January 21, 22, 23

Sorry, we haven't had good internet access!

January 21, 2012

This morning we woke up very early. We grabbed breakfast and quickly packed our luggage. We all said goodbye to the cooks and Sebastian's family. I wished that I hadn't packed my camera away because the cooks wore their traditional dresses as always, but today they wore lime, magenta, and purple. It was sad to leave those cute faces that waved as we pulled out of the camp. We drove four hours to our destination. I was sick with stomach problems which led to my dehydration incident later in the day. For some reason the bathrooms at the places we went today were unusable. We stopped at a gas station and the toilet was overflowing with nastiness. Then we went to the Garifuna Museum where all of the toilets had no flush handle, were full of nastiness, and the water was turned off anyway. We looked around the small museum and read about the Garifuna history. We had a “tour” of the museum as the curator talked about each area. It was very hot today, especially in the museum. I started feeling faint, so I sat down in the next room as the tour was going on. I was not able to get into a position that would take away my light-headedness. I asked for my drinks and tried to sip the water and pop, but I just felt more sick. Cody made sure I walked outside safely, as it was cooler outside. Everyone started shoving sugar sources in my face, but I really just needed some liquids. I “laid down” in the bus seat and took a mini nap; once I awoke I felt completely fine. I still had to use the bathroom though! We started driving to our destination again and then the van got a flat tire. Our bus drove ahead to park at the end of the road because there wasn't a safe place for us to wait near them. So, unable to hold my bladder any longer, I planned to go in the jungle. Luckily, Kendra and I were able to get Dwight to go with us up the road to find a house. We found a farm on top of the hill and the dogs began barking at us. Dwight yelled, “Hello?” and eventually a man came around the house and invited us in. I was happy to find a beautiful bathroom that had a working toilet. The house was similar to a poor American home. The home was small with the kitchen, dining room, living room, and wash room in the same...room. There was a TV in the corner and the unfinished walls served as shelves for little trinkets and collectibles. I'm sure that the family thought I was funny because I walked all the way up and back down the road holding a roll of toilet paper, but hey-you never know when you will need toilet paper or not! From atop of the hill, we could see the orchards, mountains, and creeks around us. It was so beautiful, I wish I would have had my camera with me. At one point in the road, Dwight stopped and put the bus in neutral. We were nearly on top of the hill and it appeared that we would go backward if he released the break. However, when he released the break, we actually moved up the hill. He said that this point in the road had many people confused and National Geographic even wrote an article about the strangeness of the hill, the consensus was that the point has magnetic forces. We ate at Cheers for lunch and we all had delicious chicken burritos. I saw a cool lizard that ran on it's back legs and had funny flappers around it's face. We arrived to the hotel around 4pm. It is a nice hotel, which is a nice change from cabins and concrete buildings. Cody and I will be staying together for the rest of the trip, which is really nice, too. I took a hot shower!!! It was so so so refreshing and I actually felt clean afterwards! The room is nice with tile floors, actual beds, a TV, and air conditioning! Several us of took our dirty clothes to the laundromat which was $7 U.S. for the whole service. I think that's pretty expensive, especially considering how that's $14 BZ. We went to the supermarket to waste some time and then we walked back to our hotel. Erika and I worked on our affluence debate and I we finished our powerpoint. We had pizza for supper which was similar to frozen pizza. We played a game of Euchre and I actually did well this time (unlike last night). Now, I'm finishing my journals and getting ready for bed. Yay for another day in Belize :)

January 22, 2012

This morning we went to the St. John the Baptist Anglican church. The church is the oldest cathedral in central America and it is 200 years old. The experience during the service was very different. There were so many chants. There were three different books that were used which were songs, chants, and responsive reading. The actual message was maybe 5 minutes long. The songs were without accompaniment and were very simple; actually the majority were songs that you learned as a child. Every 5 minutes or so, we stood up and then sat back down. Anyway, the service was really fast and I was confused just trying to figure out what book we were supposed to you at what time. We went to the Victorian Room Restaurant in the Best Western Hotel in Belize City for lunch, which was very good. We went back to the hotel where we changed into our swimsuits and loaded into two tour vans. We drove south to the place where we were going to go cave tubing. The roads were horrible after we got off of the highway, the tour guide joked that this was our complimentary massage that came with out trip. We arrived at the cave welcome center where we were given headlamps and our inner tubes. We hiked into the jungle for about 30 minutes with our tubes on our shoulders to the place where we were going to get in. We came upon the blueish-green river and jumped in onto our inner tubes. We immediately went into a large cave that went on forever. We floated under the roof of the cave and saw the stalactites that hung above us. The water was very beautiful, but I must admit I was pretty nervous about scary monsters that could be swimming beneath us. We came to an opening between caves and we were able to see the blue sky above us and the jungle that surrounded the river. There were vines hanging down from the trees and from the entrances of the caves. We went through a second cave which was even longer than the first one. It was definitely an awesome experience. At one point in the cave, everyone turned off their lights and it was so dark that we couldn't see anything around us. After we came out of the second cave, we floated on the river under the sky until we arrived at the place that we crossed earlier. We dried off and then drove back to the hotel. We took hot showers and then waited for supper. We all walked to the pizza place and found that there was no where to sit. So, a few of us stayed behind and waited for the pizzas to get done. The walk was a little scary because of the sketchy shops and houses that were along the road. Finally, we were able to eat and then I went to our room to start packing. We leave tomorrow for Caye Caulker at 0800 and I am so excited.

January 23, 2012

This morning we woke up early and quickly got ready to leave. We drove through Belize City and arrived at the ferry. We scrambled onto the boat and started off on our 1 hour ride to Caye Caulker. I felt a little motion sickness a few times as the boat rocked side to side, but luckily I was fine the whole boat ride. The ocean is so blue! The farther out away from mainland that we got, the more turquoise the water became. We passed many islands covered in jungle as we came closer to the island that we would be staying at until Thursday. As we got closer to Caye Caulker, the water became so clear that we could see straight to the bottom. We saw beautiful docks, some with tiki huts that stretched over the clear waters. There are beautiful, super colorful houses all along the shoreline. Palms cover the island and there is soft, white sand. I was surprised at the amount of seaweed that accumlates on the beaches. However, there really aren't any beaches. There are tons of boat docks, but there is only one public place that people can go swimming which is at the Splits. Finally, we arrived to our dock and we jumped off of the boat. The piers are so beautiful and there are so many things to take in; it's like we stepped into a postcard. We grabbed our luggage and walked down the long pier and through the town until we arrived at the china town hotel. Cody and I are staying on the third floor, away from everyone else who are spread out in different rooms across the property. I love our room, there is not anything special or beautiful about it. There is just... air conditioning and hot water! It's small with a bed, a nightstand, a tv, a fridge, a chair, a closet, and a small bathroom. I thought it was funny that the doorknob hanger that says do not disturb or needs cleaning actually says, “Do not dosturb and Please cleaning.” I think the English could have been translated a little better :)

We went out to eat at The Sandbox which is close to the ocean front. The food was really good, but it seemed like we waited forever for our food to come-probably because we were starving. I learned that I love Pina Coladas (virgin, of course) and that you can each conch (which is like lobster meat that comes out of the conch shell). I will be getting both of those tonight, I think :) Then, we walked around looking for a place to go swimming. We made a huge loop around the east side of the island and finally found the Splits with some directions. There is an old concrete pier that is broken in several places, but it serves as a place to sit since there is no beach to sit on. I threw my stuff down and jumped in the beautiful big blue wet thing. The water was the perfect temperature and we found that the ocean is really shallow near the shore. We were able to stand up easily at 100 ft out. Sarah found a starfish, so Cody picked it up and we all took pictures with it. We found an even bigger starfish farther out, which was pretty cool because it's not everyday that you find live starfish out in the ocean. We swam for a while and played chicken once. We avoided the seaweed as it was scary to get your feet in it. Apparently, Brighton cut his toe open on the broken concrete slabs and so there was a nice blood trail from the dock to the sand. Everybody warned us to not go near the concrete and to climb up around the other side, but of course, Cody had to climb up the concrete slab and cut his toe open, too. It was a lot of fun being in the ocean. It's so different from the beaches that I've went to in the U.S. You can see the bottom perfectly and there aren't any waves because the coral reef breaks all of the waves further out in the ocean. We walked back to the hotel past all of the street vendors and restaurants. We cooled off in the small swimming pool and then I went back to our room to shower. I did get a little sunburned on my face and chest, even though I put plenty of sun-lotion on. In a little bit, we are going to go to supper and then have class this evening.

January 19, 2012

January 19, 2012

I did not sleep well at all last night. For some reason tonight was the night that the barking and snoring came through my earplugs. Once I finally fell asleep I was awoken by the cold and I tried to become warm within my sleeping bag.

For breakfast, I had a tortilla with grape jelly. We started class and the debate was on same sex marriage. I thought both sides did well in thought-out arguments. I'm so glad that I did not have to debate on this topic because I just get sick to my stomach just thinking about it. Luckily, the topics that I have to debate are topics that I don't really have a strong stance on. I was excited that Dr. Skon told our class to talk to the Mayans with the intent to learn a Kechi word. That's a great way to encourage the group to spend time with the cooks and surrounding families. I really enjoy conversing with people of other cultures and I think many people miss out on the opportunity because they are comfortable with their own people. We ate rice and beans for lunch and then everyone except for three of us went to Punta Gorda to shop. I stayed to finish my paper, reflection, and research the other projects. I was able to get a good amount of things done. Then I spent the rest of the evening with the family that takes care of the camp. I went into their house to find an empty room that served as the kitchen. There was a miniature stove at one end of the house and at the other end was a counter top with a small sink. I was happy to see that there was dish liquid and hand sanitizer by the sink. The next room was a little bigger than the average walk-in closet. There was a single hammock and a medium sized TV in the corner. The 6 children and myself gathered in the small room and we watched a few minutes of Bambi. I looked into their bathroom that was more primitive than our showers in the dorms. Everything was blocks and mortar with the bottom of the shower rough concrete. They did have hot water which was evident by the electrical cords running to the shower head. I think there was a small sink behind the door, but it was so small and full of things that I did not even try to enter the room. I learned that there was a small bedroom where the 6 children and the mother sleeps. I was unable to see the bedroom, but I was told that there is one bed that they all share. The father sleeps in the hammock in the “TV room.” Their home was very small, but everything seemed to have it's place. There were no seats or furniture. There was only concrete and gray block walls. We went outside and the children pointed out that their kitchen is actually outside under a thatch roof. There were three small concreted squares that served as their oven, they build a fire and lay whatever they are baking around the fire. There was a small chicken coop made out of wood and a thatch roof. The yard was muddy with tall grass due to the rain. The house is blue with a silver tin roof. The children showed me all of the trees surrounding their house that bear fruit. I learned about plum trees, mango trees, orange trees, coconut trees, crabapple trees, banana trees, and two other kinds that I was unable to identify. They showed me all of the naturally growing herbs that were in the yard. Although I cannot remember all of the (Mayan) names, I was able to recognize some of the scents, particularly cilantro. I feel so dumb because I never knew that coconuts aren't brown and rough when they are on the trees. The coconuts are inside of these big, light green melon-looking things. When the coconuts are ready, the big green things fall and crack open which reveals the brown coconut that we recognize. I didn't know that there are different types of mangos either. During our walk around the yard I was attacked by ants and now I have many tiny bites on my feet. I learned many Mopan Mayan words that are very hard to say. It seemed like every time I repeated a word I was doing something wrong. Their words are very accented and it's difficult to accent them just right. After we ate hamburgers for supper, we listened to a speaker who volunteers in Belize as a teacher, business woman, and leader in the church. I learned many things about her ministry and her dreams to help the Mayan people of Toledo out of poverty. I learned that for one year of high school it costs $1200 Bz which covers the tuition, 4 uniforms, books, lunch, and other fees. That's $600 U.S. Each family here has at the least 5 kids. The parents do not work jobs that bring in consistent money. They farm, they make crafts to sell, but they are unable to make a lot of money due to their location and the worth of their crops. Many of the farmers go into Guatemala to sell their crops because they can get a better price. However, many fathers have been murdered and their money stolen when they are walking back from the market. The Guatemalans watch the farmers go by with their crops and then they wait until the farmer is coming back through with the money. I wish that I had money to give to the children of these families because with a high school education, these kids could have the opportunity to get a good job that will help to pull their family out of poverty. For at least 2 hours, the 13 year old girl, Jostina, looked at my wedding pictures on facebook. We looked at them together as I told her about my family and American wedding traditions. Then we looked at Scott and Haley's wedding pictures. She then wanted to look at mine again and then she ran to get her mother and aunts. The whole family and the cooks looked at my wedding pictures forever, so I showed her how to use the computer and then I went to take a shower. They kept saying everything was so pretty and I felt a little guilty because I did not know if they were making comparisons or not. I hope that I was able to give Jostina a dream for her future wedding, but I hope moreso that it will come true. I am trying to encourage her to want to go to high school, but I know that her reluctancy is because of the cost. She did not go to school all week because she had to babysit all of her siblings. I hope to write her a letter of encouragement before we leave. We started a Euchre tournament and I have 18 points after 2 games.

January 18, 2012

January 18, 2012

Today was an exciting day as we awoke in the morning to go to some more Mayan ruins in Columbia. The drive was about 20 minutes and we arrived at the muddy destination in our bus. It was so muddy that our bus became instantly stuck on the hill that was the entrance to the archaeological site. The men got out of the bus and the women went to the back of the bus to give it traction. They pushed, they put rocks, wood, and leaves under the wheels, but it was to no avail the bus was stuck. A few of the girls said they wanted to help push, so they jumped out to stand and watch. So, our group carefully walked down the muddy hill and up the next. Only one person, Dr. Skon, slipped in the mud and fell, but many of us were close to falling in the mud. We made it up to the ruins which were not as preserved as the other ruins that we saw before. There was a man who “ran” the ruins and we had hoped that he would help us get the bus out with the truck, but he was very rude and declared that we were stupid to try to drive it onto the road. Anyway, we walked through the Mayan ruins that were close to being piles of rocks because they had not been preserved as well. It was still interesting to be at another Mayan site and imagine what it must have been like thousands of years ago. Some of our group went into the jungle away from the ruins to play in a creek that they found. Brighton found a vine to play on which was hanging over a steep hill of jungle and rocks. Brighton, Cody, Damon, Kyle, Hillary, Erica, Dr. Skon, and I swung on the vine as we took pictures of our “Tarzan reenactment.” Then Kyle and Damon had a bright idea to go two at a time on the vine. Many of us said, “No guys, it's not a good idea,” but they both got on the vine, Kyle at 5 feet above Damon. They went as far out as the vine would go and then it snapped. We all screamed as we watched them fall into the jungle below. They landed on their backs on top of rocks and plants. I was scared to death that they hit their head or spine. Cody scrambled down the rocks to make sure that they were O.K. and they were both able to stand up with help quickly. Damon however was light-headed, so we had him sit before climbing up the rocks. Luckily for Kyle, Damon broke part of his fall as Kyle slightly landed on Damon's left half. They had multiple cuts and scratches with Damon having two deeper cuts around his ankles. We were happy to find that neither one of them showed signs of concussion and we rinsed their cuts off with water, since none of us had antibacterial wipes or band-aids. We started walking back and then “the nurses” ran over all freaked out like it was a major catastrophe. We were unable to get the bus out, so Dwight walked all the way back to our campground to get the other van. He was able to take the majority of our group back to the campground. I walked with the others who decided to walk, and we walked on the muddy road as we sweat from the crazily hot day. Dwight came back to pick us up once we made it to the village, so it wasn't but a mile or two that we had to walk. Damon and Kyle ended up being fine, just as we all knew he would be. We ate spaghetti for supper tonight and I helped the cooks make it because they had never had spaghetti before. I was sad to find out later that there wasn't enough for them to try it, but I was glad that I was able to talk with the cooks for a long time about their lives. I bought a bracelet and two baskets from some women that came to sell their things. We watched “A Class Divided” and now we are relaxing and watching The Big Bang Theory show.

January 17, 2012

January 17, 2012

Today we ate breakfast (pancakes with honey) and then we had class on love and justice. It rained so hard today that we were unable to go anywhere in fear that the bus would tip over on the muddy, washed-out roads. So, many of us took naps and did homework. I like days that we have breaks because we are able to catch up at least a little bit on our school work. It was a little boring though so we played Euchre for our break from school and sleeping. The bugs were really bad today, especially this evening. I have 100% DEET oil rubbed on all of my skin, plus I sprayed 30% DEET in the afternoon, so I haven't gotten any more bites, but the gnats and bugs are still bothering us. We had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch, and for supper we had burritos. Dwight told us his life story tonight and it was interesting to hear about his experiences. He's a pretty cool guy and I'm glad that he is with us on this trip.

January 16, 2012

January 16, 2012

This morning we slept in until 0800. I slept pretty well during the night except for when one of my earplugs fell out; I wrestled around trying to find it because without my earplugs, I can't sleep through the rain, snores, and jungle noises. I found out that we are currently in San Pedro, Toledo right along the Machaca forest reserve, which explains the jungle that surrounds us. When I was talking with one of the boys, Johnathan, I found out that there are more Mayan ruins about one mile down the road from us. I learned that the Mayans originally lived in Columbia and when the Spaniards came, most of the Mayans moved north. In the south, the Mayans speak Mopan and Kechi. In the north, the Mayan speak a whole different dialect called Yucatec. I also learned that the average yearly salary in Belize is $3000 Bz. This means that the people here live on $1500 U.S. per year. Now this yearly salary is based on those who have jobs and work in the towns. The Mayan villages out here make less than that because they pretty much just live off of the land to feed their families. Most of the Mayan's means of income is selling their produce or crafts in the villages.
The temperature has been really good since we left Kindred Spirits (first place that we stayed), the days can be pretty hot and humid, but at night the air is perfectly cool. I would guesstimate that the temperature during the days has been in the 80s and at night the temperature is in the low 60s.  Apparently, it stormed pretty hard last night just as it had during the day when we were driving. The rain drops the temperature several degrees, but the humidity increases so we still remain sticky. Today it poured the rain and it is still very windy here as the rainclouds move above our camp. In fact, as I'm writing this the rain is again pouring so hard that I cannot hear anything, nor am I able to see outside of my building. I don't blame anybody for being scared of the rain and thunderstorms here! I think I'll be waiting a while before going to the main shelter where most of my group is at right now. 
This morning, we had breakfast which consisted of scrambled eggs, beans, and fried jacks. It is so interesting that they have beans at every meal here. In Succotz, there was refried beans that were more like the consistency of soup because they were smashed up so much. The beans here in San Pedro are like kidney beans.
After breakfast, our whole group drove on the road that has been being built since last March. They have been blowing through the mountains and the majority of the road looks like it is ready to be paved. The road is mud, but it was smooth unlike the potholes that we drove on last Saturday. I was nervous about making it up the muddy hill in our bus, but our driver, Dwight, always does a great job. We went to a primary school today where the group set up more computers and taught the teachers how to use them, the business group demonstrated one of their water filtration systems which is a large straw with a filter inside, and the rest of us sang VBS songs and played games with the children. The filter straws were pretty impressive. Scott and Melissa demonstrated the straws by drinking out of a bottle full of rainwater, mud, and leaves, and Scott drank out of a puddle in the mud. I was amazed to see that the water turned from disgusting brown to clear, purified water. I learned that the spring break mission trips that come to Belize go to the villages and schools to give the people the water filters every March because the straws last for one year. The school that we went to was in Crique Jute Village which means Snail Creek. It was interesting to see that the school was built by the Peace Core in 1994. As we drove towards the school, we saw the block buildings change to thatch covered huts, but it seems like the majority of the homes throughout here are block buildings with thatch roofs. I have slowly learned that although the official language is English, not very many people in the Columbia-Toledo area speak English. The people that live here in the south are Mayan and they continue to speak the dialects of Mopan and Kechi. When I went into the school today, I spoke to the children in English and they did not know what I was saying, so I spoke to them in Spanish and they looked even more confused. I learned that the Mayan children are very shy at first, but after a little while they began to speak the little English that they did know and we were able to exchange names. The teacher told me that they speak Mopan here and that the children do not learn English until they come to school. The class that I stayed in was Infant 1 and 2, so the 2s could say the basic English phrases and were able to understand what we said. The children were so cute and it was even more fun to try to play with them because there was such a language block that we just smiled at each other and used sign language to communicate. These were the first children that were shy in front of the camera! I think this may have been the first time that most of them had seen cameras because they reacted so much differently. I'm so glad that cameras are digital now because as soon as you take a picture, you can show the children their picture. They giggle and point at each other as they look, which is one of the funniest things to see. Their smiles and big brown eyes just melt my heart. We sang all of the various songs that we learned when we were little like the hokey pokey, father Abraham, etc. We played several games like Simon says, but I don't think the kids ever really caught on to the directions. The girls just loved me to death and we did Ring around the Rosie probably a thousand times. I think half of the rhyme was English and the other half was Mopan because they lost me half-way through every time. It rained so hard while we were there and some of the older kids went sliding in the mud with some of our guys. It was hard to say good-bye to all of the children. Literally. It was hard to get away from them! As soon as I tried to leave, I was hugged by ten girls. When we finished hugging, I would be grabbed by ten more children- I was lucky to make it out alive. You never realize how weak you are until you have ten crazy first graders pulling on you and you can't escape. I finally was able to say goodbye so I began walking through the rain and mud to the bus. Cody calls out of the bus saying that he forgot his water bottle. So, I walk back through the mud and rain to find it. I make it to the door  of the classroom and I spot it. Unfortunately, the children spotted me first so the hugging started again. I even got a kiss from one of the girls named Lianee. It seems like most of the children have English names, but they are pronounced and spelled much differently.
We drove back to our camp where we ate chicken, rice and beans. There are so many people complaining about the food here, but it's not bad, it's just bland. I was surprised that the chicken that we ate was so... skinny? As in there was little meat on the bones. I guess it gives a new perspective on the amount of food that the people have. I am a little worried about the food though because this is the first time this month that my stomach has been messed up. 

January 16, 2012 Continued

Well, I took a nap instead of doing homework and then we had class. The debate today was on Euthanasia and the four people presenting did very well. We ate supper (tortillas and eggs) and it did not fill me up at all. Some Mayan women came to sell their things, but I don't think anyone bought anything. I felt really bad that only a few people came to look because the women walked really far in the dark. I spoke with three of the young girls that came and it was nice to learn that they wanted to be teachers and one wanted to work at a business. They all three were going to high school. Then our group drove to Punta Gorda to get food for the next couple of days. We were able to see the ocean even though it was very dark. The town did not feel safe at all and I was happy to leave.

January 15, 2012

January 15, 2012

This morning we went to church in San Ignacio. We ate BBQ chicken for lunch and then we finished packing our bags. Our group and the business group left the campground and headed down south. We spent the whole day in the bus as we drove 6 hours to our destination at another campground. This campground seems nicer so far due to the girls dorm set up. The scenery was beautiful along the way, there were so many mountains and fields of oranges and bananas. Although we haven't seen what is around us yet because of the dark, it seems as though we're in the middle of the jungle. I showed all of the little kids the pictures on my computer because they were all so interested that I had  a computer. They all gathered around, almost on top of me to see what I was doing. I've already memorized their names! I love the kids here, they were so funny as they chased Scott around the main shelter. I must admit, I'm a little nervous about the bat that is flying above our heads, I hope he doesn't run into me!

January 14, 2012

January 14, 2012

This morning, three nice, air conditioned vans came to take us to mountain pine ridge. The van was so nice! The ride was smooth, the air conditioning was lovely, and it was pleasantly quiet. We drove 1.25 hours to Mountain Pine Ridge where we went to Big Rock. We climbed down a steep descent to see a beautiful waterfall. The rocks were pretty slippery, many of the girls fell on the way down. We took a couple of pictures of the river and waterfall, and then it started pouring rain. So, we all scrambled to get back up the steep climb back to the top of the mountain. We were all soaked, but I really enjoyed the hike. I have found that I love climbing up and down mountains and rocks, but when it comes to stairs- they are my worst enemy. We drove to Pools of Rio where we ate sandwiches by some mennonites. Our tour guide called them the “money-nites” because he said they love money. Our tour guide was pretty cool, his name was Philip. After lunch, we drove to the Caves of Rio where we went inside the biggest, most awesome cave ever! There were stalactites, a river running through the center, and plenty of cool rocks to climb on. It truly was amazing to look out of the cave into the jungle that was covered in sunshine. We had military escorts that came with us because apparently people from Guatemala have been stealing plants and tourist's property in Belize. The cave was very close to the border, so the two men carried AK47s to ensure our safety. The military stay in an old British military training camp that has long been deserted. There were houses and barracks that were shut up with weeds grown around them, and it felt like a scary movie driving through the old camp. After the sweet cave, we went back to the Pools of Rio where we went swimming in the pools. There were multiple waterfalls and rapids, so we had all kinds of excitement. Several people got cuts and bruises falling on the slippery rocks in and out of the water. We all went behind a waterfall, which was a pretty cool experience. We went down the “slides” that were created from the rocks and rapids. I felt like we were the Swiss Family Robinson a little. I did get a couple of nice bruises from going down the slides, but it was a lot of fun. Swimming felt great. Once it was finally sunny, we had to leave. By the way, the roads were pretty awful- the constant holes and washouts reminded me of Ecuador. The road was mud, pot holes, and streams. The whole mountain was covered in pine trees, which was different to see since we have been driving through jungles. The landscape on the way up to the mountain was amazing, there were mountains, creeks, crop fields, and many trees. It is so neat to see banana, orange, and other fruit trees everywhere. We passed by several Mayan villages where we were able to see how the houses were built on levels on the side of the mountain. We passed by the one of the last Mayan Shaman's house and old clinic, which was kind of neat to hear a little about the late Mayan healer. Today was a really cool day, the climbing and hiking made this to be my favorite day thus far. We went back to our campground where we stuffed food into our starving stomaches, then I took a nice shower. We are now watching The Book of Eli.

We learned about the tataduende (grandpa dwarf) which is a old, white-haired dwarf man with feet that are backwards and he only has four fingers because he is without thumbs. The Mayan legend is still passed down to the children and the story goes that if anyone walks into the jungle and sees the tataduende, then they must wave to him with their thumbs folded into their palm because if he sees their thumbs, then he will cut them off for himself. We learned about the weeping woman legend. She is a beautiful woman who leads men into the jungle only to leave them so that they are lost forever. She does this because in her life, an elicit affair with a man took her only child, so now she hates men. We also learned about the Mayan rain god Chaar who cries from heaven.