Day 10 – Biodiversity and Conservation

Hello everyone!

Today was our country theme day which was “Biocultural Diversity.” We began our day at 7 in the morning and were greeted with our delicious breakfast. After breakfast, we readily loaded the bus for our 45-minute ride to Playa del Toro which is located in Pedasi, Panama. Here we met our local presenters Isabelle and Robert who are the founders of Tortugas de Pedasi, which is an organization dedicated to researching, collecting, and classifying data for the turtles of Panama. We were able to aid in their dedicated efforts by participating in a local beach clean-up. Over the course of 2 hours, we collected over 30 bags worth of trash which was previously scattered and entangled throughout the beachfront. Thankfully we were blessed to be working in an overcast sky however, the humidity was intense.

After our hard work, we had the chance to go souvenir shopping at a local shop in Pedasi. Everyone was ecstatic to find trinkets and gifts for our loved ones at home. We all cannot wait to share! Our ride back to Las Tablas was a quiet one as we were all exhausted from our labor. Once we returned we completed our Mid-trip Evaluation which is essentially an opportunity for all glimpsers to offer feedback to our Program Coordinators and Global Glimpse Leaders. After completing our evaluations we enjoyed a scrumptious lunch. We had arroz con cliantro (rice with cilantro), platano maduros (ripe plantains), pollo con champinones y pescado (chicken with mushrooms and fish) y ensalada (salad). After lunch, we enjoyed shopping in our local town, Las Tablas, and learned that we are better at navigating the town! Before dinner, we worked on our postcards for supporters of Global Glimpse. We were able to express our gratitude to those who have invested in our journey as travelers and leaders. For dinner, we had carne (steak), patacones (fried plantains), esalada (salad), and atún y pepino (tuna and cucumber). Our question of the day was “What is biocultural diversity and why is it important?”. We learned that biocultural diversity is about taking care of the habitats and how different species rely on each other for sustainablility. We ended our day by sharing Big Love and passing the torch to our new leaders!

Big Love,

Xendreya & Natalia