Day 3

Before the tour

Today was an adventurous day as we went on the ATM (Actun Tunichil Muknal) cave tour. The cave was used by the Mayans beginning as early as 1 AD to approximately 1000 AD. The drive to this cave was an adventure in itself. We drove on the main road for a while out of town (there's no lines on the road, speed limits or passing laws) before reaching the very rocky dirt roads. Once we arrived, we had to gear up (water shoes/ sneakers, helmet and head lamp) before walking about a mile and a half on a trail, which included walking through three streams led by our knowledgeable guide, Renan. Unfortunately, cameras were not allowed on the trail or in the cave (due to past damage to artifacts), so all pictures from inside of the cave were found!

The swim into the cave

One of the tight spaces

Once we arrived at the cave, we had to swim in, one at a time, about 30 feet into the cave into the very cold water! The cave in total is 3.5 miles but we only trekked through a portion of it. The next few hours were spent climbing rocks, swimming through water, and observing the beautiful geological formations. Some spots were questionable, such as climbing up slippery rocks or sliding through some very tight spaces (small space for your head/neck and another space for your body) but overall it was very fun and exciting. As we walked deeper into the cave, we reached a point where we had to take our shoes off and climb/ walk in only our socks so that our shoes would not destroy the artifacts.

The Crystal Maiden and ceramic pottery

 This part of the journey was difficult at times due to the sharp rocks and wearing only socks. We began to see many Mayan artifacts, such as clay pots and instruments used for blood letting ceremonies. This cave was used specifically by high ranking Mayans and Shamans as ritual grounds, where they sacrificed people, including babies. In addition to the artifacts, we did see a few skeletal remains as well as an in tact skeleton at the end (referred to as the Crystal Maiden, who was a 20 or so year old girl that was sacrificed) that you had to climb up an aluminum ladder mounted to rock face! 

Upon completing the tour, we returned to the van to change out of our wet clothes then have lunch. In total, the tour was about six hours long! It was a great experience and I am really glad that we did it! While it was definitely a physical experience, I never felt overwhelmed- in fact, I really loved the rock climbing- although it was much easier to go up than it was to come back down! 

After completing the tour!

After driving back to the hotel, we relaxed before heading into town to shop. For dinner, we went to a Chinese restaurant, which was definitely an interesting experience! The dishes come out one at a time and by the time I received my food, everyone else was finished then it took quite some time to pay. It's a much slower pace here, which is definitely a switch; I'm not always the most patient person! Another great day!

http://www.cayoadventure.com/Tours/CavingExpeditions/ATM.aspx

(link from our tour company)

http://youtu.be/a9PUGm4l960

(ATM tour video)

Day 2

Today was our first full day in Belize and it was a very busy and awesome day!

A few of us began the day with a nice run around San Ignacio. The weather was beautiful and it gave us a chance to give ourselves our own little tour- and become temporarily lost.. then find our way again.

Next, we had a delicious breakfast (and coffee!!), of eggs, bacon and flapjacks- which are sort of similar to fried dough without the sweetness.




After breakfast, we headed into town to the take the bus. While waiting, we all tried seaweed juice- which was surprisingly delicious and tasted like peanuts. We then boarded the full bus and paid $1.50 BZE ($.75 US) and traveled about 25 minutes to Galan University.

We met with two young women, Yuri, who recently completed an MBA program at Galen University and is the international coordinator there and Monica, who is currently working on her bachelor's degree at Galen and is the director of student affairs. They shared a tremendous amount of information about education at the college level. In Belize, they have recently begun focusing on primary education due to the high number of teachers who are not considered qualified as they do not have teaching certifications, therefore, Galen has recently begun a big teaching program at several of their campuses. Unfortunately, there is currently no degree program for becoming a special education teacher and they currently only offer one special education course for teachers to take. I learned that only students with mild disabilities, such as learning disabilities, are in regular schools and classrooms and students with more moderate and severe disabilities attend a special school which is in Belize
City. We then traveled to the capital city of Belmopan to another Galen University campus where we met with Dr. August who shared a lot of great information about the districts of Belize then took a couple of us to a secondary (high) school where we met with a principal. I learned that there are a number of classroom discipline issues due to the fact that corporal punishment was recently abolished and there have not been any classroom management strategies put into place or taught to teachers to replace those practices.

After a great lunch of fajitas, we returned to San Ignacio for a evening of relaxation. We did try a few different Belizean "delicacies", such as baby mango (with salt), sour plums with spicy seasoning, plantain chips with hot sauce and ketchup and pineapple slices with spices. The mango was interesting, though not at all what I expected, the plantain chips and pineapple were delicious but the plums were definitely not my favorite! We had a great evening of live music, great food, some shopping and entertaining conversation!

Sour plums with spices

Day 1

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!

Before leaving

Somehow my blog posts were deleted so I will try to rewrite some of it!

I am really excited about this trip as we will be going into universities and schools to compare education between the U.S. and Belize. I am interested in learning about the Special Education process from intervention-referral-evaluation/ identification- placement. In the U.S., I have found that minorities are often overrepresented and I am interested in finding ways to reduce the overrepresentation.

I'm really looking forward to this trip and sharing this adventure with all of you!