sweaty, sandy, and sifting

It was a dark, and stormy morning or at least it felt like it, as us LDDs woke up from our slumber at 5:00 am. The rest of the group was soon to follow as we had to wake them up no more than half an hour later. For breakfast, we had Panamanian homemade bread, sausage, and fresh fruit. Soon after we departed for a 1 and a half hour drive to Playa Venao, a beautiful beach on the Pacific ocean for our Community Action Project (CAP).

Once we arrived we started working right away in our groups. Two groups went to the turtle nursery to work in the sand, and the other groups worked on artwork for the organization. Not even 30 minutes in and everyone was already drenched in sweat. It was definitely a lot of work but we persevered and pushed through.

We had snack at 10:30 and continued our work right after. Sifting sand and making it safe for the baby turtles who will be born later this year. Other groups continued to work on the artwork, painting the turtle just like the logo of Save the Turtles.

At 12:30, we briefly left the beach to get lunch at a local restaurant. We had chicken, rice, plantains, and many of us also had delicious drinks to compliment our meal.

After lunch, we returned to the beach to continue our difficult, but rewarding work. We only worked for another hour, but we got a lot done in that short amount of time, including moving lots of logs (some of which weighing over 100 pounds each), for use as a wave breaker for the nursery. Following that, we cleaned up the area, and hopped on the bus, all sweaty and sandy, craving the shower.

When everyone was feeling cleaner, we broke off into free time, where some of us elected to swim, while others ventured into town to get ice cream.

Post return from town, we enjoyed another delicious meal cooked by the hotel chefs, Elke and Leonela. We had steak, rice, and more plantains. Finally, we got ready for our nightly meeting, where we had some amazing talents shown including solving a Rubix cube in 54 seconds, a magic trick, and a bird call.

Elias: Today was a great opportunity for me to learn and improve on my leadership skills as well as get to know my fellow glimpsers better. Carrying logs was more fun than I thought it would be!

Lani: I loved being a LDD for our first CAP day! It was definitely tough in the morning, getting up super early and encouraging others to do the same. I learned a lot about myself when it comes to being a leader. I tend to be more on the assertive side, and I learned how to balance assertiveness with listening to my fellow Glimpsers. My favorite part of working was shoveling sand, I had so much fun tossing the sand into the sifter and listening to some awesome tunes!

Yandel: Guys today being a LDD was fun, it was nice feeling like a leader even if I was a little nervous to speak up and lowkey tell people what to do. It was hard doing all of that work but I feel accomplished and satisfied. I can’t wait to do more yay. 🙂

Thank you so much for reading, and we look forward to reading your comments! Adios!

– Lani, Elias, and Yandel