day 8: Cap day 3

Today, Me (Jahzara), Sarah, and Penelope were Leaders of the Day. Our day began with a 5 am wakeup for a trip to a tropical dry forest on the Azuero Peninsula. We worked with kids who were from Pro Eco Pelaos to reforest the area. With everyone’s combined teamwork we were able to plant over 600 trees in a matter of 3 hours! With all of us being paired with each one of the kids, we were able to build a lasting connection with the culture here in Panama.

On the way back to our accomodations, we were able to stop at Playa Venao to enjoy lunch and see the beautiful beaches from a different perspective compared to when we had the Beach Clean Up day. The community of the beach was very welcoming and everyone seemed to be having a great time surfing and exploring the café. We even ran into the owner, who happened to be from the US and offered us free zipline rides upon hearing about the work we did today! (We had to decline, sadly).

Upon returning to the hotel, we got to do laundry and then at our nightly meeting pass the torch to tomorrow’s LDDs, Olaf, Erick, and Ayush. They’ll be leading tomorrow’s Fun Day at the beach, which we’re all looking forward to. We can already predict that a highlight of tomorrow will be sleeping in until 8 am!

Overall, doing the CAP was impactful and made us appreciate the privileges that we have back home. I think that we all will return more grateful than ever and will also encourage us, as a community, to do more.