It's been a long and exhausting day beginning at 3 AM! My flight left Raleigh at 6:55 followed by a short layover in Miami and arrived in Belize City at 10:30 AM local time (2 hours behind). After waiting for more of the group to arrive, we went to lunch with two women who work in Professional Development at the University of West Indies. They shared some very interesting information regarding the challenges that schools face with multiple languages (each ethnic group has their own language); while English is the first language here, Creole and Spanish are widely spoken in addition to many others. Also, they shared that the minimum wage here is $3.50 an hour Belizean= $1.75 US, so a lot of people have been leaving recently to work in other countries, particularly Canada to work in the service industry.
After lunch, we drove nearly 2 hours to San Ignacio, which is in the mountains/ jungle region of Belize near the border of Mexico. Poverty in both Belize City and throughout the drive here was very apparent. It reminded me a lot of my trips to Jamaica in high school- very rundown homes/ buildings next door to beautiful, extravagant homes. We made it to our hotel (more of a guest house), where we have a great balcony that I am currently sitting outside on typing! As a group we walked around town and had dinner at a local restaurant where I tried stewed chicken and coconut rice (and emphasized no beans on my plate!!!) and it was delicious!! The weather is beautiful right now- looking forward to the rest of the trip!
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