Hello lovely people, it’s Yanai and Mckenzie, and we guided the group on our last day of the Community Action Project. The questions that shaped our day was: “What do you think the impact of this project will be? How will it look in 5 years?”

We kept these questions in mind to use as motivation and push through our very early 5 o’clock wake-up time. After everyone was dressed we got breakfast sandwiches to go and hit the road at around 6:15 am. Most of us were exhausted from our 2 previous days of hard work, so we utilized our hour-and-a-half bus ride to take a nap. Once we arrived at Playa Venao we prepared ourselves with sunscreen, bug spray, bottles of water, and a positive attitude. We began our hike up the mountain trail until we met up with the Pro Eco Azuero team and additional volunteers. They instructed us to have 5 people per every row of tree saplings. Although we slipped, fell, and encountered many discomforts we were able to plant 1500 trees; making 4,020 trees in total for the entirety of the CAP! At the end, we had some pictures taken by Roberto and a few of us got interviewed by Sandra. We then hiked back down to the bus, changed our shoes, and took a short bus ride to have lunch at the beach. After lunch, we headed back to the hotel to have some free time to ourselves. Most of us showered or headed to the store. Our final self-reflection and end of CAP seminar took place before dinner. We expressed our emotions and appreciation towards one another and affirmed positive goals for the future. Everyone then headed to Las Tablas BBQ for dinner and a surprise birthday celebration for Ashley and Jesus. To conclude our day we had our nightly meeting and watched the joyful Santa Librada parade from the hotel balcony. 

As the leaders of the day for the final day of the CAP, we learned that to be a leader is to be a role model that inspires. You do not have to necessarily fit the archetype of an outgoing and loud person, but rather provide trust and empathy for your group. Overall our team felt as if our efforts during the project were going to provide a better environment for humans and animals. Like Sandra Cisneros once said, “The older I get the more I’m conscious of ways very small things can make a change in the world. Tiny little things, but the world is made up of tiny matters, isn’t it?”

Pro Eco Azuero Board of Directors President, Rossie Pope-Meyer and her butterfly friend joined us for planting today!

Thanks to our CAP work, in 5 years this hill will be full of 4,020 trees in total!

BIG LOVE to the Magnificos who do the hard work of creating the rows for us to plant our sapplings!

LDDs McKenzie and Yanai with Nathaniel and Kimi celebrating after 3 long days of hiking and planting!