Day 3 – Bonjour Paris!

Ana:

HEYYYYY EVERYONE!!!! We had such a wonderful day at the town of Paris, Chitre. We learned a lot of new Panamanian culture. We went to Senora Elisabeth’s house where we learned about AMURAM, a women run organization that take care of Mangroves in their community. They have been around since 1997/2007, they take care of the manglar and bees (I didn’t get to try the honey but my friends said that it was REALLYY good and salty). I personally have the opportunity to meet Senora Mercedes and her daughter Julia (sweetest people ever) and they taught us about “Tembleques”, which are a traditional Panamanian hairpiece used by women when they wear traditional dresses aka “polleras” during parades. Everything was ballistic!! We also have to learn about colonial churches (shout out to my dad who taught me all about colonial and Republican Architecture). I think Panamanian culture is a little bit similar to mine back home (Ecuador). Being the first LDD (Leader of the Day) of this trip was a memorable experience because I got to wake everyone up at 6:40 am, meaning that I woke up at around 5:50 am (which is crazy since it’s summer time) and have so much responsibilities but overall it was SUPER FUN. I have made amazing friends here. Everyone is so kind and lovely! I miss you a lot guys and I hope you could be here with me; but I promise I will tell you everything when I come back.

PS – Please mom send this blog to one of my friends (Mile and tell her to send this to Trini)

Hello, this is Yuleika the second leader of the day and I will be sharing what happened today from my perspective. Waking everyone up was the most stressful part of the day since everyone wanted to sleep in. We took the bus to the local’s house and there we learned about the community which included  a Womens Association of  Mangroves was about. We got a tour of their neighborhood (which reminded me a lot of the Dominican Republic) and I was amazed at the amount of butterflies. At the Catholic Church that was undergoing restoration, we were separated into groups and I shall tell my story from there.

My group, which were Daniel, Max, Samantha, Natalie and me Yuleika. We went to Senora Raquel’s plant nursery where we saw many beautiful greenery but also many animals as well. There were chickens, ducks and a cat. The cat was named Lucas, the male duck was also named Lucas. Lucas the duck has 14 ducklings. We then sat down to paint on wooden planks with a theme of nature. Lastly, we the opportunity to try some of their yummy mangrove honey since she also does beekeeping (I managed to spill it on me.) After we ran out of time,we said bye bye to Lucas the cat which hung out with us the entire time before meeting back with the group. We then went to a clay artisan named Lucrecio’s home to learn about pottery. It was very fascinating and everyone was very engaged especially after we started painting our own clay pots. In the end, we were surprised with being able to keep them! After a long hot day, we finally got back in our bus to go back to our hotel. J

BIG LOVE, BIG HUGS, BIG BUGS! – Everyone