Sunday, August 2

Traveling, Temperatures Climbing & Tarantulas

Jennifer holding a Red Rump Tarantula

We departed the Jungle Lodge in Tikal National Park, Guatemala today at 9:00 am.  On our journey to the Belize border we drove past two beautiful lakes. The border crossing was smooth and quick within a few minutes we were back in Belize.  Our travels took us to a small town called Camalote, outside of the Belizean capital, where we stopped for a delicious lunch of burritos, fajitas and quesadillas.

After another two hours of driving through the Maya mountains we arrived at the community hosting us for the next seven days, Maya Center, where the temperature is HOT (90°F/35°C) and the humidity is HIGH (77%)!

Tomorrow we meet our homestay families, begin our six night stay with them, and start our service project at the local school.  

The Jungle Lodge

Lago Peten Itza

Mas Lago Peten Itza

Women doing their wash

Belize - Guatemala Border

Maya mountains

Saturday, August 1

Learning about Mayan hieroglyphs before dawn on our hike to Temple IV in Tikal.

Today was an early start. We woke before dawn to be able to watch the sunrise atop the Temple IV of the Tikal Mayan archeological site. We got to hike through the rainforest, listening to the creatures wake-up. Although it was foggy and we didn’t see the sun, we got to sit above the canopy listening to the howler monkeys and birds start their day.

After sunrise on the top of Temple IV

Beautiful Temple V in Tikal.

We spent our morning by exploring the Mayan ruins of Tikal National Park. We had the opportunity to see many temples and smaller buildings erected by the Mayans around the 8^th century. There were palaces, temples, pyramids and even a main town square – called the Grand Plaza. Tikal was considered the greatest city of the Mayan world in its time, with a population of almost 100,000.

Interestingly, there are many more structures that have still not been uncovered by archeologists.  They probably will not ever excavate more buildings because it is expensive and time-consuming.

After lunch we explored a local market, relaxed by the pool and gave ourselves some down time after our 4:00 am wakeup.

Before dinner, some of the group returned to explore the sites by sunset. The temples and surrounding rainforest looked even more beautiful as the sun dropped from the horizon.

We really valued learning about the Mayan civilization before we head to the Mayan Centre village where we will be living with their descendants.

Friday, July 31, 2015

After an enjoyable day of travel, our group of educators from around North America met just outside of the airport in Belize. We were greeted outside by Jennifer – our instructor from World Leadership School (WLS), and Juan - who is the local coordinator for WLS, and taken to our first destination – the “Macal River Tent Camp”.

Upon our arrival to the river camp we were greeted again by another friendly face, Dosocio, who lives and managers the camp. We also had the privilege of meeting Dosocio’s lovey wife who not only cooked all of our gorgeous meals but also did her best to teach us some simple Mayan words. We enjoyed an amazing dinner of BBQ chicken; however, our favourite meal was certainly the next mornings breakfast – eggs, bacon and local delicacy of ‘fried jacks’ – basically a donut type pastry that was delicious.

After a great start – we were off and traveling to our first sightseeing destination with Patrick – who is one of only 22 certified guides in Belize. Our destination was the ‘ATM’ caves – Actun Tunichill Muknal Caves – a place where the Maya civilization  would venture deep inside to worship, make offerings and make sacrifices to their gods.

Patrick led us on a 45 minute hike through the local jungle, across shallow rivers and patiently pointed out numerous interesting plant and animal life - one cool item was the local rubber tree – which actually bleeds a white sap which after some time turns into actual rubber! We finally arrived at the ATM Caves – we were amazed at the sheer beauty of the place and were encouraged to have a swim in water that; according to Patrick, had never presented itself to the sun – it felt amazing!

The entire cave tour was full of adventure and personal challenges for many of us. We swam, climbed through, over, around intricate rock formations and finally arrived at a football sized stadium cave deep within the mountain. We observed Mayan artifacts – pots, fire places and the coolest/scariest of all – human remains – obviously the result of human sacrifice. At the deepest point of the tour were introduced to a young teenage girl and a younger boy – both sacrificed and whose remains were still perfectly preserved after 1600 years! Cool!!

After lunch and another long drive – we arrived at the Guatemala Boarder where we crossed and headed towards our second sightseeing destination – Tikal National Park – we are so excited and looking forward to seeing Mayan ruins and more artifacts which we will hear about in our second day blog.

Hello family and friends of the Faculty Development Program in Belize/Guatemala!!

The faculty have arrived in Belize and will be able to start blogging tomorrow. Their adventure is off to a good start! Please feel free to contact our office (303.679.3412) with any questions or concerns.

Maria SeldeProgram Coordinator