Hi guys, our names are Jessica and Jackie and we are so excited to tell you about our day as Lideres del dia, so continue reading to join our journey throughout Environment Day. Today our wakeup call was at 7:00am, but half of us woke up at 6:30am because of our excitement and desire to work on something new (and hang out before breakfast).

After our breakfast (yummy pancakes, potato wedges, and more) we were introduced to our partners, a group called Salvemos Nuestra Casa (2.0) before heading off to Valleriquito. Salvemos Nuestra Casa is an environmental education group created by university students who want to help clean, prevent littering, and bring awareness to Las Tablas and nearby pueblos. When we arrived, we were split into two groups; one took part in helping older students and adults in the fields while the second stayed at the school with the younger students participating in gardening and art. The first group started off by clearing out dead grass and weeds, digging holes, adding fertilizer, and finally, planting the tree saplings. The second group planted herbs, trees, flowers and also helped make pots from tires and signs for different plants. Some memorable moments included the younger students tackling our Panama leader, Nathan, and playing games with the group, along with different interactions–mainly with Panamanians.

Once we came back from our field trip, we ate lunch. This lunch in particular was more adventurous as you either had chicken, squid, or fried fish. After lunch we split in two groups to create ideas and business proposals for our CAP (Community Action Project). While one group organized their work plan to plant around 300 trees, the others began planning to create a small playground for a close by school. However they soon realized it was going to not succeed and switched to expanding the plant nursery along with the school garden.

After working on our CAP, we had free time and many of us decided to visit the supermarket, basketball courts, internet café, and play volleyball in the park. When we finished, we received burgers for dinner, and had our nightly meeting. As the night came to a close, many began to get homesick (we miss y’all a lot!!) however everyone was quick to step up and comfort each other.

As a final note we will leave you our quote of the day:  “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need but not every man’s greed” (Gandhi)

We miss and LOVE you all dearly, but are still having an incredible time with each other. Big Love.

*snaps fingers*