School, Sharks, and pizza…Oh my!

There's not enough words to describe how wonderful today was in such a short post, but I'll try. With a quick breakfast (strawberry-orange cake. Super Yummy), our group headed to school. Our day began with a tour around the school and the surrounding neighborhood. I had the wonderful opportunity to spend the rest of school day in class with students and playing games with them after school. They were all so adorable and sweet…I can’t wait to do it again tomorrow. When we got back to our hotel, I went for a brief swim in the ocean to cool off. A little later on, I saw my first shark…eek. And to top it off, I had some excellent Hawaiian pizza and chocolate cupcake for desert. Now as I sit in my room typing this, I realize how fast my day has gone-in a good way. What could be better to end a great day with great kids and company?

Alyssa

Much like the discovery channel

If I had to describe today in one word it would be: Awesome. But that doesn’t do it justice, and I do realize that it is not very original…but it’s the truth. We woke up, took a water taxi to Belize City and hopped on a bus. Our early morning paid off as we were rewarded with fry jacks with syrup and a banana. Simple, but delicious. Before I knew it, we were at our destination: Alton Ha, the Mayan ruins. It was beautiful, everything from the thousands of year-old architecture to the breathtaking landscape that surrounded and complimented the ruins.

We had another delicious meal for lunch after leaving the ruins. After lunch and a bit of a ride, we arrived at a park where we took a small hike and went tubing through caves. The hike was informative. I was shown trees that can slow down flow of poison from a snake bite for two hours, a tree that leaks black sap that can burn its way through your skin and all the way to the bone, a tree that will immediately negate the effects of the black sap tree (which is always a few short feet away from said tree), termites that taste minty (no, I wasn’t one of the brave few who tried them), leaves that have a numbing effect like Novocain, and “Charmin” leaves (I think you’re smart enough to figure that one out). The ones I listed are some of my favorite. There are many more trees, leaves, and weird nuts, all of them just as interesting too.

Tubing through the caves was just as much fun as the hike, and it was exactly as you would picture it…for the most part. Eventually, it all had to come to an end. We got back on the bus, took another ferry ride back, and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

I have to say my experience today far out-do anything I’ve seen on the discovery channel. Again: Awesome.


Alyssa

Once upon a time...

...on a brisk night while waiting for keys to a van, seven college students shivered as a chilly breeze swept by. This was the start of many obstacles to come. There would be a four hour drive to Minneapolis. The good news was that the students arrived early at 3:45 am and were ready to print their tickets. Bad news was that no one came in until 4:15 am, and the students waited in line for 20 minutes before realizing that the were in the wrong line. Oops.

After their plane was de-iced, the students had a pretty smooth flight to Houston. From there, it only took them about 10-15 minutes to find their next gate. All seemed to be looking up until their flight was delayed 10 minutes before it was scheduled to board. After another hour had passed, the students finally were able to board the plane that would take them to their destination: Belize.

Upon arriving in Belize, it was long before the students were able to board the water taxi that would take them to San Pedro, the island where they would spend most of their time during their stay in the country. The boat was crowded and warm with uncomfortable seats, but the students persevered...they had made it this far after all.

After what seemed like forever, the hour ferry ride was over, and the students had made it through their exhausting travels, but their journey had only just begun...

Alyssa