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
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