Day 5

Today was a fairly easy day compared to the others. After breakfast, we visited the University of Belize in Belmopan. Unlike Galen University, they are a public college and therefore do receive some government funding/ support in addition to tuition so they are able to offer a number of programs, including primary education. They had a lot of questions for our group in regards to student affairs. They shared that they have issues with students drinking on campus (they hide the alcohol in other bottles) and because the drinking age is 18, they have difficulty addressing this issue. One of the women also shared that they have had issues with students embezzling funds from the student government; when the college was first formed, it was determined that when a student commits an infraction, it should be used as a learning experience opposed to just turning them in to the police and therefore they are now having difficulty enforcing this rule.

Tapir

After a delicious lunch at Amigo's and some confusion about drivers, we continued on to the Belize City Zoo. What is very interesting about this zoo is that all of the animals are indigenous to Belize and they have all been rescued. One particular black jaguar, Lucky, has undergone a huge transformation since he has been rescued. My favorite animals were  the jaguars (one came up very close to the fence and posed for quite some time) and the spider monkeys; there was a sign for howler monkeys but we were unable to see them! Other animals including a few tapirs, which look like a cross between a pig and a bear to me, crocodiles, ocelots and a number of beautiful birds, including a toucan and macaw. We left the zoo to drive the rest of the way into Belize City to the water taxi station.

Water taxi to San Pedro

Beautiful sunset during the water taxi commute

We arrived at the water taxi station right before their 4 o'clock was leaving; unfortunately, due to a mix-up, we missed it but were able to get on the 4:30 (although our luggage was on the 4 :-) but it was waiting for us safely when we arrived!). A couple of us chose to sit up top of the boat in the few seats, which seemed to be the better option instead of sitting inside of the boat downstairs. The ride from Belize City to San Pedro took about an hour and a half or so, with one stop at Caye Caulker; Belize City is inland and San Pedro and Caye Caulker are in the keys. I thought that the ride was great, especially once the water changed to that perfect blue color! We even were able to watch the sunset from the boat, which was beautiful! Once we arrived to San Pedro, we had to take taxis to our hotel, Pedro's Inn. We checked in and I met briefly with the undergraduate student, who is a Special Education major, who I will be joining at the Primary school tomorrow to work with the teachers. I am really looking forward to getting into the school the next three days. From what I have learned thus far, special education is very new in Belize and there are not a lot of processes or practices currently in place, not to mention very little (or no) teacher training in working with students with disabilities so that should be interesting!