DAY 10 – the finale

¨Hasta Pronto¨ is the Panamanian saying for farewell and we will be saying it for the last time here in Panama City. It´s been ten days of absurdly humid weather, grueling labor, and worst of all: long bus rides. Something we have to unfortunately have to say ¨Hasta Pronto¨ to. The country of Panama has given us memories we will never forget, bonds we will never break, and emotional scars that will last a lifetime. The memories we made here are not left behind but are cherished for many years to come. Not only this but we´ve also made an everlasting impact on the community. With our CAP Project completely revamping a local school´s courtyard, we have made a role model of hard work and compassion to the local students. Traits they will hopefully carry on throughout the rest of their lives. We have been introduced to beautiful landscapes, cultural practices, and even local myths that have expanded our limited perspective as Bay Area students. But there´s one last extremely important thing that has not been mentioned yet. We have made a family out of 20 strangers we have never met before. The friendships we made within this community have given us a chance to create new beginnings outside of Global Glimpse.

Today we woke up at 6:30 AM. Which was difficult for most because a large portion of the time we were supposed to spend sleeping, was spent having our final conversations and reflections with our newfound family. Breakfast was served Omelets and Hojuelas which is a Panamanian dish consisting of only water and flower which is then deep fried and served warm. We then had a three hour long seminar consisting of different activities that we can all participate in and take the time to appreciate those around us a lot better. We had our last look arounds of the town before getting on the bus to Panama City at 1:45 PM. This bus ride was definitely an emotional one as we were listening to songs that give the ¨Farewell¨ feeling, giving us an ¨Outro song¨ or so was said by Akasha. On the other hand today was also the World Cup Final, between Spain and Argentina. Most of the people on this trip aren´t big futbol fans but it was truly a bonding experience with different people rooting for their favoring teams. Half of the bus was focused on Argentina (Messi) and the other half was focused on Spain. It was an extremely long game with Spain missing pretty much every single chance to score but in the end got a goal at minute 106. While most had kept their hope for Argentina, they did not succeed and Spain had become the World Cup Champions of 2026.

We got off the bus around 5:30 and quickly brought our things to our rooms in the Ojos De Rio Hotel. Your current authors (Nikolai and Xavi) even got the same exact room from the first day in Panama. We now had access to quality internet, English TV, and best of all; YouTube.

Panama has truly been the experience of our summers, and we are eternally grateful for this opportunity. Many of us were also granted with scholarships from donors to we which owe an incredible thanks to. We are about to spend our last night in a country that has taught us lessons we will carry on through the rest of our lives, and hopefully friends too. As cliche as this sounds the journey in Panama really was the friends we made along the way.

Hasta Pronto Panama

Trip CH2B Signing Off