Construction at La Fraternidad

My account of our time in Xela has been fragmented (as you may have guessed) because we did a variety of different things on each day - our day consisted of, in a general sense, construction, lunch at La Fraternidad, and visits to the womans groups and churches.

The above pictures are of a couple stages of the construction that we helped with. La Fratenidad is currently building a new addition in the yard of their lot so that they can hold their larger classes on the premises and save the money they would otherwise have to spend renting a place out. W assisted in digging the trenches within which the foundations of this new building would be placed, and so over the two mornings and one midday we spent our time digging and hauling dirt out to the pile in front of the building - which by the time we left was very impressive, and is probably much more so by now.

The trenches had to be about one meter five inches for the walls and at stages along the way a little deeper for the pillars, so with picks, shovels and buckets we all got to work. But the time we left it looked like the foundation digging was almost completed, and if I do say so myself (which I do) we made a great little construction team, and I think the real team appreciated our work- even if they may have been a little skeptical to start.

But we left La Fraternidad feeling good about our contribution, larger in spirit than works, and knowing that it was for an excellent cause.

The Home-stay

As previously mentioned, we split up after the church service and went home with our adoptive families. We went in pairs, so after the service was over me and Steve jumped into the back of a pickup and headed to our home for the night.

The above photo, you may have guessed, is me with the family - from right to left in the photo: Maria Helena Hernandez de Cifuentez, Mario Cifuentez holding little Kendrick, 5 year old Diana, me, and Mario's mother who arrived in the morning right as we were about to take the pictures - she may not look happy, but she was smiling and friendly most of the time.

The family (whose names I hope I spelled right) were great, we arrived and all sat together on the bed and talked, quite successfully, seeing as me and Steve (Steve and I?) did not really speak any Spanish and Mario barely spoke any English. But we were able to communicate very well regardless, and we showed pictures and explained where we were from (with the help of a map of Canada) and generally had a great little chat, all sitting together on the bed.

We rose early the next morning and were given a fast paced tour of the house by Diana (who does everything at super-speed) which included the chicken coop they have in their backyard. We ate a traditional Guatemalan breakfast of Beans, cheese (really good cheese) and a fried Plantain rolled in sugar with thick cream - the latter may not be a usual addition, and I doubt little Diana's teachers appreciated the extra sugar when she got to school, but it was a very good breakfast. After eating I showed Diana a little hand puppet thing I learned who-knows-where and then we proceeded to play games until it was time to leave.

We returned to the church and dropped Diana off at school across the street, then Mario went to work when the rest of our group began to arrive and we toured the pre-school next to the church, where the 3 year old sang us some songs and we did our best at 'head and shoulders knees and toes' for them. We then had a quick look in the main school for the older kids (all 800 of them), this was quick out of necessity, since our presence created a greater disturbance the longer we were there, and so we had to leave before all sense of order had completely dissolved.

We then returned to La Fraternidad to do our last bit of construction and say our goodbyes.

Churches - Filadelfia

The other church we visited while in Xela was the Templo Evangelico Presbiteriano Filadelfia. Some of the funds for this church were raised by four presbyterian churches in the Hamilton are of Ontario, which is where several of our group members were from - Specifically Wendy, Heather and Deanna, whose church had been the main force behind the fundraising.

We joined some of the elders and the members of the building committee for a little sitdown/introduction before taking a tour of the church - I have to say, it is one of the most beautiful churches I have seen, it is of course not a grand cathedral, but the floors are marble tile, the pews hand made from cedar and stained a deep mahogany,and the doors are also hand made.

After our little tour we sat down to a great dinner in the old hall, and then moved over into the church for a service, after which we were introduced to our home-stay families with whom we would be spending the night. The evening was again an emotional affair for those who, for the first time, were able to see the fruits of their labor. And the church presented decorated plaques to each church involved in the fundraising. They sang songs they had prepared for us, and we sang a couple we had prepared for them, then we all split off with our home-stay families for the night.

Churches - Mont Sinai Nimasac

The above photo is of the wonderful people who welcomed us to the (here we go) Iglesia Evangelica Presbiteriana Monte Sinai Nimisac. Thant's the full name, obviously.

This church was especially dear to Lee and Eileen from our group, as they had been here five years ago when their church in Thunder Bay donated money (and workers) to help build the foundations of the church. They had not seen it since that initial beginning stage and so seeing the completed church, along with the many friends they had made on their previous trip was a special experience for them both - and for the rest of us as well.

The church continues to expand, and they have several projects on the go - we sat down to a snack of a hot rice and milk drink (which is very common in Guatemala - and tasty too, it's like rice pudding that you drink) - they told us all about the ongoing progress of the church and their struggles (no running water etc.) and we all mingles and took lots of pictures.

I should note - pictures are like candy to the children here, everywhere we go. I don't really know why, they've seen pictures of themselves before, but for some reason if you snap a shot and then show it to them they will crowd around and giggle and point, then in greater numbers line up for the next shot.

Our welcome was so warn at Mont Sinai that Denise and Dania literally had to corral us into the van to leave, since otherwise we probably would have spent the night.

La Fraternidad

The first photo is of some of the women who work at La Fraternidad and the second is of the view out over Xela from their offices.

La Fraternidad is a group of women and one man who work with groups of ladies from the local Mayan and Mam groups - I will not go into too much detail as to how they work with, but they are basically in the business of educating and empowering women in communities where men typically run the show - many of these women deal with abuse in one form or another and many of these communities have strayed from their traditional medicines and farming practices. La Fraternidad works with groups, giving them small loans to start their own businesses - they also educate the women about traditional medicines and have an agronomist who visits them and teaches them important, natural ways farming. Women from the groups can also attend classes at La Fraternidad for specialized training.

Over our three days in Xela we visited with several of these groups, all at various stages in development and were able to see the vast changes that were being made in their lives.

One group was fairly new, and there was still a sense of caution and shyness about them, but they were determined, and had used their loan for potatoes, weaving, and a cow (which still had to grow a bit) and they were learning more about how and where to market and distribute their potatoes as well as how many to set aside for the different uses that they had for them - feeding livestock, sale at market, and seeding for their next crop. It was important that they learn to handle their new business well, since they would be presenting La Fraternidad with an detailed account of how they were using their loan to profit and grow, and therefor be eligible for another. With this the women also learned math and the skills necessary to continue running a successful business of their own - for the first time.

Another group had been around longer and was working at the time of our visit with the agronomist, learning how to make natural fertilizer for their crops so that they would no longer have to use chemicals that would harm the soil and the water - something we should all be doing.

On another day we visited a group that had been active for 5 years and had 37 chickens and were learning how to use a worm composter - it was very interesting to hear the questions they were asking, and it really highlighted the complexities of introducing modern techniques to traditional farming methods. With the chickens, for instance, they had initially wondered why they should keep them in a pen, and not let them roam free and feed themselves as they'd been doing for probably as long as any of them could remember. Keeping them in a pen meant that the women had to feed the chickens themselves, and they wondered at the diseases that they thought would take over if they kept them all together - so they had to have it explained that although yes, they would be responsible for feeding all the chickens themselves, the chickens would not get diseased as long as none of them were allowed to roam free and catch the diseases that they would normally pick up in the course of feeding themselves. Practical questions, in my opinion, from women that were being asked to look away from everything they had previously been taught.

Also were the stories of the women themselves - they told us about how they had been given independence by their new knowledge, about how they had new hope and were no longer completely dependent on their husbands - most of these women now had their own source of income for the first time in their lives. It was very touching to see the light in their eyes as they spoke. One woman told of how her mother was also involved in LA Fraternidad and no longer spoke of herself as useless - in this case her father was also involved, and so a whole families future was being changed. Another woman spoke of how, when her husband had been wrongfully imprisoned 11 years ago (in Guatemala you're guilty until you can afford to prove you're innocent) and she had been left, with her children, at the mercy of the other villagers - now thanks to La Fraternidad she was able to support her family. Each woman had a story, and each group was different in their way of working - but they were all determined, all excited to learn and make a change to their lives for the better.

I was truly amazed (once again) by the work being done here - and not by a huge corporation or major non-profit organization, but by a small group of dedicated people, from a simple little house-turned-office, where everyday they found new ways to change lives.

The Road to Xela

We left Guate early and loaded everything up, then started the 4-5 hour drive to Xela where we would be spending the next three days. The picture above is a shot of Lake Atitlan as seen from the road. There is no such thing as a straight road on the highway, since these mountains are volcanic and so any valleys are winding affairs.

I had previously looked at maps of Guatemala that showed the different provinces and where the cities were, and so in my mind I had formed a picture of cities seperated by wilderness - as we have in Canada. Anyone who has driven through the mountains of British Columbia has memories of the great untouched wilderness that dominates most of the landscape - Guatemala is nothing like that.

Everywhere you look in Guatemala there are people - the road is lined with shops, shacks and quarries the whole way, and each valley and mountainside is filled with people and farms. Which makes sense, I suppose, when you consider that this country, at about the equivalent size of Newfoundland, has almost half the entire population of Canada - most of whom do not live in urban areas. There are, no doubt, places in Guatemala where nature has been left untouched - I'm sure in the North East jungles of Petan there are areas of undisturbed wilderness, as well as in the lowlands to the east - but the road to Xela is like one unending village.

We arrived in Xela in the early afternoon and dropped our bags at Casa Dona Mercedes where we would be staying, then headed out to meet the ladies (and man) of La Fraternidad where Denise works as a nutritionist.

Fransisco Coll School cont.

This is where those workers live. In fact, this is not the worst part of the slum as a new group of squatters have recently moved in closer to the dump. For our visit to this area we had only one person taking photos, so I can only show you this one - but this community stretches on and on, no running water, the fortunate have corrugated metal shacks to live in, others build with whatever they can find.

All of this is built on filled in dump, the city dump has been gradually moving over the years and as it does it gets filled in and the poor build on top. Many of these people come from the rural areas of Guatemala in search of work, but having arrived in the city with nothing they find there are no jobs to be had, and so many end up in communities like this one scraping by in whatever way they can.

Amidst this poverty is one of the gratest beacons of hope I have ever seen - built on filled in dump and surrounded by some of the poorest living conditions imaginable is a beatiful little scool called Fransisco Coll.

The school, with it's light green walls and beautiful murals is where many of the children of this community are being given their only chance at a better life. We were welcomed into the classrooms where we were presented with crafts made for us by the kids - it was the most touching experiencew I have ever had, these kids were, after all, just kids. They were so happy and filled with love, and each day they are able to leave the squallor of their lives and enter this beautiful school where they recieve the greatest gift possible - hope.

Before Fransisco Coll was built, children were born here and worked in the dumpo their entire lives (as some still do), now they have a chance for something better. Education is the only logical starting point when you look at a situation like this, because the question is always "where do you start?" so the answer is with school, with children - give them an opportunity to create something better for themselves and we may someday break the cycle that allows living conditions like these to be considered acceptable.

We left the school and toured the area around it, then headed to the CEDEPCA offices where we had our lunch and got an explanation of the work CEDEPCA does not only with Fransisco Coll, but in trying to stop the cycle of violence towards weomen in Guatemala which has become so bad it now has it's own name "femicide" and thanks to a system of impunity continues to get worse. We also recieved an overview of the social/political state of the country and an explanation of the full contact politics that talke place here.

The next day we left for Xela, and I will stop here for now, since I am obviously having a hard time doing anything in short form (although this has been quite condensed).

***Please excuse the numerous spelling errors that are probably in what I have written, and what I will write in the future - the computer thinks in spanish, so when I hit spell check it's poor little brain can't figure out why every word is wrong.***

Fransisco Coll School

The next day we visited the city cemetary, which overlooks the city dump. The first picture is a good example of the contrast between the rich and poor of the city - the huge tomb belongs to one of the rich families of Guate, and they built it next to the apartment, stacked style graves of the poorer people to show that they are "part of the people" of Guatemala. I think they may have missed the mark. In fact, the poor of Guate City wouldn't be able to affort anything in this cemetary.

The second picture is of the city dump (you ,ay have already guessed that) which is where many of the poorest of Guate work - thay scavenge the garbage for recycling material, which they trade in as a way of supporting themselves, they also scavenge food and clothes and building materials for their homes.

The mission begins

Welcome back sports fans.

You may be wondering why I didn't post a picture of Guatemala City above. The reason for that is that I never really got an overview type photo of the city - I have many many pictures of Guatemala City (or Guate, as it's called here and as I will refer to it from now on) but it's hard to find one picture that shows the many different sides of Guate, and so I chose this picture of the fountain in the central park on market day because: a- I like it, and b- my mom will like it. So there you go.

As most of you know I spent the last 10 days with a mission group consisiting of myself and seven folks from Hamilton and ThunderBay Ontario, respectively.

I will not go into great detail on the mission trip because there would simply be far too much to write, and theoretically, you all have lives too. But I will give a short overview as best I can to try to explain what I've been up to.

I arrived in Guate City after a couple of flights between Belize, San Salvador and Guatemala and after a short wait met up with the rest of the group in the airport, we then left and went out front where we met one of our guides Dania, who works for CEDEPCA, which is an organization that is in a partnership of sorts with the presbyterian church.

Okay, lets try this again. I was starting to write a point for point explanation of the trip and I will have to keep remembering not to, lest I end up sleeping in this internet café (hey look, I used an accent. Hope it's the right one)

Okay, so short form. We met up the next day with our other guide Denise, who works with another organization called La Fraternidad in Xela (or Quetzaltenango if you have lots of time)

fun fact: Tenango means "Place of" hence Antigua is sometimes called Gringotenango, or "place of Gringos"

Right. So we met with Denise. In Guate we visited the relief map which is a huge model of the country of Guatemala layed out in a park - it's to scale and showes the vast differences in elevation between the volcanic mountains and the lowlands to either side of them. We also visited the central square and saw the church there and the vast, crowded market there.

We attended church on Sunday at San Juan Apostle where we were recieved like family and did our best to sing the hymns in spanish, although for the most part we recognized them from their english equivalents. It was refreshing experience to be in such a warm and welcoming place despite our differences.

We stopped on our way back from the church and looked out into one of the valleys of the city where the houses of the poor had been built right down the steep sides. I was struck by the poverty I saw before me - I had seen it on television and in movies but it was never really hit me until I stood and saw it for myself. It's hard to describe the feeling, but it was like a deep sadness, it hurt to see that people live in such conditions - many for their whole lives without a chance at a better life. I will never forget that feeling, and I have felt it again and again during my time here in Guatemala.

Off again

In a few hours (okay more like 6) I will be leaving Belize for Guatemala, with a short stop in San Salvador in between.

I have enjoyed my time here, even if it's much more touristy than I had originally thought - there are many beautiful parts of Belize, and also of this little island. I have had an opportunity to get to know some of the locals, and for the most part they are wonderful people - though as with any place geared towards tourism there is also a healthy supply of hustlers here, but they are mostly harmless.

So off I go again, back on the boat, through Belize city and then into the air on the part of this trip that was one of the main reasons for the whole thing - the mission trip.

Over the next ten days I will have an opportunity to learn all about the work the church is doing in several areas of Guatemala, as well as a few chances to get my hands dirty and help out. As many of you know I started this whole thing to try and find a way to reset my own values, and now I look forward to meeting people who's lives, although materialistically poor - are rich in family and values.

So thanks for reading - I hope you've enjoyed the Belizean part of this adventure, and in ten or twelve days I will get back to blogging on the adventures I have with the mission group,

Thanks for reading, and thanks for the feedback.

Love and Prayers,

Andy

South of San Pedro

South of the town the houses stop pretty quickly, and only the occasional grouping of beach side condos or a house dot the landscape. Mainly it's an empty road bordered by water on both sides - to the east is the open sea, and to the left is a mangrove forest with alleys of water winding in and out of it.

If you look at the first picture you will notice the half finished concrete wall running alongside the road - these are all over the place, and I suppose they are in place to provide boundaries for lots - but they also have a secondary (probably unintentional) function. The alternating cinder blocks are hollow, and therefor create a maze of holes and tunnels, which the local Iguana population has decided is their version of a modern apartment building, and so they have taken up residence - in force.

Iguanas are everywhere in this part of the island - the are constantly popping out of the holes in the fence or running around either in the trees or on the ground beside the road.

They are not so easy to get a picture of though, the juveniles are more likely to sit still when you get a little close, but the larger adults (the biggest I saw was about 3 feet) are very wary of people and will literally disappear in the blink of an eye down into the holes in the wall.

Why are they wary? Well apparently the locals have a tendency to eat them - they say the Iguana tail tastes just like chicken, really you can't tell the difference. But that's not entirely true, because I eat chicken, I don't eat Iguana. That's the difference.

Out in the far end south of the island is where San Pedro's dump is located - it's not a very nice place, so I won't go into details about it. It's a dump.

A few more miles and you come to the end of the road where there is a little barbecue pit/bar and nothing else at all.

It's a nice ride, and the day I did it was perfect - not too hot (around 30, but cloudy) and with a nice breeze. So, now I have seen both ends of the island and gone the the farthest southern point of the Yucatan Peninsula.

North of San Pedro

I finally got around to taking a bike to the North/South ends of the island - we'll start with north.

After riding through the town (which with the crazy traffic is a bit of an adventure in itself) I passed over a small bridge and came to what id considered the northern part of Ambergris Caye.

It starts out as mostly just different developments, condos and apartment buildings, mostly catering to people looking for a place to retire, or just get away for a few months each year.

After that I came to an area of older houses that looked to have been around a little longer, as well as many newer beach side houses - most of which were for sale. Basically it seems like the island is trying to expand northwards -to what success I have no idea, but there's a lot going on.

Unfortunately little regard is being given to the surrounding areas , so you end up with a beautiful new house next to an empty lot covered in scraps and trash. But perhaps the plan is to build first and look into the landscaping afterwards.

N10-9 The Jaguar Temple/ N10-17-29 The Royal Complex

The Royal complex is a site of ruins located about a hundred yards in front of the Jaguar temple, and is where it is believed the Mayan Royalty would have lived. There is little left except several feet of foundations, with a courtyard beyond.

The Jaguar temple itself however, is still standing tall, and both of the Jaguar faces on either side of the temple are clearly visible. Night tours of Lamanai are available, and on these it is not uncommon to come across Jaguars while on the Jungle paths between sites. During the day though, the area is home to howler monkeys, which are so named for their tendency to howl at people and other monkey clans that come into their territorial domain.

So yeah, I finally got to see monkeys. Something I had been excited about since I first learned that they live in Belize - the monkeys we saw were actually very calm, walking in the trees high above us or lounging in the crooks of branches watching as we passed them by.

And so we returned to the boat and began our long trip back along the river, through the countryside and across the sea to San Pedro, arriving a full 10 hours after we set out that morning. It was a great day, a great way to see the country and an experience I will never forget.

The Ball Court

No, the Mayans didn't invent basketball - this is a ball game that we still have no idea how they played. The sides of the court are stepped almost like bleachers, and the players would try to get a ball made from the rubber trees that grow here into one of the baskets located at either side of the court. It is believed that the game was played with sticks, but that is as far as anyone seems willing to speculate. The rules of the game are unknown.

The court at Lamanai is small, a much larger version can be found at Alta-Hun - where it is believed that the game was played with teams. One thing is generally agreed upon, the goal of the game was either to win, and therefor be sacrificed as the favorite of the gods and ascend into one of the thirteen levels of Mayan heaven; or to win, and not be sacrificed as the unfavored of the gods and go to one of the many layers of hell.

This may seem strange - win to die? But the Mayans believed that the only way to go to heaven was to be sacrificed to the gods, and so being sacrificed at a time when you are obviously favored was an assurance of entrance into heaven.

A very interesting thing they found here at the ball court was located in a round flat stone in the middle of the court - the stone was found to be hollow, and inside it archaeologists found liquid mercury, which would have had to come from the highlands of now Guatemala, and the purpose for which is still unknown. Some speculate that this was the way in which the winner/loser would be sacrificed after the game.

N10-43 The High Temple

The High Temple is well named. Standing at 33 meters in height, it is a solid block of stone that towers above the surrounding jungle. And is one of the largest pre-classic structures in the Mayan area.

Construction on the temple began in the year 100BC, and even when complete, three revisions and additions on top of the original structure were undertaken throughout the following hundreds of years. It is an awe inspiring site, especially when I asked how it was built (it really is SOLID) and learned that although the Mayans knew of the wheel, they had no beast of burden and never used wheels to help them in any practical way. It is therefor believed that the entire structure was built by the local Mayans as a labour of love - built by hand.

We were permitted to climb the high temple which our guide describes as "Physical going up, psychological coming down" since the steps are built on a near vertical, so going up you are basically climbing with hands and feet, while going down you are staring straight at the ground below. There was also the heat to deal with, while on the ground in the shade it was a cool 90 degrees, up above the trees on the temple it was a scorching 110 - so after the climb you were literally dripping with sweat.

The view from the top is worth every drop though. The jungle stretches out as far as you can see - with small rises visible throughout the surrounding area where other as yet uncovered sites remain hidden.

It was also interesting that while standing on the ground, you can hear conversations taking place on the top of the structure clearly - making it easy to imagine a Mayan priest standing atop the temple preaching to the crowd below during a sacrificial ceremony.

N9-56 The Mask Temple

The Mask Temple is so named for the large carvings located on both sides of the building - there are also two smaller carvings about mid way up on the structure that are not visible - originally only one of the lower masks was uncovered, but the archaeologists immediately began excavating the other side, since the Mayans had a tendency to build things symmetrically. We were very fortunate to see this site when we did - because of decay, a replica mask was sitting next to the structure and will be installed shortly to cover and preserve the original. The fast rate of decay was due to the fact that, in one of the several reconstructions of this temple by the Mayans, a layer was built up around the masks and the space filled in with dirt in between the layers. Luckily, in covering up the masks the Mayans inadvertently preserved them for the future

Through careful examination the archaeologists learned that this temple was actually hollow, and inside it they discovered a tomb containing many different offerings of jade and other precious stones, as well as the embalmed corps of whoever the temple was built to house. The body was embalmed instead of mummified, which I thought to be an interesting difference between these ancients and those of Egypt.

Lamanai

Welcome to Lamanai - from the river only the top of one temple is visible out of what was once a thriving Mayan city. Less than a handful of the ruins here have been uncovered, and the landscape is covered in small hills and rises, and virtually every one of them is a ruin site - a Canadian archaeologist spent thirteen years here to uncover the four ruins which are visible today - that's three years per side, now imagine, there are an estimated 700 Mayan buildings here, and think of how long it would take to excavate the entire village.

Here at Lamanai the Mayans never actually left, as most people believe they did at all sites. I personally am guilty of this - I always thought that there was this great mystery of where the Mayans went, and why - but that is not the case here. Construction on the City of Lamanai began more than three thousand years ago, and people have been there ever since - it wasn't until the 1980's that the Mayans themselves left for a new town just down the river when the government made this into a national park. That puts Lamanai up towards the top of the list of longest continual human habitations.

We started out tour (after lunch of course) with a hike through the jungle, learning about the various trees that grow here and every now and then our guide would stop and point out a rise in the jungle beside the path, where a home or temple lay, still buried by the jungle that has reclaimed the city.

Rivers and Roads

This morning (yesterday now) I started off early on an adventure I have been looking forward to for some time now - the ancient ruins of Lamanai.

Now, the ruins are incredible, and we'll get to those - but you can't just get up and walk over to Lamanai, since getting there is half the adventure.

The boat picked us up at the dock at just after 7am and we headed south, past the tip of Ambergris Caye and then headed north/west towards the mainland, which is approximately 13 miles away.

But it's not just open ocean, oh no, we wound our way through a mangrove forest in the open sea - sometimes in open passages, sometimes with the mangroves within reach, and almost always at top speed. Our guide talked non-stop, and was a veritable encyclopedia of information, in the mangroves we stopped only a couple times so he could point out things of interest - like two of the smallest bats in the world, various details of the forest, and a small saltwater crocodile that, unlike his elders, was not yet aware that he should be hiding, and so simply watched us as we floated near him, and then eventually slipped below the waterline and disappeared.

We broke clear of the mangroves (I could fill a page on just what he told us about them alone) and after a quick spread of open sea we cut into the mainland through a river of brackish water that brought us to a small village, where after some breakfast and some souvenir shopping (these folks are the real artisans of Belize) we jumped in a bright green school bus and headed for the highway.

The highway . . . that may give you the wrong impression - according to our guide, the previous government of Belize sold all it's assets and allowed them to become monopolized - which meant there was one phone company, one electricity supplier, one water company and so forth. What this means for the highway is that in order to pave anything the government must hire a paving company (since it no longer owns any government services of it's own) and therefor pay a staggering 1 million dollars per mile to pave the road, this means that except for the main stretch of the intercontinental (which would have taken me back home if I followed it long enough) the road is a pothole covered, axle snapping grind that eliminates any possibility of speed and must be negotiated by an experience driver if you ever plan on getting anywhere without breaking down.

The countryside was mostly farms and small villages, as well as the occasional swamp or forest. The farms here are mainly sugar cane and/or cattle - everyone has their own supply of fruit from the mango, plantain, banana and avocado trees that are everywhere here - and the villages are small, mostly scattered little houses with the main buildings being the school and the church.

Here's an interesting detail -attending school here is mandatory, as in required by law. If a child is not attending school, the child themselves may get a bit of a scolding, but their parents may actually get arrested and/or fined. The parents are especially at risk of arrest if they do not make an effort to have their children attending school - and they are responsible for providing book, materials and the school uniform all kids are required to wear. As a result of all this, Belize has a literacy rate of 95-95 percent, and because of the diversity of the population children learn a variety of languages at a young age. Our guide mentioned that while he spoke 7 languages, he had a three year old at home who could already speak five.

So, after bumping our way along the road for the better part of an hour, we jumped on the mercifully paved Intercontinental Highway for a few minutes before arriving at our next boat launch - this one to carry us up a river to the actual site of the ancient city of Lamanai.

This second river ride was a high speed journey through the thick jungle that covers most of Belize, we stopped again for the wildlife, which consisted of more birds than I can remember the names of - although one was called a Jesus Christ bird, so named for it's ability to walk on top of the lily pads, and appear to be walking on water. We also saw a kingfisher (the largest of that breed) and a Night Hawk, as well as another crocodile and an Iguana high in trees.

Along the side of the river we came across the occasional house or farm, as well as two Mennonite villages that were founded when their inhabitants fled the Mexican government that was trying to force them into it's army.

Eventually we came to a large lagoon (as lakes here are called) and tried to imagine the way it would have looked all those years ago, when a city of some 700 buildings was here along with the hundreds of thousands of Mayans who populated it. We had arrived at the great Mayan city of Lamanai

The Reef

Yesterday was my first snorkeling experience, and I have to say - I may never top it.

San Pedro is about a ten minute boat ride from the second largest coral reef in the world, the picture is actually taken from a dock here on San Pedro - that white line of waves in the distance is the reef, so that's how close it is.

I met the boat at a dock about two minutes walk from the hostel where I am staying and me and an American couple were the only ones on the boat, aside from our guide who had the fortune of also being named Andy. The boat was made to seat at least 20 people, so with only four of us on board, we raced out to the reef in almost no time at all.

The reef here is part of the Hol Chan marine reserve, so if you want to take a closer look at the things that live there, you can probably find a web site for it.

I should also note that the water here, though quite warm in places (or perhaps because of it) is extremely salty, so after swimming in it you and anything you're wearing are covered in a thin layer of salt.

There were plenty of other snorkelers there, but not a crowd in any way, and there's lots of room. The water is fairly warm and ranges in depth from a few feet to about 10 meters. The coral is everywhere, and even breaks the surface in many places.

Underwater there exists a world unlike anything I have ever seen, as soon as you get in the water you are face to face with the fish - they don't like to be touched of course, but they will swim right it front of you or beside you. A short list of the kinds we saw would be ...

Rainbow and Midnight Parrot fish, A huge Barracuda and a huge Morey eel, Angelfish the size of my head, several different kinds of snappers, groupers, and a plethora of bright little fish darting in and out of the coral. Our guide also pointed out the various life that attaches itself to the coral, as well as bringing up a Sea Cucumber (kinda like a big slug) for us to see. A couple sting rays glided past while we were in the deeper waters, but a highlight for me was seeing a huge Eagle Ray gliding past. On our way back to the boat we had another highlight when we came across a couple of Green Turtles swimming in the warm shallow waters and feeding on the sea grass that grows there. We played tag for a little while, though I'm not sure they got the point of the game or enjoyed it as much as us.

People were diving as well, though to be perfectly honest it seemed rather unnecessary to me - the water is for the most part so shallow that you can stand, and the fish are always just barely out of reach.

After about 45 minutes there we headed out to what's called Shark Ray Alley. It's called that because it used to be a fishing ground for the locals, and the sharks picked up on that detail and started congregating every time they heard the boats. Now it's a protected reserve, but the guides have kept up the process of throwing some fish in for the sharks, so they've kept coming.

Now, being new to this whole experience, there are some things I had to learn. For instance, there are some parts of snorkeling that go against every part of natural instinct you posses, as I learned when, after luring a Nurse Shark about 6 feet long up to the boat by throwing fish to it, we jumped off the side into the water with it.

I have always found fish to be full of expression, don't ask me why, I just feel that way. There is wary fear in their eyes mixed with curiosity that I feel gives them a great deal of personality.

However, staring into the eyes of a six foot shark coming straight towards me made my blood run cold.

There is nothing in the eyes of a shark put cold, predatory calculation -there is no warmth, and personally I believe that comes from a complete lack of any kind of fear. So for a while we swam around with the Nurse Shark, and every time I looked in it's eyes I felt a chill run down my spine. Eventually though, it decided there was not going to be any more food, and since eating us would probably cause such a fuss, the shark went out in search of an easier meal.

And so after swimming out to another bit of coral, we returned to the boat and made our way back to shore.

The Locals

Welcome to the Tackle box - which until I got there I thought was called Taco box, thanks to my inability to understand almost anything our guide said.

Let me explain. On Sunday night me and a German girl from the hostel went here with one of the locals named Wally - who I thought was named Milton until he finally managed to explain it to me at the end of the night. Wally speaks Creole, and has dreadlocks down to his knees (really, he does). Creole is hard to explain, but the best I can do is to say that if English is a square, Creole is a circle. Not to say they're opposites, but creole is like English with all the corners shaved off - Nina (the German) was trying to get the locals to teach her, which I have to admit was hilarious to watch. It's the only language I've ever heard that sounds the same no matter how drunk they get - the words are already so slurred that it doesn't seem to make any difference. To say hi to someone in creole, you'd say something like "owya doon boi?" but with all the words slurred together, any hard consonants rounded off into vowels, and spoken as fast as possible. We drove to the Tackle Box in Wally's golf cart and hung out there for a few hours listening to the locals sing karaoke and even singing a few ourselves.

When we left we walked back along to the dock to the shore and ran into some young guys in camo gear with automatic machine guns slung over their shoulders - I only had a second to be worried before Wally attacked them with hugs and handshakes and they turned out to be very friendly guys. After that we drove home to the Inn, stopping several times for Wally to meet and greet people along the way, then after a long chat (of which I understood about half) the night was done.

The Bristish Occupancy

I have to note, it's interesting how the society seems to function here - Belize was a British colony until sometime in the early eighties (you may rem,ember it as British Honduras) and many brits seem to have stuck around, those that were born here are now running hotels of their own, and there it definitely a feel of "British rule" around those places (like Pedros) that are owned by the brits. That's not to say they are unfriendly to the locals, but they are definately in charge.

The Town

This is actually a picture of a fairly quiet moment on the main drag of San Pedro (called Front Street). The town's main three streets are named front, centre and back (they also have tourist names like "buccaneer", but the locals don't use those) and these are a constant blur of activity.

If you are looking for a quiet little island getaway, this is not it - although it is possible to get away from the chaos if you head south. The streets are crammed with souvenir shops, hotels and touring businesses all bearing names like "Searious" or "Seaduced" as well as an endless assortment of bars and restaurants.

The food so far is not what I would call a cultural experience - pizza, subs, burgers and fried food make up the bulk of menus, and food here is not cheep. That being said, in the last couple of days I have managed to find a couple of reasonable priced places that serve tasty food, so I am getting more optimistic.

Everybody here has something to sell, but they seem nice as long as you are willing to chat for a minute - it's hard not too, since they are well aware that nobody here actually ever has to be anywhere.

Pedros Inn

Welcome to Pedros Inn. This is a view of the pool as seen from ther balcony on top of the bar.

I arrived here after a short cab ride from the Ferry dock. The Inn is a fairly basic place, my room is an 8x10 foot box with two single beds in it and a cieling fan (thank God). Luckily I am located at the front of the building, so I get a window and my room is open at the top which allows some air to come in. It's always hot here, and every now and then it gets hot enough for long enough that the sky just can't handle it and it starts to pour for 15 or 20 minutes before returning to scalding hot.

but back to the Inn. The animal hospital is located on the same property as the Inn, so there is a constant assortment of dogs running around, there are also small lizards everywhere here that climb around on everything. At night the bushes of the lot next door sparkle with neon lightning bugs, and the breeze picks up enough to cool things down to the mid twenties.

I explored the town the first day, but since have spent alot of time lounging around the pool - the Inn is actually a very calm place compared to the main parts of town.

San Pedro

This is a shot of the beachfront of San Pedro. The beach pretty much stretches the whole length of the island, and is covered with musicians and small stands with people selling all sorts of hand made arts and crafts.