As the third leader of the day, I was able to lead the first free day. First, the group woke up at 8:00am, a bit later than usual. A lot of us were glad to sleep in for an extra hour. I made rounds to wake everyone up by knocking on their doors. After, we had breakfast at 8:30am with random seating so that we could get to bond more with new people.

We then took the bus to Parque Sucre and shopped. So many of us bought sweaters with Alpacas on them and other cool items. Overall, I think that everyone loved the sweaters they bought and wore them immediately after they bought it. I bought a grey sweater with Alpacas across the top and helped out a friend who wanted to buy sweaters for her family. After shopping around the local market for a while, we headed to an Internet Cafe. Unfortunately, many of us couldn’t get through to our parents so we had to plan another trip to a cafe in the tight schedule. We walked to the restaurant, Rayuela, where we had lunch yesterday and ate soup, french fries, fish, and an orange fruit dessert. After that, those who couldn’t call their parents were able to after visiting 3 Internet Cafes. I, myself, couldn’t get through to my parents in Belize but my Aunt luckily picked up. I felt happier that I was able to talk to someone.

The bus driver picked all of us up and we travelled to a park. The park was huge and filled with many activities that caught the eye of many of the students. After exploring the park and taking pictures, we played Capture the Flag. The game consists of two teams competing for each others flags. However, the teams have to run to each others side and try to avoid being captured. Those who get captured stay in a “jail” guarded by team members. Although the second game got a little heated, we were able to come together and laugh it off. I travelled back to the hostel through a capturing river path with some other students and one leader while the rest of the group stayed at the park with the other leader and played basketball and soccer. At the hostel, we played UNO and hung out for a while until it was time for dinner. At dinner, I sat with the incoming leaders of tomorrow to tell them what being leader of the day was like. I gave them advice about what they should do as leaders and talked about my experience as one. Being a leader was kind of nerve-racking considering I’m a quiet person. However, as the day went on, I was able to garner some confidence when taming the group when calling a “Rain Clap” and “Count Off.” I’m glad that I was able to step out of my comfort zone and allow others to see that I can (hopefully) be a leader. After addressing the topics of the Nightly Meeting, I gladly introduced the new Leaders of the Day.

“Shout out to my mother and younger sister. I love and miss you both”. -Lisa

“Shout out to my mom and dad and my Babygirl Jade. I miss and love you guys so much. Stay safe 🙂 !” -Tyreik