Hey families, friends, and loved ones! Itโ€™s Pam and Kyheem writing to you today!! ๐Ÿ™‚

For todayโ€™s topic, we learned about local businesses around Las Tablas.

We started off the day by waking up 30 minutes later than usual, at 7:30. Ten minutes before breakfast, we gathered everyone and asked how they were feeling mentally. After that, we did a few physical warm-ups to get everyone energized for the day. Breakfast started at 8:30 and was prepared by our lovely chefs, Ilka, Josรฉ, and Evelyn. We had pancakes, steak, sausage, empanadas, Panamanian tortillas, and for fruit, we had watermelon and pineapple.

After breakfast, at around 9:00 AM, we gathered outside the hotel and headed over to La Paulinaโ€™s Bakery. When we arrived, before meeting the owner, Ana, we competed to see who had the best secret handshake with their secret handshake buddy. Jack and Kyheem were declared the winners of the secret handshake buddy competition, with John and Josh as the runners-up! After the competition, we split into two groups. Half of us toured the bakery, while the other half visited local stores to buy necessities and gifts for family and friends. After 20 minutes, the groups switched places: the group that had been shopping toured the bakery, and the other group went shopping. Everyone enjoyed sampling ice cream and bread from the bakery!

From La Paulinaโ€™s Bakery, we walked to the park, where we were introduced to a scavenger hunt. We split into four groups, with each group having 1-2 Spanish speakers to translate information for non-Spanish speakers. We brainstormed questions to ask local business owners about their small businesses and jobs in Las Tablas. After interviewing the local businesses, we all gathered back at the park around 11:45 to head back to the hotel. Once we arrived at the hotel, we found out we were ahead of schedule and had 30 minutes to relax before lunch.

For lunch, we had rice with corn, beef stew, green salad, and plรกtanos dulce.

After dinner, we had our nightly meeting, where we passed the torch to Logan and Arden. We then finished off the night with bonding time, where we listened to music, played games, and painted each otherโ€™s nails ๐Ÿ™‚

After lunch, we had free time until 2:30, during which we planned our presentation on the information we gathered from the local businesses. We had until 3:30 to complete it, as that was when we planned to present. After each group presented their findings, we had free time again until 6:00 PM, when we had dinner. For dinner, we had pasta and stewed chicken.

And with that, day 5 of our trip in Panama and our time as Leaders of the Day has officially come to an end. Good luck to our fellow mates Logan and Arden as Leaders of Day 6!!

Kyheem: To my loved ones, I miss yโ€™all and Iโ€™m looking forward to telling you all about my experience when I get back to the city.

Pamela: ยกHola Mami y Papi! Les extraรฑo mucho y les quiero mucho <33

Sapa: I love youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu Lisi and Mamiiiiiii

Lianny: I love you Mami, Papi y Liann <33

Pam and Ky signing out!!