DAY 3- Cultura!

Hello! This is Alba: being a leader for me was truly a wonderful experience. I loved interacting with local people and the glimpsers. It was a hard morning at first waking up at 6 am, but after all of the cool things we did today, it really made the day great. I was a little nervous at first because I didn’t know how to get people’s attention, but in the end I felt more connected to the group.This is Raquel: being a leader for me was nerve wracking but exciting because I did not like to raise my voice but in the end I felt more confident and connected to the group.

We started the day with breakfast at 8 am, eating a super delicious meal which consisted of scrambled eggs, salchichas (sausages), pineapple, and some watermelon juice. After breakfast, we had a mental warm up and reflected about how we felt in the beginning of the trip and how we feel now. At 9:15 am, we had a project seminar about the rules of Global Glimpse and how we interpret them. We split up into groups of 2 and each group made posters about the different rules and then we presented. At 10:45 am, we had a really exciting event, a city tour of Las Tablas where we visited the Museum of Belisario Porras, a Church named Santa Librada, and a school named President Porras Escuela (School). At 12:30, we had lunch which consisted of lentils, rice, chicken and salad. After, we had free time where some of us swam in the pool while it rained and others played card games. Later at 3 pm, we had the Program Seminar about our community action project (CAP). We learned that the organization we may be connected with is Nutre Hogar whose aim is to help malnourished kids. We had a self reflection at 3:45 pm where we shared personal questions about ourselves with each other. At 5 pm, we went to Roberto Villareal’s house, a costume designer and artist who works on the culecos (carnivals) in Las Tablas and international carnivals. Seeing his artwork and design was everyone’s rose of the day. We learned that it takes three months to make an intricate reina (queen) dress and it costs a million dollars for the whole parade. We had dinner at 6:30 pm which was steak, mashed potatoes, fries and strawberry juice. We had our nightly meeting at 7 pm where Julian juggled and became the next LDD by us passing the torch.

We are just 17 year old girls who love history and culture. We learned about the past president of Panama, Belisario Porras. We went into the house he was born in and saw all of the pictures and his life laid before us. This was impactful and touching because he did so much with his life and made so much positive change to his country which is why everyone was happy to learn about him and his life. Robert Villareal’s art showed us how alive and how connected the community is. We learned that religion also plays an important role in Las Tablas, more than Panama City through the central church in the plaza. Overall, today was an engaging and educational day that taught us all about the role of history and heritage in the present culture of Las Tablas.

Lots of love from Las Tablas! Stay safe,

Alba and Raquel, PEACE OUT

Julian will catch you on the next one!