Since being stationed in the town of Mindo for my service portion of SST, I’ve noticed a big cultural difference between U.S. Mennonites and Ecuadorian “Mindo-nites” – pun intended 🙂 approaches to life. There’s a palpable sense of serenity and...
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El Morro, Doña Fela, y el Parque de las Palomas
May 01 2025
Today’s blog is from the perspective of two of our SST adventurers: Ava and Kelsie.
May 1st 2025
The first major activity our class did today was visit Castillo San del Morro. This was a very fun experience for me because it pushed me out of my comfort zone. I have never travelled and toured a new country alone before, so walking around the castle by myself, instead of with a friend made me feel very mature.
I also got to learn a lot of history about the place. One thing that took me by surprise was how old it was, yet the condition it was in. Construction started in 1539, however, mostly everything was still standing as I was in the 1500’s. I’m happy we got to come here because it allowed me to appreciate old architecture while also learning about the history behind it.
After a late arrival and early wake up in San Juan, we started our adventure in Puerto Rico by visiting the Castillo San Felipe del Morro, which was a fortress that was built to replace La Fortaleza in defending the city. We learned that the Castillo San Felipe del Morro was built in the 1500’s with 6 levels that effectively protected San Juan from attacks by both land and sea.
Then after a lunch break in Viejo San Juan, we trekked to La Casa Museo Felisa Rincón de Gautier. Here we learned that Doña Fela was the first woman to serve as governor of San Juan, even before the women’s rights movement of the 1960s. During her leadership, she improved public services, fought for women’s rights, and established an early childhood education program (this program developed to become the model of the Head Start program in the United States). For me, I find Doña Fela very admirable and a great role model for women of any generation, as she defied social norms and discrimination to become a woman of power that changed the lives of Americans for centuries to come!
We finished our day with a trip to el Parque de las Palomas. Here, we were lovingly swarmed by more doves than we could count, as they found it enjoyable to land on our heads, shoulders, and arms!