Hello,
this past weekend Jess and I took a trip to Flores, Guatemala to take a sunrise tour of Tikal, a huge Maya site (where one of the shots during Star Wars: Return of the Jedi was taken. You remember, the Ewoks home planet? Those ruins were what we saw)
Before all that though, we had to get there. After crossing the border into Guatemala we were bombarded with people asking us to change money or if we needed a taxi, but we knew where to go and we already had exchanged in San Ignacio. The taxi to Flores we needed was a collective taxi that only cost 10 Belize each! Too catch it, we had to hike up a hill in the border town, Melchor, to the town market. There we found a taxi just leaving so we hopped on. This taxi is a large, van-like vehicle that gets packed with passengers. There were about 15 people in this small cab and we were crammed in ontop of everyone else. It was a long, hot ride, but we made it to Flores in one piece.
There we went streight to the hotel we had looked up, the Jaguar Inn. However, it was not in Flores, but in the sister town, Santa Elena right across the bridge. There we took one look at the rooms and decided we would rather try our luck elsewhere. We decided to go to Flores and stay there for the night. Flores is a town surounded 99% by a lake with one bridge that runs over a thing strip of land conecting it to Santa Elena.
In Flores, we found a hotel for an affordable price with a great view of the lake. There, on the last day of passover no less, we found a large amount of Israelis staying. It was very funny, for Jess in particular, having had no contact with the Jewish/Israeli world and then finding 15 guests staying at the same hotel as us. She was obviously excited.
After settling in, we decided to go to book our sunrise tour of Tikal back at the Jaguar Inn, the place in Santa Elena where we had just looked at. There, we made plans for the tour and paid.
That night we had dinner, set the alarm and went to sleep early. The next day we were to be picked up at 3:30 am to get to Tikal on time! When the time of departure arrived, we found ourselves joined on the curb outside our hotel by a number of other guests. at 3:30 almost exactly one van came by and took about half the guests. The guide checked our ticket and said that we werent riding on that van; another was to come soon. 15 minutes later, another van came and picked up the final guests. Then the driver looked at our ticket and said, this ticket isnt for us, maybe another one is coming after. So we waited around until 4:30 in the morning before giving up. No one came to pick us up! Jess and I were both very upset, but at least we got to go back to sleep. When we woke up again, we went back to Jaguar Inn. We argued with the women who sold us the ticket, saying we had only planned to stay one night and were low on money and needed to be fully refunded and taken care of as a guest. She told us, however that the ride was not included in the ticket that we had purchased and we needed to hop on one of those vans on our own and then pay. Having not had this explained to us, it was very frustrating, however, we did get our money back.
After much debate, we decided to stay in Flores one more night and book a sunrise tour through someone else. To save money, we moved out of the hotel and into a hostel. The owner, Toto was a very nice young man who helped us book a tour and gave us a great rate on a room. He also made us a fantastic, chicken and veggie toasted sandwhich. That afternoon (Saturday), we had extra time to spare so we went to a park and went on a Zip Wire through the jungle. It was very fun, but since we were the only two doing it, it ended very fast. Jess was aprehensive at first, but she ended up loving it. After that, we walked around Flores, up and down the streets and watched the sun set. Flores, to me, seemed a lot like the towns I have visited in Spain: Narrow streets with beautifully crafted buildings.
After our snack/dinner watching the sunset, we started our early morning wake-up routine. This time, we got picked up. It was a long, surprisingly cold, van ride up to Tikal and after a quick walk through the woods, we found ourselves climbing a Maya Temple. At the top we watched the sun rise through the mist. It wasnt as dramatic as I had expected, but it was definitely a once in a life time thing to watch. Verry beautiful.
When the sun was up and the mist wasnt clearing, the tour guide took us around Tikal and told us to return for a panaramic view later. The buildings at Tikal were enormous. They seemed to dwarf all other sites we had been too, except Caan, a Maya building at Caracol. Even though we had heard all the info the guide was telling us already in our class and from other tours, it was quite an enjoyable hike. The best way to explain is by showing you pictures so go check out snapfish! the place was out of this world! I can see why the used it in Star Wars.
So after a wonderful morning in Tikal, Jess and I returned to Flores, packed our stuff, and came home to San Ignacio. It was quite a busy weekend but we had a great time still. I know I sound like a broken record now, but I am exhausted from traveling. Hopefully, after our trip to Antigua, we will be able to relax for the next two weeks in Nicaragua. Before that, though, I have two days of finals and then I am completely done here. This semester went so fast! I cant believe it.
I hope I get to show all of my listeners out there the many pictures I have taken. There are stories behind each one of them.
Hope you have enjoyed my blog. I may not be able to post until I return, but I will tell you all about my final adventures through Belize and Central America.
Stay Tuned!
love,
Colin
Monday, April 28, 2008
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Blisters on the Sun
Hello,
This last weekend was chalk full of hard, intensive labor. I dont know if any of you have swung a machet(e) before, but after 900 wacks it becomes tiring.
My project group, as I described before, is working on a project in a town called Arizona. There, our goal was to create a community orchard to sustain the population. After a long period of down time, we finally heard from our project partner 3 weeks ago. She gave us her immediate plan of action: Friday: Clear the land. Saturday: Perform a Terra Preta (bio-char fertilizer) demonstration. Sunday: Dig holes to prepare for planting in the rainy season. We were supposed to do this all with the support of the community members
In a way, we followed this outline, but without the support of the community members. Each day, only 3-4 adults from Arizona came to help. This was disheartening. The exciting part was that at least 10 children came and showed interest in the orchard and some even helped!
So Friday, we got to Arizona not knowing what to expect. Immediately, we started clearing brush and chopping down green. It was hard hard work. The sun beat down on us and our blisters accumulated fast! No one had brought glooves because we thought they would be provided. Luckily we had a few bandanas to wrap around our fists. After clearing a load of land, we started piling up brush and setting fire to it. We were going to make charcoal out of it but the fires burned to hot and we needed to clear the land. After working only half a day, we were exhausted. We took a break for lunch and since we hadnt gotten much help from the community, decided to call it a day. We were dead tired, but we had 2 more days of work.
Saturday, we got out to Arizona and proceeded to do the same thing. There were not as many machetes that morning so some of us waited around. One kid, Benjamin, ran and got us some more. For the next 3 hours, I worked beside him chopping down trees, bushes, and grass. At one point, a heavenly rain came down and cooled us off. However, when it cleared up the humidity was worse than even. Also, on this day, a friend of a project member of ours came to help. It was great having a fresh set of hands to provide work. Since it had rained, the wood didnt burn so well and we had trouble getting fires started. After lunch, we worked a little bit more, digging holes and preparing for the last day.
Sunday we went out, after utter exahaustion the previous two days and went right back to work. This day, we had to dig numerous holes! This was hard work as well. It wasnt as long lasting, but it was more energy draining: ripping up roots, pulling out rocks and even avoiding Tarantula at the bottom of the holes. Overall, this was the least amount of work we had to put in, however, it was the most tiring. After digging holes, we kept on trying to burn the piles of wood as well as collecting material to make Terra Preta. We needed alot of leaf litter and bio mass to mix in with the charcoal and bird manure that Forest, one of the leaders from our project partner, went to pick up. After lunch, we started filling in the holes with the mixture while others went to get community members to do the Terra Preta demonstration. It was great to have a fair sized turnout for that. There were about 10 people who were interested and we were able to teach them this improved way to fertilize the land. Instead of slash and burn, the common practice, we showed them how they could slow burn the green material they had collected and then use that charcoal with the other common ingrediants.
Overall, I think our aid was useful. Even though it will require a lot more input from the community to take care of the orchard than what they gave this weekend, we showed our willingness to help them. If the word spreads from the few who showed up, maybe the rest of the community will be inspired to work on maintaining it.
two days later, I am still exahausted, but excited to think I only have a week left of school/finals! We are very close to the end of this long, hard, amazing journey. This weekend, Jess and I our going to go to Tikal and go on a zip wire! It should be great fun.
There may only be one more blog after this one. I dont know if I will be able to access internet in Guatemala, El Salvador or Nicaragua on my travels in the coming weeks.
I hope you all have a great time,
best wishes,
Colin
This last weekend was chalk full of hard, intensive labor. I dont know if any of you have swung a machet(e) before, but after 900 wacks it becomes tiring.
My project group, as I described before, is working on a project in a town called Arizona. There, our goal was to create a community orchard to sustain the population. After a long period of down time, we finally heard from our project partner 3 weeks ago. She gave us her immediate plan of action: Friday: Clear the land. Saturday: Perform a Terra Preta (bio-char fertilizer) demonstration. Sunday: Dig holes to prepare for planting in the rainy season. We were supposed to do this all with the support of the community members
In a way, we followed this outline, but without the support of the community members. Each day, only 3-4 adults from Arizona came to help. This was disheartening. The exciting part was that at least 10 children came and showed interest in the orchard and some even helped!
So Friday, we got to Arizona not knowing what to expect. Immediately, we started clearing brush and chopping down green. It was hard hard work. The sun beat down on us and our blisters accumulated fast! No one had brought glooves because we thought they would be provided. Luckily we had a few bandanas to wrap around our fists. After clearing a load of land, we started piling up brush and setting fire to it. We were going to make charcoal out of it but the fires burned to hot and we needed to clear the land. After working only half a day, we were exhausted. We took a break for lunch and since we hadnt gotten much help from the community, decided to call it a day. We were dead tired, but we had 2 more days of work.
Saturday, we got out to Arizona and proceeded to do the same thing. There were not as many machetes that morning so some of us waited around. One kid, Benjamin, ran and got us some more. For the next 3 hours, I worked beside him chopping down trees, bushes, and grass. At one point, a heavenly rain came down and cooled us off. However, when it cleared up the humidity was worse than even. Also, on this day, a friend of a project member of ours came to help. It was great having a fresh set of hands to provide work. Since it had rained, the wood didnt burn so well and we had trouble getting fires started. After lunch, we worked a little bit more, digging holes and preparing for the last day.
Sunday we went out, after utter exahaustion the previous two days and went right back to work. This day, we had to dig numerous holes! This was hard work as well. It wasnt as long lasting, but it was more energy draining: ripping up roots, pulling out rocks and even avoiding Tarantula at the bottom of the holes. Overall, this was the least amount of work we had to put in, however, it was the most tiring. After digging holes, we kept on trying to burn the piles of wood as well as collecting material to make Terra Preta. We needed alot of leaf litter and bio mass to mix in with the charcoal and bird manure that Forest, one of the leaders from our project partner, went to pick up. After lunch, we started filling in the holes with the mixture while others went to get community members to do the Terra Preta demonstration. It was great to have a fair sized turnout for that. There were about 10 people who were interested and we were able to teach them this improved way to fertilize the land. Instead of slash and burn, the common practice, we showed them how they could slow burn the green material they had collected and then use that charcoal with the other common ingrediants.
Overall, I think our aid was useful. Even though it will require a lot more input from the community to take care of the orchard than what they gave this weekend, we showed our willingness to help them. If the word spreads from the few who showed up, maybe the rest of the community will be inspired to work on maintaining it.
two days later, I am still exahausted, but excited to think I only have a week left of school/finals! We are very close to the end of this long, hard, amazing journey. This weekend, Jess and I our going to go to Tikal and go on a zip wire! It should be great fun.
There may only be one more blog after this one. I dont know if I will be able to access internet in Guatemala, El Salvador or Nicaragua on my travels in the coming weeks.
I hope you all have a great time,
best wishes,
Colin
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Zoo, Xunantinich and ATM caves
Hello all!
This semester in Belize is winding down, and I am ready to be home for the summer. I am feeling very tired in the broad sense of the word. However, I am still having fun. This past weekend, Jess and I did all the touristy things around San Ignacio that we missed before.
Saturday, our plan was to go to the National Zoo and then go to the inland Blue Hole (a sink hole filled with gorgeous blue water). After getting up nice and early, we took a long bus ride out to the Zoo. It was a hot day and I was already sweating by the time we walked up the road to the visitor center from the bus stop. At the entrance, I had a funny encounter. On my Whale Shark dive in Placencia, Dad and I had met a group of Japanese who came here to Belize to do service work for two years. At the zoo, I met a group of them with the leader of the group I had just gone diving with two weeks prior. On top of that I met with an old guide of mine from La Milpa. He was giving a tour to some British Uni students who were here for a week. This made me realize how small Belize really is. I know lots of people from almost every district and have run into them multiple times now!
The Zoo itself was excellent, after seeing it two years ago at night; it was much different during the day. Many more animals were out in their caged habitat. We saw spider monkeys, tapir, wild peccary, two types of jaguar (normal and black!) and much more. There are some amazing pictures on Snapfish so check them out if you can J
After the Zoo, we hopped on the next bus and decided to call it a day. It was very hot and we weren’t going to have much time to visit the Blue Hole, so we saved that for another day. The one loss of the day was my sunglasses that had already broke, but had fixed with tap. They snapped a second time and were done for good…
Sunday, Jess and I went to Xunantinich (spelled fairly accurately and pronounced Soo-nan-tin-itch). We got very lucky this day with rides. On the way there we took a collective taxi to the ferry for only 4 Belize dollars. Then, on the ferry we met a couple with a pickup truck that we hopped in the back and rode up the one mile to the entrance. There we spent a couple hours marveling over the beauty of the ruins. From the top of the highest ruin you could see all the way into Guatemala and all the way back to San Ignacio, since it was 180 ft tall and on top of a big hill. The view was breathtaking.
On the way back, we started walking down the long mile, but got picked up by a group of people from Punta Gorda who had come up to see the championship soccer game that took place that day. We got a ride all the way back to the Cahal Pech, where we went for a nice long swim. We were supposed to go to the soccer game but we were both tired and just relaxed. The proceeding day was our big trip to the Actun Tunicchil Munical caves!
After another early wakeup, Jess and I got our bags together, ate breakfast and headed to Mayawalk, a tour group in San Ignacio. It was raining, but as soon as we got in the car it stopped. The ride there was uneventful but bumpy. We had been down the same road on our way to the STAND center a month or more prior. Two years ago I had gotten to go on this wonderful tour with Dad and our eco-tourist group on my senior year spring break. It was really fun remembering going into the cave with those people because this was our first real formative experience as a group. There is a 45 minute hike in before you even get to the cave, so by the time you are there, you are ready to hike through the cave in some pretty deep water!
The entrance is a majestic maw with a river running out of it. Right away, you have to swim in some deep water to get across to the rocks. The cave runs about 5 kilometers deep but we only get to go in about half way. There are amazing geological formations and some very interesting artifacts all over. When you get half way through, you have to climb up some rocks to a ledge high above. There, the cave continues on in another direction, up from the water. That’s where the Maya came to perform their sacred rituals. There are numerous pots strewn all over the cave and even some bones of sacrificed youth! After seeing some more marvelous formations, you climb a latter and view the piece-du-resistance: A fully intact female skeleton.
For me it was amazing seeing the caves again, but it was even more fun to share that experience with Jess. I have a lot of memories of that cave and I don’t believe anyone will be able to enter it soon due to damage caused by tourists. It is one unique experience that may not be here the next time I come to Belize.
This weekend was fantastic. I am glad I got to do all the local stuff. All that is left on that front is to do a horseback ride through the jungle and visit the Blue Hole. Plans are still coming together for the final trip for Jess and I. We are now able to leave on the 2nd of May, giving us more time to see Guatemala and Nicaragua! I am very excited!
This weekend, I will be doing my service learning project in Arizona. Things finally came together with our project partner and now we will be clearing the land on Friday, giving a bio-char fertilizer demonstration on Saturday, and digging the holes on Sunday! It will be a lot of work but I think it should be lots of fun!
On top of that, I have to write the conclusion of our group paper that is due next Thursday, but that cant be done until this weekend is over :-/
Ok, well time to get back to writing my paper, hope everyone is enjoying more spring up!
Best wishes,
Colin
This semester in Belize is winding down, and I am ready to be home for the summer. I am feeling very tired in the broad sense of the word. However, I am still having fun. This past weekend, Jess and I did all the touristy things around San Ignacio that we missed before.
Saturday, our plan was to go to the National Zoo and then go to the inland Blue Hole (a sink hole filled with gorgeous blue water). After getting up nice and early, we took a long bus ride out to the Zoo. It was a hot day and I was already sweating by the time we walked up the road to the visitor center from the bus stop. At the entrance, I had a funny encounter. On my Whale Shark dive in Placencia, Dad and I had met a group of Japanese who came here to Belize to do service work for two years. At the zoo, I met a group of them with the leader of the group I had just gone diving with two weeks prior. On top of that I met with an old guide of mine from La Milpa. He was giving a tour to some British Uni students who were here for a week. This made me realize how small Belize really is. I know lots of people from almost every district and have run into them multiple times now!
The Zoo itself was excellent, after seeing it two years ago at night; it was much different during the day. Many more animals were out in their caged habitat. We saw spider monkeys, tapir, wild peccary, two types of jaguar (normal and black!) and much more. There are some amazing pictures on Snapfish so check them out if you can J
After the Zoo, we hopped on the next bus and decided to call it a day. It was very hot and we weren’t going to have much time to visit the Blue Hole, so we saved that for another day. The one loss of the day was my sunglasses that had already broke, but had fixed with tap. They snapped a second time and were done for good…
Sunday, Jess and I went to Xunantinich (spelled fairly accurately and pronounced Soo-nan-tin-itch). We got very lucky this day with rides. On the way there we took a collective taxi to the ferry for only 4 Belize dollars. Then, on the ferry we met a couple with a pickup truck that we hopped in the back and rode up the one mile to the entrance. There we spent a couple hours marveling over the beauty of the ruins. From the top of the highest ruin you could see all the way into Guatemala and all the way back to San Ignacio, since it was 180 ft tall and on top of a big hill. The view was breathtaking.
On the way back, we started walking down the long mile, but got picked up by a group of people from Punta Gorda who had come up to see the championship soccer game that took place that day. We got a ride all the way back to the Cahal Pech, where we went for a nice long swim. We were supposed to go to the soccer game but we were both tired and just relaxed. The proceeding day was our big trip to the Actun Tunicchil Munical caves!
After another early wakeup, Jess and I got our bags together, ate breakfast and headed to Mayawalk, a tour group in San Ignacio. It was raining, but as soon as we got in the car it stopped. The ride there was uneventful but bumpy. We had been down the same road on our way to the STAND center a month or more prior. Two years ago I had gotten to go on this wonderful tour with Dad and our eco-tourist group on my senior year spring break. It was really fun remembering going into the cave with those people because this was our first real formative experience as a group. There is a 45 minute hike in before you even get to the cave, so by the time you are there, you are ready to hike through the cave in some pretty deep water!
The entrance is a majestic maw with a river running out of it. Right away, you have to swim in some deep water to get across to the rocks. The cave runs about 5 kilometers deep but we only get to go in about half way. There are amazing geological formations and some very interesting artifacts all over. When you get half way through, you have to climb up some rocks to a ledge high above. There, the cave continues on in another direction, up from the water. That’s where the Maya came to perform their sacred rituals. There are numerous pots strewn all over the cave and even some bones of sacrificed youth! After seeing some more marvelous formations, you climb a latter and view the piece-du-resistance: A fully intact female skeleton.
For me it was amazing seeing the caves again, but it was even more fun to share that experience with Jess. I have a lot of memories of that cave and I don’t believe anyone will be able to enter it soon due to damage caused by tourists. It is one unique experience that may not be here the next time I come to Belize.
This weekend was fantastic. I am glad I got to do all the local stuff. All that is left on that front is to do a horseback ride through the jungle and visit the Blue Hole. Plans are still coming together for the final trip for Jess and I. We are now able to leave on the 2nd of May, giving us more time to see Guatemala and Nicaragua! I am very excited!
This weekend, I will be doing my service learning project in Arizona. Things finally came together with our project partner and now we will be clearing the land on Friday, giving a bio-char fertilizer demonstration on Saturday, and digging the holes on Sunday! It will be a lot of work but I think it should be lots of fun!
On top of that, I have to write the conclusion of our group paper that is due next Thursday, but that cant be done until this weekend is over :-/
Ok, well time to get back to writing my paper, hope everyone is enjoying more spring up!
Best wishes,
Colin
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Cahal Pech and San Pedro, Part 2
Hello folks,
Since that wonderful weekend with my family in Placencia not much has happened.
I finished all those papers and got some good grades back and now am in the last leg of this incredible trip. 5 weeks remain before I am on the way home! 3 1/2 before school ends!
But I feel I am ready. It is hot and tiring here. But still, there are things to do.
Last week, Jess and I went to Cahal Pech, the Ruins, for the first time. It was a wonderful morning and afternoon trip, seeing a hole bunch of ruins practically to our selves. There was one man who was painting beautiful pictures of the ruins. He was very knowledgeable and was fun to talk to!
After that, we went swimming at the top of the hill at the pool we went to the second day of this trip. We met up with our friend Rachel and hung out before going to class. It was fantastic.
This weekend we were supposed to go to Chetumaul, Mexico. we had a friend of ours from Galen who was going to drive us. But then he invited too many people and we couldnt fit in the car even though we were the people who wanted to organize the trip. We were unhappy, but we had a plan B: to go to San Pedro
I had already been to San Pedro, but Jess had not. After leaving pretty early in the morning we got to San Pedro at around 11. After a short search for hotels, we decided to stay in the same place dad and I had so we could be right on the beach. The whole weekend we just relaxed and looked around San Pedro. We got to see the Sunset as well. I even got to go diving one last time! I dont know when I will be able to go again...
It was a fantastic relaxing weekend.
As I said, only a few weeks left! I hope I can make the best of them. There is so much left to do!
Anyone have Kansas winning in the Tourny? It was quite a game!
Hope everyone else is having a good spring!
Best wishes,
Colin
Since that wonderful weekend with my family in Placencia not much has happened.
I finished all those papers and got some good grades back and now am in the last leg of this incredible trip. 5 weeks remain before I am on the way home! 3 1/2 before school ends!
But I feel I am ready. It is hot and tiring here. But still, there are things to do.
Last week, Jess and I went to Cahal Pech, the Ruins, for the first time. It was a wonderful morning and afternoon trip, seeing a hole bunch of ruins practically to our selves. There was one man who was painting beautiful pictures of the ruins. He was very knowledgeable and was fun to talk to!
After that, we went swimming at the top of the hill at the pool we went to the second day of this trip. We met up with our friend Rachel and hung out before going to class. It was fantastic.
This weekend we were supposed to go to Chetumaul, Mexico. we had a friend of ours from Galen who was going to drive us. But then he invited too many people and we couldnt fit in the car even though we were the people who wanted to organize the trip. We were unhappy, but we had a plan B: to go to San Pedro
I had already been to San Pedro, but Jess had not. After leaving pretty early in the morning we got to San Pedro at around 11. After a short search for hotels, we decided to stay in the same place dad and I had so we could be right on the beach. The whole weekend we just relaxed and looked around San Pedro. We got to see the Sunset as well. I even got to go diving one last time! I dont know when I will be able to go again...
It was a fantastic relaxing weekend.
As I said, only a few weeks left! I hope I can make the best of them. There is so much left to do!
Anyone have Kansas winning in the Tourny? It was quite a game!
Hope everyone else is having a good spring!
Best wishes,
Colin
Thursday, March 27, 2008
San Pedro, Caracol, Placencia and Family!
Hello,
sorry it had been a while since I have written, even so, I will keep this short. Most of you will hear and see of these extravagent events from my parents so I will provide you with a summary.
2 Fridays ago, Dad arrived here in Belize! I went to meet him for a weekend on Amberguis Caye, but I caught up with him in Belize City, even though he did not know. We both took water taxis at the same time, but he was on the one opposite me and so I waved to him, but he did not see me. He didnt know I had chosen the cheaper boat accross, so there was no harm.
On the Island, we stayed at a beautiful hotel right on the water. Our weekend was scheduled for much diving, but in between we got to relax with rum and coke and some Belikins. Saturday, we went diving with a company just by our front porch. It was dad's first time diving in a while so he was kind of nervous, but everything turned out allright. We even got to pet a Nurse Shark!
The rest of the afternoon was lazying about and swimming, but that evening we went to a fancy restaurent up on the north part of the island. we got picked up and dropped off by a boat from the resort even. Dad had Stone Crab and I had some Red Snapper. Both were amazing. It was a good meal to prepare us for our dive the next morning.
Sunday, we went to the Blue Hole. This was a 2 hour boat ride away (and very choppy) but once we got there it was calm. After we got in the water, we dove down to 140 feet! Down there it was black but there was a slight incline on the wall and there were stalagtites hanging from the ceiling.
We had two other dives that day and a lunch on Half Moon Caye, where we got to see redfooted boobys. They were the reason why conservation began in Belize.
That night we had dinner with one of Dad's work friends and his family. His daughter had just spent a year in guatemala and was very talkative about her aboad experience. It was great comparing notes and hearing about places that I may end up traveling to.
Monday, Dad and I left San Pedro (the town on Amburguis Caye) to pick up mom and Gill from the airport! The first water taxi was full so we took a later one and didnt get to pick them up on time, however it all worked out. It was great having them here! I really felt I could show off my world to them.
Tuesday night was had a group dinner and my dad entertained a bunch of my friends. It was great that they had the chance to meet my family. They were very impressed by them all and said that now they know why I am so nice. :)
Wednsday (last week still) we went to Caracol: a big Maya Ruin. We went with a guide in the car we had rented. Gill and Jess were crammed in the back, but I got to sit there one the way back. The Ruins were enormous. One temple was 135 feet tall and tons of stairs! On the way back we stopped at a cave where we got to explore a bit. It wasnt too long, but the ceiling was high! After that, we stopped at a river where we went swimming. This was one of the most enjoyable things I have experienced in Belize. There were slides, pools and strong waterfalls. It was great!
Thursday, we all left for Placencia. There, we stayed in a gorgeous resort with a pool to the left of our condo and the ocean right out in fornt! It was a fantastic place to go and relax. Friday we didnt do much, but Saturday Dad and I went Whale Shark diving, Gill went to take a beginer's course in diving and Jess and Mom went to a place called Monkey Creek. I cant tell you much about the last two but on Dad and my dive, we got to see a 30 foot whale shark who swam with us! It was fantastic.
That night, we went to a cook out on the beach at the resort up from us. Its food was delicious!
Sunday we went snorkeling at Laughing Bird Caye and in the afternoon, back at our resort, got to go on a treasure hunt, which we won! The prize was a free meal from the restaurent.
Monday, we drove back and Jess and I got dropped off in Belmopan. It was sad to say goodbye to my parents, but I had had a great weekend.
Now I am in a sullen mood. I am without my family and having to do applications for summer work while doing essays for class due next monday. On top of that, Jess's camera was lost on the Ruta Maya and I am at fault because it was in my backpack the whole time. I feel doubly bad because of that.
Still I am enjoying Belize. I am starting to make plans with Jess and others for possible travel after schools out on my way to Nicaragua to meet up with an old friend there.
Hopefully all these things will work themselves out.
I wish my best to all my listeners out there and hope you all had a great easter/purim
This is Colin signing off for now.
sorry it had been a while since I have written, even so, I will keep this short. Most of you will hear and see of these extravagent events from my parents so I will provide you with a summary.
2 Fridays ago, Dad arrived here in Belize! I went to meet him for a weekend on Amberguis Caye, but I caught up with him in Belize City, even though he did not know. We both took water taxis at the same time, but he was on the one opposite me and so I waved to him, but he did not see me. He didnt know I had chosen the cheaper boat accross, so there was no harm.
On the Island, we stayed at a beautiful hotel right on the water. Our weekend was scheduled for much diving, but in between we got to relax with rum and coke and some Belikins. Saturday, we went diving with a company just by our front porch. It was dad's first time diving in a while so he was kind of nervous, but everything turned out allright. We even got to pet a Nurse Shark!
The rest of the afternoon was lazying about and swimming, but that evening we went to a fancy restaurent up on the north part of the island. we got picked up and dropped off by a boat from the resort even. Dad had Stone Crab and I had some Red Snapper. Both were amazing. It was a good meal to prepare us for our dive the next morning.
Sunday, we went to the Blue Hole. This was a 2 hour boat ride away (and very choppy) but once we got there it was calm. After we got in the water, we dove down to 140 feet! Down there it was black but there was a slight incline on the wall and there were stalagtites hanging from the ceiling.
We had two other dives that day and a lunch on Half Moon Caye, where we got to see redfooted boobys. They were the reason why conservation began in Belize.
That night we had dinner with one of Dad's work friends and his family. His daughter had just spent a year in guatemala and was very talkative about her aboad experience. It was great comparing notes and hearing about places that I may end up traveling to.
Monday, Dad and I left San Pedro (the town on Amburguis Caye) to pick up mom and Gill from the airport! The first water taxi was full so we took a later one and didnt get to pick them up on time, however it all worked out. It was great having them here! I really felt I could show off my world to them.
Tuesday night was had a group dinner and my dad entertained a bunch of my friends. It was great that they had the chance to meet my family. They were very impressed by them all and said that now they know why I am so nice. :)
Wednsday (last week still) we went to Caracol: a big Maya Ruin. We went with a guide in the car we had rented. Gill and Jess were crammed in the back, but I got to sit there one the way back. The Ruins were enormous. One temple was 135 feet tall and tons of stairs! On the way back we stopped at a cave where we got to explore a bit. It wasnt too long, but the ceiling was high! After that, we stopped at a river where we went swimming. This was one of the most enjoyable things I have experienced in Belize. There were slides, pools and strong waterfalls. It was great!
Thursday, we all left for Placencia. There, we stayed in a gorgeous resort with a pool to the left of our condo and the ocean right out in fornt! It was a fantastic place to go and relax. Friday we didnt do much, but Saturday Dad and I went Whale Shark diving, Gill went to take a beginer's course in diving and Jess and Mom went to a place called Monkey Creek. I cant tell you much about the last two but on Dad and my dive, we got to see a 30 foot whale shark who swam with us! It was fantastic.
That night, we went to a cook out on the beach at the resort up from us. Its food was delicious!
Sunday we went snorkeling at Laughing Bird Caye and in the afternoon, back at our resort, got to go on a treasure hunt, which we won! The prize was a free meal from the restaurent.
Monday, we drove back and Jess and I got dropped off in Belmopan. It was sad to say goodbye to my parents, but I had had a great weekend.
Now I am in a sullen mood. I am without my family and having to do applications for summer work while doing essays for class due next monday. On top of that, Jess's camera was lost on the Ruta Maya and I am at fault because it was in my backpack the whole time. I feel doubly bad because of that.
Still I am enjoying Belize. I am starting to make plans with Jess and others for possible travel after schools out on my way to Nicaragua to meet up with an old friend there.
Hopefully all these things will work themselves out.
I wish my best to all my listeners out there and hope you all had a great easter/purim
This is Colin signing off for now.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Ruta Maya
Wow, so everything has been very hectic the last week.
First, on Monday last week, I got a hair cut from Jay! After our group meeting I told him I would like to have my head shaved. He agreed, so now I have a buzz-cut! This is the first time my haircut has really changed since highschool where I wore it a little long for a while, but now it is completely different. After, it was one of the student's (Claire's) birthday. We had a little celebration at a local restaurant because her and Elida (the Galen secretary of sorts) shared their birthdays. That night, Phil almost convinced me to join him and Josh on their solo attempt of the Ruta Maya. However, I eventually turned them down for two reasons: 1 I didnt want to let down my group and 2 it seemed impossible (the 3rd was to stay with Jess)
Last Wednsday before the Ruta Maya, we recieved a ton of work. We had to fill out surveys and have a presentation, do a take home mid-term, and prepare a project presentation on our progress so far in Arizona. and we only had two days to complete it: Thursday before Ruta Maya and the Tuesday after.
Anyways, that afternoon, regardless of the work load, we went out to practice our rescue technics for the race. It was fun flipping boats and trying to get them back up, but we didnt need to do any of that in the race itself. We also got to meet the other volunteers, Robert, Rolph and a French couple, Jordan and Manot.
Thursday, I worked hard on my midterm until class. It was Tom Paterson's first time teaching our service learning class. Jay and Meg had said good bye the night before and Tom had taken Jays place teaching. They are now on vacation, but we will probable see them around town still. It is bitter sweet as Logan puts it. I hope Tom and Susan fall into the same role as Meg and Jay.
There was a little party that night in celebration of the start of the Ruta Maya. Fireworks kept Jess and I up a little later than we would have liked for a 5 am wake up, but it was fine. Friday morning, we got up bright and early! Phil was all ready for the race and got out of bed along with me. After some waiting around the person who led our volunteer group, a full fledged-hippy named Michael, we got started. Jess and I were sent with Marco down to the Low Bridge in San Ignacio where we were to check for the first boat to cross under the bridge. The first team to do so won $500 so alot was riding on our shoulders. First through was Carribean Pride (CPBL) and soon after the other dozens of boats crossed through. Total there were about 90 cannoes in the river at the start. At least 10 pulled out by the end of it.
Quickly, we left that site and moved on to the next at Spanish Lookout and then, when the other time keeping unit caught up to us, on to Iguana Creek and finally to Banana Bank Bridge. There we waited for hours. The first two checkpoints were quick, but this one we waited at for 3 or 4 hours before we saw anyone. Marco left us there without our lunche and Freddy (a Belizean volunteer who drove the truck) came by to pick us up, however, we had to switch into the saftey boat when it came by. Every few checkpoints, our cleanup boat would switch its crew except for the stern man, who was a proffessional racer (his name was Calvin). When our boat came, Jess Heiman and I jumped in for the last 6 miles of racing. After not having any lunch and little water, this stretch was tough! Calvin pushed us hard and fast and I got tierd fast. Jess H kept a good pace but not as fast as Calvin would have liked. I was supposed to do the 45 mile leg the next day, but he switched me off that shift. When we reached the campsite, I was dead tierd, and so was everyone else. It was hot and we got to sit around and do nothing for a while. Dinner was some spaghetti, but the best thing of all was going to sleep. The news of the day was that CPBL held a 5 minute lead over the reigning champions Belize Bank. In this race, that was an incredible amount!
The next morning, the team got ready while a bunch of us ran off to the next few checkpoints. It was a cold ride down the Western Highway and when we turned off of it we were glad. At the next point, St. Paul, we had another long wait until the racers came. It took from 9 am to 2 in the afternoon for our boat to reach us. However, there was some excitment. When the first place boats passed it was neck and neck! Carribean Pride and Reagan International were squeezing Belize Bank so they could not paddle, and CPBL came out in the front. At the end of the day, they would be behind Belize bank by half a boat length. When our boat came, Logan and Jess Brightfeller jumped in and headed off to do the last 10 miles to camp.
At that point, Shaun and Ben, who had gotten off doing the 45 mile stretch at St Paul, were exausted. I was happy I wasnt apart of that, but still felt sleighted that I wasnt deemed good enough to do it. The next day I would get to prove myself. We left St Paul soon after and went to Bermuda Landing, where we would camp. After getting situated, we went to the water to wait for the teams to cross. When Phil and Josh came by we were extatic. It was a heroic effort they were making to complete this race. They got out of their boats and started eating up their dinner, provided to the racers for free, like animals. I was very glad to see them. Their thrid member, Dale, had been cramping up and not pulling his weight so he had bailed earlier. Things wrapped up fast that night and soon everyone was asleep, dispite a big dance going on up the street.
The next morning we got up, cleaned up camp and watched the start of the race. It was very intense. There was hardly any space to move and yet no one tipped over. When the boats had passed everyone jumped in their cars and headed for the next checkpoint 10 miles down river. At that point Jess (Cohn) and I were scheduled to switch in so we got ready. As soon as we got there, it started raining so we rushed for shelter. We thought we would be cold out on the river, but the rain turned out to be a blessing. When we got in the boat, Calvin was not happy. He was in last place and wanted to make up some ground. So, thinking we only had 15 miles to go, we dug in and pushed hard for 3 streight hours! There were point on the river where I got tierd and had to keep rowing. Then I got to another level of tierd and felt I couldnt paddle anymore, but had to keep on going. It turned out our seggment was not 15 miles but closer to 30. after the 3 hours we slowed down and struggled with the last 2 hours and 12 miles. We had passed 7 teams shooting up the river but in those 2 hours, 5 of them had passed us back. We were pushed to the brink of utter exauhstion and had to row more. At one point Jess wanted to get off, but as the rescue boat came close, she changed her mind and powered through to the end. I was really impressed by the work we both did, but especially her. She made herself do the impossible and more. For the whole 30 miles and 5 hours, we did not stop paddeling besides one break where Calvin got a cigarette from another boat. That only took 30 seconds though.
So after 4 hours 59 minutes and 30 seconds of rowing, Jess and I were ready for bed. But the rain continued. There was not a dry spot that whole night. At one point, Jess, Freddy, me and the crew of people helping Marco went to the bar and hung out of a while. Calvin was there and so was Marlone, a support member I had talked to for a while at St Paul. It was nice being the only white people in the bar and it was great getting to know the Belizeans who were working with us.
The stretch Jess and I did was amazing, but it was nothing to brag about. It redeemed me from being a complete failure but I have no right to boast. The other people on this race had to do the whole thing without any switches. When Phil and Dale got in that night, I had so much respect for what they were doing. Josh had fallen out of the boat and sliced his finger and left the two of them to finish that day, but he would go again in the morning.
The last day was the quickest. After a night in a tiny tent that got flooded with water, I was ready for this whole experience to end. It coninued to rain on and off all day, but the canoes came by much more quickly and made the wait shorter. At the end in Belize city, we waited for hours for our ride to leave. But as I did, I got to say goodbye to all the people I had met along the way. Even Reynolds from Caye Caulker showed up as we were passing by. I hope to get to see all my new friends again and I may even get a T-shirt of the championship team: CPBL. Carribean Pride's 5 minute lead on the first day was enough to beat Belize Bank. Even though each day they had been first to check out, they only shaved off 2 minutes or so from the monsterous lead CPBL had.
All and all, this was a week of endurance. Endurance of rain, cold, heat, hunger, sleep, and time. There may have been points where I felt like quitting but I feel so much better for being apart of this incredble cultural experience.
It has been a very intense few days, but I have to keep on going. Today I do work, and Friday I go to Amberguis Caye to meet dad! It is almost spring break! This study abroad experience continues to be amazing.
Best wishes to you all,
Colin
First, on Monday last week, I got a hair cut from Jay! After our group meeting I told him I would like to have my head shaved. He agreed, so now I have a buzz-cut! This is the first time my haircut has really changed since highschool where I wore it a little long for a while, but now it is completely different. After, it was one of the student's (Claire's) birthday. We had a little celebration at a local restaurant because her and Elida (the Galen secretary of sorts) shared their birthdays. That night, Phil almost convinced me to join him and Josh on their solo attempt of the Ruta Maya. However, I eventually turned them down for two reasons: 1 I didnt want to let down my group and 2 it seemed impossible (the 3rd was to stay with Jess)
Last Wednsday before the Ruta Maya, we recieved a ton of work. We had to fill out surveys and have a presentation, do a take home mid-term, and prepare a project presentation on our progress so far in Arizona. and we only had two days to complete it: Thursday before Ruta Maya and the Tuesday after.
Anyways, that afternoon, regardless of the work load, we went out to practice our rescue technics for the race. It was fun flipping boats and trying to get them back up, but we didnt need to do any of that in the race itself. We also got to meet the other volunteers, Robert, Rolph and a French couple, Jordan and Manot.
Thursday, I worked hard on my midterm until class. It was Tom Paterson's first time teaching our service learning class. Jay and Meg had said good bye the night before and Tom had taken Jays place teaching. They are now on vacation, but we will probable see them around town still. It is bitter sweet as Logan puts it. I hope Tom and Susan fall into the same role as Meg and Jay.
There was a little party that night in celebration of the start of the Ruta Maya. Fireworks kept Jess and I up a little later than we would have liked for a 5 am wake up, but it was fine. Friday morning, we got up bright and early! Phil was all ready for the race and got out of bed along with me. After some waiting around the person who led our volunteer group, a full fledged-hippy named Michael, we got started. Jess and I were sent with Marco down to the Low Bridge in San Ignacio where we were to check for the first boat to cross under the bridge. The first team to do so won $500 so alot was riding on our shoulders. First through was Carribean Pride (CPBL) and soon after the other dozens of boats crossed through. Total there were about 90 cannoes in the river at the start. At least 10 pulled out by the end of it.
Quickly, we left that site and moved on to the next at Spanish Lookout and then, when the other time keeping unit caught up to us, on to Iguana Creek and finally to Banana Bank Bridge. There we waited for hours. The first two checkpoints were quick, but this one we waited at for 3 or 4 hours before we saw anyone. Marco left us there without our lunche and Freddy (a Belizean volunteer who drove the truck) came by to pick us up, however, we had to switch into the saftey boat when it came by. Every few checkpoints, our cleanup boat would switch its crew except for the stern man, who was a proffessional racer (his name was Calvin). When our boat came, Jess Heiman and I jumped in for the last 6 miles of racing. After not having any lunch and little water, this stretch was tough! Calvin pushed us hard and fast and I got tierd fast. Jess H kept a good pace but not as fast as Calvin would have liked. I was supposed to do the 45 mile leg the next day, but he switched me off that shift. When we reached the campsite, I was dead tierd, and so was everyone else. It was hot and we got to sit around and do nothing for a while. Dinner was some spaghetti, but the best thing of all was going to sleep. The news of the day was that CPBL held a 5 minute lead over the reigning champions Belize Bank. In this race, that was an incredible amount!
The next morning, the team got ready while a bunch of us ran off to the next few checkpoints. It was a cold ride down the Western Highway and when we turned off of it we were glad. At the next point, St. Paul, we had another long wait until the racers came. It took from 9 am to 2 in the afternoon for our boat to reach us. However, there was some excitment. When the first place boats passed it was neck and neck! Carribean Pride and Reagan International were squeezing Belize Bank so they could not paddle, and CPBL came out in the front. At the end of the day, they would be behind Belize bank by half a boat length. When our boat came, Logan and Jess Brightfeller jumped in and headed off to do the last 10 miles to camp.
At that point, Shaun and Ben, who had gotten off doing the 45 mile stretch at St Paul, were exausted. I was happy I wasnt apart of that, but still felt sleighted that I wasnt deemed good enough to do it. The next day I would get to prove myself. We left St Paul soon after and went to Bermuda Landing, where we would camp. After getting situated, we went to the water to wait for the teams to cross. When Phil and Josh came by we were extatic. It was a heroic effort they were making to complete this race. They got out of their boats and started eating up their dinner, provided to the racers for free, like animals. I was very glad to see them. Their thrid member, Dale, had been cramping up and not pulling his weight so he had bailed earlier. Things wrapped up fast that night and soon everyone was asleep, dispite a big dance going on up the street.
The next morning we got up, cleaned up camp and watched the start of the race. It was very intense. There was hardly any space to move and yet no one tipped over. When the boats had passed everyone jumped in their cars and headed for the next checkpoint 10 miles down river. At that point Jess (Cohn) and I were scheduled to switch in so we got ready. As soon as we got there, it started raining so we rushed for shelter. We thought we would be cold out on the river, but the rain turned out to be a blessing. When we got in the boat, Calvin was not happy. He was in last place and wanted to make up some ground. So, thinking we only had 15 miles to go, we dug in and pushed hard for 3 streight hours! There were point on the river where I got tierd and had to keep rowing. Then I got to another level of tierd and felt I couldnt paddle anymore, but had to keep on going. It turned out our seggment was not 15 miles but closer to 30. after the 3 hours we slowed down and struggled with the last 2 hours and 12 miles. We had passed 7 teams shooting up the river but in those 2 hours, 5 of them had passed us back. We were pushed to the brink of utter exauhstion and had to row more. At one point Jess wanted to get off, but as the rescue boat came close, she changed her mind and powered through to the end. I was really impressed by the work we both did, but especially her. She made herself do the impossible and more. For the whole 30 miles and 5 hours, we did not stop paddeling besides one break where Calvin got a cigarette from another boat. That only took 30 seconds though.
So after 4 hours 59 minutes and 30 seconds of rowing, Jess and I were ready for bed. But the rain continued. There was not a dry spot that whole night. At one point, Jess, Freddy, me and the crew of people helping Marco went to the bar and hung out of a while. Calvin was there and so was Marlone, a support member I had talked to for a while at St Paul. It was nice being the only white people in the bar and it was great getting to know the Belizeans who were working with us.
The stretch Jess and I did was amazing, but it was nothing to brag about. It redeemed me from being a complete failure but I have no right to boast. The other people on this race had to do the whole thing without any switches. When Phil and Dale got in that night, I had so much respect for what they were doing. Josh had fallen out of the boat and sliced his finger and left the two of them to finish that day, but he would go again in the morning.
The last day was the quickest. After a night in a tiny tent that got flooded with water, I was ready for this whole experience to end. It coninued to rain on and off all day, but the canoes came by much more quickly and made the wait shorter. At the end in Belize city, we waited for hours for our ride to leave. But as I did, I got to say goodbye to all the people I had met along the way. Even Reynolds from Caye Caulker showed up as we were passing by. I hope to get to see all my new friends again and I may even get a T-shirt of the championship team: CPBL. Carribean Pride's 5 minute lead on the first day was enough to beat Belize Bank. Even though each day they had been first to check out, they only shaved off 2 minutes or so from the monsterous lead CPBL had.
All and all, this was a week of endurance. Endurance of rain, cold, heat, hunger, sleep, and time. There may have been points where I felt like quitting but I feel so much better for being apart of this incredble cultural experience.
It has been a very intense few days, but I have to keep on going. Today I do work, and Friday I go to Amberguis Caye to meet dad! It is almost spring break! This study abroad experience continues to be amazing.
Best wishes to you all,
Colin
Sunday, March 2, 2008
South Water Caye
Hey folks.
This weekend was incrdible! I feel like I am saying that alot, but it is true. Friday we left around 9 oclock on a interesting tour vehicle for South Water Caye. Tom and Susan, the two faculty members who are replacing Jay and Meg for the second half of the semester, came along too. This trip took us back through Belmopan and off to Dangriga. Along the way, we stopped at this downhill spot where "gravity is reversed". The driver threw the clutch into neutral and we started drifting up hill! There is much speculation to weather this actually occured or if it was an optical illusion. It will have to be tested again.
The rest of the ride was rainy and we were not sure if it would clear up for our boat ride out to South Water Caye. However, when we entered Dangriga it cleared up. We hopped on a boat (much better than the one out to Tobacco Caye) and skimmed over to the island. It was relatively small, but it was gorgeous. The accomdoations for the kids (us) was in the bunk room. Originally, it got randomly divided up between girls and guys, but Emily Falta and I switched by accident. Some of us lazed around for a while, due to an overcast, rainy sky, but others of us decided to go swimming. It was cold walking to the beach, but when we got in the water it was warm. Again, we were right next to the reef so we could snorkel a short distance and see the coral up close.
That night, we played a trivia game with Tom and Susan and afterward we played a group game of pictionary. It was incredibly funny as people tried guessing whe each person was trying to draw. However, the girls team won. It was alot of fun had all around. Sleeping was very hot that night and there were many bugs who caused me to itch. It was a rogh night sleep, but I was prepared in the morning.
After breakfast on Saturday, Phil, Emily Abbot and I went diving. It was Emily's first time since her training at UVM over a year ago. However she did great. Phil and I, having dove together before, were already well prepared. On the first dive we saw some amazing things. There were huge schools of fish, large manta rays and eagle rays, a moray eel, a turtle, and a bull shark! When we were swimming up to it, the bull shark looked like it was about to make the turtle its lunch! But as soon as it saw me and the dive master swimming at it fervrently, it swam away. We were the only two to catch a glimpse of him, but the turtle hung around in gratitude and showed off its 4 foot shell to us. That was probably my favorite dive this trip. Maybe of all time! The dive went along the side of a ridge (trick ridge). To the right there was a beautiful coral cliff, that dove down into oblivion. To the left was nothing but a deep blue ocean.
Our second dive was much like our first, except along the shelf of the ocean. We didnt see as many cool animals, but I felt very comfortable in the water.
After we returned and went to lunch, we went out snorkeling. It wasnt so great. The water was shallow, the waves were rough and there werent many fish. After that trip, we got to play beach volleyball! It was a majority of boys but some of the girls joined in the second game. It was pretty intense and after warming up the week before, I was the best player. I was throwing down blocks left and right and getting some fairly good kills! Plus I had a height advantage. My team won two streight then we tied after changing teams up. It was pretty evenly matched going into the third game, but when we got to 15 we didnt want to stop and just kept playing. All that was left was the boys after 7 streight games and we were sweaty. After one final game we took off for the dock and jumped in. That was a great way to finish off the day. A very refreshing occasion. After the swim, Susan and Tom taught us this card game called Golf. There were 8 of us and it turned out to be an incredibley fun game. We may have to try it back in the US.
That night we learned about the island. Jen, the person who owns IZE (the place we were staying) had alot of information to share about how to be sustainable on the island. The IZE program doesnt do much of its own research, but it educates students like us about the reef and runs mini projects in the area. It turns out the Smithsonian owns an island less than a mile south of us where they do experiments and the like. It was pretty cool hearing that I traveled all the way to Belize and the museum in my backyard was also down here studying.
That night, we opened up the doors and windows and got a much better breeze. I slept well and only got bit on my hand dangling over the edge of the top bunk. The Emily Abbot, who slept below me, was scared I would break the old bunk and fall through onto her. She is still alive so everything turned out ok.
In the morning, Jess got a rude awakening of sorts. The night before "the boys" put a tub of water above the door and left it adjar. When Jess wen to go to the bathroom it fell and hit her in the back, getting her fairly wet, but mostly annoyed. It woke everyone else up.
After breakfast, Jess, Jen, Tom, Jay and I went out fishing on th second trip. After a slow start catching sardines for bait, we cast out our lines (a small piece of ply wood with twine wrapped around it and a hook... not very much). The afternoon before, others had gone fishing without much success, but today, the ocean was bountiful. At the first spot, I pulled up maybe 10 fish, 4 of which were keepers. Other people had some luck, but the fish were too small. Jess caught the first one and I got a good picture of her. The second spot was much the same, but Jay caught an enormous makeral! After catching only 6-10 inch fish, this 2 and a half foot fish was monsterous! It was the catch of the day. Between Jay and I we had 15 keepers and over 30 fish total. Besides us, jess had a ton that she had caught (two contributed) and Wilford, the fisher who took us, had a good number. Tom and Jenn didnt do as well, but they still had fun.
After returning, Jess and I went on one last snorkel and had lunch (our fish!). After lunch, I found Lloyd hanging out around the bar. It was funny seeing him again just a week later from meeting him on Tobacco Caye. Of course, we had to play volleyball again before we left, so Lloyd joined in. Our team was Lloyd, Bitsy Dan and me and we dominated the otherside. After getting some poor sets to Lloyd, I finally placed it perfect and he had a great kill. It was very enjoyable. The second game, Emily Falta and Jess joined. This made the teams more even (because Jess is so good :) ). However, our team came from behind with the help of Lloyd and won it. We had one last swim, said goodbye to Lloyd and jumped on the boat.
For me, this weekend was very satisfying. Now, I have to get back to work on a presentation for my Business Law class tomorrow! It is the last class with Jay so it is a bitter sweet ending. I hope Tom and Susan are as much fun as Jay and Meg.
Hope you all have a good week! I will be doing the Belizean river race next week: the Ruta Maya! That will be yet another story in this saga of incredible weekends.
take care!
Colin
This weekend was incrdible! I feel like I am saying that alot, but it is true. Friday we left around 9 oclock on a interesting tour vehicle for South Water Caye. Tom and Susan, the two faculty members who are replacing Jay and Meg for the second half of the semester, came along too. This trip took us back through Belmopan and off to Dangriga. Along the way, we stopped at this downhill spot where "gravity is reversed". The driver threw the clutch into neutral and we started drifting up hill! There is much speculation to weather this actually occured or if it was an optical illusion. It will have to be tested again.
The rest of the ride was rainy and we were not sure if it would clear up for our boat ride out to South Water Caye. However, when we entered Dangriga it cleared up. We hopped on a boat (much better than the one out to Tobacco Caye) and skimmed over to the island. It was relatively small, but it was gorgeous. The accomdoations for the kids (us) was in the bunk room. Originally, it got randomly divided up between girls and guys, but Emily Falta and I switched by accident. Some of us lazed around for a while, due to an overcast, rainy sky, but others of us decided to go swimming. It was cold walking to the beach, but when we got in the water it was warm. Again, we were right next to the reef so we could snorkel a short distance and see the coral up close.
That night, we played a trivia game with Tom and Susan and afterward we played a group game of pictionary. It was incredibly funny as people tried guessing whe each person was trying to draw. However, the girls team won. It was alot of fun had all around. Sleeping was very hot that night and there were many bugs who caused me to itch. It was a rogh night sleep, but I was prepared in the morning.
After breakfast on Saturday, Phil, Emily Abbot and I went diving. It was Emily's first time since her training at UVM over a year ago. However she did great. Phil and I, having dove together before, were already well prepared. On the first dive we saw some amazing things. There were huge schools of fish, large manta rays and eagle rays, a moray eel, a turtle, and a bull shark! When we were swimming up to it, the bull shark looked like it was about to make the turtle its lunch! But as soon as it saw me and the dive master swimming at it fervrently, it swam away. We were the only two to catch a glimpse of him, but the turtle hung around in gratitude and showed off its 4 foot shell to us. That was probably my favorite dive this trip. Maybe of all time! The dive went along the side of a ridge (trick ridge). To the right there was a beautiful coral cliff, that dove down into oblivion. To the left was nothing but a deep blue ocean.
Our second dive was much like our first, except along the shelf of the ocean. We didnt see as many cool animals, but I felt very comfortable in the water.
After we returned and went to lunch, we went out snorkeling. It wasnt so great. The water was shallow, the waves were rough and there werent many fish. After that trip, we got to play beach volleyball! It was a majority of boys but some of the girls joined in the second game. It was pretty intense and after warming up the week before, I was the best player. I was throwing down blocks left and right and getting some fairly good kills! Plus I had a height advantage. My team won two streight then we tied after changing teams up. It was pretty evenly matched going into the third game, but when we got to 15 we didnt want to stop and just kept playing. All that was left was the boys after 7 streight games and we were sweaty. After one final game we took off for the dock and jumped in. That was a great way to finish off the day. A very refreshing occasion. After the swim, Susan and Tom taught us this card game called Golf. There were 8 of us and it turned out to be an incredibley fun game. We may have to try it back in the US.
That night we learned about the island. Jen, the person who owns IZE (the place we were staying) had alot of information to share about how to be sustainable on the island. The IZE program doesnt do much of its own research, but it educates students like us about the reef and runs mini projects in the area. It turns out the Smithsonian owns an island less than a mile south of us where they do experiments and the like. It was pretty cool hearing that I traveled all the way to Belize and the museum in my backyard was also down here studying.
That night, we opened up the doors and windows and got a much better breeze. I slept well and only got bit on my hand dangling over the edge of the top bunk. The Emily Abbot, who slept below me, was scared I would break the old bunk and fall through onto her. She is still alive so everything turned out ok.
In the morning, Jess got a rude awakening of sorts. The night before "the boys" put a tub of water above the door and left it adjar. When Jess wen to go to the bathroom it fell and hit her in the back, getting her fairly wet, but mostly annoyed. It woke everyone else up.
After breakfast, Jess, Jen, Tom, Jay and I went out fishing on th second trip. After a slow start catching sardines for bait, we cast out our lines (a small piece of ply wood with twine wrapped around it and a hook... not very much). The afternoon before, others had gone fishing without much success, but today, the ocean was bountiful. At the first spot, I pulled up maybe 10 fish, 4 of which were keepers. Other people had some luck, but the fish were too small. Jess caught the first one and I got a good picture of her. The second spot was much the same, but Jay caught an enormous makeral! After catching only 6-10 inch fish, this 2 and a half foot fish was monsterous! It was the catch of the day. Between Jay and I we had 15 keepers and over 30 fish total. Besides us, jess had a ton that she had caught (two contributed) and Wilford, the fisher who took us, had a good number. Tom and Jenn didnt do as well, but they still had fun.
After returning, Jess and I went on one last snorkel and had lunch (our fish!). After lunch, I found Lloyd hanging out around the bar. It was funny seeing him again just a week later from meeting him on Tobacco Caye. Of course, we had to play volleyball again before we left, so Lloyd joined in. Our team was Lloyd, Bitsy Dan and me and we dominated the otherside. After getting some poor sets to Lloyd, I finally placed it perfect and he had a great kill. It was very enjoyable. The second game, Emily Falta and Jess joined. This made the teams more even (because Jess is so good :) ). However, our team came from behind with the help of Lloyd and won it. We had one last swim, said goodbye to Lloyd and jumped on the boat.
For me, this weekend was very satisfying. Now, I have to get back to work on a presentation for my Business Law class tomorrow! It is the last class with Jay so it is a bitter sweet ending. I hope Tom and Susan are as much fun as Jay and Meg.
Hope you all have a good week! I will be doing the Belizean river race next week: the Ruta Maya! That will be yet another story in this saga of incredible weekends.
take care!
Colin
Monday, February 25, 2008
Tobacco Caye
Since I last spoke with you on Thursday, a lot has happened. Well, maybe not so much, but is has been one incredible weekend. Friday, we left bright and early at 7:20 and made the bus in Belmopan for Dangriga almost right on time. The bus ride down was packed. There were at least 75 people on the bus when we pulled up to a stop and 20 more workers crowded on. Luckily we had a seat.
When we got to the bus station in Dangriga, we walked down to the water taxi. It was the exact same place we left from 2 years ago when dad and I were in Belize for our first time. The water taxi didn’t leave until 12 so we sat around at a restaurant, drank grapefruit juice and played hearts. The captain (Captain Buck) was out doing errands for the islands, picking up groceries and such. The ride out was bumpy but it was enjoyable. We were going to paradise. After one stop, we cruised out and finally made it to Tobacco Cay. When we made it, we jumped on the hammock and lost track of time. Our friends from the GLS program came over and we jumped in the water. Swimming around we didn’t see much but the water was spectacular. Later, we went snorkeling right off of the south dock. There was some beautiful coral and some great fish.
The rest of the day was just spent relaxing and playing cards. Saturday morning, we got up at 5:45 to watch the sun rise. At first I didn’t seem like there would be one, due to partial clouds on the horizon. At around 6:15 the sun peaked and rose with great speed. It was a spectacle to behold. Then, at 6:30, it was back to sleep. Breakfast was at 8 so we didn’t get much of a rest, but it was enough to sustain us for the rest of the day. Until lunch, we lazed around on the porch watching the clouds go by and reading. After lunch, we went snorkeling again at the same spot. This time, Jessica got carried away with her camera and got into the area where the waves started crashing at a spit of land that was part of the barrier reef. It wasn’t too dangerous, but she got spooked, so we decided to get out of the water. The rest of the group joined us later and those who had rented snorkel gear returned them. While they were doing that, I went looking for a volleyball, which got the interest of many people. When we finally found it, we had two full teams ready to play. It was Jess, Ali, Terra, Shannon and I and then 6 Belizeans ranging from our age to the mid 40s or 50s. We asked if they played much and they told us no. As soon as we had warmed up, though, the ball started flying. Lloyd and his brothers Greg (older) and Noble (younger) were killing the ball. One spike Lloyd hit at one of the older men and it smacked him in the head and bounced 20 feet in the air! It was intense, but all in good nature. That was probably the highlight of the weekend, because we made friends almost instantly. These men we had met earlier, but in the game, we really bonded.
Next, a swim was in order to cool off. However, we found a ship blocking our way. It turned out to be run by the same company we went snorkeling with on Caye Caulker and the 2nd captain the same guy: Reynolds. It was funny seeing him again and he immediately got us a rum punch. Apparently he was friends with Lloyd and so we all got to talking. It is funny how small a country Belize is, and how nice everyone is. It is exciting to see old friends and make new ones all over the place. When we left, Noble told us to come back every free weekend we had. Next time I will probably go fishing with them. Reynolds is coming to Cayo soon so hopefully I will see him here at Faya Wata.
That night, we got to hang out with Lloyd some more and watched him and Greg play the Garifuna drums. I remember, two years ago, when dad and I watched the islanders play the drums and I wondered if they were the same people as last time. The one thing I wish I could have done was kayake over to Tobacco Caye Range and seen the campsite again. There were some good memories playing cribbage there.
The next morning we got up for the last sunset. It wasn’t that great because the clouds hid the sun at as it broke the horizon, but it was still pretty. After breakfast Jess and I went for a quick swim to top off the trip. The water taxi made it to Dangriga via the Bird Island, where hundreds of ocean birds nested. There were so many that you could see them as a dark cloud hovering over the island from a mile away. After getting to Dangriga, we enjoyed a nice comfortable, sleep filled ride back to San Ignacio on an empty bus.
When we got to the bus station in Dangriga, we walked down to the water taxi. It was the exact same place we left from 2 years ago when dad and I were in Belize for our first time. The water taxi didn’t leave until 12 so we sat around at a restaurant, drank grapefruit juice and played hearts. The captain (Captain Buck) was out doing errands for the islands, picking up groceries and such. The ride out was bumpy but it was enjoyable. We were going to paradise. After one stop, we cruised out and finally made it to Tobacco Cay. When we made it, we jumped on the hammock and lost track of time. Our friends from the GLS program came over and we jumped in the water. Swimming around we didn’t see much but the water was spectacular. Later, we went snorkeling right off of the south dock. There was some beautiful coral and some great fish.
The rest of the day was just spent relaxing and playing cards. Saturday morning, we got up at 5:45 to watch the sun rise. At first I didn’t seem like there would be one, due to partial clouds on the horizon. At around 6:15 the sun peaked and rose with great speed. It was a spectacle to behold. Then, at 6:30, it was back to sleep. Breakfast was at 8 so we didn’t get much of a rest, but it was enough to sustain us for the rest of the day. Until lunch, we lazed around on the porch watching the clouds go by and reading. After lunch, we went snorkeling again at the same spot. This time, Jessica got carried away with her camera and got into the area where the waves started crashing at a spit of land that was part of the barrier reef. It wasn’t too dangerous, but she got spooked, so we decided to get out of the water. The rest of the group joined us later and those who had rented snorkel gear returned them. While they were doing that, I went looking for a volleyball, which got the interest of many people. When we finally found it, we had two full teams ready to play. It was Jess, Ali, Terra, Shannon and I and then 6 Belizeans ranging from our age to the mid 40s or 50s. We asked if they played much and they told us no. As soon as we had warmed up, though, the ball started flying. Lloyd and his brothers Greg (older) and Noble (younger) were killing the ball. One spike Lloyd hit at one of the older men and it smacked him in the head and bounced 20 feet in the air! It was intense, but all in good nature. That was probably the highlight of the weekend, because we made friends almost instantly. These men we had met earlier, but in the game, we really bonded.
Next, a swim was in order to cool off. However, we found a ship blocking our way. It turned out to be run by the same company we went snorkeling with on Caye Caulker and the 2nd captain the same guy: Reynolds. It was funny seeing him again and he immediately got us a rum punch. Apparently he was friends with Lloyd and so we all got to talking. It is funny how small a country Belize is, and how nice everyone is. It is exciting to see old friends and make new ones all over the place. When we left, Noble told us to come back every free weekend we had. Next time I will probably go fishing with them. Reynolds is coming to Cayo soon so hopefully I will see him here at Faya Wata.
That night, we got to hang out with Lloyd some more and watched him and Greg play the Garifuna drums. I remember, two years ago, when dad and I watched the islanders play the drums and I wondered if they were the same people as last time. The one thing I wish I could have done was kayake over to Tobacco Caye Range and seen the campsite again. There were some good memories playing cribbage there.
The next morning we got up for the last sunset. It wasn’t that great because the clouds hid the sun at as it broke the horizon, but it was still pretty. After breakfast Jess and I went for a quick swim to top off the trip. The water taxi made it to Dangriga via the Bird Island, where hundreds of ocean birds nested. There were so many that you could see them as a dark cloud hovering over the island from a mile away. After getting to Dangriga, we enjoyed a nice comfortable, sleep filled ride back to San Ignacio on an empty bus.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
a week in review
Alright, I might have finally made a short post. This last weekend we didn’t do anything extravagant per-se.
It all started last Thursday. Earlier in last week, one of the people on my program, Dan, suggested we have a party where we dress like other people in the group. After drawing names out of a hat at our weekly Wednesday night dinner, we exchanged clothes Thursday. The catch was that all the girls drew guy’s names and the pair had to switch clothes. My partner was Bitsy, the smallest girl in the group. She dresses and acts like a hippy so I had a pretty fun night. I wore one of Jess’s skirts around my chest to look like one of those moo moo type dresses. Then I wore a head band and that was it! It was funny standing next to Bitsy in my Fighting Quaker’s T-Shirt and baggy shorts. She looked like a mouse in my clothes.
The whole night we just danced and pretended to be the other person. Meg and Jay even came up as surprise guests! It was hilarious!
Originally this weekend, Jess and I were going to go to Tobacco Cay for Valentines Day, but we had a meeting with our service learning class group in the town we will be working at: Arizona. That was also great. Saturday morning we left the bus station at 12:30 and got to Arizona around 1:30. The bus was packed, but I stayed cool with some shaved ice (kinda like a snow cone). My group is made up of 9 people: Emily Falta, Jess H, Jess C, Logan, Shaun, Devon, Jenn, Margret, and I. When we got to the stop, we rode in the back of Andrea’s truck to make it down the dirt road. Andrea is the director of an organization called STAND and is trying to organize the creation of a community orchard in the town of Arizona. So there we all were, 9 of us, 2 of Andrea’s babies and 3 residents of Arizona, crammed in the truck! Luckily it was only a half mile drive; otherwise someone would have fallen out!
There we met a woman named Ruby. Then we got showed around the town. It was quite small and had pretty much only one road. The people lived close together and had no electricity or running water. The one place that did was the local store. The people of the town worked in fields and orchards a couple miles down the road. The orchard we proposed would have avocados and fruit beneficial to the health of the people and be easily accessible. The job will entail cutting down an area of forest by their soccer field and then planting. Also we will teach the people about Terra Pretta, a type of soil that is very fertile, made from char.
After our tour of the town, we went out to the STAND center witch was maybe 5 miles down the bumpy road. On the way we saw beautiful fields and groves of trees. When we got there, we were shown around a retreat that housed a bunch of hippies. Andrea lived there with her husband and occasionally young folks would come down and work and live on their land. They were all very environmental and have a model for the orchard we are to build. We got to have a tour of their lands and got a refresher on what type of plant life lives in the rainforest. It was beautiful land and a beautiful home. We even got to play with some cute fuzzy creatures that Andrea had adopted.
We spent the afternoon there and then took the bus back. The next day, Sunday, I made breakfast with Dan and Logan and just hung around all day. That night Bitsy’s parents took us out to dinner at Firenza’s, a pizza/Italian place. It was wonderful. After that, since they treated us, I treated Bitsy and Jess to 2 rides at the community fair! It was a good relaxing time. Bitsy nearly fell out of one though, but we are all still alive.
Tuesday night, I played basketball with one of my friends from Galen, Cody. I met up with him at a court very close by with Dan. I had played Dan back at school and knew he was good. When we got there, Cody had already been playing for a while, but we got in and played 3 straight games. It was very rewarding to get back out on the court. I hope to do it every other night from now on!
Last night was the Lunar Eclipse. The moon rose huge out of the east and around 8:30 it started to turn black. The whole process was very cool. It also prompted me to play with my camera a bit. I took some pictures of my roommate Pete’s camcorder screen. As the moon rose, I took pictures of the lights of the city. Then the Suns game was on and, as you all should know, Shaq is now on the Suns. This was his first game out and I practiced taking pictures of the TV as well.
This coming weekend Jess and I will be going to Tobacco Cay. I can’t wait to get things going!
It all started last Thursday. Earlier in last week, one of the people on my program, Dan, suggested we have a party where we dress like other people in the group. After drawing names out of a hat at our weekly Wednesday night dinner, we exchanged clothes Thursday. The catch was that all the girls drew guy’s names and the pair had to switch clothes. My partner was Bitsy, the smallest girl in the group. She dresses and acts like a hippy so I had a pretty fun night. I wore one of Jess’s skirts around my chest to look like one of those moo moo type dresses. Then I wore a head band and that was it! It was funny standing next to Bitsy in my Fighting Quaker’s T-Shirt and baggy shorts. She looked like a mouse in my clothes.
The whole night we just danced and pretended to be the other person. Meg and Jay even came up as surprise guests! It was hilarious!
Originally this weekend, Jess and I were going to go to Tobacco Cay for Valentines Day, but we had a meeting with our service learning class group in the town we will be working at: Arizona. That was also great. Saturday morning we left the bus station at 12:30 and got to Arizona around 1:30. The bus was packed, but I stayed cool with some shaved ice (kinda like a snow cone). My group is made up of 9 people: Emily Falta, Jess H, Jess C, Logan, Shaun, Devon, Jenn, Margret, and I. When we got to the stop, we rode in the back of Andrea’s truck to make it down the dirt road. Andrea is the director of an organization called STAND and is trying to organize the creation of a community orchard in the town of Arizona. So there we all were, 9 of us, 2 of Andrea’s babies and 3 residents of Arizona, crammed in the truck! Luckily it was only a half mile drive; otherwise someone would have fallen out!
There we met a woman named Ruby. Then we got showed around the town. It was quite small and had pretty much only one road. The people lived close together and had no electricity or running water. The one place that did was the local store. The people of the town worked in fields and orchards a couple miles down the road. The orchard we proposed would have avocados and fruit beneficial to the health of the people and be easily accessible. The job will entail cutting down an area of forest by their soccer field and then planting. Also we will teach the people about Terra Pretta, a type of soil that is very fertile, made from char.
After our tour of the town, we went out to the STAND center witch was maybe 5 miles down the bumpy road. On the way we saw beautiful fields and groves of trees. When we got there, we were shown around a retreat that housed a bunch of hippies. Andrea lived there with her husband and occasionally young folks would come down and work and live on their land. They were all very environmental and have a model for the orchard we are to build. We got to have a tour of their lands and got a refresher on what type of plant life lives in the rainforest. It was beautiful land and a beautiful home. We even got to play with some cute fuzzy creatures that Andrea had adopted.
We spent the afternoon there and then took the bus back. The next day, Sunday, I made breakfast with Dan and Logan and just hung around all day. That night Bitsy’s parents took us out to dinner at Firenza’s, a pizza/Italian place. It was wonderful. After that, since they treated us, I treated Bitsy and Jess to 2 rides at the community fair! It was a good relaxing time. Bitsy nearly fell out of one though, but we are all still alive.
Tuesday night, I played basketball with one of my friends from Galen, Cody. I met up with him at a court very close by with Dan. I had played Dan back at school and knew he was good. When we got there, Cody had already been playing for a while, but we got in and played 3 straight games. It was very rewarding to get back out on the court. I hope to do it every other night from now on!
Last night was the Lunar Eclipse. The moon rose huge out of the east and around 8:30 it started to turn black. The whole process was very cool. It also prompted me to play with my camera a bit. I took some pictures of my roommate Pete’s camcorder screen. As the moon rose, I took pictures of the lights of the city. Then the Suns game was on and, as you all should know, Shaq is now on the Suns. This was his first game out and I practiced taking pictures of the TV as well.
This coming weekend Jess and I will be going to Tobacco Cay. I can’t wait to get things going!
Monday, February 11, 2008
a very long post
Last Thursday was Election Day here in Belize so I got off of school Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. After class on Tuesday, Jess, Phil, Bitsy, and I prepared for a trip to Cay Caulker. That night, though, we had a bit of a scare. One of the members of our trip, Dan, went missing at 5 o’clock. People said they saw him leave class at 4:30 and thought he was going to take the bus back. But by 8, no one had seen him yet. It was unlike him to wonder off so we searched around town, called different people from Galen and eventually talked to the police. They found him at a bar at the top of the hill with a couple of Galen students. He had gotten a ride home with them and gone out drinking and didn’t think twice about contacting anyone because he felt comfortable. It’s hard to realize you might be missed when you are with people you know. He was brought back to the Inn around 11 o’clock after a long search. Meg and Jay were mad, but I was just glad to have him back. When he was gone people began to worry a lot.
I was also glad we found him because that meant we could go on our trip still. We got up at 6:50, grabbed some pre-ordered breakfast burritos and headed for the 7:30 express bus to Belize City. There we joined up with Katie and Becky from the other international program. Global Learning Semester
Being one of the more comfortable buses, we were able to get some sleep on the ride there. At 10:30 we were on the water taxi over to Cay Caulker and grins were on all our faces! After a 45 minute ride we arrived there, excited to get started on our vacationing. The last time people had come, they had been greeted by people trying to take them to hotels and places to stay on the island so we didn’t make a reservation. When we got off, there was no one so we wondered the streets asking here and there about places to stay, but no one had room. One man offered to show us a room in the south part of the island and we walked for 15 minutes to find that it was a dump. We returned to Center Island and by now our bags were heavy and the sun was getting to us. Some people were getting antsy about finding a place so we split up. I went to talk to a land lord who rented houses to tourists. She said she was full but her friend had a 3 bedroom house that would be perfect for us, so I said yes and called everyone to meet up. The house was beautiful. It was set back from the street and elevated on stilts. There was a pink bush to the right hand side and it had a porch overlooking a basketball court across the street and beyond that, the sea. The rooms were spectacular and for 20 U.S a night it was affordable! Imagine if Cape May was that cheap! We could stay for a month.
Anyways, we went in and got settled and found out that one of our members, Phil, found a hostel for himself and decided to ditch us, making the rent $25, but still affordable. After, Phil and I went searching for dive shops and the girls went out to lunch. Later, I met them up at the Split, which is the divide between north and south island. The split was created a while back by a hurricane which cut right through the middle. It was some incredible swimming with a huge diving board, 20 foot clear water, a big rock to tan on, and the Lazy Lizard bar. We relaxed there all afternoon before heading back.
For Thursday, Phil booked a dive trip to the Blue Hole, one of Belize’s main attractions. It was tempting, but I wanted to save my money. Plus I was pretty sure dad was going to go with me over Spring Break (which he wasn’t but now he is!!!). So Thursday was just more relaxing. It was also Election Day so everyone was anxious to hear the results. I decided to book a dive trip for Friday and see if Phil would join. I couldn’t go to Cay Caulker and not dive after all.
That night our house was a burn ward. Jess needed some extra aloe for her sensitive skin, but I turned out alright after one day in the sun.
The next morning, my dive was scheduled for 12 and Phil did decide to come along. The dive shop was called The Black Durgon, and the day before the Dive Master, Simeon, had sold us on a dive to Hol Chan Marine reserve, but that was for Thursday when Phil wanted to do the Blue Hole. This dive was my first dive in 2 years, but I remembered everything. The ride up was 20 minutes and took us very close to Ambergris Cay. We could see San Pedro not to far off. After going through the dives, we headed through the channel in the Great Barrier Reef and got out to see, where we dove close to 70 feet! It was great being underwater again and I feel like I did very well. I sucked air fast though and ended up with only 500 PSI remaining. After that, we took a break for a snack of fruit and got to snorkel around the channel. There were many other guided snorkel trips on but Phil and I got to go on our own. As we were ready to jump over board we hesitated an instant, because sharks were circling the boat, and jumped in. Here, we saw more wild life than on our dives. It was teaming with all kinds of life, from Eagle Rays to Barracuda. Then came our second dive, and that time, we got to swim with a turtle. It was a shorter dive, but still just as fun. There was so much to see and we got to swim through some of the canyons that developed on the reef’s outer wall. At our safety stop before going to the surface (every dive has a safety stop at 15 feet to decompress) Phil and I played under water rock, paper, scissors. We each won 2 so the championship game will be held at the Blue Hole. Also, the assistant who stayed with the boat, a boy named Ozzy, dove down and sucked on the dive masters air for a while. It was pretty awesome.
When we got back, I could feel it was my turn to get the burn. There was lots of sun. After leaving the dive shop, I spotted a parade heading up the street, fire engine wailing and golf carts cruising with many people on board (no cars on Cay Caulker). It was the UDP, the party who, I assumed, had won the election! They drove around the Cay twice and then the music parked right in front of our house and the basketball court until 11 at night. Basketball went on and people partied on the street, but we were pooped and stayed inside. The UDP won 25 seats and the PUP got only 6. What a change of power. People say change was necessary. Let’s just hope the government can do its job right.
The next day, Katie, Jess and I went snorkeling with a tour group called Ragamuffin. The ship was captained by Jermaine, Jose and Reynolds. The day before, Simeon had yelled across to the boat and they talked trash to each other. They were good friends and I got to hear about their exploits on the ride back to Hol Chan. It was a long ride because the boat was a sail boat. It was very fun riding the wind all the way up there. Jess, it turns out, was the only person who hadn’t snorkeled before and the snorkel felt funny in her mouth at first, but after two swims, she was able to graduate from the floaty. She also brought her camera and we took some AMAZING underwater pictures of Moray Eels, Barracuda, Sting Ray and more. I hope you check them out. I even got to dive through an underwater cave filled with fish. It was pretty sweet and I was very impressed with Jess who was able to swim against the strong current.
On the way back we had a little rum punch to drink and took an even slower trip back. It was very relaxing and enjoyable.
The next day we took a water taxi back at 11, caught the 1 o’clock bus, which was packed, and made it back to San Ignacio. It was a great time and I wish you all could have seen it. I hope you can live vicariously through my photos.
Sorry again for the long post, but this will be the last for another week. Jess and I plan to get away to Tobacco Cay this weekend in honor of Valentines Day (and our 1 year 3 month anniversary haha)
My internet is down so I again am having trouble doing work and checking my email.
Hope everything is still going well in the states,
Lots of love,
Colin
I was also glad we found him because that meant we could go on our trip still. We got up at 6:50, grabbed some pre-ordered breakfast burritos and headed for the 7:30 express bus to Belize City. There we joined up with Katie and Becky from the other international program. Global Learning Semester
Being one of the more comfortable buses, we were able to get some sleep on the ride there. At 10:30 we were on the water taxi over to Cay Caulker and grins were on all our faces! After a 45 minute ride we arrived there, excited to get started on our vacationing. The last time people had come, they had been greeted by people trying to take them to hotels and places to stay on the island so we didn’t make a reservation. When we got off, there was no one so we wondered the streets asking here and there about places to stay, but no one had room. One man offered to show us a room in the south part of the island and we walked for 15 minutes to find that it was a dump. We returned to Center Island and by now our bags were heavy and the sun was getting to us. Some people were getting antsy about finding a place so we split up. I went to talk to a land lord who rented houses to tourists. She said she was full but her friend had a 3 bedroom house that would be perfect for us, so I said yes and called everyone to meet up. The house was beautiful. It was set back from the street and elevated on stilts. There was a pink bush to the right hand side and it had a porch overlooking a basketball court across the street and beyond that, the sea. The rooms were spectacular and for 20 U.S a night it was affordable! Imagine if Cape May was that cheap! We could stay for a month.
Anyways, we went in and got settled and found out that one of our members, Phil, found a hostel for himself and decided to ditch us, making the rent $25, but still affordable. After, Phil and I went searching for dive shops and the girls went out to lunch. Later, I met them up at the Split, which is the divide between north and south island. The split was created a while back by a hurricane which cut right through the middle. It was some incredible swimming with a huge diving board, 20 foot clear water, a big rock to tan on, and the Lazy Lizard bar. We relaxed there all afternoon before heading back.
For Thursday, Phil booked a dive trip to the Blue Hole, one of Belize’s main attractions. It was tempting, but I wanted to save my money. Plus I was pretty sure dad was going to go with me over Spring Break (which he wasn’t but now he is!!!). So Thursday was just more relaxing. It was also Election Day so everyone was anxious to hear the results. I decided to book a dive trip for Friday and see if Phil would join. I couldn’t go to Cay Caulker and not dive after all.
That night our house was a burn ward. Jess needed some extra aloe for her sensitive skin, but I turned out alright after one day in the sun.
The next morning, my dive was scheduled for 12 and Phil did decide to come along. The dive shop was called The Black Durgon, and the day before the Dive Master, Simeon, had sold us on a dive to Hol Chan Marine reserve, but that was for Thursday when Phil wanted to do the Blue Hole. This dive was my first dive in 2 years, but I remembered everything. The ride up was 20 minutes and took us very close to Ambergris Cay. We could see San Pedro not to far off. After going through the dives, we headed through the channel in the Great Barrier Reef and got out to see, where we dove close to 70 feet! It was great being underwater again and I feel like I did very well. I sucked air fast though and ended up with only 500 PSI remaining. After that, we took a break for a snack of fruit and got to snorkel around the channel. There were many other guided snorkel trips on but Phil and I got to go on our own. As we were ready to jump over board we hesitated an instant, because sharks were circling the boat, and jumped in. Here, we saw more wild life than on our dives. It was teaming with all kinds of life, from Eagle Rays to Barracuda. Then came our second dive, and that time, we got to swim with a turtle. It was a shorter dive, but still just as fun. There was so much to see and we got to swim through some of the canyons that developed on the reef’s outer wall. At our safety stop before going to the surface (every dive has a safety stop at 15 feet to decompress) Phil and I played under water rock, paper, scissors. We each won 2 so the championship game will be held at the Blue Hole. Also, the assistant who stayed with the boat, a boy named Ozzy, dove down and sucked on the dive masters air for a while. It was pretty awesome.
When we got back, I could feel it was my turn to get the burn. There was lots of sun. After leaving the dive shop, I spotted a parade heading up the street, fire engine wailing and golf carts cruising with many people on board (no cars on Cay Caulker). It was the UDP, the party who, I assumed, had won the election! They drove around the Cay twice and then the music parked right in front of our house and the basketball court until 11 at night. Basketball went on and people partied on the street, but we were pooped and stayed inside. The UDP won 25 seats and the PUP got only 6. What a change of power. People say change was necessary. Let’s just hope the government can do its job right.
The next day, Katie, Jess and I went snorkeling with a tour group called Ragamuffin. The ship was captained by Jermaine, Jose and Reynolds. The day before, Simeon had yelled across to the boat and they talked trash to each other. They were good friends and I got to hear about their exploits on the ride back to Hol Chan. It was a long ride because the boat was a sail boat. It was very fun riding the wind all the way up there. Jess, it turns out, was the only person who hadn’t snorkeled before and the snorkel felt funny in her mouth at first, but after two swims, she was able to graduate from the floaty. She also brought her camera and we took some AMAZING underwater pictures of Moray Eels, Barracuda, Sting Ray and more. I hope you check them out. I even got to dive through an underwater cave filled with fish. It was pretty sweet and I was very impressed with Jess who was able to swim against the strong current.
On the way back we had a little rum punch to drink and took an even slower trip back. It was very relaxing and enjoyable.
The next day we took a water taxi back at 11, caught the 1 o’clock bus, which was packed, and made it back to San Ignacio. It was a great time and I wish you all could have seen it. I hope you can live vicariously through my photos.
Sorry again for the long post, but this will be the last for another week. Jess and I plan to get away to Tobacco Cay this weekend in honor of Valentines Day (and our 1 year 3 month anniversary haha)
My internet is down so I again am having trouble doing work and checking my email.
Hope everything is still going well in the states,
Lots of love,
Colin
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
La Milpa
Hello folks,
It has been quite a while since I wrote you last. At least it seems so. This last weekend was packed with so much excitment. On Friday, I got to skip my social issues class because our program took a field trip to the La Milpa Field Station far away in the Orange Walk District.
At 8:30, we left on the bus. It was 18 of us students, Jay, Meg, 2 of our Service Learning TA's: Christian and Shantel (who are Galen students), and our driver, Carlos. It was quite early for some who had stayed up until 2 the night before, but it was also quite early for me, after having watched the season premier of Lost!! Everyone slept for quite sometime. When we all woke up, we made a pit stop and then found ourselves driving through fields of sugar cane. There was an incredibly long line of trucks packed full of the cane. Some of the fields we passed were scorched while others were growing tall. The smell, though, was attrocious. There was a dump along the road where it looks like all the junk they collected was burnt.
After riding down that bumpy road for a while, we turned off on to pavement and made our way into the Orange Walk district. It is right above where we live in the Cayo District, but you have to go all the way back to Belize City (the Belize district) and drive north from there, so distance wise we werent that far from home, but driving wise, we were 5 hours.
We made one last stop before going to the field station at a Menonite Dam. There we ate lunch and some swam in the river. I was picturing a huge mountain lake with a dam at one end, but it was a tiny little thing that only covered the river. Aparently it is very efficient and powers the nearby towns with electricity while not damaging the river's ecosystem.
After lunch, we passed the border to Mexico. It is not too far from where we stayed.
On the road to where the Field Station was, we passed by fields of cows grazing. The road was lined with beautiful trees with pink blooms. At that point we knew it was going to be a great weekend. After a few miles, we made it to the field house. There we got a brief introduction and had free time for a while. The place where we stayed was set up like a summer camp, with 4 or 5 different rooms in a row with 2 bunk beds each inside. It was set up on the side of the hill slightly overlooking the rest of the field station. Jay and Meg stayed in some rooms that were small cabins in the field below. The field was beautiful. After traveling down a wooded road for so long, the openness of the field station was surprising. It was a clearing in the jungle where farmers had set up agricultural fields long ago. Now the jungle was encroching.
That night, we had rice and beans for dinner and while some people went night spotting in the truck, others of us played a game of poker... Which I won! I was surprised, this was my first game for money since highschool! I won 60 bucks with my pair of kings to finish off the table. There were some upsets so I owe a few people a beer for drawing out on them :)
Friday was a good start to the weekend. The next morning some people got up early to go birding... I decided to wait for the last day to do that. We had breakfast at 7:30 and then went on a hike in the Jungle. Our guide, Ramon, told us so much about the forest. Like DuPlooy's we got to even taste the nuts and fruits of the jungle! Some even tasted the termites! In the jungle, we didnt see much wild life, but it was there. Ants made super highways across the path where hundreds upon hundreds marched carrying leaves back to their giant nests. Birds chirped in the forest and occasionally we would hear a howler monkey. Check out my pictures to get a better sense of the forest and different tress and vines we saw.
After the walk, we had lunch before going out to see the La Milpa ruins. These ruins are hardly dug out at all, so all we saw was a bunch of tall mounds of tree covered hills. Still, it was thrilling to think a group of people lived here ages ago. We even got to climb to the top of one of these mounds. It was very steep and overlooked most of the area. On the walk, we saw some howler and spider monkeys jumping from tree to tree. Some said the howl was like a dinosaur out of Jurrassic Park.
That night, I got to go spotting and sat in the truck while everyone else was on back. I got to have a great conversation with the driver, Mauricio, and heard all about his life. We got to discuss everything from travel to sports. So far I have really enjoyed talking to the people of Belize. Most are very wise and have much to say about their lives. I find this openness welcoming.
The next day, I did my birding session and saw some parrots and Tucans! I got some great pictures of it in flight and on a tree branch. Again, check out snapfish.
After lunch we headed home, because the most important game of our lifetimes was occuring. The Patriots v. the Giants. When we got back it was nearly game time so we rushed around and went down to the local bar Fiya Wata and watched. It was so intense the back and forth. However the Giant fans were more vocal and had alot more to cheer about... The funny thing about this game was that there was a bet between our proffessor, Jay, and two students, Dan and John. The bet was that Jay would shave his mustache if the Patriots won and Dan and John would shave their heads otherwise. Jay got to show off his barbership talents on the return to the Inn... It was quite a funny experience since everyone was still in shock that the Patriots had lost. Oh well.. there is always next year to be perfect...
Today is a good day. It is the last day of school before a 5 day break because Belize's elections are happening. Me and a bunch of friends are going to go to the Cayes! I hope to do some diving in the Blue Hole and elsewhere around the warm Carribean waters :)
Enjoy the snow in Vermont and cold weather on the East Coast!
Adios,
Colin
It has been quite a while since I wrote you last. At least it seems so. This last weekend was packed with so much excitment. On Friday, I got to skip my social issues class because our program took a field trip to the La Milpa Field Station far away in the Orange Walk District.
At 8:30, we left on the bus. It was 18 of us students, Jay, Meg, 2 of our Service Learning TA's: Christian and Shantel (who are Galen students), and our driver, Carlos. It was quite early for some who had stayed up until 2 the night before, but it was also quite early for me, after having watched the season premier of Lost!! Everyone slept for quite sometime. When we all woke up, we made a pit stop and then found ourselves driving through fields of sugar cane. There was an incredibly long line of trucks packed full of the cane. Some of the fields we passed were scorched while others were growing tall. The smell, though, was attrocious. There was a dump along the road where it looks like all the junk they collected was burnt.
After riding down that bumpy road for a while, we turned off on to pavement and made our way into the Orange Walk district. It is right above where we live in the Cayo District, but you have to go all the way back to Belize City (the Belize district) and drive north from there, so distance wise we werent that far from home, but driving wise, we were 5 hours.
We made one last stop before going to the field station at a Menonite Dam. There we ate lunch and some swam in the river. I was picturing a huge mountain lake with a dam at one end, but it was a tiny little thing that only covered the river. Aparently it is very efficient and powers the nearby towns with electricity while not damaging the river's ecosystem.
After lunch, we passed the border to Mexico. It is not too far from where we stayed.
On the road to where the Field Station was, we passed by fields of cows grazing. The road was lined with beautiful trees with pink blooms. At that point we knew it was going to be a great weekend. After a few miles, we made it to the field house. There we got a brief introduction and had free time for a while. The place where we stayed was set up like a summer camp, with 4 or 5 different rooms in a row with 2 bunk beds each inside. It was set up on the side of the hill slightly overlooking the rest of the field station. Jay and Meg stayed in some rooms that were small cabins in the field below. The field was beautiful. After traveling down a wooded road for so long, the openness of the field station was surprising. It was a clearing in the jungle where farmers had set up agricultural fields long ago. Now the jungle was encroching.
That night, we had rice and beans for dinner and while some people went night spotting in the truck, others of us played a game of poker... Which I won! I was surprised, this was my first game for money since highschool! I won 60 bucks with my pair of kings to finish off the table. There were some upsets so I owe a few people a beer for drawing out on them :)
Friday was a good start to the weekend. The next morning some people got up early to go birding... I decided to wait for the last day to do that. We had breakfast at 7:30 and then went on a hike in the Jungle. Our guide, Ramon, told us so much about the forest. Like DuPlooy's we got to even taste the nuts and fruits of the jungle! Some even tasted the termites! In the jungle, we didnt see much wild life, but it was there. Ants made super highways across the path where hundreds upon hundreds marched carrying leaves back to their giant nests. Birds chirped in the forest and occasionally we would hear a howler monkey. Check out my pictures to get a better sense of the forest and different tress and vines we saw.
After the walk, we had lunch before going out to see the La Milpa ruins. These ruins are hardly dug out at all, so all we saw was a bunch of tall mounds of tree covered hills. Still, it was thrilling to think a group of people lived here ages ago. We even got to climb to the top of one of these mounds. It was very steep and overlooked most of the area. On the walk, we saw some howler and spider monkeys jumping from tree to tree. Some said the howl was like a dinosaur out of Jurrassic Park.
That night, I got to go spotting and sat in the truck while everyone else was on back. I got to have a great conversation with the driver, Mauricio, and heard all about his life. We got to discuss everything from travel to sports. So far I have really enjoyed talking to the people of Belize. Most are very wise and have much to say about their lives. I find this openness welcoming.
The next day, I did my birding session and saw some parrots and Tucans! I got some great pictures of it in flight and on a tree branch. Again, check out snapfish.
After lunch we headed home, because the most important game of our lifetimes was occuring. The Patriots v. the Giants. When we got back it was nearly game time so we rushed around and went down to the local bar Fiya Wata and watched. It was so intense the back and forth. However the Giant fans were more vocal and had alot more to cheer about... The funny thing about this game was that there was a bet between our proffessor, Jay, and two students, Dan and John. The bet was that Jay would shave his mustache if the Patriots won and Dan and John would shave their heads otherwise. Jay got to show off his barbership talents on the return to the Inn... It was quite a funny experience since everyone was still in shock that the Patriots had lost. Oh well.. there is always next year to be perfect...
Today is a good day. It is the last day of school before a 5 day break because Belize's elections are happening. Me and a bunch of friends are going to go to the Cayes! I hope to do some diving in the Blue Hole and elsewhere around the warm Carribean waters :)
Enjoy the snow in Vermont and cold weather on the East Coast!
Adios,
Colin
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Pay Day
It has been two weeks here in Belize. Just two weeks! I am amazed that just such a short time ago I had just arrived here at Martha's Guest house and settled down.
So much has happened since then. From adventures around town to going to the botanical gardens, everything has happened so fast.
Last weekend, almost my whole program went out to Caye Cauker. I decided to stay behind and explore San Ignacio some more. After a tough week of school, I was ready to just relax. However, the Friday, when everyone left, we made plans with Martha's niece, Rachel, to go to Spanish Lookout, a Menonite community. Our trip was delayed, due to Rachel's car being out of juice, but we had an interesting encounter. A man came by, with a bottle of Belikin (beer) in his hands yelling at us saying,"get out of our country you tourists" and "we dont need your money here". It was really humbling, and the worst thing was that Rachel, who is white and has a British accent, is part Belizian. It made me feel very unwanted and, for a moment, in danger. We were not home.
Soon enough, the car got jumped and we were on the way to Spanish Lookout. There, I got to crank our way accross the river in a hand operated ferry. Spanish Lookout hardly had anything to do. We, Jess, Rachel and Jess's Roomate Jess H just drove around. The land was slightly different than the rest of Belize because it was rolling hills of farmland. It actually reminded me of Pensylvania Dutch country with all the Amish. Anyways, the menonite community is the biggest producer in Belize and controls all of the Western Dairy products, so we decided to stop for ice cream before we left. Aparently the Menonites are severely inbred because they try to distant themselves from the other Belizeans. This, I think, maybe why there is tention toward the white people who live here. Belize is a huge melting pot for races and culture, but underneath there is definitely lots of tension.
Saturday, we went to the market and then went to Pine Ridge, a close by nature reserve. The ride was the best part because some of us got to sit in the back of the pick-up truck. There was Jonas, Jess, Caroline, Brent and I. Jess H, Jackie Chris (the driver) and Rachel (a Rotary scolar studying in Belize for a year) and their friend Dawson. Again, all of the UVM kids were at Caye Cauker, so this was with the other group of international students from the GLS program (global learning semester). After a while, bouncing down unpaved roads, we decided it would be a good idea to stand up and hold onto the roof. It was. Flying down the road, we would get all the wind in our faces! It felt like a roller coaster ride.
Anyways, the destinations we went to were 1,000 Foot falls; an incredibly tall falls that plumited into a bottomless gorge. The land that overlooked the falls was a peninsula high above the ground below. It was very interesting geography. On the way out, we stopped to swim at Big Rock Falls. it was a short hike in and well worth it. The pools were cool, but the view was amazing. We swam in a small pool right below the thundering falls. Jess has an underwater camera so we brought it accross the pond and into the pool below the falls and swam right up to them and got some great pictures, even some underwater ones. I hope you check out her shots, maybe she will put them online.
We topped the trip off with a road side barbaque (sheep) and a vegan ice cream cone from Cayo Twist, the place to go for ice cream. Jess and I split an Oreo Sunday. Yum!!
The next day, the power was out from 6 am to 3 pm so that the government could do repairs on the grid. It was kind of rainy but we had to go out and find food on the street. One vendor sold us Tamales and another sold us some mini burritos. At the burrito stand, we entered a conversation with a local and told him we were staying for four months. when one of his friends came by and started hastling us (not maliciously) he said "take it easy mon, they live here". That made me feel alot better. Since we were immersing ourselves, not just being tourists, we were accepted.
Later that day, the Patriots won, the Packers lost, and the power came back on (obvioisly).
Tuesday, I joined the softball team, after some indecision on the bus ride, I made the dive. In practice, I played a mean 1st base, so I will probably start in this weekend's tournament in Dangriga!!!! I am not sure if we will play much more than this tournament, but it will be a good way to exercise and have fun. I dont know about volleyball, I think thats a fall sport :-/ sorry guys.
Anywho, my long tale ends with today: Pay Day. At dinner, we recieved our bi monthly allowance to tide us over for lunch and dinner on the weekdays. Dinero hasnt been so bad, since many of you gave me generous travel money. I havent touched most of it yet so I hope to go wild and spend a weekend out on the Cayes sometime soon!
Thats my story so far
Hope all is well with you in the states and around the world.
take it easy
So much has happened since then. From adventures around town to going to the botanical gardens, everything has happened so fast.
Last weekend, almost my whole program went out to Caye Cauker. I decided to stay behind and explore San Ignacio some more. After a tough week of school, I was ready to just relax. However, the Friday, when everyone left, we made plans with Martha's niece, Rachel, to go to Spanish Lookout, a Menonite community. Our trip was delayed, due to Rachel's car being out of juice, but we had an interesting encounter. A man came by, with a bottle of Belikin (beer) in his hands yelling at us saying,"get out of our country you tourists" and "we dont need your money here". It was really humbling, and the worst thing was that Rachel, who is white and has a British accent, is part Belizian. It made me feel very unwanted and, for a moment, in danger. We were not home.
Soon enough, the car got jumped and we were on the way to Spanish Lookout. There, I got to crank our way accross the river in a hand operated ferry. Spanish Lookout hardly had anything to do. We, Jess, Rachel and Jess's Roomate Jess H just drove around. The land was slightly different than the rest of Belize because it was rolling hills of farmland. It actually reminded me of Pensylvania Dutch country with all the Amish. Anyways, the menonite community is the biggest producer in Belize and controls all of the Western Dairy products, so we decided to stop for ice cream before we left. Aparently the Menonites are severely inbred because they try to distant themselves from the other Belizeans. This, I think, maybe why there is tention toward the white people who live here. Belize is a huge melting pot for races and culture, but underneath there is definitely lots of tension.
Saturday, we went to the market and then went to Pine Ridge, a close by nature reserve. The ride was the best part because some of us got to sit in the back of the pick-up truck. There was Jonas, Jess, Caroline, Brent and I. Jess H, Jackie Chris (the driver) and Rachel (a Rotary scolar studying in Belize for a year) and their friend Dawson. Again, all of the UVM kids were at Caye Cauker, so this was with the other group of international students from the GLS program (global learning semester). After a while, bouncing down unpaved roads, we decided it would be a good idea to stand up and hold onto the roof. It was. Flying down the road, we would get all the wind in our faces! It felt like a roller coaster ride.
Anyways, the destinations we went to were 1,000 Foot falls; an incredibly tall falls that plumited into a bottomless gorge. The land that overlooked the falls was a peninsula high above the ground below. It was very interesting geography. On the way out, we stopped to swim at Big Rock Falls. it was a short hike in and well worth it. The pools were cool, but the view was amazing. We swam in a small pool right below the thundering falls. Jess has an underwater camera so we brought it accross the pond and into the pool below the falls and swam right up to them and got some great pictures, even some underwater ones. I hope you check out her shots, maybe she will put them online.
We topped the trip off with a road side barbaque (sheep) and a vegan ice cream cone from Cayo Twist, the place to go for ice cream. Jess and I split an Oreo Sunday. Yum!!
The next day, the power was out from 6 am to 3 pm so that the government could do repairs on the grid. It was kind of rainy but we had to go out and find food on the street. One vendor sold us Tamales and another sold us some mini burritos. At the burrito stand, we entered a conversation with a local and told him we were staying for four months. when one of his friends came by and started hastling us (not maliciously) he said "take it easy mon, they live here". That made me feel alot better. Since we were immersing ourselves, not just being tourists, we were accepted.
Later that day, the Patriots won, the Packers lost, and the power came back on (obvioisly).
Tuesday, I joined the softball team, after some indecision on the bus ride, I made the dive. In practice, I played a mean 1st base, so I will probably start in this weekend's tournament in Dangriga!!!! I am not sure if we will play much more than this tournament, but it will be a good way to exercise and have fun. I dont know about volleyball, I think thats a fall sport :-/ sorry guys.
Anywho, my long tale ends with today: Pay Day. At dinner, we recieved our bi monthly allowance to tide us over for lunch and dinner on the weekdays. Dinero hasnt been so bad, since many of you gave me generous travel money. I havent touched most of it yet so I hope to go wild and spend a weekend out on the Cayes sometime soon!
Thats my story so far
Hope all is well with you in the states and around the world.
take it easy
Friday, January 18, 2008
End of the first week of classes
My first week of classes has just ended. Many of my classes tie together due to the fact that they are focused on sustainability. The classes I am taking are Consumer Law, Indigenous Perspective on Development, Social Issues in a Developing Country, Applications of Service Learning (my project class) and Mayan Culture and Arceology. They are all very interesting, but I have noticed professors have a tendency not to show up as much here, so classes have been canceled and movies have been watched in place of lecture. I wonder if this trend will continue.
Many of the students on my program finished classes yesterday and bolted for the shore this morning. They took the bus out to Key Cauker for a relaxing weekend at a Youth Hostel. I decided not to go because I wanted to explore around San Ignacio some more. Soon, I am going to go to the Spanish Lookout, which is an island on the Belizean river (I believe) and do other touristy things in the area. There are numerous Mayan ruins around here and I am excited to explore them all.
The students at Galen are facinating. They seem eager to make friends with us international students and want to learn about our culture. I have many new friends and hope to create a lasting relationship with them. I have been working alot on my spanish, speaking with anyone who will talk to me from the cleaning ladies at the hotel to the lunch ladies at Galen. Everyone is polite with my poor Spanish and it helps me feel more comfortable adressing them in the language. I find myself hard of hearing when people speak so I have to have alot repeated, but I understand alot even if I cannot respond in kind.
My diet here is varibiable, but similar. I have lots of rice, beans, chicken, burritos and tortillas (which I fry with some butter to make them tasty!) but there is a wide variety of different restaurents and types of food. Right next door there is a chinese food restaurent. I havent tried it yet, but I hear its good!
All and all my trip is going excelent and I look forward to a nice, slow weekend and cant wait to hear from my fellow class mates about the keys. Hopefully I will be able to learn from their mistakes and take a trip out to the water soon!
Its only been a week and 3 days! how incredible! I hope everything is going well in the states
love from Belize,
Colin
Many of the students on my program finished classes yesterday and bolted for the shore this morning. They took the bus out to Key Cauker for a relaxing weekend at a Youth Hostel. I decided not to go because I wanted to explore around San Ignacio some more. Soon, I am going to go to the Spanish Lookout, which is an island on the Belizean river (I believe) and do other touristy things in the area. There are numerous Mayan ruins around here and I am excited to explore them all.
The students at Galen are facinating. They seem eager to make friends with us international students and want to learn about our culture. I have many new friends and hope to create a lasting relationship with them. I have been working alot on my spanish, speaking with anyone who will talk to me from the cleaning ladies at the hotel to the lunch ladies at Galen. Everyone is polite with my poor Spanish and it helps me feel more comfortable adressing them in the language. I find myself hard of hearing when people speak so I have to have alot repeated, but I understand alot even if I cannot respond in kind.
My diet here is varibiable, but similar. I have lots of rice, beans, chicken, burritos and tortillas (which I fry with some butter to make them tasty!) but there is a wide variety of different restaurents and types of food. Right next door there is a chinese food restaurent. I havent tried it yet, but I hear its good!
All and all my trip is going excelent and I look forward to a nice, slow weekend and cant wait to hear from my fellow class mates about the keys. Hopefully I will be able to learn from their mistakes and take a trip out to the water soon!
Its only been a week and 3 days! how incredible! I hope everything is going well in the states
love from Belize,
Colin
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
I thought I'd share this trip with people to see if everyone could get to Snapfish from here.On Sunday, we woke up early and went to explore the botanical gardens of a nearby hotel duPloy's. It is an incredibly beautiful place and I wish I could remember more names, but they all allude me at this time. After going through a beautiful tour, we had lunch. The whole trip, we were accompanied by some Galen students. Ashante, Lizbet, Carmin, and Soloman. They were very fun to talk to and I was able to sit with them all at lunch and hear their perspective on Belize. There are some up coming elections that our program directors are worried about, but most people here don't believe they will be violent. The government is so corrupt here, people just accept it and move on. They say they don't recieve the right money they should, while the administration spends thousands on themselves and their campaigns. not much different than the U.S it seems....anyways, after lunch we did a service project. I helped mix soil and sift out compost. It was very fun and we got to talk with our guide from the morning.After, we got to swim in a nearby river.Here is the link to snap fishhttp://www2.snapfish.com/photolibrary/owned_view=owned_2008/t_=102317660enjoyToday we started school. I had to get up just before 7 to make the 745 bus. Breakfast takes a while so we cant linger in bed. Classes were fun. I had "Dr. Jay" teaching my first, business law class. It was very interesting to see what we would learn this semesterI wont bore you with much about classes, it was a pretty typical school like day. Lunch, though, I had rice and beans and a frozen chocolate banana, yum!I hope you are all enjoying the cold, I hear Vermont just got dumped on a bit. Enjoy the extra inches while looking at my sunny winter :-)
Saturday, January 12, 2008
First Weekend in Belize!
Hey everyone,
It is now been 4 or so days that I have been here. I left Wednesday morning the 9th from Regan National where mom and dad had dropped me off. I flew to Houston where Jess, myself and many others got our connector flight for Belize.
The flight down went fast and before we knew it we were on the bus to San Ignacio. The bus driver thundered along the highway, a single road, avoiding pedestrians, driving into on coming traffic and soaring over speed bumps. By the time we got to San Ignacio, it was dark. I was dropped off at the first stop just by the hotel we were staying at, Martha's Guest house. We quickly got set in our rooms and unpacked a bit. It is a beautiful room, I will try to get photos up soon. Out our shower window we over look the town . We also have a balcony that has a gorgeous view.
Right across the street is a little corner store that we can get almost anything we want. I found some Frosted Flakes, appropriately renamed Azucaritas because of the massive amounts of sugar on them. They were a little stale but quite delicious as a snack.
Back to the storyline. First night we all ate at Martha's Guest House for dinner. It was good to see what the place where we would be eating the majority of our meals looked like. The service was a bit slow, but the food here is delicious. When we returned to our room, we found that they had numerous channels on our TV. The Simpson's were on so we had that playing while we unpacked further. The next morning, Thursday (how long ago that seems), we got up and had breakfast downstairs. In Belize, and probably elsewhere in neighboring countries, they served this fried dough called Fried Jacks. They are delicious and go well with beans or jam. Also, each breakfast has a side of wonderful fruit, usually guava. All gets devoured hastily. This might be the first semester since I started college that I will eat breakfast regularly.
After breakfast, we had the whole day to ourselves. Jay and Meg, our program directors and UVM teachers, showed us around town. In the afternoon we went up to this beautiful hill top pool where I am now typing this post. I had some cell phone trouble, I got a ride up with Jay and avoided a long haul up a very steep hill. Today, Saturday, I wasn't so lucky, but I quite enjoyed the workout.
This hotel has a beautiful pool overlooking the surrounding mountains and towns. It has a giant terridactel and waterfall that spew water on occasion. You really just need to see the pictures, its hard to explain a terridactal that spews water. After that, we returned for dinner and went to bed earlyish. Friday we had orientation at our university, Galen.
Orientation began at 8:30, so a few bleary eyed people who had spent the night drinking stumbled onto the bus just before we left. It was hard for all of us, but particularly on them, sitting through the next 8 hours of information. The beginning speeches were good but the at 10, we started an orientation geared to the other international students, the Global Learning Semester program (GLS). It was very boring and Meg and Jay had already been over almost everything before so we were saturated with information by the end of it (3:30). We then got our book list and headed back to our rooms to prepare for a silly scavenger hunt, that seemed quite childish and touristy, to get to know the area. Having already been here for 2 days, we knew most of what was happening and where to go in San Ignacio. Exploring was fun, but we have 4 months to do so. Anyways, we had then met for dinner and enjoyed a night out on the town.
I have found, so far, most people here are very friendly and want to get to know us. However, there are some shady people who just want to know us for our money and generosity. Sometimes its hard to define a line for yourself at what point you think it is worth giving some money or not, but I think that will develop as we stay further.
One other thing I did not mention that should be mentioned on our free day was that we played a forty-five minute game of ultimate frisbee with the local kids during their lunch break. They were really excited about it and I hope to get back and meet with the kids during the rest of the semester. There is a school nearby Galen where I may do some tutoring, but I hope to do at least some community service for San Ignacio, they are doing so much to accommodate us we have to give back.
Today, Saturday the 12th, we had another free day. We got to go to an open market where there were some wonderful fresh fruits and assortments of foods to purchase. We don't have a stove yet, but soon we will be able to cook our own dinner. Now, I am up at that hilltop pool, overlooking the valley. It is amazing I can get internet out here and communicate with the world in such a remote place. The weather is nice, but soon it will get much hotter. We will have to find a place that is not such a long climb up. Maybe a river or something.
Hope all is well with everyone. I don't yet have internet at my accommodations, but hopefully that will be fixed soon.
Send me an email to tell me how you all are doing, and I will try to keep this blog as up to date as possible
Right across the street is a little corner store that we can get almost anything we want. I found some Frosted Flakes, appropriately renamed Azucaritas because of the massive amounts of sugar on them. They were a little stale but quite delicious as a snack.
Back to the storyline. First night we all ate at Martha's Guest House for dinner. It was good to see what the place where we would be eating the majority of our meals looked like. The service was a bit slow, but the food here is delicious. When we returned to our room, we found that they had numerous channels on our TV. The Simpson's were on so we had that playing while we unpacked further. The next morning, Thursday (how long ago that seems), we got up and had breakfast downstairs. In Belize, and probably elsewhere in neighboring countries, they served this fried dough called Fried Jacks. They are delicious and go well with beans or jam. Also, each breakfast has a side of wonderful fruit, usually guava. All gets devoured hastily. This might be the first semester since I started college that I will eat breakfast regularly.
After breakfast, we had the whole day to ourselves. Jay and Meg, our program directors and UVM teachers, showed us around town. In the afternoon we went up to this beautiful hill top pool where I am now typing this post. I had some cell phone trouble, I got a ride up with Jay and avoided a long haul up a very steep hill. Today, Saturday, I wasn't so lucky, but I quite enjoyed the workout.
This hotel has a beautiful pool overlooking the surrounding mountains and towns. It has a giant terridactel and waterfall that spew water on occasion. You really just need to see the pictures, its hard to explain a terridactal that spews water. After that, we returned for dinner and went to bed earlyish. Friday we had orientation at our university, Galen.
Orientation began at 8:30, so a few bleary eyed people who had spent the night drinking stumbled onto the bus just before we left. It was hard for all of us, but particularly on them, sitting through the next 8 hours of information. The beginning speeches were good but the at 10, we started an orientation geared to the other international students, the Global Learning Semester program (GLS). It was very boring and Meg and Jay had already been over almost everything before so we were saturated with information by the end of it (3:30). We then got our book list and headed back to our rooms to prepare for a silly scavenger hunt, that seemed quite childish and touristy, to get to know the area. Having already been here for 2 days, we knew most of what was happening and where to go in San Ignacio. Exploring was fun, but we have 4 months to do so. Anyways, we had then met for dinner and enjoyed a night out on the town.
I have found, so far, most people here are very friendly and want to get to know us. However, there are some shady people who just want to know us for our money and generosity. Sometimes its hard to define a line for yourself at what point you think it is worth giving some money or not, but I think that will develop as we stay further.
One other thing I did not mention that should be mentioned on our free day was that we played a forty-five minute game of ultimate frisbee with the local kids during their lunch break. They were really excited about it and I hope to get back and meet with the kids during the rest of the semester. There is a school nearby Galen where I may do some tutoring, but I hope to do at least some community service for San Ignacio, they are doing so much to accommodate us we have to give back.
Today, Saturday the 12th, we had another free day. We got to go to an open market where there were some wonderful fresh fruits and assortments of foods to purchase. We don't have a stove yet, but soon we will be able to cook our own dinner. Now, I am up at that hilltop pool, overlooking the valley. It is amazing I can get internet out here and communicate with the world in such a remote place. The weather is nice, but soon it will get much hotter. We will have to find a place that is not such a long climb up. Maybe a river or something.
Hope all is well with everyone. I don't yet have internet at my accommodations, but hopefully that will be fixed soon.
Send me an email to tell me how you all are doing, and I will try to keep this blog as up to date as possible
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