DAY 3: cabras bebe y helado

As the first leaders of the day, today was the funniest day of our lives. What started as an early morning turned out to be one of the best days of our trip. I’m not sure how you top the laughter we experienced today.

We woke up at 5 to wake up our fellow glimpsers. By 6:30, we all enjoyed pancakes and waffles as we tried to socialize through the fatigue. Once done, we had our daily check in with our medical professional, ensuring that we were suitted up and ready to conquer the day.

We got on the bus and headed to Finca El Espinal, a local family run farm. At the farm, we were welcomed by Hugo, the owner of the farm who would teach us so much today. We first created customized soap bars out of goats milk. We customized the color of our soaps and even the scent they produced. As we waited for our soaps to dry in their molds, Hugo gave us a tour of his farm. We got to feed his different breeds of goats and carry the baby goats to get plenty of pictures with them.

Then it came time to hand milk the goats. After Hugo taught us the method of milking the goats, it was clear that some of us were still afraid to try. But by watching others go and pushing ourselves past our confort levels, we got to enjoy a truly fun cultural experience. We are proud of those who pushed themselves to get the complete experience.

Hugo then taught us about his goats and how most were crossbreeded with French, Spanish and Swiss goats to restore a stable milk and cheese production that can be sustained here in Panama. But when a question was asked about how he started the farm, he taught all of us a very important lesson, to be patient and have belief in whatever goals you want to accomplish in life. His story, whilst different from anything we do back home, applies to all of us and has showed us what happens when you stay true to your craft.

After collecting our soaps, we got back on the bus and headed back to the hotel for a seminar on culture and safety whilst in Panama. We discussed rules whilst on this trip and made funny skits based on the saftey regulations we discussed.

We then ate a healthy and delicious lunch. After lunch we were given an hour of free time to socialize (and maybe nap too). We then headed out to explore the city of Las Tablas by foot. We first headed to the Museum of Belisario Porras, one of the most important political figures in Panaminian history as he served as Panama’s president for four terms. We then made our way to the local church, where we saw a lot of locals praying on a Sunday. After visiting the church we then headed to a local ice cream shop to refresh ourselves by trying various different flavors such as dulce de leche, ron con pasas, and cookies & cream. We then headed back to the hotel, not for long though as some of us headed back out during our free time, joined by one of our GGL’s.

During this time we bought a ball at a place we were lead to by Omar Hernan Dominguez (owner of the hotel). Allowing us to play volleyball for almost an hour, during this time we were able to bond with other glimpsers.

We headed back to the hotel for another seminar activity. We ate dinner, which was quesadillas and papas fritas wedges (a classic). We enjoyed a lot of laughter and bonded through songs with our GGL’s. We ended the night reflecting on our day and introduced our leaders of the next day (Sean and Josayah).

After all that we were able to celebrate one of the glimpsers, Anais’, birthday. The GGL’s brought out a cake as a surprise and we sang to her. Happy Birthday to Anais!!

We had so much fun today and enjoyed the mix of both education and social activities amongst us. We laughed, we learned and most importantly, we all enjoyed it. Today was a great day to set a positive mood for the rest of our days here in Las Tablas. We enjoyed being the first leaders of the day and hope we set the tone for the following leaders to come!

Atentamente,

Rayan y David

y que fue