Day 3 In Las Tablas, Panama

On the bright early morning here in Las Tablas, Panama, we came together as the first LDD’s (Leaders of the day). Todays LDD’s were Yaslin, Dante, and Mikaela. The theme for todays day was “Working like a local.” In order to get the full experience, LDD’s woke up at 4:30 to wake up the rest of the group at 5:30. After breakfast, we completed our daily health check to ensure we were fit for the days tasks.

Our first order of business was driving to Finca El Espinal, which is a small local farm run by Hugo, meant for producing goat’s milk and related products. We were kindly introduced to the owner who spoke about the farm’s history and purpose. We then proceeded to interact with the baby goats. Hugo set up milk bottles for us to feed the baby goats. After this, we got to work! Hugo and his coworker demonstrated how to roll bales of hay, which we then carried to the adult goats for their breakfast.

After feeding the goats, Hugo showed us a pond where he grows plants on the surface of the water. He dries these plants out mix into goat feces and uses them as fertilizer for the plants that the goats eat. He then took us over to a prepared pile of fertilizer, and had us bag it up and place sticks in the bags to start the growth of new trees for the goats.

After a few hours, Hugo led us back to the pavilion, where we thanked him for his time. He then let us purchase some of the products from his farm. Many people bought ice cream and goat cheese, which tasted just like mozzarella.

When we returned to the Hotel, our GGL’s,Rose and Alex, gave us a lecture on safety while in Las Tablas. Then our PC’s, Laura and Maykeld, had us split into groups and act out various tips and tricks on being a savvy traveler. Everyone was starving after acting out our skits, so we took a break was lunch.

Today’s lunch was finally something other than fried chicken! Today’s lunch was hispanic spaghetti and stewed chicken. After lunch we were taken on a short field trip to get some free ice cream at a local bakery. We were introduced to the owner, Anna, who told us about how she ran her cafe for 20 years, including through covid. She then offered us samples of her homemade ice cream in all sorts of flavors: passion fruit, strawberry cheesecake, and key lime pie. After the samples, she gave everybody one ice cream cone and let us buy some baked goods from her shop.

Once we returned from the Ice Cream run we were given about two hours of free time. We split into two groups, one staying behind to finish health checks, and one to roam around the city for a while. After the health checks were complete, the small group went with our great leader Maykeld to the barber shop. Once there Dante, Brandon, and Linken all got haircuts. While the haircuts were in action a few of us played with a young boy who’s mother worked in the salon. He didn’t want to give up the remote and put on music, so we entertained and talked with him. The kid sat with us for about an hour and a half talking and laughing. When Maykeld connected to the shops speaker and the music started playing we got to see many other sides of people as their songs came on and we started singing along with the songs. It was such a great experience and bonding moment for the people who went.

Meanwhile those who weren’t in the barber shop were at a thrift store. We walked around the town and bought souvenirs while getting to know each other. Shortly after we all arrived back at the hotel to meet for our daily seminar. We began to learn about the upcoming community action project.

After the seminar, we began our self reflection, where we began to learn about our peers and their feelings towards the trip. It was an experience to open your eyes about the thoughts of your peers. Its times like these where we really learn about how people really want to interact with oneanother. Overall it was a great experience to get everyone’s stance on things. After dinner, we passed the torch to tommorows LDD’s and let them take over from there.

Till next time,

Mikaela, Yaslin, Dante

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