La Ruta Maya

Thursday afternoon I went to the market and purchased 300 bananas, 6 watermelon, 9 cantelope, and 6 papaya for the weekend. I then went to Galen to help load the bus for the weekend. I thought this would only take about an hour to do, since how much stuff could everyone really have anyway? It ended up taking almost 4 hours to organize and load everything onto the bus. We had to load all the backpacks, sleeping bags, tents, tarp, tables, chairs, poles, food, etc. for the weekend for about 50 people. This process of loading and unloading was done every morning for 4 more days, since we had to set up camp at a different location each day. Luckily, it did not take 4 hours every time and by the last day, I felt like a pro with setting up/tearing down tents.

Thursday night, the night before la Ruta Maya, San Ignacio held a festival to celebrate the beginnings of the race. Since the race starts right in town, the streets were filled with people from all over the world. There was a marching band that played, speeches were given, and hundreds of people roaming around. I had never seen so many people in San Ignacio before. Emily had heard that it was ladies night at Bonkers, a local bar, so a bunch of us decided to check it out. It turned out that when they say ladies night, it means male strippers. We got there and were immediately served free chicken, tortilla chips, and a shot of the nastiest liquor. About ten minutes later, the first male Belizean stripper came out and I don’t think I can walk into that bar ever again without having the images of what I saw that night engraved in my mind. I stayed for a total of three different strippers and then couldn’t handle any more. The strippers would take random women from the audience, lift them up and place them in a chair on stage and then continue to give them a very sensual lap dance. Apparently in Belize touching is not only allowed, but strongly encouraged. Every time one of them ventured into the audience, I would quickly position my chair so I could not be reached or touched. It was a great time, but I definitely could never handle being up on a stage getting a lap dance from a guy in just a skimpy thong.

Friday morning I had to be down by the river by 6 a.m., since the race started at 7 and we had to find a good viewing spot. Of course it was pouring when we woke up, but the rain stopped just in time for the race to start. Galen University, my school, had 5 teams total in the race, although only 1 of them was in the competitive league, while the others were “pleasure crafts” in the intramural league against other colleges. There were 7 UVM students participating – Eli, Ben, and Jimmy as one team, and Andrew, Alex, Gisele, and Svetlana as the other team. Since you are only supposed to have 3 members on a team, they had to combine Gisele’s and Svetlana’s name to Gislana on the registration forms and each one of them got a day off to rest during the 4 days of paddling. Watching all the canoes line up and see everyone scramble at the start to get ahead of one another and through the bridge without capsizing was quite a sight. I actually got really nervous for our teams and started screaming at them to paddle as loud as I could. Many of the canoes did not make it through the bridge without tipping over, while all the serious racing canoes paddled ahead. As soon as the last canoe was through the bridge, the support crew boarded the bus and headed on our way to the first campsite.


All the canoes lining up

It took about an hour to reach our first destination. When we got there, however, there was a dispute between the Belizean girls and us UVM students on where to set up camp. All the Belizeans on the trip were there because they are in a business class that is helping to run the event and they receive credit for being there. We were all there to volunteer. I’ve learned from being around the Belizeans that they typically do not camp out or like to be outdoors or away from their homes at night. All the girls, and even many of the boys, complained of being dirty, the bugs, and having to sleep on the ground with no real bathroom. I was perfectly content with going to the bathroom in the woods, since it smells better than a porter potty anyway, and I have pretty much mastered the art of it by now from all the times I’ve had to do it here. Some of the Belizeans did in fact go home to shower the first night, only to come back to sleep in a tent and get dirty again the rest of the weekend. I preferred to use the river as my shower and felt surprisingly very clean and refreshed after I did so.


Andrew, Gisele, and Alex paddling


Tent city

At the first site, we started setting up camp down by the river where other groups had already started unloading, so the paddlers would not have to walk far after paddling for 39 miles the first day. We had most of the tents set up and the big tent that required a hammer and many large nails set up as well when the manager of the support crew arrived and told us that we set up right where the porter potties are going to be placed. With that news in mind, we decided to move camp up the road onto the grass and away from that area. Instead of tearing down the tents, we just carried them up the hill and relocated everything. The only tent that had to be redone completely was the huge one that required the hammer. While hammering in the stakes for this tent at the new location, we hit a water pipe in the ground and the entire area flooded. Thus, we had to move camp once again and nobody could then camp in that area since it was soaked. The third move was the last move for the day and after we were finally done setting up, we all napped and took a swim in the river while waiting for the canoes to arrive.


Helping carry their stuff

Around 5 p.m., all but one of the canoes from Galen was back and I started setting up to serve dinner to everyone, since I was on the food and beverage support crew. To heat the food, we had chafers, but it took at least 20 minutes for the food to warm up and many of the people were impatient and just wanted to eat and go to bed. Once dinner was served, we had to clean up and cut fruit and make sandwiches for the next morning. I did this routine every night and even gave a few back massages to the paddlers.

The next morning, we were all woken up around 4:30 a.m. to the generator that was turned on to heat the coffee for the paddlers. The race started at 6 that day, so I had to get up anyway to help serve breakfast. As soon as the race started again, we packed up and moved onto our next destination. Since we were ahead of schedule, we stopped at a really nice coffee shop with real couches and a bathroom and it was so nice to sit on something soft for a while.

Our second camping site was in the backyard of the Community Baboon Sanctuary, since one of our professor’s parents runs the place. Here, it was much quieter and easier to set up camp, but there was one big problem – fire ants! They were everywhere…around the food area, our tents, etc. Everybody was getting bitten even with socks and pants on. We tried lighting the ground on fire to kill some of them, but that method didn’t seem to work and people were basically hopping around all day/night trying not to stay in one place for too long.


Killing the fire ants

Once camp was set up, we all changed into our bathing suits and headed towards the river, since we were extremely overheated and needed to cool down. We found a spot away from most people (mostly Belizean guys we were worried about watching us strip down to our bikinis, since they like to comment and stare here) and jumped in. A couple people brought shampoo with them, so we all washed our hair in the river and it felt wonderful. After our swim, we sat on the bank patiently waiting for our paddlers, so we could help them get their canoes out and carry their things for them. That day it was also one of the paddlers’ birthdays, so somebody went out and bought a cake and we all celebrated.

Day 3 we camped in the backyard of a resort and it was by far the best place to camp. We had real bathrooms and showers available to us and there were no rocks or pastures with horse droppings to avoid like the other places. There was even a little dock we could sit on, so we had easy access to the river. Once again, however, we had issues finding the best place to set up the tents and went back and forth between different areas several times. Once camp was finally set up, I stayed the majority of the day at the main area where the rest of the people were cheering on their paddlers. Every site had more and more people every day. We set up camp away from most of the noise every day, but it was basically one giant party with people drinking, dancing, and just celebrating at the main areas.


Andrew and I

Once three of our teams came in, I went back and showered, which felt really nice although the water was freezing and I could only stay in there for about 5 minutes before somebody else started banging on the door for me to hurry up. At dinner, Chris had bought some dishes of iguana, turtle, and iguana eggs for us to try. I tasted them all, since I figured I'm in Belize and when am I going to get another opportunity to do so. Iguana is known as bamboo chicken and I liked it (from the small taste I had), but the eggs were a very strange texture and I had to spit it out. Turtle was also pretty good, but I don't think I would ever order either of these dishes just to eat them. Later that night, they set up a slide show of all the pictures that were taken from the race thus far. In the midst of this slide show, we were informed that someone just saw a few guys in our tent area run off with some things. We all sprinted to our camping area, since all our valuables and bags were in our tents. Everything in my tent was still there, wallet included, but one of the paddlers’ tents was missing two paddles. This caused complete mayhem, since you can’t paddle missing 2 paddles. Luckily, our manager found some spare paddles and that was the most damage that was done.

The last day was the shortest miles wise, but the most intense for the paddlers, since there was a lot of wind and every team was pushing as hard as they could to beat the other teams around them. We had most of the bus packed up by the start of the race, so we could get on the bus right away and follow them along the river. The last destination, Belize City, was only about 20 more minutes by car, but still took over 3 hours to paddle. About halfway through driving, we stopped by the river to cheer on our teams. We all got out, climbed on top of the bus, and waited until the first canoe appeared from behind the mangroves. As soon as our competitive team was spotted, we all started yelling and cheering as loud as we could to the guys. We all then hurried back on the bus and moved maybe 100 feet to go cheer them on some more. We did this several times…each time, I felt more and more like I was on a girls gone wild video, with the Belizeans going absolutely insane banging on the windows, cheering, and taunting the University of Belize, their rival.


Watching from the top of the bus

When we finally made it into Belize City, Ernesto parked the bus in an abandoned gas station and we headed towards the river. Our first spot was literally right on the river bank and had an amazing view, but if we stayed there, the paddlers would have a hard time getting out at the end on the bank, so we moved the trunks to load the canoes and ourselves to across the bridge on the other side where hundreds of people were gathered. We watched people paddle in from above on the bridge and as soon as one team arrived, I would run down to where they unload and help carry all their belongings out of the canoe. I also helped carry 3 of the canoes to the truck, in which all of them were extremely heavy and only 1 of the Belizeans offered to help. The Belizeans act like princes and princesses here when it comes to doing work. I don’t know if it’s because they know that us Americans will get the job done and want to coast off of that, or they just have a different work ethic than us, but the entire weekend I felt as if us UVMers were doing most of the work, while the Belizeans sat around and watched us from a distance.


Raph, Liz, Me, Katie, Emily

After all our teams were in, they looked exhausted and ready to collapse. They had paddled a total of around 170 miles, with this last day being the toughest. Chris Awe, who always drives us around and does us favors, was in charge of running the cash bar all weekend for our group. On the last day, we still had some beers left over, so he decided to sell them to people outside our group. This apparently is not allowed, especially since he does not have a license to do so, and they arrested him. Because of his arrest, we waited several extra hours in Belize City, since they wouldn’t let him leave the jail. There was also a ceremony for the paddlers in which awards were given out. Our competitive team just barely missed being in the top 40. Eli, Ben, and Jimmy, did however win for the intramural competition. There were 8 teams total in this league and they were able to paddle faster than them all. We were very proud of them. Everyone received wooden medals and went home exhausted. It was an early night for all.


Ben, Eli, and Jimmy after finishing La Ruta Maya!

La Ruta Maya was in some ways similar to what I expected in the number of people that participated and the excitement it generated. However, I had no idea how hard it would be to be on the support crew. It’s not that it was hard mentally or even that physically, since we were not the ones paddling, but trying to organize a group of 50 people and get everyone to agree on one thing was very hard to do. It was also exhausting setting up camp every day only to tear it down the next day and start all over again. Sunday morning, everyone on the support crew was in low spirits, felt ill, and wanted to go home. Renee, our friend from school and leader of the food and beverage crew, had amoebas in her stomach and had to go home a day early, leaving Katie, Liz, and I in charge of the food and organizing everything. Several other girls also went home with stomach pains and other ailments.

Being in charge of the food, I had to make sure everyone was fed and that people took the right portions. I made sandwiches every day for everyone and cut up fruit. Although this was a fun job and I truly enjoyed helping out, there were times where I felt like I’d rather be on the water and now cleaning up after everyone else. I would definitely participate in la Ruta Maya again, but maybe next time as a photographer or even maybe paddle if I had the money and training beforehand. I definitely recommend to other people that if you can be involved in some way, you should just go for it. It was a very rewarding experience being there to follow the race and help the paddlers along the way. The camping aspect was also awesome, since I had not gone camping before this weekend in a long time and love being outdoors.


Support Crew

Caracol

This past week I spent most of it writing papers and getting work done. I have a few midterms coming up, so things are a little hectic.

Thursday – I went back to Cahal Pech ruins, this time with my professor. He is basically the expert in Maya archaeology for the entire world and has excavated Cahal Pech and most of the ruins here himself. The ruins were even better than I remembered. I discovered even more secret rooms and passageways and hearing all the stories about the Maya while being there made it so much better. Afterward, we stopped at Cayo Twist for ice cream again.

Friday - we officially switched living situations. I am now living at the Inn, as opposed to the guesthouse. My two new roommates are Becky and Kate. The room is definitely very different than what I am used to, but I think I will get used to it fast. We have a mini kitchen in our room with a small fridge and microwave, which is nice, but we hardly get any light in our room and the beds are basically a slab of concrete. I have not seen any ants yet, but this room is also known for having an infestation of ants, especially around my bed, so I’m just going to hope for the best.


My new bed

Saturday – around 6pm, my roommates, Emily, Kourtney, and I decided to go to Caracol for the weekend with our friend Renee, Greg, and four Belizeans. One of the Belizeans is Chris Awe, son of Jaime Awe, our Maya archaeology professor, who knows all the roads and information we would need to know. One of the other Belizeans is Raph, who had worked at Caracol for 4 years and knew the site well. Caracol is another Mayan ruin site, with one of their temples, Caana, being the tallest in Belize (and tallest building in Belize as well…over 160 feet tall). We took 3 different cars and Chris brought along two tents, some blankets, and a few foam pads to sleep on. We all chipped in for gas and then stopped at the store to buy pasta, sauce, eggs, hotdogs, etc. for dinner and breakfast and then we were off.

The drive takes about two hours and requires you going along extremely narrow, rocky, bumpy roads. Of course it was dark as we were driving, so it was hard to see and we all find it really hard to trust the other Belizean drivers that are on the road, so anytime we go anywhere, it’s always a little stressful. Once we got to the checkpoint before entering the site of Caracol, we had to convince the security there that it was ok for us to spend the night. It is a huge security issue because Guatemala is only about 6 miles away from Caracol and they have been known to attack Belizeans and tourists (Belizeans and Guatemalans typically do not get along). The people at the checkpoint started telling us stories of how people have been stopped while driving by Guatemalans and that there are snakes, jaguars, and other animals that lurk about. After hearing all this, we were all a little hesitant, but Chris and Raph, since they know Caracol so well, were finally able to convince the other guys that we were students doing some research and archaeology work, which is why we had to go and we were safe with them and did not need an escort with a gun. This debate took about 45 minutes, and then took another half hour drive to actually get to the site.

At the site, there is an empty building with a ramp that is going to eventually become the new welcome center, but we were able to use it to set up camp and sleep there for the night. We drove all 3 cars right into the building, since it’s all open, and used the headlights on the cars to see. Once the tents were all set up, a few of the guys went over to the cooking area and starting cooking pasta and chili for us, while Chris took everyone else on a night walk. On our way, we met the site dog, Blanca, who is the most friendly, soft, playful dog I’ve seen here so far. We also ran into/almost stepped on a fer-de-lance snake, about 6 feet long and the most poisonous snake in Central and South America. I personally did not see it, since I was in the back of the group, but Eddie, one of the other guys who came with us, was only a couple inches from the snake and could have easily been attacked.


Our camp for the night

Chris took us to Caana, the tallest temple, and we climbed to the top, although it was pitch dark and nobody could tell how high we actually were or how many steps we actually climbed. All we knew is that there were three different platforms while climbing, and every time we thought we were at the top, there were even more steps. When we finally made it to the top, the view of the stars was amazing. We were so high off the ground that it felt like we could touch the clouds and stars. Chris told us stories about the Maya and their beliefs, and then we hiked back down to see if dinner was ready.

At dinner, all the guys who work at the site were there eating with us and talking with us. Since there were only about 3 bowls, we took turns eating and cleaning the dishes. For the rest of the night, we all just hung out and talked. I was exhausted and practically asleep standing up, so as soon as one person said they were going back to camp, I jumped at the chance to go back and go to sleep. About 10 minutes later, everyone else came back and went to sleep as well. Since we were surrounded by forest, we could hear howler monkeys, which sound like jaguars, and other strange animals all night. Somehow, we all still managed to sleep until around 9 and then cooked eggs, hotdogs, and toast for breakfast.


Cooking area

After breakfast, we went on a tour of Caracol with Chris and Raph as our personal tour guides. There are so many different plazas of temples, it’s insane. Each temple and area has its own story. I could have spent another day there and still felt like there was more to explore. The best part by far was definitely seeing Caana in the daylight. Staring at it from the ground, you can’t even see the top of it. It looks like it ends there, but there’s actually even more stairs behind it that go higher with several other small temples on top. Only the very elite would live and get to climb to the top of this temple. The peasants and servants were made to bring the rulers whatever they needed, so the rulers never had to set foot climbing up or down the temple. The rooms people slept in are built into the temple and we found lots of hidden rooms and places where tombs could have been and actually were found.


Caana


temple across from Caana

We also got to see an excavation site underway. None of the men were currently working on it, so most of it was covered with tarp, but you could tell in some of the enclosed areas where stairs are under the ground and how big the temple will be once they are done. Its amazing how much still has yet to be discovered here in Belize. Uncovering that one temple will take years and there are so many other mounds that have to be excavated still, but not enough men or the resources/money to do so yet. If anyone is interested in Maya archaeology, Central America is definitely the place to be.


climbing into a small tunnel

Next weekend is la ruta maya…more camping out for 4 days straight with no sleeping bag…should be an experience!

South Water Caye Paradise

Last week, nothing exciting happened besides writing some papers and getting work done before the weekend trip to the beach. I did, however, receive my Ecology exam back and got the highest grade in the class…that pretty much made my week and I celebrated by going out to dinner at Serendib, a Sri Lankan restaurant. Most places here do not offer dessert of any sort, but this place had cheesecake and it was so incredibly delicious. I would go back there just for the dessert.

The weekend…

Friday morning we woke up around 7:30 to eat breakfast before we headed to South Water Caye until Sunday afternoon. Instead of traveling on the Galen school bus, we rented a van for the trip there and back, which had air conditioning and were told we would have more space. However, there were 22 of us in total going all having to fit in this van, with our bags, and it was quite snug. The van ride was about 2 hours, where he dropped us off at a dock in Dangriga. From there, we were to take a water taxi (boat) to the small island.


Van ride


Boat ride there

We rented one boat just to take our luggage there, then had two other boats for all of us to fit. The boat I was in held 18 people and 4 people were in my row, with me being closest to the water on the left-hand side. The ride there was nothing like I’ve ever experienced. We started off very slow and I thought to myself that it was going to be very relaxing and I could take in some sun, since the ride was about 45 minutes to the island. As soon as we hit deep water, however, the boat took off and I’m pretty sure the driver of the boat was purposely flying and hitting as many waves as he could to get us wet. The people on the middle rows stayed pretty dry. Even the people on the outer right-hand side of the boat did not get hit that bad. My side, however, was being destroyed. It was fun for a while getting soaked (luckily I wore a bathing suit under my clothes and put on my rain coat), but then the salt water really started to bother my eyes and I didn’t have my sunglasses on me, since they were packed in my bag in the other boat. By the time we arrived at the island, it didn’t really matter if I was wearing a raincoat or not because the water had soaked through the coat and my clothes.

We got off the boat and were then shown where we would all be sleeping and the rules of the Island. All the girls slept in one room…bunk beds, with two toilets and two showers. The boys slept in the room next to us and shared the bathroom with us. Since it’s an Island meant for environmentally conscious people, everything is powered by wind generators and solar radiation for electricity. The water used for the showers all comes from them collecting rain from the rainy season. Since there is only a limited supply of water, you must take quick showers and only turn the water on when needed. The water itself will not stay on by itself. You must hold the handle down when you want it and then it turns off when you let go. All the dishes and silverware are washable to limit pollution and even at the bar, everything is given as glass, since many people are careless about plastic bottles and they tend to end up flying away into the ocean. They cooked all 3 meals a day for us and would ring a bell to let everyone on the island know that the food was ready.


Our tropical paradise

As soon as our orientation was done, we all went down to the beach and swam and relaxed all day. Lying outside for about 10 minutes was all it took for you to be overheated and have to jump in the ocean. I used up 2 full bottles of sunscreen on this trip, and yet still got burned slightly on my back, insane. The ocean was nothing like I was used to. The water was crystal clear when you first walked in and looked like fresh water. It was perfect shades of blue and turquoise and the temperature was just right. Our program leaders had brought their own snorkel gear and decided to share with us, so I went snorkeling for the first time and it was so much more than I was expecting. The fish are so colorful and vibrant and some even the size of me. The coral reef is also awe-inspiring. Belize has the second longest barrier reef in the world and it was truly amazing to get to see all of it. I felt like I was actually in the movie, Finding Nemo, and would follow some schools of fish as if I were part of their group.


Snorkeling

After snorkeling and playing in the water for a while, I started reading and just relaxed in a hammock on the beach. We then all played volleyball before dinner and watched the sunset. After dinner, we all just hung out, since you can’t leave the Island and there is not much to do there. A group of us played scrabble, while others played pictionary and charades. We then realized that you could actually see the stars outside on the Island, and all ran to the dock and laid there for a while just looking for shooting stars. I then walked to the beach to get an even better view and was able to walk pretty far into the ocean due to the sandbar that extended outward at least 50 feet. Every time I took a step, there was some bio-luminescence that lit up in the water. It was like a show of fireworks for my feet. I then moved to one of the hammocks and laid there for a while and lost track of time. I had fallen asleep for about an hour and woke up due to it getting windy and cooler outside. I then walked back and went to bed.

Saturday – I woke up probably around 7 (nobody knew what time it was all weekend, since our phones did not work in the middle of nowhere and nobody brought watches either) and got ready for the beach right away while the cooking staff was preparing breakfast for us. After breakfast, a few of us headed to the beach to read. I ended up spending almost the entire day outside, but it felt so nice to just lay on sand not worrying about anything. In the afternoon, our group leaders arranged an official snorkeling session in which they took us all out on a boat further in the ocean. There, I saw even more amazing fish and even a barracuda, which was really cool but scary at the same time. My favorite part, however, was when I saw two squid. They were purple and blue in color and were just so magnificent to watch swim by.



That night, I went back on the beach for a while to my spot and then a few of us decided we wanted to sleep on the beach, so we could continue to watch the stars and wake up and see the sunrise. Only Andrew and I actually ended up going through with it, but some other people slept on the dock, with their mattresses and pillows. I simply slept on a beach towel in the sand, since the hammock could only keep me comfortable for so long. I also wore about 4 different layers of shirts (all I brought, basically), pants, and had two towels, and yet I still ended up being cold. Although I did not sleep that well that night, it was worth it to watch the sunrise on the beach.





Right after I watched the sunrise, I had to run to the other side of the Island to catch the boat that was leaving for fishing, at 6:30 a.m. I signed up for the early shift, since I figured I would be up anyway and it would be cooler in the morning for sitting on a boat for 3 hours. I ended up catching 4 fish!! Whatever fish we did catch was to be used for lunch, although I am not particularly fond of fish and did not eat it. Three out of the four fish I caught I threw back, since the guy told me they were too small, but I was just really excited to catch one in the first place.


Fish!

After fishing, we had a few hours to get our last sun rays on the beach before we headed back to Cayo. A group of about 8 of us took another boat before we left for the Smithsonian, a research field station on the Island directly across from South Water Caye. At the Smithsonian, we were introduced to some researchers studying crabs, shrimp, and other sea life. We got to hold hermit crabs, starfish, brittlefish, sea urchins, and shrimp. These people live on the Island while researching and basically just eat, take pictures of new species, and record the data all day on this beautiful Island. It made me think that I should switch to marine biology and just live the life of a beach bum while researching really amazing creatures.


Shrimp!

Once we got back, it was time for lunch and then we were on our way back home. This trip was probably one of the highlights of Belize thus far and I would love to go back there one day. If anyone comes to Belize and wants a quiet destination not meant for mass tourism and cares about the environment, South Water Caye is definitely the place to go.


Ben, Gisele, and I reading on the dock

Soccer and Valentine's Day

Monday, I took my Ecology of a Tropical Rainforest test and although I was one of the last people to finish, as usual, I felt really confident that I did well. On Wednesday, we had a soccer/football scrimmage against Sacred Heart, the team we played last week and although we beat them last time, we did not have as much luck this time around. The score was 2 to 1 and was a really close game, but many of our good players got injured.

Friday night, Meg, Andrew, Raf (a Belizean friend), and I all went to Cayo Twist for some ice cream and then stopped at a bar on the way back to play some darts. Andrew and I were on a team and we won the first two games thanks to me. I even scored a bulls eye!



On Saturday, we went to Dangriga for Regionals. We all woke up at 6 to catch the bus at 6:15 to be there around 8. There was only one real field, which the boys used, while the girls were put on a smaller field. The boys’ field was normal, but ours was more the garbage dump…the grass was not cut, there were clumps of mud, rocks, and other materials that should not be on a field. None of us were happy about this, especially because we were all tripping on the ground and it made it much harder to keep the ball going. We also didn’t have enough shin guards and cleats to go around, since many of us didn’t own these things ourselves. As a result, we had to borrow from the boys and/or from other teams. We lost our first game, 1:0 and our second game we also lost 2:1. The boys also lost their 2 games. They changed the halves to 20 minutes since the heat was unbearable and we were all extremely grateful. I was ready to collapse at half time in both games. The combination of the heat, being out of shape, and not really knowing what I was doing didn’t really work well. Since we lost the first two games, we didn’t even play our third game because most of the team was too beat up to play and the third team was just Sacred Heart…the team we played the past two times…who also lost their first two games, so neither of us could technically make it to Nationals. I did have a lot of fun though.


Our rugged field


Horses grazing on the beach

Since Dangriga is surrounded by the ocean, a bunch of us jumped in the ocean in just our sports bra’s and underwear after the second game and it felt glorious. There were even people on horses cantering up and down the beach and I was so jealous. Although we will not be going to Nationals next weekend, we can now go to South Water Caye instead. South Water Caye is an extremely nice beach, where we’ll get to go snorkeling and just relax for the weekend and since it’s a school trip, we also don’t have to pay for anything but lunches and drinks at the bar.


My footsteps to the ocean

Last week, one of the girls in our group came up with the idea of having a “secret person”, like “secret santa”. We gathered up enough empty yogurt bowls for everyone, picked names out of a jar, and have to buy/make something for our secret person every once in a while. Since Valentines Day was Saturday, I went out and bought my person chocolate and other Valentines goodies. Andrew and I were feeling creative, so we decided to make anonymous valentines cards for everyone, including our program leaders. Most of them rhymed, some were actual love notes, and others were just plain funny. Since we weren’t going to be around Saturday because of the tournament, we woke up extra early Friday and slipped each card under everyone’s door. I think everybody appreciated our gesture and it was just fun overall to make them.

Thursday night was the school Valentine’s Day Dance. It was a dance at a resort hotel from 10-3 a.m. Since we knew when they say 10 here, it really means 12, we didn’t show up until then and basically as soon as we started dancing, everyone else joined in. I had a ton of fun and even made some new friends that night.

On Sunday, the power was down throughout the district all morning and was in and out all day. We all had papers due the next day, which made it very difficult to accomplish when there was no internet to do the research. By late afternoon, the power was back and we were all able to get some work done, but it was scary for a while thinking that I wasn’t going to be able to get my paper done on time.

Other than that, everything is going well. I can’t believe my time here is almost halfway over. I feel like I just got here and the weeks go by so quickly, it’s insane!

Weekly Update and Zoo at Night

Sunday - We got back from our weekend trip around 6:30. A bunch of people got together to watch the superbowl, but we had an exam the next day, so I stayed in and studied all night.

Monday – woke up extra early to study some more, only to find out once I got to school that the test was moved to the following Monday.

Tuesday – A yoga instructor came to the Inn and about half our group had an hour and a half yoga class, which we will be doing every Tuesday from now on. It only costs $10 (BZE), how could you go wrong?

Wednesday – I had my first exam in Ecotourism and it was all short answer and detailed, but I think it went alright…The girls put together Galen’s very first girl’s soccer/football team and we had our first scrimmage after class that night. Everybody in the UVM program is playing soccer, even though more than half of us have no idea what we’re doing, including me. Sunday we are having a practice in the morning, since there’s a tournament already next weekend. It should be interesting.


Most of the Soccer Team

We also found out that in order to participate in La Ruta Maya, the canoe race, it’s going to cost over $500 to register and for everything, which nobody had told us. Almost all the girls are not going to do the race anymore because of the money, but all the guys in our group are still really determined to do it. I’m still going to be on support crew helping with food and beverages and don’t have to pay anything to be involved. Looks like I chose the right thing the first time around.

Thursday – went to the pool all morning, and then came back around 2 to meet with my project partner, Heather, for the humane society. I found out that there actually is no humane society. It is just a bunch of members who take in strays into their own homes and basically rehabilitate and get them treatment, etc. until they get adopted by somebody. My goals for the project right now are to make a brochure geared towards younger children on the importance of spay/neutering your pet, teach about mange and vaccines, fix the adult brochures, and design a presentation that could be given to a group of primary students (elementary) and be used by the members of the humane society for future presentations. I was told that mange and CTVT, a type of tumor, are the most common things they see here in Belize. The owners of these dogs typically abandon them once this happens, since they think it is untreatable or do not want to spend the money on their pets. She also suggested that if we get through with all the work she assigned us and still have time at the end, we may plan a dog show for San Ignacio, which would be a lot of fun.

Friday – I woke up and went to breakfast, where there was a stray cat roaming around us. She was really sweet and her belly was sticking out, like she was pregnant, but it was hard for me to tell for sure. I was petting her the entire time while I waited for my food and she let me even examine her and basically do whatever I wanted with her. Once my food came, I stopped petting her and let her be. About 2 hours later, right when I was about to jump in the shower, I get a call from Alex, one of the guys that lives next to me, saying the cat is giving birth right now downstairs and then Meg, my program leader, starts banging on my door to tell me the same thing. I quickly turn off the water, throw clothes on, and run downstairs to the restaurant. I missed her giving birth, but the people at the restaurant downstairs moved her in a crate under the abandoned house next door. I then watched her for at least an hour. I saw her cut the umbilical cord off and just watched her to make sure everything was alright. I only see one kitten so far, but I’m going to continue to keep an eye on both the mother and kitten. I went out and bought a few cans of wet food for the mother and hopefully she is able to produce enough milk for the kitten. If not, I may try to find milk replacer to give the kitten. When Heather comes back on Monday, I’m going to talk to her to figure out what she thinks the best thing to do is, but I am seriously considering adopting the kitten and possibly taking it back with me to the states and go from there. I already know of several people who may be interested in taking in the kitten, since I can’t keep one in my apartment, but we’ll see what happens.


mother and kitten

Later that day, we left for the Belize Zoo for a night tour, since many of the animals are nocturnal and are easier to see at night. Comparing when I went during the day to the zoo, the animals, especially the big cats, were a lot more active and came right up to the fences. Many of the people in our group got the chance to hold the boa constrictor that was there, but since not all of us could and I had held scar at the animal hospital before, I skipped that step and was able to be in the first group for the tour. I added more pictures to my Belize Zoo album and I think they’re definitely a lot better than some of the ones taken during the day. Here are my two favorite animals...Junior and Olly.


Junior the jaguar


Olly the oselet

Saturday – market day and other food shopping. We also figured out as a group to only move once while here, so at the end of February/beginning of March, I will be moving from the guesthouse to the Inn. After we settled that debate, the four of us that live at the guesthouse came back and cooked dinner together. We spent the rest of the night just hanging out and all went to bed early.

Sunday – woke up at 9:30 for soccer practice. Soccer practice lasted about 2 hours and was a lot of fun. It was pouring all night, however, so the field was extremely muddy and for those of us who don’t have cleats (including myself), it was extremely slippery. By the end of practice, I was covered in mud. My socks and ankles were black and I’m pretty sure I ruined the shirt I was wearing as well. I tried washing it myself, but the dirt won’t come out…and it’s white. I hand-washed a bunch of clothing yesterday, since the laundry here is starting to shred, shrink, and take away the nice feeling of my clothes. I’m even going to have to sew some shirts…and both Meg and I don’t have a sewing kit here, but Andrew next door does. I found it a little ironic that the boy of the group has one and we don’t.

I also went down to check on the kitten and cat a little earlier and both of them are gone, which could be a good or bad thing, but I’m going to check again later.

I have a test in Ecology of a Tropical Rainforest tomorrow, so I’m off to study…check out the new pictures on photobucket if you have a chance.

Dangriga and Punta Gorda

Sorry it’s taken so long to write a new post, things have been really hectic here lately. I’ll start with last Thursday. I woke up to find that the entire town had no water, so nobody could shower, flush, do laundry (it was laundry day) or do anything until about 8 that night. Our internet was also completely down, so I couldn’t check e-mail or download my homework assignments/readings. It’s definitely an inconvenience when these things happen, which more often than not they do. The power has also gone out several times here and I’ve had to finish my homework with a flashlight. The showers also are not the greatest either. I’m pretty used to the constant switching back and forth of freezing cold and burning hot by now, but on the bright side, I don’t take long showers anymore and am more water efficient.

Friday, we all got up at 6 to eat and leave for Dangriga, which is South of San Ignacio. It was at least a 3 and a half hour bus ride to our destination with several stops on the way on an old imported school bus from the U.S. It’s weird being back on a regular school bus like in high school every day. One of the Belizeans, Leon, sat next to me and was basically my own personal tour guide for the ride, since he knew the area. On the way, we passed patches of a sea of green, beautiful landscapes, and even saw a waterfall on top of one of the mountains from afar.


View from the bus of GREEN

Our first stop was the Garifuna Gulisi Museum. There, we had a guided tour through the museum, while taking notes. The only bad part about this weekend was that we had to take notes on all the presentations and write a paper at the end of the trip. The museum itself was pretty cool and we learned a lot about the Garifuna culture and their struggle for their existence. There were a bunch of kids running around outside, so a bunch of us decided to play with them and chase them around. They loved playing with us and it made me so happy to be able to make them happy.





Next, we headed to the Pelican Bay Beach Resort, which was amazing. The food itself was alright, but the view of the beach, palm trees, hammocks, and the ocean was breathtaking. I was told that this area isn’t even the nice area, so I can’t even imagine what the “real” beach looks like. A group of about 6 of us, the ones that didn’t go to the beach with everyone the other weekend, decided to eat really quickly, change on the bus, and jump in the ocean before we had to leave. The water wasn’t even freezing and the taste of salt water was so nice. We found several sand dollars, but let them be and just continued to swim around for about 45 minutes while everyone else was just lying on the dock.



After lunch, we headed to our last destination for the night, the Cockscomb basin and jaguar reserve, along with the Maya center. When we first pulled into the reserve, all you could see were trees, plants, and shrubs for miles. I was so excited that we were there. We then proceeded to drive another 20 minutes into the forest before we got to the cabins where we would be staying for the night. All the girls stayed in one section, while the guys were all split up into different “rustic cabins”. We had about an hour to do whatever we wanted before dinner and orientation, so Meg, Alex, and I decided to go explore a little and found a hike that led to a waterfall. On the way up, we saw many leaf cutter ants holding leaves on their backs as they made trails through the forest, buttress trees, huge ferns, squirrels, insects, and birds. When we finally got to the waterfall, it was already past time for dinner, so we couldn’t jump in and had to head back, but it was at least a 3mile walk each way and we were sweating beyond belief by the time we met up with everyone else.




Since we got to dinner late, there was practically no food left for us and we just ate cole slaw and some burnt rice for dinner…yum. The entire weekend was basically a big mayo fest. For some reason, Belizeans love mayo on and in everything. After dinner, we had orientation for our night walk through the jungle. They told us to wear long pants and shirts, bring a flashlight if you have one (which I forgot my headlamp and was very disappointed, but had a flashlight), and not to wear bug spray because the animals can smell it and it drives them away. We all received that memo a little too late and were all doused in 100 deet bug spray.

Despite me being covered in bug spray and long pants, socks, sneakers, and two shirts, I still managed to get eaten by some kind of bot fly everywhere. Bot flies are common here, but only one kind of bot is really bothersome. If one of these bot flies land on you, they basically crawl in you somehow, stay dormant for up to two weeks and then poke holes in your skin to breathe. They then have to be removed somehow by squeezing them out or using tweezers, etc. I really hope none of us get one, but many people who we have met here have said they have gotten one before and its not that big of a deal.


The Group at the Jaguar Reserve

Since they were low on tour guides, we all had to go as one giant group of at least 30 people, when in reality, a night walk should only be 2 or 3 people at a time if you expect to see any animals. Being a huge group, we probably sounded like a stampede walking through the rainforest even though we were as silent as we could be. Although no jaguars were seen, we saw a crocodile in the water, heard lots of strange noises, which I think were howler monkeys, and saw a small paw print of some kind of cat in the mud, which meant the animal had passed the tracks some point right before we got there. It was too small to be a jaguar print, but it could have been an oselot or another smaller cat. I’m still completely blown away that I was actually IN the jungle, no boundaries or fences or anything on the reserve. The animals just roam through the forest as they wish…the reserve is 124,000 acres so they have plenty of space to roam about and hide away. There are also so many species of bats here that love to swoop just inches from our heads.

When we came back from the night walk, a bunch of us decided to make a small fire and just sit around for a while. We told ghost stories and learned about Belize myths, etc. from the Belizeans. The stars were also amazing that night and were so clear at the basin. In San Ignacio, you can barely see any stars, so it was great being able to just stare up at the sky for a while and admire them.

Since we had to get up early the next morning, we all went to bed at a decent hour and then woke up at 6 again for breakfast. After breakfast, we all went for a hike up Ben’s Bluff, an extremely “rigorous” hike that goes about 6.5 miles into the forest. It was pretty much straight uphill at times, but getting to the top of the mountain and looking over all the trees and entire forest was such a wonderful feeling. We even got rewarded on the way down by being able to stop at the waterfall I had passed the day before and jump in for a swim before we left the reserve.


View from Ben's Bluff



Waterfall

After we left the reserve, we stopped at the Maya center, which was on the way out of the reserve. The Maya center is a Mopan Mayan Community that was established in 1976 when Belize decided to create the jaguar reserve and move all the indigenous people off their land to do so. Everybody in the indigenous perspectives class, including myself, was to break off in groups of 3 and meet with a Mayan family and have them cook a traditional Mayan lunch for us. I was extremely nervous about this activity at first because I really do not know that much about the Maya yet and didn’t know how they would act, if they could talk English, or if I would even be able to relate to them.

I got to my Mayan family and was instantly greeted by 2 extremely friendly dogs and the father of the family. The mother was out back with her 3 children, ages 5,8, and 11…the oldest a son and the two others girls…cooking corn tortillas for us and preparing other food on a fire hearth. While the mother cooked, we continued to talk to the father about his jobs, schooling, and how the community has changed over the years. It’s pretty amazing that they all pretty much do subsistence agriculture and grow their own food and follow all the old ways, but at the same time they now have adopted cell phones, tv’s, and listen to American music on a daily basis. The father had built his house by himself over 30 years ago and not only farms/grows his own food, but also works at the jaguar reserve fixing and setting up cameras to watch the animals through the forest 24/7, and takes people on hikes up to Victoria’s peak…about a 3 day hike to get to the top and very rigorous as well. When the food was finally ready, the mother just placed everything on the table and the father ate with us, while the mother sat in the corner and ate alone. I knew from our orientation before meeting with the families that the Maya women were shy, but I did not know to what extent. I wish I could have gotten the chance to talk to the mother more.

While we were all eating lunch with our Mayan families, they people not in the indigenous perspectives class got to visit the women’s arts and crafts center. Since we all wanted to go there as well, we ended up coming back to Dangriga on Sunday to look around for a bit and I bought a bracelet of beads shaped like a gecko…I love it : )

After we officially left the Maya center, we made our way to Punta Gorda. When we first got there, we had a presentation on the land dispute between the Maya and the government. Basically, the government has been taking land away from the Maya, but technically the Maya were here first and have a right to their land and shouldn’t be kicked off of it. It was a really interesting presentation and I think it was my favorite one. We were served dinner right after the presentation and then had about 45 minutes to go check in at the hotel and get settled in before we came back to the same place to watch some Garifuna drumming!


A glimpse at Punta Gorda


The Group

The drumming was really amazing and we all got up at the end and were trying to “punta” to the drumming. The punta is the national dance of Belize and kind of looks like Hula dancing, but more intense and really hard to do. I tried and failed to do it right. However, later that night, almost all of us, including our teachers, went to a bar and started dancing the entire night. The Belizean who I had sat next to on the bus, Leon, taught me how to salsa and do a couple other dances…although I honestly had no idea what I was doing and probably could not repeat the moves again without someone leading me.


Garifuna Drumming

The next morning, we woke up yet again around 6 and started the morning off with a presentation by an environmental ed. officer from the marine reserve. After breakfast and the presentation, we headed to the Ya ‘ axche’ conservation trust-field center. This is a private protected area of about 15,000 acres whose mission focuses on sustainable development. We were given a power point presentation and then shown around the nursery of plants and given lunch.


Flower in the forest

Our last stop before heading back to San Ignacio was another Mayan community. Here, we walked around the community and was given a talk on the way their system runs as compared to the Maya center of families. We then boarded the bus and headed home…another successful weekend to put in the books.


The perfect sunset to a perfect weekend

Cahal Pech

This week has been pretty relaxing, besides the papers and reading. Although I definitely have more work and reading than I was expecting, I still have more time overall to relax for a little. I had my first pop quiz in Adventure and Ecotourism and my teacher was going to give us a pop quiz in Ecology of a Tropical Rainforest, but we all had terrified looks on our faces, so he decided to move it to Monday…The same teacher teaches both those classes back to back and almost all of us are taking both classes, so he gave us a break. Also, I am officially working on the San Ignacio Humane Society project with three other people and I am so psyched that I was assigned this project. I’m not entirely sure what it entails yet, but I can’t wait to start working on it.

The only class I’m really worried about is my Indigenous perspectives class. We have so much to read for each class and it is impossible to get it all done. It’s also impossible to download the readings (they’re all online) when not on campus, and even when on campus it doesn’t always work. In class, I have absolutely no idea what is going on…we were talking about economic theories and all these things I have never learned before, nor have I ever taken an economics/political science/philosophy class before. About half the class dropped out already and many people have complained. The teacher in response to everyone coming up to him asking for a signature to drop the class, talked to us on Wednesday and said he will slow down and cut down the readings into smaller pieces, so I really hope he follows through.

In more exciting news…Fridays I don’t have classes, so a few of us decided to go to Cahal Pech in the pouring rain. Most of our group went to Caye Caulker this weekend…which is a place to vacation at the beach…so only 8 of us were left here this weekend. Cahal Pech, besides being the hotel and resort where we go swimming, is the oldest Mayan ruin, is extremely important culturally to Belize and only a 25-30 minute walk to get there. The six of us who went made the hike up the hills to the top, paid $10 to get in and were just blown away by its size and all the artifacts they have found here. We are learning about Cahal Pech in my Maya Archaeology class, so it was really great being able to put the information he has told us together by actually being there. I think my Maya class might be my favorite class here.



When we first walked outside, I was expecting one small little ruin. What I saw was nothing like I imagined and pictures can’t justify the magnificence of it. There were at least six different ruins and we were having so much fun climbing up all the steps and exploring the ruins. There were so many different rooms we could walk into, tons of steps to climb, and we found a couple bats and giant moths living in some rooms. The only bad part was that it was raining, so the ruins were really wet and slippery, on top of the moss growing on them, so it was scary at times climbing up and down the ruins. I was basically on my hands and knees, using the roots from the ground to make it safely up and back down. The climb was definitely worth it though to get to the top. It amazes me to think that I was standing where the ancient Maya once were and probably slept, ate, and/or performed rituals right where I was standing. Spooky.



Saturday was the ultimate lazy day. Woke up around 10:30, sat around for an hour or two, went out to breakfast, which took almost two hours in itself (the service here is extremely slow), went to the market and various other places to buy food, then came back and took a nap. Since there were only eight of us, we decided to each buy something and make pizza and salsa together. We made three different kinds of pizza…vegetable, cheese and tomato, and pineapple. We bought all fresh fruits, made our own sauce, and bought the dough from a local restaurant. It was probably one of the best meals I’ve had here so far.

After dinner, a few other people were back already from their mini vacation and we all just hung out and watched tv/movies. We found the soap net channel and they have Indian soap operas, which are really entertaining. Our favorite channel, however, is the game show network. My roommate, Meg, loves any type of game and is obsessed with the game “Chain Reaction”. Whenever we’re bored or waiting for food, we just start playing it by ourselves. We also randomly quote “Friends” in our daily lives. I love it.

Sunday, everybody who is a “paddler” for La Ruta Maya, had practice from 1-6, so the rest of us just spent the day catching up on homework and studying. We had another group meeting and ate dinner at the South Indian Restaurant (the place where I have been buying the fruit shakes that are absolutely amazing) and had very delicious chicken curry.

I was finally able to upload my pictures onto photobucket. I have made a section in the upper right-hand corner of my blog for links to the pictures. Feel free to check them out.

Next weekend we are going on a three day field trip to the Cockscomb Basin and Jaguar Reserve, Punta Gorda, Dangriga, and a couple other short stops. More stories to come soon…