Tuesday's Official Blog

Day 4 Tuesday Maya Center Elisa & Armando

Today we woke up really early in order to get to the boat so that we could leave for Dangriga. The boat ride was bumpy and choppy, especially at first, because of the windy conditions, but it was still a lot of fun. Our departure was met with sad goodbyes and a touching journal tribute to Sean and Jenn, our snorkel instructors. We headed toward Dangriga at a quick pace, splitting into two boats. When we arrived, we loaded our items into the bus that would take us to our home for the next few days, Maya Centre. We put our baggage away into the rooms we would sleep in for the next few days. Lunch was a great combination of empanadas, soup, rice, crackers and mini bananas. They were deliciously exquisite. Then we got our first meeting time with the Belizean students. Our first activities were ice breakers that helped us get to know each other and we began to form bonds. Then we separated into our affinity groups, which are equality, education, the environment, and health and human services. In those groups we did the marshmallow challenge, a fun activity where we had to stack raw spaghetti in order to place the marshmallow on the highest free-standing structure made of spaghetti, string and tape. Winners were determined, but in the words of Kelley Schultheis, "Everybody is a winner." We said goodbye and then went to go meet our homestay dinner families. Each group had a different experience but among them were, trying sugar cane, having conversations, playing soccer, and playing with the kids. We returned to the guest house for our relaxing free time. And our day isn't even over yet.

Pictures by Elisa