Today was another amazing day in Maya Center!
We’ll try to limit the mozzarella in this post, but no promises… J. We started the day
off as usual; a delicious breakfast of eggs, beans, and fresh fruits, then
continued on to the school to continue building the fence, painting another
fence, teaching classes about hurricanes, ferrying kids across a field via
piggyback, and re-shelving a library (luckily, we brought a librarian).
Once the children’s break started,
they ran out onto the field and tackled Philip, asking for piggyback rides. We
finally organized a game of duck, duck, goose with the kids, which lasted for a
while, until BBNers started to mysteriously disappear from the circle for
(surprise!) more piggyback rides. Chloe then saved us with a game of Simon
Says, a school favorite, before the bell called the students back to their
classes. While Chloe and Lena got bug bite treatment from Carlos, everyone else
returned to work. We laid the third and final row of the fence foundation
cinderblocks, got weighed down by a mass of kindergarteners escaping from their
classrooms, and sorted some dusty science books in the library.
After we returned to the lodge for
an amazing lunch of chicken, tortillas, rice, and a curious yet delicious drink
that nobody could identify, we played some leadership activities with ten of
Maya Center’s middle schoolers. We learned about their house lives, school
lives, and hobbies, and shared some stories of our own. Then there was a team
building exercise involving teamwork, the muting of BBN girls, and covering
Rowan’s eyes with a bandana.
After a short but dusty walk and
the creation of the Order of the Moosai, a world invented by Elizabeth,
Veronica, and Henry, we toured the Maya Center cocoa groves and got to eat raw
cocoa beans, pulp and all, which tasted like Pinkberry’s original yogurt to
some people and like expired milk to others (*cough* Lena *cough*). Returning to the main
building of the chocolate factory, we then grinding our own chocolate nibs
(100% chocolate) and added various ingredients to make 70% dark chocolate,
which was both delicious and much more healthy than Hershey’s beeswax bars.
While grinding the nibs, we pounded on containers and our legs to create a beat
along with the sound of the stone grinder. It was awesome. One tearful goodbye
to the factory and a few chocolate bars later, we got ready for our homestay
dinners.
Henry, Rowan, Grace, and Elizabeth’s
group had vegetables, rice, and bean soup to accompany their various conversations
with Josephina, one of the girls at the homestay family. Lena, Sidney,
Veronica, and Emma’s group laughed at American stereotypes with their host
family, including bad weather, bad food, and fake everything. All stereotypes
have to come from some truth… (*ahem* McDonalds). The final group, Chloe, Nicholas,
Charlotte, and Phillip, got a pre-dinner tour of a rooftop and an amazing view
of the village before a Bob the Builder cake for Dave’s 6th
birthday.
From the Order of the Moosai to
cocoa beans, we had another great day in Belize!
-Henry and Lena, leaders of the day
P. S. The internets are a bit sluggish today. We will update with pictures tomorrow.
