Puerto Rico

 

 

Relaxing in a cabin

Camp Crozier

Camp Crozier was a volunteer training facility for the Peace Corps. It was located in the mountains south of the city of Arecibo, Puerto Rico. The map above shows the island and places we visited during our training as candidate Peace Corps Volunteers.

Crozier was named after one of the first Volunteers to die while in the service of the Peace Corps. David Crozier, along with fellow PCV Larry Radley, died on April 22, 1962 while serving as Peace Corps Volunteers in Colombia. 

 

A second training center on the island was named after Radley. David and Larry were the first of over 300 individuals who have given their lives while serving their country in the Peace Corps.

This is an excerpt from my first letter written while in
the Peace Corps. The date is when it was written.

OurVolunteer group would be working withthe nascent credit cooperative movement in Ecuador. The end-of-service goal for our Volunteer group would be to leave Ecuador's credit cooperatives on a solid footing for future success. 

 

Training of future Volunteers was a two stage process. The first stage we were experiencing in Puerto Rico. This was where some candidates began dropping out for various reasons.  Voluntarily for some frequently due to fear of what lay ahead. Successful completion could be indicated by an ability to work well with others, to communicate in Spanish and do the work that will be expected of us. The second stage would involve in-country training in Ecuador later in the Spring.

 

Camp Crozier cabin

Candidates invited to training in Puerto Rico are supposed to already demonstrate a record confirming one aspect of their readiness for service. This would be a legal, accounting and/or business education showing the Volunteer to have the technical skills necessary to benefit the credit cooperative movement in Ecuador. 

 

[A pamphlet prepared by the Peace Corps containing a mini-bio of all credit cooperative group Volunteer candidates who started training at Camp Crozier during the Spring of 1966 can be found at the end of this post.]  

 

I don't know why all the candidates were young white men. One reason might be that in the 1960s the business type courses which provided  the professional training for the desired skills were usually pursued by a higher proportion of male students than female. The Draft also probably stimulated a higher than normal influx of white male candidates.

American experts from CUNA (Credit Union National Association), well versed in those qualities key to the success of credit cooperatives, were contracted to work with Ecuadorian staff and the Peace Corps Volunteers.  Most of the CUNA people would work out of the Ecuadorian national credit union association in Quito, the capital of Ecuador.

The Breaks

The breaks we took from our studies, on reflection, were actually part of the preparation for service in Ecuador.  Our teacher / trainers got to observe how we interacted with our fellow candidate volunteers and Puerto Ricans. 

 

We, especially in the excursions we took on free weekends, were able to experience our first tentative immersion in a Latin American society. Our individual response to these experiences would have been a good early indicator of our potential for success completing two years of service in Ecuador.

Recreation time at Tomasitos outside the entrance to Camp Crozier. Playing of the
Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction" was quite popular.

 

Volunteer candidates enjoying a cool place

Barrio Weekends

 

This letter was addressed to my father, a lawyer back home in New York, who had a business meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico's capital. He wanted to meet me during his stay in San Juan. I was indicating the difficulty given a conflict with a major training activity that weekend. 

 

As an introvert,  the idea of being dropped off in a town where I knew no one was not exactly in my comfort zone. Being expected to meet, get to know, and find food and shelter among the locals made the requirement doubly difficult. One aspect of my personality saved me. Whenever I really yearned for something, wanted to explore the unknown, or avoid failure, I would push ahead with great determination to attain my objective. The fears associated with the task would flow off of me like water. 

 

My assigned barrio where I was dropped off was a town west of San Juan. I don't recall its name. The family I ended up staying with - I expect some family member lost their bed to me - served Puerto Rico's national dish - Arroz Con Gandules at a dinner I do remember. The meal and the experience are memories that have remained with me for the fifty plus years since that early spring weekend in 1966.  

 

Arecibo - Bob's Easter barrio weekend

San Sebastian - Howard's
barrio weekend

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The photos in this post were taken by numerous participants during our credit cooperative training period at Camp Crozier, Puerto Rico . (Campamento Crozier, Utuado, Arecibo 00641, Puerto Rico)]

 

                  Camp Crozier Volunteer Candidates