Many Hands Make Light Work!

Written By: Kayla Bishop
Sunday December 13, 2009

Day one was an introduction to the Belizean life style. From narrow, curvy, winding roads to humongous speed bumps, our big white van made its way around the San Ingnacio, Belmopan and Los Flores area. When traveling in Belize you have to remember that you’re on Belizean time.
Our morning started off by many of us getting up for a refreshing swim in the pool at 6:00am, while watching the migrating and local birds in the trees above. We all enjoyed a delicious Belizean breakfast buffet at the hotel, and were able to sit on the patio and see the toucans fly through. At 8:30am we decided to embrace our day and headed off on our travels. Our first stop was a guided tour of Xunantunich Mayan Ruins. The name Xunantunich came from the Mayan people and means Stone Maiden. To get to the archaeological site, we had to drive the van onto a wooden ferry and ride the ferry across the river. There was a gentleman that propelled the ferry by a crank system. Cruise was our very knowledgeable tour guide for the morning and had lots of interesting history and information to share with us. We toured the foundations of the remains of what were once buildings. We climbed up to the top of El Castillo – the huge impressive building in what once was a Mayan city. A little unsure we climbed up the steep, slippery steps to the top of the foundations where we had spectacular views of the rest of the site and surrounding area, we are able to see the Guatamalan border in the distance. With the ledge overlooking a 130 feet drop off many of us held on tight to the wall behind us only being 3-4 feet from the edge. We also saw the ball court area, where the Mayans used to play a ball game, similar to as what we call soccer today. We learned so much about the Mayan culture and their history at Xunantunich.
After touring Xunantunich and feeling like we were melting in the heat, a few of us were worried that the rest of the trip would be a disappointment, we soon found out that the all their was to learn and see on the trip was only just beginning! We headed off to a community chicken barbeque in Los Flores. The community that we had lunch in was a small community just outside of Belmopan, many of the people in the community were refugees from El Salvador. At the park we were able to meet some of the local community members and Eloy Waight, who is the SHARE contact in Belize. We also met Nectaly, Denver, and Isaiah, 3 students who SHARE gave scholarships to so that they could go on for further education. The education system in Belize is much different than what we are used to in Canada, the government pays for students to attend elementary or primary school, but students must pay tuition to attend high school. SHARE sponsors some students that are unable to afford tuition for high school so that they have the opportunity to continue studying. After the delicious lunch, Les donated a sewing machine and fabric on behalf of SHARE, to a local group of women. The sewing machine will give these women the opportunity to sew items for themselves, but also to sew items that they can sell to make an income to provide for their families. There were also some soccer balls that were given to some of the children in the community. After the barbeque, we headed off to dairy farms that are sponsored by SHARE Armenia. Eloy explained to us how some of the farmers in Belize do everything by hand. The land that these farmers are turning into pasture is full of lush vegetation. There is no way that you can walk straight into one of these plots of land before they are cleared and expect to be able to find your way out. The farmers use a machete to cut down trees, branches etc to clear a path through the lush forest. The fencing that the farmers have put up in preparation for the cows that SHARE will be donating to them, consisted of tree lines and barbwire in rows 5 high. They made sections out of their land which they would turn into pastures and later will need to get a water source for their pasture fields. Many of the farmers in Belize live in the towns and then have their farm land elsewhere. The farmers that we met that took us to their plots of land that they were clearing each had 15 acres of land, there were 5 different farmers, but they all worked together in clearing off the land to prepare for their cows to come. It was amazing to see the work that goes into clearing the land, and how they contribute to help and work with their fellow farmers. Many of the farmers, like the ones we met, are very hard working and smart people, that until they have people and organizations like SHARE to help give them a hand up, they don’t have the resources themselves to establish their farmland and purchase their own cows. SHARE helping and believing in these farmers will help to give them the resources to be successful in their enterprises. We made a fast departure from the fields to the bus after looking at the cows – none of us wanted to get caught in a Belizean rainstorm! The generous farmers insisted that we drink as much coconut milk as possible – cutting them off of the trees and handing many coconuts through the window for our enjoyment. With this being said Samantha, Les, and Ben thoroughly enjoyed the taste of coconut milk, as the rest us found it very amusing watching them. Samantha, had a hard time getting out those last drops of coconut milk, but luckily Lorraine came to her rescue with straws to get the final drops!
Traveling down the Belizean equivalent of the 401 in Ontario, is very interesting with many amazing sights. You never know what you may come across or see on the roads! As we were driving down the roads sometimes we will see random horses or cows tied to a tree on a long lead, where they are put to eat for the day. Also there are chickens crossing the roads in front of the van as we drive through some of the small communities and stray very skinny dogs. Belizean people are always biking everywhere or walking and they don’t worry about sharing the roads with cars, or hurrying to cross the road when you’re coming towards them. Some people like to carpool, but in Belize there is no need to ride in the front of the vehicle, many of them seem to drive pickup trucks and have their boxes full of people. Belize is a very colourful country, made up of colourful houses with beautiful trees, foliage and a variety of flowers. The country is in full bloom with lots of growth and vegetation.
We finished our day off with a fantastic meal at the Cahal Pech hotel, another hotel quite close to ours. We enjoyed another wonderful Belizean meal and all came back with very full stomachs!
Today was a great way to start off our trip. It was interesting to see what the landscape and structures that were here many years ago and the way the Mayan people lived. Today we got to see a clear demonstration that many hands make light work. To me this is what Belize is all about and how some of their farmers become successful. The community came together to host a barbeque to raise money to provide another scholarship for another student in the community to have the opportunity to go on to high school. I soon began to realize that with a heart and dream, you have nowhere to go but forward; and to me this is what this country is doing. As exhaustion hit me from a big day and amazement, I lay awake only wondering what tomorrow may bring!