¡Buenas!  Sarah Sargent here; and I’m proud to be the leader of the day!  I am 16 years old and I attend John Swett High School in Crockett California. Today was quite an interesting day given that we woke up in paradise.  We woke up in our temporary beach side hostel, Playa Roca.  Our dedicated exercise group got up early to run along the beach to see the beautiful sunrise.

Before we had to get ready for the run, my roommates and I got locked in our room and we were not able to get out.  We didn’t want to be late for our run, so we banged on the door and called for help until a man that worked there heard our calls of distress and got the key and helped us escape from the sauna that was our room.

Then after our run we came back and I had to resume my leader of the day responsibilities by waking up everybody at 7:15.  Once everybody was awake, we had a delicious breakfast provided by the hostel chef.  After breakfast we got on our private bus and drove down the road to go on our Mangrove Tour at Las Penitas. We split into three boats and went off for our tour of the Mangroves!  We learned about how the workers and the community are coming together to help maintain and re-establish the beauty of the environment.  We saw many different species of birds and plants, along with insects.  I wasn’t particularly excited about the spiders that were bigger than my face, but it was a great experience.

From the tour we went to Pelican Surf for a barbeque on the beach! Some had fish, while others had chicken and it was so mouth watering!  Once we finished, most of us ran to the water like it was our job.  The waves were so intense and the water was so warm!  The Red Cross was there to make sure we were all enjoying the water safely.  After some fun in the sun, including volleyball and tanning, we all packed up and headed back to our original hostel, the one we call home.  As expected everybody hit the hay once we got back.  It was our free time so we had that time to relax.  Then we got ready to go to our surprise American dinner night at Antonino’s pizzeria.  It was nice to have a change from our usual rice and beans diet.

After our wonderful American dinner we had our nightly meeting and the passing of the torch to the next leader of the day.  Today I feel like I conquered my fear of speaking in front of a crowd.  I feel more confident now, and the people that surround me are literally like a family to me and we support each other all the way.

-Sarah Sargent