Day 10: FINAL CAP DAY #3

Aura – Social skill points/cool points earned through acts of heroism. Some might say that people with lots of aura are “Sigmas.”

What’s up, everyone? Ilka’s (our talented chef’s) favorites are in the house: Dylan and Brandon. The day started with us gaining aura on Ilka while overtaking Jack in the rankings. It’s official—Dylan and Brandon are Ilka’s favorites. Ilka also made a guest appearance in Dylan and Brandon’s talent show, shocking the world. As the audience erupted and cheered, “Omg! Dylan, Brandon, and Ilka have so much aura!”, Dylan and Brandon looked at each other and knew they had the best talent. From that moment on, Jack knew he had been left in the dust…

Dylan and Brandon both woke up at 3 AM, ready and excited to gain aura during their daily adventures. Unfortunately, they had to wait a few more hours before starting their aura journey and waking everyone up (by saying “FBI OPEN UP!!!” and with the second knock, “Good morning sleepyhead”). The crew then met in the meeting room, collected their breakfast, and headed to the bus for the work site. During the workday, Dylan (business tycoon) and Jack (Just Jack) were the water captains/boys again. Dylan gained +1 Million aura points with everyone in Panama while making Ilka proud. Jack unfortunately lost -1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

But good news—Annie didn’t fall as much as she did the past few days. We also met a new Peace Corps volunteer who told us about her spiritual beliefs and life goals—DEEP. Her name was Jessie. As we hiked down the mountain to the work site, we all slipped at least once. The terrain was very muddy from the rain the day before. Upon reaching our snack break and reconvening on the other side of the hill, we realized we were missing a few people. Amber and Annie gained 1,000,000 aura points when they ventured into the wilderness to rescue the missing team members. When they reunited with the group, they were met with cheers and celebrations.

During lunch, we ate outside the church again and received food from the project organizers. We were introduced to Sandra’s children: Sol, and Brandon gave her his new bracelet. We lined up outside their truck and waited to be served. The local dogs were extremely happy with the leftovers, especially the chicken bones. Brandon wanted to pet the dogs but, unfortunately, GG rules prohibit that activity. Dylan, Brandon, Stella, Annie, Arden, and Jane talked with Christian, a Peace Corps volunteer from Southern California. Annie was pleased to see him again and shake his hand, becoming very intrigued by the Peace Corps. We then returned to the bus and headed back to the hotel for pool time. We pooled our money to order traditional Panamanian Domino’s and had a pool party with pizza and soda. Dylan and Brandon were chatting with Nairee when Arden suddenly came up from the pool with a tick burrowed in her stomach. But fear not—Dylan (already up on aura) was there to save the day (a qualified Eagle Scout with tick removal experience). He grabbed the tweezers and sanitation wipes and began the tedious surgery on Arden. After 20 seconds of grueling agony, Arden was tick-free and happy again. +1,000,000 aura for Dylan and Arden.

After a few hours of pool partying, Brandon and Dylan led the CAP Seminar. We discussed our experiences from previous CAP days and reflected until it was time for dinner. We didn’t need Josh to translate as the food was everyone’s favorite: tacos! People with dietary restrictions obviously went up first (yes, Josh was first in line), but we made everyone do a Fortnite dance to eat dinner. Tonight was filled with The Floss, The Hype, Orange Justice, and more. After thanking Ilka, we began our nightly meeting, where we saw Lianny recite the 50 states and Angie beat Guitar Hero on an iPad.

Anyway, we’re currently sitting at the glass table in the meeting room finishing up the blog. We might play card games and badminton later and hang out on the porch. Also, a couple of nights ago, Dylan got stung by a bee for the first time. It hurt.

Ok, see you all later,

Hi Mommy and Daddy—Brandon

I got stung. Ouch.—Dylan

Miss you, Alana. Be at your house soon.—Annie G

Hi Mommy, I miss you and I’m working too hard over here so no dishes for me for a month — Dalexa