Day 8: WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE

THE BRITISH ARE COMING!!!

jk….but they did help us plant 700 trees (in only an hour)!!! Today, the best LDDs to ever grace Panama woke up the gang bright and early at 4:30 in the morning. Going door to door, we brought the energy to a very tired group and got them on the road at 5:30. We arrived at basecamp around 7:30, changed into our rainboots, and braced ourselves for mud and sweat on our very first jungle CAP (Community Action Project) Day. We worked alongside Pro-Eco Azuero and a bunch of British teen girls with incredible accents who were on a similar trip.

From basecamp, we walked through treacherous paths and up steep hills to arrive at the planting area. This was no small feat and let’s just say it got wet everywhere. On some stretches of the trail, we had to be silent in order to not disturb wasps’ nests who were out for blood. After arriving at the destination, we were given another demonstration about the proper tree planting technique, and then split into groups which then were assigned to different rows on the mountains.

It turns out, the actual planting of the trees was easier than the walk to get there, however, the rows were rather steep and rocky and some of us fell (but everyone was okay!). We had fun yelling across the mountains at each other while planting, and keeping our spirits high with stupid jokes. For example “THE BRITISH ARE COMING!” was a staple. To ensure that our baby trees will grow into big ones, local workers trailed behind us to do quality control and help when we tweaked out. The main tips were keeping the trees level and straight, with tightly packed soil all around.

While planting, we carried around sticks to put the plastic wrapping that held the baby tree’s roots and soil together. Some of them fell apart, but we worked hard to keep them together to avoid litter.

After planting, we did the whole walk back, and found that running down the hills proved to be hard but also very thrilling. We cleaned up back at basecamp and said goodbye to the Brits and loaded up the bus. We lunched in a surf town with many cute dawgs. The town, Playa Venao, was full of surfer hotties and sweet views of the ocean. We got ice-cream and souvenirs at the local surf shop. We got back on the bus and made it back to the hotel in a daze. We ended the night with a bang from the next LDDs, Gio, Carleigh, and Luka.

Signing off,

The best leaders of all time and space

Jayshawna, Jenny, and Maggie

P.S. In the comments, tell us about the activity that made you the sweatiest you’ve ever been!