last CAP Day Success!

Howdy family and friends, 

Today was day 7 of our trip and it was the roughest but most rewarding day yet. The leaders today were Chloe and Christa – funny, we´re the ones writing this. Our day started off with a delicious breakfast: scrambled eggs with vegetables, white cheese, and corn tortillas. The reason why we say it was such an amazing breakfast is because it really gave the day a jump start. 

When we made it to the CAP Site, Parita, we immediately jumped into action. With the help of the community we quickly finished painting the benches, lamp posts, and soccer field. We all came together in the end and helped paint the gazebo. We were proud as leaders to see everyone work together on one project no complaint. The group actually made the decision to cut into our free time to finish the painting! Can you believe that? I can’t put into words how passionate everyone was to help the community. It was so saddening to say goodbye especially to the kids. Tears were definitely shed, but also we were happy to see the impact we made on the community.

It took us more than 20 minutes to finally manage to get on the bus and make our way back to the hotel. It was a quieter trip back, we were all stuck in the past and that park and those kids and people, especially Megan. She was such an inspiration and helped us so much during these past three days. She was the glue for this project; she kept us all together when it felt like, sometimes, we were falling apart. She started off our days every day, no matter how hot and humid the weather was, in an excited mood with an energized smile. We really couldn’t have done it without her, really. 

Being the leaders of this day, the last CAP day, was exhilarating. Not only had we prepared such an artsy colorful planner for the day but we also made sure the day was just as colorful and bright. We incorporated the three spanish words we had learned the night before into our energizer for the day – and we’d say that it made the start of this day so much more unique and almost like a mental alarm to wake the brain. It started our day just how we wanted the day to start. 

For Christa, what she learned from being a leader was that she likes sticking to schedules. She found it disappointing when we fell off schedule. For Chloe, she learned that in order to be in full control and charge of such a large group, you have to be extra assertive, loud even. She learned that loud voices aren’t always associated with hostility – just charge. 

Dinner!! God, we were so thankful when we had dinner today. We had some good ‘ole American food: Hamburgers and french fries! We all finished, no, we all inhaled our dinner! Some were even asking for spare seconds! We’ve enjoyed Panamanian food, it’s different and we’re always trying new things and experiencing new cultures. But by this time we were all a bit homesick and the thought of hot rice while soaking in sweat from a long hot day was not appealing to any of us. The hamburger was a surprisingly nice reminder of home. Hopefully we’ll be able to have burgers right when we get back to Chicago!

Today was the last and the best day of CAP! We finished our CAP project and we’re not only happy to be finished but also so happy we made deep emotional connections despite most of us not knowing how to speak Spanish. It taught us all that overcoming language barriers is a lot easier than we realize at first. Never limit yourself, know that we can all communicate because we are all humans at the end of the day! 

Big love, 

Chloe and Christa