Hey, it’s Samirah & Sam, the Leaders of the Day! It was a free day so we woke up later than usual. Some of our other tripmates were already awake so we stayed up for a while and walked around before it was time to wake everybody else up.

After we woke everybody up, it was time for breakfast, and we ate cereal, which brought back some childhood memories. After eating, we had our daily yoga session with our trip mate Hazel which was very relaxing. Next, we conversed with a group of trip mates for around an hour and a half before lunch. Soon enough, it was time to head into the city and disperse into our groups. Our group started by shopping for clothes and buying jewelry. Afterward, we stopped to rest and eat at a restaurant that served amazing smoothies and other dishes.

During shopping, we got a ton of souvenirs for our friends and families. We also did a lot of personal shopping from a lot of other stores and found a ton of cute clothes, purses, and sunglasses. The people there were very generous and kind. We girls decided to go to the beauty supply to get nail polish to paint our nails after. Once we were finished, we went to the supermarket to get snacks to eat back at the house. After the supermarket, we tried to look around for plantains for our friend and ended up meeting the rest of the groups at a restaurant.

We all got back on the bus and felt very tired after 3 hours of shopping and roaming around the city. As soon as we arrived back home, Sam and I decided to hand wash our new clothes and it was such a fun experience. It really helped us decompress after being in a big group. We hung up the clothes to dry and then chilled on the rocking chairs until dinner started. We had plantains with beef and cheese which Sam unfortunately could not eat because she is lactose intolerant. However, they had other food that she could eat. Together we gathered the dirty dishes and had volunteers help us put them away. It was very nice to have people help us and unite together because our lovely cook Ursula works really hard to fit our accommodation, and we tried our best to make it easier for her to clean up.

Afterward, we took a shower and observed our trip mates making chili lime thyme cilantro from Sonida de Jaque, which is habanero thyme lime-infused hot sauce. Overall, free day was a mix of emotions and events but truly was a very needed rest, not only for the Glimpsers, but also for our GG leaders who work hard every day. We really hope you enjoy reading these blogs.

Sincerely,

Samirah and Sam, your Leaders of the Day!