Hello from Belize! After a long
flight, we finally arrived with still a long day planned ahead. Unfortunately
shortly after landing Henry discovered that his bag hadn’t arrived with the
rest of the luggage. However, other classmates were able to provide him with
the necessary clothing until his bag was found. After eating dinner we headed
to the Belize Zoo for a night tour. We were able to pet, feed, and see many
exotic animals including a black panther, jaguar, and many more. It was difficult
to fall asleep after such an exciting day, but eventually we did after some
“encouragement” from the teachers.
We woke up early in the morning,
thanks to Nicholas’s enthusiastic greeting of dawn. After a breakfast consisting of eggs, rolls,
beans, and freshly squeezed orange juice, went to the cave tubing site. We got
suited up and hiked to the start of the river. We tubed through an amazing
cave, flabbergasted by it’s size and structure. Grace overcame her fears of the
dark waters and ended up loving the entire trip. We ended the tubing with a
refreshing swim through the crystal clear waters.
On the way to Mayan ruins, we
picked up lunch consisting of nachos, burritos, fajitas, and extremely good
sugary drinks. After a long but worthwhile drive we arrived at the ancient
ruins. Our tour guide gave us a quick overview on his history with the ruins,
and the history of the Mayan civilization in Belize. We were able to climb to
the top of the Castillo (castle) and were stunned by the view where were could
see both Guatemala and Belize, except for Philip who realized hours later, he
was looking at Guatemala the entire time.
The bus home was surprisingly
entertaining, where Nicholas and Sidney discovered that they could dry their
wet tubing clothes by putting them near or even out the window. It was
hilarious. Henry’s bag arrived and they were reunited once again. On the bus, after
two hours of hand jiving, singing, joking, sleeping, games, hair styling, and
free style laundry drying, we were welcomed into Maya Center. We ate a
delicious dinner of chicken, rice, potatoes, plantains, fruit punch and cake.
After hearing stories from the hosts, we had a quick meeting and are preparing
our day tomorrow.
Having fun in Belize! J
Leaders of the day,
Rowan and Nicholas
