HOLA LOS AMIGOS Y LAS FAMILIAS!

Today was Biocultural Diversity Day and led by los líderes del día, Layla and Jayden. Today we started the day off with a 7 am wake-up call, followed by a wonderful breakfast and mental warm-up to learn about today’s partner. Our goal today was to learn and self-reflect on what biocultural diversity is, and why we should care. We then got on an hour-and-a-half bus ride to la Playa Venao, where we played a fun game of charades, and shared a bunch of laughs.

Our partner, Save the Turtles, founded by Scott Crystal, also an American, founded in 2020 to help preserve the population of sea turtles and their journey to the ocean. We also met his colleague, Rod, who is working to help recycle and reuse organic waste via the use of composting. Scott, who was originally from Maine, moved to Panama in 2018 for his job. However, when COVID hit, he and his family relocated to the beaches of Panama. In the early months of living there, Scott realized that many turtles would come to the beach to lay their eggs, however, there were many issues that arose which drastically affected the sea turtle population. Panama, which is home to nesting sites of five different species of sea turtles, has an important role in maintaining our marine ecosystems. But Panama has had a disconnect with the protection of the turtles. Scott, who never felt one with nature, had a calling to reconnect with nature and claimed the title, “Guardian of the Turtles”. He now successfully relocates nests to onsite nurseries, where under his protection he is able to release thousands of sea turtles every hatching cycle.

Now that you have also met our partner, time to give you a glimpse (no pun intended) of what we did. When we first arrived at Save the Turtles, we started with a meditational session overlooking the beach, in which we calmed our minds after the long ride, and took in the wonderful liveliness of nature surrounding us. The view overlooking was breathtaking and beyond words. After meditation, Scott shared a special blue tea made from Butterfly Pigeon Pea flowers along with blue corn tortilla chips to compliment the flavor. It was said that the tea or chips could bring back nostalgic memories from your childhood. Some of us liked it, and some of us were not big fans. Next, Scott and Rod educated us on their environmental work, and why it is important to protect wildlife, and our environment as a whole. We all contributed to an open discussion about preserving life and culture. We then visited their onsite nurseries in Playa Venao and learned about their nesting process, as well as how they care for the turtles. Finally, we thanked Scott, and Rod for their work giving them a gift, and took a bunch of photos while at the beautiful beach.

We started on our journey back to the accommodation but made a quick pit stop for some souvenirs at ArteMania. Once we got back, we had lunch, and afterward had time to either relax or work on our CAP projects for the upcoming days. After that time was done, we came back to the common room where we had a self-reflection about our experience at Save the Turtles. Our discussion consisted of how we can make changes in our own environment, along with how to correct human error in order to preserve the nature around us. After that, we had a delicious dinner which everyone seemed to enjoy. Following dinner, Jayden led an energetic mental warm-up through a game called “Get Loose,” where everyone again laughed and smiled the whole time. Our líderes del día continued on with starting our nightly meeting.

During our nightly meeting, we had a special conversation about Rod’s introduction of reducing, recycling, and reusing in Panama, which perfectly goes hand in hand with one of our CAP projects. Rod talked about composting sustainability, which encouraged all of us in our efforts to create a composting system for Nutre Hogar. It was inspiring to know we are a small step in something bigger than us. Finally, we finished off the night passing the torch onto tomorrow’s leaders.

Personal Statements from Layla and Jayden

Today was a super fun day to be leaders. We felt it was easier due to everyone being settled. We were super excited to be leaders, and the experience did not disappoint. We did face the challenge of getting off schedule, however it was not the fault of the group, but the day itself. Being leaders was super fun for us because we love hyping everyone up and bringing all the energy. We found stepping out of our comfort zones rewarding and motivating. We brought some fresh energy, that we hope the group enjoyed.

Would definitely do it again!

XOXO Jayden and Layla.