day 5: cap day 1

Hola! this is you’re LDDS for DAy 5, Fri S. and Evan O.!

Today we started off breakfast with gallo pinto, plantains, garlic bread, queso, coffee and milk, with a side of pineapple juice and water

After our breakfast, we had our mental warmup as usual. However, this time around, we took a different angle and played a game where each of us had to choose a stretch for everyone else to perform. This was crucial to pump us up in preparation for the work session ahead of us!

Indeed, today was the beginning of our three-day long Community Action Project, where we devote our time to serving the community of San Rafael who has been so kind and hospitable to use these past few days. Our job was to partner with the local transportation division and clean up nine local paradas del bus (bus stops).

We split into two teams, where we experienced different conditions as we worked. In evan’s team, as soon as we reached the first bus stop, it started raining and a heavy mist covered the road. Thankfully, Ricardo (a relative of one of our host families earlier this week!), a local who lived across the street, offered to help us by giving us his hose. With his help, we blasted off the first layers of dust (and the spider nest that was hidden underneath the bench) before we got to scrubbing, polishing the bus stop to perfection in under an hour. One down, eight more to go!

In Fri’s team, we did 3 bus stops where we worked very hard and deligently, the walk was tiring, espiaclly with 2 hours of scrubbing and sweeping (and alot of encounters of spiders and wasps!) we blasted our music to keep our energies up and we came through though with our high energy and our GGL, Colin, encouraging us, we were determined to have the bus stops in a cleanest state possible for the citizens that have welcomed us during our stay. The team worked very hard and all ideas were shared, we bonded while cleaning and gave us a sense of teamwork and community.

At 1:00 pm we had lunch that was rice with chicken fajitas, salad and beans. It was delicous and helpful for our energies when we came back to work on more bus stops.

As we got done with our two last bust stops that were conviently right next to each other, we stopped by a store to buy snacks for our cabin and snacks for future trips. When we came back it was free time where we mostly relaxed as some played card games, played pool, read, or just hung out together.

At 6:30 pm, dinner was served a bit late because of technical difficulties but we persevered and dinner was served with pork soup and rice, along with guava juice mixed with pineapple juice. During the dinner we did mid trip surveys where we rated our experiences and our PCs and GGLs.

This day was the cornerstone of our Global Glimpse experience. This marked the day where we first got our hands dirty and started contributing toward real community-wide change. This day required more effort than the rest, but all of us put in immense effort and passion. I hope that we can continue to carry this energy with us as we continue to support San Rafael and when we travel back home. After seeing everyone’s clear determination, I have no doubts we’ll succeed! – Fri S. and Evan O.

Link to photo drive: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Btbj68EeDnc9G4DS6