¡Hola familia y amigos!

This is Aaliyah, Jordyn, and Mark reporting our very eventful Living like a Local day!

Living like a Local was huge adjustment for all of us. We went an entire day with no electricity, no running water, and no cameras to take pictures for our beautiful family and friends. We had to take bucket showers and put our flashlights to use throughout the day.

After a very early 6:30 wake up call, we had a local breakfast of hot chocolate and bread. We learned more about the families of the community Cañada de las Palmas during our Mental Warm-Up before being divided into our groups. Once we arrived at Cañada de las Palmas, we met the president of this neighborhood association, Jose Victoriano, who takes pride in making sure everything in the community is straight and that everyone has a positive attitude. When we arrived, half of the Glimpsers took an intensive hike up the mountain to Los Gajitos and the other stayed on the lower parts of the mountain, but nonetheless we were all put to work. Our host families tasked us with different chores such as washing clothes, mopping, sweeping, and heavy outdoor lifting. After we completed our chores for the morning, we had the opportunity to get to know our host families a little better and even got to enjoy a cup of coffee with them.

For lunch, we had rice and beans, orange rice with salami, and potato salad…with carrots! Lunch was prepared not only the women of the community but also some Glimpsers, and after we ate we got a chance to play with the children. Games ranged from baseball to capture the flag and there were more than enough piggyback rides given. The rain shortened our fun time with the community which only made it harder to say goodbye :(. We really enjoyed our fun time with everyone in this positive community.

After that we came back to the hostel and finalized our Community Action Project (CAP) presentation. Once our presentation was flawless, we jumped right into our self reflection groups where we talked about how Living like a Local impacted us severely and how we will improve our lives once we get back home. Ending our self reflection, we all quickly changed from lounge wear to business attire to present our CAP presentation, which went extremely well. The panel loved all of our wonderful ideas, and we are excited to move forward with this project and show you all in the near future.

After a hard working day, we squeezed some free time into our schedule. During this time, most of us were playing card games, others were sleeping or taking their final bucket shower :). Continuing on in the life of a local, we had dinner which consisted of plantains with onions and deviled eggs. Although we were quite exhausted, we successfully made it through the day with a positive attitude and smiles on our faces.

Thanks for reading our blog!

Much love,

Aaliyah, Jordyn, and Mark!