The Edge of the Jungle

I woke up this morning to the lovely pitter patter of the rain around us. It’s now the fourth day in a row that it was been raining in the morning. Today was an extra special day, we had to pack all our belongings up and check out of Cahal Pech Village Resort. We had to be up and ready to leave for 8 o’clock, breakfast this morning was at the hotel. After we had all finished eating we jumped in the van and got on the road.
As we began driving down the road we noticed the landscape was changing around us. In San Ignacio the hill were rolling and there was flat lands. The trees were cleared and the land developed along the road. The farther south we went the higher the hills got, they soon turned into mountains. The rain forest was all around us, there was very little land that was cleared. We noticed there was some land that looked as if it was burned down. The roads and bridges were very narrow. Looking into the distance we could see the mountains peeking though the misty clouds. There was finally sun; the clouds were clearing as we came to our first stop of the day.
We stopped at the Blue Hole National Park, which was alongside the road we were traveling on. There was a clearing in the forest were we could park and a pavilion to sit and relax at. The worker there told us that the bugs we out today and suggested we load on some bug spray. As we began our hike into the forest, there was a pebble path way to show us the way through the trees. The path way started to slope downhill and become very rocky, and then there was a set of stairs. The stairs took us to a platform in front of the Blue hole. There were trees, ferns and flowers all around us; a stream was coming down the rocks creating a small water fall in front of us. The stream fell into the Blue Hole; the water in the hole was very clear and blue. There was a bit of a ledge around the hole in the water and then the ledge just dropped off, creating a deep hole. The water was flowing quickly down stream, past a log, and disappeared under the rocks. The river goes through a cave for a good distance from where it goes under before it comes out again. We started our way back up to the van and we were asked to sign the guest book.
Along the road we began to see citrus farms and some small development. As we made our way further south we came to a small development of houses. There we found Les’s favourite bakery, Kropf’s Bakery. The bakery was in a small white building with a porch wrapping around two sides. At Kropf’s Bakery they made Cinnamon buns, cookies and other baked goods, they also served lunch. Some of us bought cinnamon buns, they were the size of a small salad plate, covered with cinnamon and icing which made them taste very good. Some of the citrus farms along the road are being left to get over growing and turn back into forest. This is due to the new hybrids of citrus plants, many farmers want to have small trees (dwarf trees) that are easier to pick from. We pasted two citrus plants, the one made pulp and makes pellets for livestock feed, the other just made pulp.
Marie Sharps Hot Sauce plant was out next stop. We turned off the highway on to a dirt road that was very rough and was lined with orange trees. There was a fence lining the property, the gate was closed and an old man came to open the gate for us and we gave him a Canadian key chain as a gift. The factory was a big white building, had an office, store, factory room and storage. They were unfortunately not in production today but we still got to talk to one lady and shop in the outlet store. In the store they sell jams, hot sauces and drinks. They have about six different levels of hot sauces, and four or five different mixtures of hot sauces like grapefruit. They came in bottles ranging in size of small, medium and large. The jams were Banana, orange, mango, guava, papaya and others, pepper jellies and chutneys. There were free samples of all the hot sauces, jams, jellies and chutney. In the store they had gift packs available and t-shirts. They ship their products all over the world and have different labels according to where they are going to ship the product. They have a new customer that is in Georgetown Ontario in a store called The Taste of Belize.
After leaving Marie Sharps Hot Sauce Plant the landscape changed again. We left the high mountains behind us and the land became flat and filled with many citrus farms.
We arrived in Maya Center and went straight to Nuuk Cheil Cottages. Nuuk Cheil means at the edge of the forest. We are located along the edge of the forest in a fenced in property surrounded by trees, plants and wildlife. The cottages are run by a traditional Mayan family. There is a main building with a gift shop, herbal store and office; it is a small building with two main rooms. The cafeteria building is besides the main building, it is a circle building with a thatched roof. It is filled with tables, a TV and a kitchen attached to the side of the building. There is a stone path way that leads through the property towards the rooms; the rooms are medium sized with two beds. The buildings are decorated with traditional Mayan decor and are open with netting to keep bugs out. We brought our bags to our rooms and got a few minutes to setting in. After we were settled in we had an orientation where Ornesto introduced himself. He told us that his family and he run the cottages and they are living in a traditional Mayan life style.
We left for the banana tour at the Maya King Banana farm. Our tour guides name was Megal Monray; he is a manager of four banana farms with a total of 1160 acres of fruit. The banana trees are planted as little seedling, it will take 9 months until it can produce a bunch of bananas. A banana plant needs good drained soil and to be watered often. After the banana starts to grow it will take 63 to 73 days until they are ready to be picked for shipping depending on the weather. A bag is put on the bananas to protect is from bugs, also a ribbon which indicated when it should be picked. The trees are tied up or supported with bamboo to protect them from the winds. One bunch of bananas can produce up to 100 individual bananas. The plants are fertilized every 60 days with UREA and potash; they will get 3 ounces per plant, they are sprayed with a chemical pesticide by airplanes. Once the bananas are removed the top of the tree is chopped down and there will be a tiller attached to the root that will produce the next tree, only one bunch of bananas per plant. The tiller must be attached to the root or else it cannot grow and use the mother plants nutrients to survive. The bananas that are harvested off the tree they are attached to a monorail, which is a track system that they string up 25 bunches to, one person will pull them to the shed. Sometimes a person carrying a load of bananas will have to travel up to one mile from the back of the fields to the shed. From the shed the bananas are washed with water, chlorine and bacterium. From there they are stripped off the stem put into more water and checked for imperfections. If the banana is ripe, rotten, short, long, too big or to small they are considered imperfect. The imperfect ones are bunched and sold at local markets. The one that are good are put into bags, boxes and then on to pallets and are shipped to England. The bananas are harvested three days a week and are shipped every Monday. The bananas are always in season and will grow depending on how the weather is. The whole farm is irrigated; the water is pumped from the river and filtered before it gets to the trees. All the water runoff goes back into the river. The banana plants are susceptible to nematodes, when the nematodes are sprayed the worker must have full body protective wear on, only work for 4 ½ hours and be checked for cholesterol levels. There is about 7 ½ workers per acre harvesting the bananas, and 63 workers in the shed cleaning them. Each worker gets paid $1.50 per hour and work three days on one day off. Three buses bring the workers into the farm every day. There is one man that goes through the fields to scout and check when the bananas will be ready for harvest. There is really no good soil for growing bananas in Belize, but these bananas are given more fertilizer so they become a sweeter fruit.
What a day it was, filled with lots of activities and excitement. We finished the day with a Mayan dinner in the cottages. We got to relax the rest of the day and check out the local shops around our hotel.

Written by: Denise van Winden

It’s Beginning to Feel a lot like Christmas

The morning started off a little slower due to rain. The rain was a nice gentle rain that hit the top of the cabanas. We made our way up to breakfast at the hotel.
After breakfast we got on the road for a first stop of the day at San Ignacio farmers market. It was similar to the St. Jacobs market in Ontario, except the market here in Belize had more produce then merchandise, and much more bright vibrant colours with the tropical fruits. We saw many fruits that we have never seen in Ontario like Sorril and Noni. The market is open daily, for locals in San Ignacio to purchase their produce and spices. Many of the local hotels buy their produce directly from the market as well.

When we were done looking at the local produce at the market we piled back into the big white van to drive to Eden High School. The school has 425 students and 12 of those students are sponsored by SHARE, on scholarships so that they can afford their high school tuition fees. The school buses students in from some of the local rural areas, some students have a long morning bus ride down some of the bumpy backroads to get to school each morning. Even though students in rural areas are bussed to school some may have to walk up to three miles to get to their bus stop. Of the students at the school approximately 40% of them will carry on to University. The students all wear uniforms, a white blouse, with a school crest sewn on to the front, that was stark white and a brown skirt for the girls and brown pants for the boys. The school has a small agriculture program, where they teach the students about garden production. Eden High School is not like one of our schools at home. It’s built in a rectangular shape with the middle being free space with a few trees. Their classrooms are built side by side and once you exit the classroom you are outside again.

We were invited to visit Eden High School to watch the student’s variety show. It was similar to our Christmas concerts in Canada, but the students were excited about being done their last exams of the semester, so were chatting back and forth alot during some of the presentations. It was really interesting to get to be at the school to watch their variety show and see the various talents of the students at Eden High School. The students at Eden High School can choose to participate in a music program, the program began when a SHARE donor visited Belize and brought a keyboard to the school to donate to them. The students had various instruments that they used throughout the performance including, recorders, a flute, drums, a harp and a key board. They used their instruments to play songs such as, Silent Night, Angels We Have Heard, Dashing Through the Snow and Away in the Manger. One of the interesting performances that the students did was a Christmas song that they rapped. A few of the performances included dancing as well. During some of the performances the students got excited and started throwing candy and confetti at the group! It was a very interesting show that the students put on, but it definitely felt weird listening to Christmas songs and seeing Christmas decorations, while the weather is warm!

After the concert we travelled to Belmopan, the capital city of Belize to meet Nectaly Vela, a former SHARE scholarship student. He now works for the University of Belize, doing their graphic design for their website. It is amazing to see how a student can go from having next to nothing to having a good job with the University of Belize all because of the help of an organization like SHARE, who made it possible for him to attend high school.

After visiting with Nectaly we made our way over to Cheers, were we had lunch. Cheers is a restaurant that was along the Western Highway, but seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. The building was well kept and the dining area was perfect. It kept us from getting wet when it started to rain again but still had a light breeze flowing through the area so we didn’t get to warm. The food was really good and everyone enjoyed their meals.

After getting a tummy full of good food we made our way over to the Belize Zoo. When we walked in one of the employees at the zoo was holding a Boa Constrictor. He asked if we wanted to hold it some of our group members were brave enough to do so, I wasn’t going to touch that thing! Our brave guide Les even pet the snake! After some of our group held the snake, we continued on throughout the Zoo. Walking through the Zoo felt like you were in Jurassic Park, hearing all the different animals and looking at the lush vegetation. While walking through the Zoo we were introduced to many of the native animals that live here in Belize; animals such as the Tapir, which is the National animal of Belize. It looks similar to an Anteater just doesn’t have as long a snout. The Tapir is also sometimes known as a Mountain Cow. We also saw the Harpy Eagle which is the most powerful and largest Eagle in the world. In Belize the Eagle eats Anteaters, Iguanas and many Rodents. Harpy Eagles only breed every 2-3 years and raise one Eaglet. The Eagles have the best sight in the animal world and also have very good hearing. We also saw Spider Monkeys, who seemed to show off for us when we were walking by, climbing on the fence and running around. Spider Monkeys once were more plentiful in Belize, until Yellow Fever came into Belize and reduced their population. A relative to the Spider Monkey was also present at the Zoo, the Howler Monkey. The Howler Monkey is relatively small with a large head. They make a loud noise that makes people think they are a big Gorilla, it was great to get to see what the Howler monkey looks like, as we heard them howling on Monday when we were at Xunantunich, nobody could believe the loud noise we heard were coming from monkeys. We also saw an animal that we are all very familiar with back in Ontario, the White Tailed Deer. We continued to walk around the Zoo but it started to rain fairly heavily so we made our way back to the entrance and looked around in the gift shop to wait for it to slow up a bit. Once the rain slowed we ventured out again for a few more minutes before it started to rain again.

We all jumped back in the van to head back to the hotel wondering what tomorrow’s adventure will bring us.

Life at the End of the Road

This morning I was once again awoken by the crowing of the local roosters at the bottom of the mountain, crowing back and forth about what the day is going to bring for them. Next the trucks started up, with their roaring engines going up the mountain and their e-breaks as they’re trying to go down. That noise was soon followed with the local birds singing at the top of their lungs, trying to wake up the town with their majestic sounds.

We had breakfast at our hotel where a few of our group members had to wait a while before they received their meals, one of our first introductions to things moving along at a Belizean pace. The food ranged from a local America breakfast which consists of bacon, eggs, waffles or pancakes to a Mexican breakfast which consisted of refried beans, Mexican eggs and fried jacks to a Belizean breakfast which consist of fried jacks fresh local fruit and refried beans. The food was really good.

Our first stop of the day was in the Spanish Lookout Community to the Farmers Trading Center aka, a Mennonite Walmart. This trading center carried everything from fresh produce to clothing to hardware supplies. We were given a chance to shop around as prices are considerably cheaper here than when we go out to Caye Caulker. It was interesting to see all the different kinds of food they carried and how they are very similar to ours except with different names. They have the regular munchies from popcorn to chips to plantain chips, and the same cereals as us except with different names. I thought it was great to see some local favourites like Welches grape jelly, Peanut Butter, Redbull, Lays potato chips, 5 cent candies to even John Deere tractor toys in the store. I would have never guessed that they would have or be able to have the same type of food as us. It was a pleasant surprise.

Next we drove up the road to their local Westrac John Deere store and dealership. As usual they have the show of a few tractors sitting out front under a shed with a mower beside them. Inside they had a variety of different lawnmowers for sale where you are able to sit on top of them to get your feel. We were able to shop around the store. They had accessories for your trucks, hats, belts, t-shirts to all the toys a kid or college student, who loves John Deere, could ever ask for. You were also able to buy John Deere Cowboy boots for a much cheaper price than at home, which was a hit among the group. If you were a local in the Spanish lookout you were also able to buy all your tractor needs and parts from this location. Our group was very surprised by the number of tractors we have been able to see and how many in fact, were the great colour of John Deere Green.

Our next stop was Los Tambos Government Public School. This school teaches grades 1-8. These students are children of refugees from El Salvador and Guatemala. In Belize the government pays for students to go to school until grade 8 and once they reach high school students (or their families) have to pay tuition, if they can afford it. We had the opportunity to interact with the students as we handed out soccer balls, crayons, pencil crayons, pencils, pens, stickers and Spanish books to read. The students speak Spanish at home and learn English at school as it is the national language of Belize. We got to see and talk to the students in each classroom. The older male students, that were approximately 12 years old, played soccer with Aaron and Branden who seemed to get “schooled” in soccer by the local boys. It was very wet and muddy out on the field and the local students were able to manoeuvre and slip without actually falling and getting covered in the mud. The girls of the groups went into the classrooms and played games and read books with the younger students. The youngest students in grade 1 tried out their English, trying to ask us a few questions, but were only able to answer a few questions we asked them. The grades 3-4 students were eager to see us and have their pictures taken. It was great to see their school and meet the students. We saw what they learn in science and math class and it was quite similar to what we were taught at the same age. The students also brightened our day by their smiles and laughs. You couldn’t help but smile back and just be happy while you were with them.

We stopped for lunch at a local restaurant in the Spanish Lookout community. It was all you can eat buffet and they had two different types of rice’s, chicken in tomato sauce, mashed potatoes, sloppy Joes, vegetable melody and different types of salads.
In the afternoon we went to two local dairy farms that the SHARE Agriculture Foundation has helped by giving them a hand-up. Both farms were very different from our farms at home and I would say they were “eye-openers” for the whole group. Neither family spoke any English so we had a tour guide, Eloy Waight, to translate for us. The farms we visited did not have any hydro and took over 20 minutes driving down a very long bumpy, rocky dirt road that we thought at some points we would not be able to get up or down the hills without sliding. These farms really seemed to be at the end of the road, and you could see how much SHARE’s commitment to them really helped to make a huge difference in their lives, to help them to better themselves.

The first farmer was at the end of this very long road, up on top of a mountain. The driveway, as we would call it, to his house was at a very steep incline and as we tried to take the van up we got stuck and had to stop back the van down and then walk up the hill. Even as we walked up this mountain most of our group found it difficult to not slip on the wet rocks, it’s hard to imagine travelling in and out that pathway every time they wanted to go into town or for the children to go to school. The first farmer and his wife have a large family with 11 children and 15 grandchildren so far. Three of the children are still on the farm and one son helps with the cows. The farmer first came to Belize from Guatemala where he scouted out the land and the country, found this property that no one was residing on and brought his family over to join him. He liked Belize because elementary school is free and required by the government. SHARE sponsors one of his children to high school on a scholarship.

He was given 3 cows from SHARE and has grown his herd up to 30, but then sold a few cows and now has 12 cows and is currently milking 4 of them, once a day by hand. The cows are Brahma (for the weather and pasture hardiness and they are a cross between a beef cow and a dairy cow) crossed with Brown Swiss (for the milking aspect). He had a larger herd but sold some of his cows because he needed a surgery. There are 5 pastures he rotates the cows on and he cut all the brush down by hand, with a machete and planted the grass by hand. The milk they produce is used to feed their large family and they make cheese as well. They grow white corn and will harvest it for the family’s consumption and make tortillas out of them. He will then save some of the seed and use it to plant his corn crop for the next year. They also had lots of fresh fruit trees around the house that they eat and use as juice. It was interesting that these farmers actually use de-wormers such as Ivomec to deworm all their cows, as we would do at home. His son works at a pharmacy and is able to bring home the Ivomec to his father. Also surprising was the living condition of this family. His housing facilities have improved but it was nowhere near a typical Canadian house or even Belizean house we have seen. It was more of a shack on the ground with an open side for a living room, trees cut down at a young age as the walls and a tin roof. It was an eye-opener to see how this family is living compared to all of our luxuries at home.

The second Farmer lived back up this dirt road and down an even farther sideroad. His house wasn’t on a steep mountain so it was easier for us to get to. This family consisted of a grandfather and four grandchildren living on the farm. He had just recently lost his oldest son of disease and his wife went to be with the son as he died and decided to stay in Guatemala. This farmer seemed a little better off to us than the previous one but it was still an eye-opener for the whole group.

SHARE gave this family 3 cows to start with and the herd grew to 116 cattle, but the eldest son sold a bunch of cows so the herd consists of 60 animals now. These cows were mostly straight Brahma breed. He had just dewormed his cattle with a pour on Ivomec. He had just finished building a chute to have a better handling system for his cows. He has 5 large pastures he rotates his cows through and two smaller ones that he uses to keep the cows closer to the house at night. He uses the milk only for his family and does not sell any at this time of year, as this isn’t their peak production time as the cows are later in lactation. This farmer has one full grown bull and has three he traded another farmer for and is going to grow them up to help change up the genetics of his herd. The oldest granddaughter is in grade 6 and is responsible for cooking and taking care of her siblings, as her mother has left them with their grandfather.

Both farms have to milk by hand and have no hydro. The milk they get from their cows needs to be consumed right away because they don’t have refrigeration to keep it fresh. They both have problems with predators on their farms with such animals like jaguar and cougars. The second farmer said he lost 7 animals from his herd in 4 months to a cougar.

No words truly describe what we saw or felt today. We are very fortunate to be able to sell milk, livestock, and crops and have the luxuries such as hydro, a working bathroom, and running water. I am very honoured to be able to live in Canada and have all these luxuries after seeing the conditions other have to face to survive and just live in Belize.

Written by: Karen Moyer

From One Side of the Spectrum to the Other

Today was one of those days where we were able to take in so many different cultures within Belize. We started out with breakfast at San Ignacio Hotel, where we had an awesome dinner last night as well. We enjoyed a classic Belizean breakfast, with fresh fruit, fresh juice, fried jacks, eggs, refried beans, banana pancakes, and anything else you could want. Next to us was a large missionary group of southern Baptists, we could definitely tell they were passionate about why they were in Belize!

After we all had full stomachs, we met Eddie, our tour guide, and trekked into the jungle behind the hotel, where the Iguana Sanctuary was. Before we could enter, we were given a test that we had to pass. He handed out pieces of a leaf and we all had to taste it and identify it before we could go in. You could almost tell immediately that it was cinnamon, and in fact, we were right. Eddie let us know that the spice we see back home is actually taken from the bark of the cinnamon tree, which isn’t native to Belize. As we went further into the jungle, Eddie informed us of the different medicinal plants that Belize is home to, and what could be used in emergency situations in the jungle. One of the first things he talked about was a protein source that we could find. There was a black mound in one of the trees and he stuck a stick in and pulled out termites! There were only three of us that were brave enough to try them! It took a few seconds, but Brandon, Aaron and Kathleen could identify the taste like parsley! There are also some large ants that can be pinched onto your skin to close open wounds. They have really strong pincers and if you place them on your skin and they attach to the skin then pull the body off, they can act like stitches!

We slipped our way over the wet rocks to the Iguana habitat, where we would see the main attractions. Eddie gave us a bit of background, letting us know that the Iguana Project has been running for 14 years and their main objective is to protect and rehabilitate sick or injured iguanas. They have been known to be victims of poachers and are a delicacy in Belize, even though they are illegal to either have as pets or to hunt. The iguana project is trying to educate the public on how iguanas are a threatened species. They have about 60 iguanas that range from ages 1 ½ to 13 years old and 80 that are considered babies. Iguanas may lay up to 80 eggs at a time and in the wild, only about 10% survive due to natural predation. In captivity though, there’s about a 65% survival rate. In the wild, when the eggs hatch, the babies are expected to survive on their own. When we got into the housing facility, you could see the iguanas hanging off any branch you could see. Eddie took two of his tame iguanas down that he uses for other school trips. Gomez and Roxy are used to being handled, and it seems their sweet spot to be petted is on top of their head! Almost everyone got the opportunity to hold them, with help from Eddie we got a little bit more familiar with the strong, colourful reptiles. We headed next door to where all the younger ones hang out, literally hang from the chicken wire enclosure! He started piling everyone high with baby iguanas, they were in our hair, on our arms, and they particularly enjoyed being on your neck, just above the shoulder. Some had up to 15 baby iguanas on them at once! Their little claws felt like light pins on your skin, and gave you chills as they crawl up your neck. After the last iguana was peeled off us, we went back to the hotel, and along the way, Eddie challenged each of us to a tennis match, giving us a year to practice, he seemed pretty confident in himself! Several told him they would back to Belize in a heartbeat!

With the paper bag lunches that the hotel packed for us, we headed out to the Belizean Mennonite community, Spanish Lookout. On our way, we made a quick stop at Running W Ranch, owned by two brothers of the ladies who own the restaurant at the San Ignacio Hotel. They own about 1600 acres, and according to Les, have the best fields in Central America. Les let us know that there about 1000 animals, split into groups of 200, and rotated through the multiple 80 acre fields on the property. They have introduced British breeds into the herds, like Herefords, Simmentals and Black Angus. Some Brahma cattle remain, but the British breeds are more suited to the needs of the restaurant industry. Across the road from the fields are the processing plant and the store. The steaks available are relatively cheap, compared to those back home. A porterhouse steak was priced at $10.00 Belizean per pound, which is equal to $5.00 American! There are several requirements for outside animals to be processed at the plant. The animals must be on Running W for 30-60 days and be branded by the ranch before they can be processed.

As we made our way to Spanish Lookout, we could gradually see the quality of the roads, homes and the fertility and productivity of the land improve. It seems as the poverty level goes down, so does the infrastructure. Once we reached Spanish Lookout, we drove through town to a community park and pavilion that was built for the 50th anniversary of the community being at Spanish Lookout. The community has built a memorial depicting significant events in the community. It starts out at 1958 when the first 48 families moved from Mexico. The hand printed wooden plaques are placed chronologically in a spiral form surrounding an old, large Mahogany tree. We all enjoyed our lunch here and one particular memorable moment of lunch was standing over the trash can eating the juiciest, best tasting grapefruits I know I’ve ever had. You had to stand over the trash can because you had juice running down your arm as you eat it, and if the juices dripped to the ground, I’m pretty sure the red ants would have crawled up our legs!

Our first tour stop was at the Reimer Feed mill, locally owned and operated. We met Mr Freisen, the jack of all trades at Spanish Lookout, he’s the animal health technician, a chiropractor, the A.I technician, and a host of other things. He took us on the tour, which started by everyone having to put on plastic boot covers. They got a little warm after being in the grain mill for a while, sweat began to condensate on the inside of the plastic. Mr Freisen told us that during recent hard times in El Salvador, they quickly bagged and sold almost all of their corn products to help feed the people who were in desperate need. The feed mill uses locally produced corn, but get their minerals and concentrates imported from Florida. They also use citrus by-product in their cattle feed. Next on our list of stops was Mr Reimer’s farm. This is home to one of the oldest houses still standing in the community. Mr Reimer is the brother of the original founder of the mill. He has dairy and broiler chickens, which is the biggest commodity in the community. Mr Reimer milks eight cows and the vacuum pump is operated by a small generator in the barn. The parlour consists of two stalls with concrete floors and old wooden fences, that look like they’ve been there since Mr Reisen came over from Winnipeg when he was 17. Mr Reisen stores the milk in cold storage over night in stainless steel cans, and after the morning milking, he takes the cans to Western Dairy, the only milk processing plant in Belize. The calves stay just outside the parlour, and all the calves are A.I. They get their semen from Accelerated Genetics out of Wisconsin. The chickens are sent to the Quality Poultry Processing plant in town at 42 days of age. After hearing stories of crocodile and jaguar attacks on local livestock, we headed to Western Dairy for a much promised ice cream cone. The ice cream is produced at the dairy, and is some of the smoothest, tastiest I’ve ever tried!

After we returned to the hotel, we enjoyed a relaxing lounge by the pool until we headed to supper at a local pizza joint in town. Today we have been able to experience different industries within Belize, from Iguana Preservation to a local feed mill.

Written by: Kathleen Baird

Walking in the Land of the Mayans

We woke up this morning feeling refreshed after a long day of travel yesterday. Our first night in Belize was spent sleeping in thatched roof cabanas, with a breathtaking view of the city and the foothills of the mountains. When we arrived at Cahal Pech Hotel last night it was already dark, so it was an impressive view this morning once the sun came up.

We enjoyed a wonderful Belizean breakfast including some Belizean specialties like fried jacks, tortillas and fresh local fruit.

After breakfast our group piled into the big white van, to visit Xuantunich (pronounced shoo-nan-two-nich) Mayan Ruin. To get there we travelled by van to San Jose Saccotz, where we stopped to drive on to a hand-cranked ferry which took us across the Mopan River with the van. We all climbed back in the van to continue the drive up a hilly road to the Xuantunich Mayan Ruin.

We climbed out of the van to explore the Mayan history and culture in the welcome centre before we ventured the rest of the way up to see the archaeological site. We learned that the city of Xunantunich was inhabited by the ruling family, nobility, priesthood and warriors, while many of the other people of the community lived in agricultural villages around the site.

As we take our first step around corner, where we can get our first glimpse of El Castillo, the the largest of the pyramids, known for its frieze, which is a banded stucco decoration which at one time extended around the entire pyramid, painted the scared colours of red, blue, yellow, and green. We couldn’t believe how large and impressive El Castillo and the surrounding buildings are. When you look at what is left of this amazing city it really makes you wonder what our cities would look like if they too were left abandoned for hundreds of years. There are other ruins at the site that still remain unexcavated, which really lets you see how the site would have looked before they started uncovering these amazing pieces of history.

Our brave group climbed up the steps of El Castillo, to enjoy an amazing view of the Belize Cayo District and nearby Guatemala. We stood at the top listening to the sound of the howler monkeys in the surrounding jungle area. The noise of the monkeys sounded more like a chainsaw or a lawnmower than what you would expect a monkey to sound like.

We finished our tour of Xunantunich and travelled back to the ferry over Mopan River to start back on our way again. This time we travelled over some very bumpy roads, with our trusty driver Les manoeuvring around washouts and potholes the size of our 12 passenger van. At the end of the road we had our first glimpse of a typical Mayan village, as we drove through Arenal village. This village is on the edge of the Guatemalan border and a new school was built in the village 4 years ago, July 7, 2007 by the Government of Canada through the Canadian High Commission in Belize for friendship between our governments and people. This school in this small village teaches 170 children. We learned that not only are there Belizean students at this school, but also 50 students come over the border each day to learn in this new school and to have the opportunity to learn English. We were surprised to learn that many of the teachers at this school have to travel down this long bumpy road everyday to come into the community to teach the students.

We found out that only very few of the students from this village would go on to high school because it is not free, you have to pay for tuition fees, uniforms, books and materials. Costs are around $500 US which is a deterrent for low income families. It is also a long way for these students to travel out of this community to go to the closest high school.

After talking with the principal and giving him some schools supplies and soccer balls for the students we started back on our way again, bouncing along the bumpy roads, to our next tour stop at Belize Botanical Gardens at DuPlooys Jungle Lodge and Resort.

As we arrived at DuPlooys we were welcomed by a delicious lunch, where we all enjoyed some traditional Belizean cuisine.

After lunch we met our very knowledgeable tour guide Freddie, who led us around the gardens teaching us about traditional plant uses and many native plants of Belize. Ken DuPlooy was the founder of these gardens, he started the collection for himself but they are now used to teach local school children and also for extension work and workshops with farmers throughout Belize. There are many native plants as well as a few from other countries.

We also had the opportunity to visit the orchid house where they have over 300 individual plants and 150 species of orchids. The staff of DuPlooys travel out on expeditions to try to collect and discover different orchid varieties throughout Belize. One of the tiny orchids that was discovered on one of these expeditions was named after Ken DuPlooy. We also had the opportunity to see the beautiful national flower of Belize, the black orchid. The guided tour was very interesting and we learned about many of the plants in Belize as we walked through the gardens.

After our tour we departed to hop back in the van for another bumpy journey back to the hotel, in time to visit San Ignacio Hotel for dinner.
After a long day we were all full and ready for bed. Buenas noches!

Written by: Janet Jenkins

We have arrived!

Our group of 10 has arrived in Belize! After a busy first day of travel, from cold weather in Toronto, to Houston, and then to warm sunshine as we got off the plane in Belize!

We had a two hour drive from the airport in Belize City to our hotel in San Ignacio. We were able to look out the windows along the way and see the lush green vegetation and landscape of Belize. Everyone had the opportunity to look out the window to see some of the houses and towns along the way, a number of the houses were ready for Christmas, the Christmas lights certainly look much different without the snow!

Everyone was happy to arrive at the hotel and have their first Belizean meal after a long day of travel!

Our group was off to bed early to get rested up for the busy day ahead!

We woke up this morning to a breathtaking view of the city. Our hotel, Cahal Pech is at the top of a large hill, so provides a view of the houses below, with fields and foothills of the mountains in the distance.

After breakfast this morning it's off to Xunantunich the mayan ruin and Duplooy's Botanical Garden - we will let you know how it goes!

8 Ridgetown Students Prepare for a Study Tour in Belize

Hi, I’m Katie Hunter, the instructor of the Belize International Study Tour, at the University of Guelph, Ridgetown Campus.

We are preparing to leave for an exciting international learning opportunity, a group of our students at Ridgetown Campus are going to have the opportunity to learn about agriculture, horticulture and international development in Belize – while earning course credit to go towards their diploma.

There will be a group of 10 going to Belize, eight diploma students from the Agriculture and Horticulture diploma programs, our tour co-ordinator and guide, Les Frayne, and myself.

We will see botanical gardens, various types of agricultural production, including citrus, banana and livestock, and some SHARE Agriculture Foundation international development projects, while traveling the small country.

We will be departing on our study tour this Sunday, December 11th and returning on December 20th.

Throughout our travels, I will be updating the blog site, with pictures and postings written by the student participants about our daily tour stops and experiences – so please follow our journey!

I hope to be able to add their postings or updates daily – but it will be as internet access is available – so please be patient if we miss a posting one day – we will update our blogs as soon as we can get to an internet cafe!

Please feel free to leave us comments on our blog as we go! I will be sure to pass them along to all of my fellow travelers!