Living in Belize B)

Ms. Andrea and I at the Farewell party! :

Today was honestly such an awesome day! (I know I probably say that like every time I blog but it truely was!) This morning I went to substitute at the primary school since all of the teachers there went inland for training. It was pretty neat because it was only UNCW interns running the school! It was also very interesting to get to teach in an 8th grade class. The students were awesome and it was just fun to be in another environment. Around lunchtime, I headed over to my favorite place to get a breakfast croissant and was hit with a huge downpour. This may seem like a negative back in the states but it feels pretty amazing when you are exhausted from the heat! Finally got to the high school around 1 and found out we were getting a surprise going away party from the staff after school for the 5 uncw interns there at the school. Just when I started to get super excited to be heading home to the states, I finally get to know and love my students and partnership teacher! It is going to be so hard to say goodbye to them all tomorrow after school :( At around 3 we all went to one of the classrooms where the staff had a "dj" playing and desks pushed to the sides. It honestly felt like a high school dance but was so adorable! They made us a farewell banner and everything! We spent the rest of the afternoon playing childhood games like musical chairs and relay races! It was hilarious to see all of the teachers just having a good time and letting lose. They provided us with great food and punch as well which is always nice :) At around 5 oclock we headed back home to meet up with everyone for our big group dinner. Luckily Bailey and I ran into our friend Kirt before he left to go inland and got some awesome souvenirs to take home which he hand made! Later, we all met up at Caroline's for some great food- she specializes in jerk dishes and is just an all around really sweet lady. Afterwards, we headed back to Pedro's for the weekly trivia festivities. Today just makes leaving that much harder :( I will honestly miss the people of this little town so much and can't wait to come back and visit! 

My Experience Coming to an End :(

So some of you may be wondering why I have not posted in so long and I guess it is honestly just because things have really calmed down lately and we have all just been busy in the schools and just hanging out. Last week and this week we have been in the high school all day teaching and normally come home around 3:30 and hang out around the pool. Being in the schools has been so awesome! I have really started to get to know my students and will truly miss them after leaving here. San Pedro really has started to feel like home for many of us. Whenever we go out, we ALWAYS run into multiple people we know. The people here are so genuinely nice and it will be extremely hard to leave them behind. Today we took a half day off from school in order to go around the island and explore some of the other schools. Unfortunately there is only one high school on the island so we spent the afternoon going around exploring primary schools. It was really interesting to see some of the other schools and to see how they ran. Some schools literally only have 10 students and consist of one classrooms. One of the schools we visited was founded by Americans and Canadians who have been visiting the island which is positioned in one of the poorer sections of the island. It is literally built on a landfill and really struggles to get by on only donations. It was amazing to see how far the school has come and hear its history. It just recently got a new computer lab which the students love! They also developed a library which they call the suitcase library because almost every book in there was brought to Belize in someone's suitcase. This was really awesome to hear, because we all brought books in our suitcases as well for the students.

"Cafeteria food" aka food from the High School Canteen
yummy- stewed chicken and conch fritters

Standing on the deck of the primary school built on a landfill

Suitcase Library 

We added a postcard from Wilmington, NC to the board at the primary school!

The place to go if you want an amazing milkshake!

Tomorrow and Friday will be the our last days on the island and they should be pretty interesting. I will be substituting at the primary school in the morning and teaching a lesson to an 8th grade class (much younger than what I am used to!) With little lessons to go on and our interns completely in control of this primary school, it should be interesting! The teachers at the primary school are going inland for some professional development so we have volunteered to substitute during our planning periods so they do not have to close the school. 

Belizean Culture

I have learned so much so far about the Belizean culture, especially from our Inland trip. One thing that stood out to me during my interactions with the people of San Ignacio is that everyone is so knowledgeable about their history and culture in this country. Everyone from waiters/waitresses to food stand workers to tour guides have educated us about the history of Belize. This shows the importance of incorporating culture into lessons at school. I have also seen how for many Belizeans, their culture is a huge part of their life. At many of the ruins, we saw evidence of volunteers for sacrificial purposes. The Mayans used to play games and the winner would be sacrificed. This shows how it is an honor for them. It would be so hard to separate church from state in this country, because the locals' beliefs are so tightly woven into their lives. From our inland trip, I also saw how many people in this society live in the moment and are not as concerned with saving money. This may explain how hyper and playful the students behave in class. It is so important to incorporate different pathways into the high school since college may not be the pathway choice of all students.

Back in the schools :)

Today marks my third day back in the schools and it has been really nice to see and get to know the students a little better. All 4 of the classes I am teaching are freshman math classes. One of those classes is a lower level class which moves at a slower pace. Many of the students in this class are suspected of having disabilities but have not yet been identified. Our principal explained to us that there are not too many students in the high school who have serious disabilities because parents keep them at home. This is because they have to pay for their children to go to schools and there are not many accommodations for them here at the school. One of the students in this particular class cannot speak English which makes it hard for her to understand what is going on in class. Another student who just returned to school cannot read so many times he does not try any of the work. Many of the students with disabilities in the school are unidentified but hopefully some of the teachers visiting from the states can help set up a system to develop more accommodations. When working in the classroom, I try to keep the students focused by giving them verbal cues to get back on track. One thing that stood out to me is that many of the teachers are not filled in about the disabilities or barriers some of the students in their classes are having. Currently, the guidance counselor at the school handles all of that information. Much of the staff has little training on how to work with students with disabilities. They have been extremely excited and open to any ideas and techniques we may have for them.

Friday April 13, 2012- Inland Trip

Friday came and we were all excited to return to San Pedro, Belize. San Ignacio was an awesome place but it did not have the homey and comfortable feeling that San Pedro has. We packed up our stuff and headed home around 9:00 a.m. We started off on a bus which took us by the Belize Zoo. This zoo was a little different than what we are used to because it was almost as if the humans were the ones caged in looking out at the animals in their natural habitats. All of the animals in the zoo were rescue victims from around the community. Our driver to the zoo was also a guide so he came into the zoo area with us. It was awesome because he knew the different calls the animals made. He would make the noise and the animals would come out of their hiding spots. The high light of the visit was feeding the Jaguar! We went through the jaguar cage in order to get into another cage within the Jaguar’s territory. The jaguar then came over to our cage and we got to feed it raw chicken and pet it! It was really gentle until it noticed we had food! The guide inside the cage got Junior, the jaguar, to do summersaults for us and to climb on top of the cage! It was such an awesome experience. Bailey and I got a lot of pictures to use for our children’s book that we are writing so that was exciting as well! At the zoo we also got to pet and play with the tapir, the national animal of Belize! He was so sweet and is also going to be the main character of our book. After about two hours at the zoo, we got back on the bus and headed to the water taxi to take us home. At around 6:00 p.m. we arrived home and settled back into our rooms.   

 

Junior looks a little hungry!

Tapir!

Dr. K trying to get me to hold a boa!

Thursday April 12, 2012- Inland Trip

Today was our free day to either relax around San Ignacio or to book an excursion of our choice. All of us were extremely sore so many of the group decided to do some shopping around San Ignacio. My friend Parker and I decided to book a horseback riding excursion to Xunantunich which is another Mayan Ruin. Wednesday night we spent walking around to tour guide agencies to get some price quotes for the excursion. Many of the agencies were going to use a guide named Santiago and wanted to charge us $65-$85 US for the trip. We finally walked into the last tour guide agency we knew of and before we knew it, he was handing us a phone with this man Santiago on the other line. We spoke with him and he said he would pick us up at our hotel the next morning at around 8:00 and that the whole trip would be $40 US. We were ecstatic! The next morning, we woke up, got ready, and walked down stairs and there stood Santiago. Next thing we know, we were getting in his personal car (which made me a little nervous given I was in a different country and didn’t know him) and driving to Hannah’s stables which was about 15 minutes away. Santiago hooked us up with a guide from the stables named Arnold who would be taking the hour and half to two hour horseback riding trip to Xunantunich with us. We got paired up with our horses and we were off! My horse’s name was Joshua and he did not really like Parker’s horse Zack. Whenever Zack tried to get in front of Joshua, Joshua would start running ahead and cut Zack off. The views on the trip were some of the prettiest I have ever seen. This was my first time on a horse and I cannot think of a better place to try it! Arnold sang to us on our journey and pointed out some of the wildlife. Once we finally got to the Mayan Ruin, we met up with another guide who would be taking us around. I really enjoyed this excursion because it was just the two of us and a guide, making it a little more personal and easier to talk and ask questions. Xunantunich was a lot smaller than Caracol and the largest temple was only about 10 feet shorter than Caracol’s largest.  Xunantunich’s temples had stairs around the back of the temples which created the illusion that the rulers who were climbing the temples had a magical power to them since they would just seem to appear at the top. Some of Xunantunich was ruined by a man who came to the ruins and claimed to be an archaeologist and dynamited part of the ruin, breaking it off forever. Currently today, they are still looking for more people to excavate around the area. After about 1-2 hours in Xunantunich, we headed back on our horses. We took a different route home which was along the riverside. We even got to take the horses in the river so they could drink some water. On our way there and home, we had to take the horses on a ferry to cross the river. The ferry’s here are much different than what we are used to back in the states. They consist of a wooden raft like thing attached to a pully system which is controlled by a person, not a machine. The whole experience was awesome and here are some pictures from along the way:   

Just hanging out on a Mayan ruin 

Joshua and I waiting on the ferry

Wednesday April 11, 2012- Inland Trip

Today we went and explored the ActunTunichi Muknal also known as the ATM cave. This experience is one of the most popular among those in Belize and now I know why! Exploring the mayan ruins at Caracol the previous day was experiencing what the Mayans believed to be the heavens and the caves were what the Mayans believed to be the underworld. This cave only has one entrance to go in and out from with lots of adventures inside. Before we went in the cave, we put on headgear and headlamps to be protected while inside. To get into the cave, you first have to swim into this really neat opening. The first section of the cave required us to crawl through tight spots filled with water which sometimes were as deep as your neck. Our guide, Martin, was really passionate about his work and enthusiastic about the tour. He led us in some spiritual aspects of the Mayan culture that would take place in the cave. We took part in touching the mother rock together and looking up into the natural world one last time before fully entering the underworld. After this, Martin had us all turn our headlamps off and follow each others lead in the dark through the cave. This was such a scary/exhilarating feeling, because we literally could not see anything! We stopped at a beautiful stalagmite which had formed in the cave and Martin played music on it for us. It was such an awesome sound in this huge cave. After reaching about ¾ of a mile deep into the cave, we had to crawl up rocks to get to the artifact areas. In these areas, we saw bowls the Mayans used to cook meals with and even saw some skeletal remains. We took a ladder up to an even higher level of the underworld to see the skeletal remains of a young girl, probably 16 or so, who was probably sacrificed in an effort to receive rain during a drought. While we were in the cave, it started to rain outside which was really neat to hear inside of the cave. After about 3 hours in the cave, we went back to a picnic area and ate lunch. Then we took a short hike back to the bus which consisted of crossing a river a few times. Here are some of the pictures from the day’s events: 

Making our way to the ATM Cave

Bailey and I inside of the cave

Pottery from the Mayans

Notice anything?!?

So beautiful inside of the cave!

Skeletal remains of a 16 year old girl who was sacrificed 

Tuesday April 10, 2012- Inland Trip

Waiting to enter the cave!

We all woke up on Tuesday completely exhausted, because none of us got much sleep in our new accommodations. The next door club was blaring music all night which kept many of us awake. Despite being exhausted, we were all so excited to see what the day had in store for us! We started our long drive to the Rio Frio Cave which was a stop on the way to Caracol. The drive was extremely bumpy on questionable roads (haha). After a few hours, we arrived at the Rio Frio Cave which means Cold River Cave. This river flows from the Mayan mountains all of the way into the Mecal river. This cave was one of the smaller ones in Belize but the views were amazing! Here are a few pictures:

inside the entrance of the cave

Our next stop was at Caracol. Our guide Diego was really enthusiastic about the Mayan culture and filled us in about so much of the Mayan history. Caracol is the most extensive archeological site in Belize although Mayans were unable to stay in the area due to the lack of natural resources in the area. This was one of the main reasons that they moved from the area. We also learned about the rulers of the Mayan community and their beliefs of the upper, natural, and under worlds. The Mayans built really high temples in an effort to be closer to the heavens. We even got to climb up them and experience the amazing views from up top! The steps were really steep, even for my long legs! Apparently the steps were made steep so that chosen people/rulers would crawl up the steps to show their devotion to the gods. The rulers were the only people allowed to walk up the steps. Each of the temples had a specific number of rooms which all have some purpose. Many things that seemed insignificant had a purpose to the Mayans. They always chose a specific number of steps, rooms, etc in order to symbolize something. We also found out that many of the children born into the families would have a piece of wood strapped to their head to create a flat forehead which symbolized royalty. They would then put jewelry on the front of the board which ultimately made many of the children to go cross eyed.
After crawling up many temples, we took a break and ate some termites! They tasted like minty carrots which apparently people used to eat. Here are some pictures of our adventures at Caracol:

Rooms in the Mayan temple

After an exhausting day so far, we took a break and ate a packed lunch at the entrance of Caracol. Our next stop of the day was at Big Rock which is an amazing waterfall which you can go swim in. The hike to the waterfall was really intense and consisted of a rocky, steep slope down to the water. As soon as we got to the bottom, we jumped in for a refreshing swim. Several of our group climbed up the side of the waterfall and jumped off the rocky cliffs into the water. This was my first time swimming in a waterfall and it was awesome!

Big Rock which we went swimming in

Inland Week-Monday April 9, 2012

Water Taxi

Our chicken bus!

Some of the group waiting in Belize City to board the local bus

View of San Ignacio from Rosas

The past week we went inland to visit San Ignacio, Belize and go on a few fun excursions. Since I was not able to bring my laptop in my small book bag I was traveling with, I am going to update you all now with the events of the past week. On Monday, we woke up at around 8 a.m. and headed to get some breakfast at the baker before our trip inland. I love how fresh the food here is and I've decided I need to purchase a bread maker as soon as I get home! The majority of the baked goods are prepared at the store and most food is grown or raised on the island. We then headed back to Pedro's Inn to turn in our keys and move everyone's luggage to Bailey and I's room for storage while we are gone. For our trip inland, we only brought a book bag for our long stay due to the amount of traveling we would do along the way. Just as we were walking to catch our water taxi, I realized I was the only one without my passport so I booked it back to the hotel to grab it before we left. We finally all reached the water taxi and crammed together with our luggage. There were probably about 75-100 people on this water taxi but it was fun. We took this into Belize city and got lunch at the port there. We then got a small taxi over to the nearby bus station. Our experience at the bus station was one of a kind to say in the least. There are no tickets or guaranteed seats on the buses here in Belize. We immediately met a local man at the station who said he could guarantee us seats for a little bit of money. He made it sound so simple in that he would lead us to the back of the bus to get in when the gates opened as everyone else was charging the front. As soon as the gates opened, I knew our plan was out the door. Everyone rushed the front and the back of the bus and they weren't letting anyone get in their way. As I approached the back of the bus, I saw that I was going to somehow get up a 3 to 4 foot step to get on this bus. One man yelled at me to go, cupped his hand for me to put my foot in and told me to jump in. Before I knew it, everyone behind me was pushing me up as others inside were pulling me in. It was hilarious to watch others in our group to stumble into the bus from every angle. Finally this "chicken bus" was as packed as it was going to get and we were off to San Ignacio! We were on this crowded bus for about two hours and it made about 20 random stops along the way. We went through a few a few checkpoints and the driver was getting in trouble for the number of people on the bus so he asked some of the people who had just gotten on to wait for the next bus. One of the ladies started yelling saying she wouldn't get off and was arguing with the driver. Finally someone else decided to get off for her and we were on our way. Finally someone else decided to get off for her and we were on our way again! Around 5 pm we arrived in San Ignacio at Rosas, the place we stayed at for the week inland. San Ignacio looks much like I imagine other central American towns look. It does not look nearly as wealthy or touristy as San Pedro. Rosas is in the center of town right above a restaurant and next to a club which blares awful music all night long. There was not any air conditioning at Rosas so we had to leave our windows open which made it hard to keep out bugs and club music. Overall it was really awesome to experience a different part of Belize!

My Saturday Afternoon

I spent my Saturday reading in a Hammock with this amazing view

with my new friend Richard who followed us home 

Belizean Culture

As I have completed my service project week, I have learned a lot about the Belizean culture. One of the things I noticed right away was the independence and responsibility given to the children in Belizean families. The Easter Camp we volunteered at was from 10-12 and then 2-4. Most camps in the states are an all day event so parents don't have to come pick their children up. Here, it is common for younger children to go off and their own to get food and walk around town. This is something that is really important for me to realize as a teacher, because you do not want to make assumptions about people just because they may be of a different culture. It's not that the parents here do not care about the children, it is just that they think children should have more responsibilities at a younger age. In return, teachers and elders do not seem to need to be as strict about things because the children have taken on more responsibilities.

Best Day Everrrrr!

Lizard! 

Chopping down fresh coconut

Catching bait to fish with

Such a beautiful place but so much trash :( 

Cuban Boat

Eating/Drinking fresh coconut off of the tree

Motor from the Cuban boat

Ceviche made from the Conch we found in the ocean!

Our lunch was amazing- grilled fish burritos

Waiting to see our freshly cooked lunch!

Some of the water we had to drive through to get to Rocky Point

Wednesday was our last day volunteering at the Easter camp in the library so we were all contemplating on taking an unplanned/unpaid excursion during some of our free time this week. Thank goodness I made the decision to take the all day trip to the north end of the island to Rocky Point. The trip was honestly the most amazing day ever (hints the name of the blog). Ever since snorkeling last weekend, I have been dying to get back in the ocean to see more fish! Rocky Point is at the very north end of the island where the reef meets the land so you can snorkel the reef in fairly shallow waters. We got up around 7 and got breakfast at my new favorite restaurant, The Baker. The homemade pastries on the island are amazing and I do not know how I will be able to make it without them when I get home. We rented golf carts to make the trip to Rocky Point so there were 4 golf carts and about 12 of us. The golf carts were a crazy adventure in themselves since many of us have not driven in weeks much less driving golf carts through Belize. Rocky Point is about 14 miles from Pedro’s Inn but takes about 1-2 hours to make the drive by golf cart. To get there we took these golf carts through water, jungles, and beaches. I think each golf cart had a problem at least once on the trip. On the way there, one of the golf carts had a problem with its fuse so we had to stop and fix that. One of our guides, Renison, who is also a teacher at the high school, was walking around the area where we broke down and just happened upon a fuse. I have decided that Belizeans have an answer to everything! Along our journey, we stopped to see many neat things. Our first stop was to look at giant iguanas which our tour guides fooled us into thinking would be our lunch. We then saw a Cuban boat which was about 15 years old. Apparently the Cubans would make these boats to try to get anywhere but Cuba and would make engines out of anything they could find. Many of the boat engines were made out of tractor engines (thought my dad might like that!). Along the way, we stopped to chop fresh coconuts off of the trees to crack open and drink! We finally got to the snorkeling area and it was so peaceful. Since we were right at the reef, there were fish and sharks everywhere! We saw a few lobsters, a barracuda, and even a sting ray. I felt a lot more adventurous and daring in this snorkeling excursion. We all went diving for conch shells to make ceviche for lunch. After gathering about 10, we headed in and made our way to the barbecue site. Our guide showed us how to get the conch out of the shell and cut it up for us to eat! The Ceviche was sooo yummy and the freshest I’ve ever had. The guide also made us homemade tortilla shells, barbecue chicken, and fresh grouper. I do not think I will ever be able to go back to store bought tortilla shells or cheap salsa. After relaxing and eating, we headed further north to go reef fishing. I love fishing with my dad but I must admit this is something I have never experienced before. We were literally walking on top of the reef to get out deep enough to fish. This was pretty scary because the reef is so sharp so we tried to not get knocked over by waves and to keep our flip flops on. I caught 4 grouper which our guide is probably currently eating up for dinner! Words really cannot describe how amazing this day was so I will post a few pictures to try to give you a better idea 

Easter Camp at the Library

Reading the Easter Story to the kids

Bailey and I demonstrating the egg race 

Stained Glass Crosses made by the kids

Easter Baskets made by the kids out of paper plates

Today is the first day of our service project week! We woke up early in search of homemade pineapple bread at the nearby fruit stands. We saw pineapple bread one of our first day's on the island and ever since then the stands are always sold out by the time we make it over there! After settling on some homemade banana bread instead, we headed over to the local library to help out with the Easter camp they are having on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday this week. The camp goes from 10-12 and 2-4 each of those days and we are all trading off days to volunteer. We started the morning off by reading the Easter story to the kids. There were about 20 kids ages 7-10 and they were super excited to be there (apparently the camp slots fill up quickly). The next activity we led them in was creating stained glass crosses out of construction paper. This was my first time working with little kids and doing crafty activities with them so it was really neat for me! About halfway through the first two hours, we took a snack break outside next to the beautiful Caribbean and had an egg racing contest.  After the break, we went back inside of the library and worked on creating Easter baskets out of paper plates and ribbons. Another group of us will be going up to the library today for the second two hour slot. As for those of us who went earlier this morning, we have just been relaxing and hanging out at Pedro's for the rest of the day.