Oh, yeah.
I had a very full week since my last post. Linda and Jim, professors from UMD, came down last Friday and guided us as we had a very eventful weekend.
I visited many members of Elana's family last Friday (I think - don't have my written journal handy at the moment). I helped Elana pick fresh grapefruit and tangerines off her sister's trees. Elana made grapefruit juice the following day - amazing!
Last Saturday night I went to the Reef, as they were hosting a Garifuna drumming group. I, and some of the UMD students, had a great time dancing. We left the Reef about midnight and went swimming off the pier.
Sunday was extremely busy. Linda, Jim, the UMD students, and I climbed into a charter van that Linda had arranged for us. We traveled up to Blue Creek (about an hour's drive) where we met with Garnet, who is teaching at Tumul Kin school. We enjoyed a tour of the school's facilities and met with students who were working on Sunday projects: music on the marimba, basket making, dancing, and weaving. Tumul Kin also has a food processing lab where they make products they sell to raise money for the school. Punta Gorda stores sell Tumul Kin products like honey, papaya jam, etc...you can get their products in the US by emailing them. I'll try to get the email address up tomorrow (along with pictures. Really, I mean it!)
After picking up Garnet in Tumul Kin, the group and I went to Lubaantun. Lubaantun is the site of an ancient Maya city; it is also where the mysterious Crystal Skull was found. Unfortunately, the Skull has not been returned to Belize by the family members of the person who found the artifact. It's somewhere in Indiana at the moment. The absence of the Crystal Skull was a bit disappointing, but the experience at Lubaantun was certainly not. The Belizean government has been working on reconstituting the site, rebuilding pieces of architecture that have been reduced to piles of stones over hundreds and hundreds of years.
After Lubaantun, the group and I went back to Blue Creek. On the way we saw an OCELOT jump across the road! We walked along the creek, which is actually tinted blue due to minerals in the water, until we reached our destination - a monstrous cave! I wasn't able to grab any pictures, because I didn't bring my camera. Why didn't I bring my camera...well, because it's not waterproof, and we were going to swim through the cave! The source of Blue Creek is a spring that lies deep within a large, easily accessible cavern. The trip in and out took about two hours of near-constant swimming. The water in the creek was much colder than in the ocean, and it took me a bit to acclimate to the temperature. How quickly my body forgets Minnesota...
After Blue Creek we visited the farm of one of Linda's friends. I was able to drink from a coconut, eat some sugar cane, and snap a few pictures of some parrots. :)
The last week at school has given me more opportunities to teach. Ms. Glendora had to be gone for the last two days, so I picked up all of her classes. I've had a very trying last two days, but that's part of student teaching. I take over two of Ms. Glendora's classes full-time on Monday, and my substitution experience has given me a lot of, shall we say, ammunition for next week. Bring it on, students - I'm ready to TEACH!
Again, I'll try to get pictures up tomorrow! ~LN
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