Gone All Day

Kaitlin Bosh

Journal January 5, 2012

Gone All Day

Gone All Day

The day started out waking up to the same wild animal noises- birds, insects, and monkeys. Breakfast consisted of toast, cereal, and juice. Immediately following breakfast we were supposed to leave to travel towards our boat tour. Departure time was pushed back due to some bus problems, but soon we were on our way. I laughed and had to take a picture that before Dwight started the bus he had to lift the hood and do something. The bus ride was very, very long- but much of the scenery was new to me.

After arriving at the boat tour location, we unloaded and waited for instructions from our professors, adults, and the tour guides. We loaded the boat and were on our way. Lunch was in coolers in the middle of the boat and I had a jacket on hand, so when we reached speeds of 30 knots I would be able to tolerate the “cooler” temperatures (that are still much warmer than Ohio today!). The boat ride was twenty-five miles each way and was about as winding and curving as the roads. Not far at all into the boat ride, we saw a baby crocodile that was sunbathing on log- and not far from it was an iguana blended in with the tree branches it was on. After the first twenty-five miles on the boat, we stopped at a dock where we would do some exploring. The coolers full of lunch came off of the boat and we had a lunch under the shelter. Lunch consisted of rice & beans, chicken, tortilla chips, potato salad, coleslaw, and plantains. The food was delicious and had much more flavor than I expected. In the States, it would be hard to find rice with such flavor. A lady I met at the airport told me that they use coconut milk in their rice- and I think that that one ingredient made such a difference. The potato salad had a little bit of a “spicy bite” to it, but it was also delicious. In addition, the potato salad had some kind of papaya fruit or something cut up and in it. Speaking of papayas, I tried papaya juice and was not a fan! The 80*F, super pulpy, taste like none other drink had a bit to be desired in my judgment. After I finished the papaya juice, I opted for a much more delicious Lime juice, which had a very sweet taste to it, not sour at all like I expected.

After lunch, we had time to tour the three little gift shops that were near the lunch shelter. Afterwards, we would start our hike through the jungle and to the Mayan Ruins. At the beginning of the hike, we hear a jaguar that sounded to be pretty close by. Our tour guide was trying to walk us closer to the sound, and we found lots of monkeys- big and small- in the trees. The monkeys were fun to watch as they were swinging through the trees and “howling.” We then continued toward the Mayan Ruins. The first ruin that I climbed was about half of the size of the larger one that I climbed. It was such a rewarding experience once I got to the top and was above the trees and could see for literally miles. Now, coming back down was a different story. The steps were so steep that unless you were at the edge of the first step, you could not see the others. A rope was needed to make the journey down the side of the ruin- it felt much like a repelling experience.

After climbing the ruins we were headed back to the boat to travel another twenty-five plus miles. This time on the boat we would see a large crocodile sunbathing. We boated a little past the dock where we got on and went towards the sugar-cane plants where monkeys often are found. After coaxing a monkey into the boat- we were all to hide the bananas we had to feed them and let them walk around us. On the way to the back of the boat, one of the monkeys grabbed onto my leg and used me for support while climbing over the coolers, backpacks, and coats. After eating a few bananas, the monkey decided he wanted to walk the edge of the boat and he climbed right up me to get there. When we walked away from the boat dock- a Belizean was set up with a few handmade items and tried selling them to us... a few students bought products from him and they were able to bargain with him.

Again, we only interacted with a few of the native Belizeans so characteristics such as families, justice, friend, happiness, materialism, technology, Christianity, and defining self are hard to understand. Through driving around the country for many, many hours today I was able to see some of the poverty that the people of Belize face on a daily basis. Sanitation is lacking, homes- even the nicest homes- are much less than what we have in the States. Seeing people walking on the sides of the roads, I guess that I assume they do not have cars or other forms of transportation. Public buses seem to be very common and many bus stops can be found around the entire country. Hopefully very soon we will have more interaction with the people of Belize and be able to understand their life in a better way.