lot,
and our advice is to remember to translate everything to your volunteers. Sometimes we
took for granted that we understood what was going on, and forgot that our volunteers
didn’t understand. Making sure you’re translating everything with make the volunteers
feel more included and a part of the experience!
5) We had some trouble with AVIS, the company we rented cars from. Our advice is make
sure all the paperwork is either on your name or your chaperone’s name. Also, if you can,
get at least one of the drivers to be over 21 (the chaperone), because they’re very hesitant
to rent cars to drivers under 25, and you’ll be forced to do it under two different cards….)

7. 6) Since unlike other ASB trips you will be driving in two separate vans whenever you
travel, remember to split money for tolls/parking garages before you leave for your
destination, and make sure your volunteers switch which vans they are in--don’t have the
same people always sitting together!
7) Take cash out of ATM’s before leaving for PR...it’s kinda hard to find ATM’s in PR and
they charge you fees.
8) Make sure people actually save everyone’s numbers on their phones. And by everyone,
we mean EVERYONE: site contacts, housing numbers, your PMs, your numbers,
Orpheo’s… you will need them.
9) Encourage your volunteers and chaperone to print and bring their trip packets!! There’s a
lot of information that you will definitely need and if they have it on their phones or
printed, it’ll avoid a lot of problems and confusions.
10) If you get into an accident (our van was in a hit-and-run while we were parked at El
Yunque National Rainforest), you need to fill out an accident report at the police station
OF THAT MUNICIPALITY, UP TO 24 HOURS AFTER IT HAPPENED!!!) Also, get
in touch with the CSC asap if that happens.
11) Contact El Nuevo Día, an important newspaper, about making an article and coming to
interview you while you’re at work. We got a great video made and little bios of some of
our volunteers on both the printed and online newspaper!! This is the woman who
interviewed us:
Aurora Rivera Arguinzoni
Periodista
t. (787) 641-8000 ext. 5016
c. (787) 449-7168
f. (787) 641-3924
e. aurora.rivera@gfrmedia.com
And this is the link for the article/video:
http://www.elnuevodia.com/Xstatic/endi/template/imprimir.aspx?id=1732529&t=3
If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Good luck!!!
ASBlove,
Paola and Nick