Location: Colón, Panama
Wow! What a day! It all started with Bella and Una waking me up at 7:05 (I am supposed to wake people up at 7:00 am) saying, “Frankie, you are skipper! You need to get up.” I have never jumped out of bed as fast as I did at that moment. I immediately turned on “Birthday” by Selena Gomez and SCREAMED (lovingly) in Giselle’s face. It’s her birthday today, in case that wasn’t clear. That level of excitement set the mood for the entire day. After a few more bangers, we headed upstairs for croissants, charcuterie, and jam (so fancy). We then heard the TERRIFIC news… we were going ON LAND! We packed our lunches (thank you, Gillian, for waking up to make us pasta) and put on tons of sunscreen — don’t worry, Dad, I am still sunburned free. After filling water bottles to the brim and digging out our hiking shoes, we were on our way! After leaving the marina, the trail consisted of the most beautiful sites — from monkeys playing in trees to clear streams passing below us; we saw it all. We all engulfed ourselves in deep conversations, and the time flew by! Before we knew it, we were 6 miles in and on the beach… the only problem was that we were supposed to be at San Lorenzo Fort. So, we started our journey again, and we quickly found our way up to most beautiful castle (Una and Elie have decided that they are moving there). Mac took it upon himself to film every moment of our exploration — excited to see that footage later on! We then ate our wonderful pasta and some delicious canned fruit as we watched Ezra demolish Una in a wrestling match. On our way back, Una and I took it upon ourselves to run the last two miles. Everyone else was quite tired and achy, but they were running with us in spirit.
When we got back to the boat, we all had the best showers of our lives (Una’s words, not mine). I never thought I would enjoy a cold head shower so much. We had a little over an hour of study hall and enjoyed an early dinner (Gillian is the first person to make me happy about eating quinoa). Post squeeze, we engulfed brownies made by Trevor — the baker of the boat (again, his words, not mine). They were life-altering and much needed. We are concluding the night with our VHF exam (Elle, it is not too late to cancel) and watching the last part of Maiden (parents, I 10/10 recommend this).
Overall, this was one of the best days of the trip, and I am becoming more and more grateful to be a part of this team!
Mom, Dad, Camille, Bella, and Steph’s mom, I love you guys. I miss you all so much, and I hope you are doing well! Can’t wait to squeeze you in two months<3
Signing off,
Frankie