Happy St. George's Caye Day!!!

A little Mayan boy from San Antonio.  You still hear Mopan Maya spoken in this village.
The church in San Antonio.  The stones are from Mayan ruins, carried in one at a time on the backs of villagers.  It took ten years to move all the stones.
The entrance to Blue Creek Cave.  The cave goes over 30 miles into the mountain, with an entrance on the other side, in Guatemala.
A house in Georgetown, about 2o mins away from my town.  This is a typical dwelling,  raised so as to catch the breeze.
The site of my dream hostel, a five minute walk outside of Punta Gorda
The Youth Development trainees and staff.  From left to right:  Mr. Sebastian Cayetano, me, Melissa, Elias, Abby, Ms Lorna Longsworth (my Kriol teacher) Chris, Terra, Shanton, Ola, Diane, Scott (Youth Development Trainer)  and Julie
Paradise....a home in Barranco
Me on the coast near Barranco.

Happy Day after St. George's Caye Day! 

    Yesterday was a holiday.  We celebrated the British Baymen's defeat of the Spanish in 1797.  It was pretty low key and fun.  There was a little parade and then people just gathered around, had a few drinks and enjoyed having a weekday off.  

   The real fun though,  happened for me this past weekend!  On Saturday all of the Youth Development Trainees hopped in a van to head down to Punta Gorda.  PG is a beautiful little seaside hamlet impossible not to love.  We arrived pretty early to check out the market. It was fun to meet a few of the currently serving volunteers.  After spending a few hours wandering around (I ended up on my own, walking along the shoreside road meeting people)  I came across a half abandoned concrete building.  For some reason it appeared to me completed and all dolled up as a hostel/B&B.  I could totally do that :)  

   Anyways,  we met up with an older volunteer couple.  She is a professional artist and he is a social worker/counselor.  They have come together to create their own great little niche,  they run art as expression/art therapy programs in the schools here.  It was really exciting to see their beachfront home and soak up some of their "life is beautiful" energy.  After a few hours with them we reboarded the van.  (for the record, do not EVER sit in the last seat of a van in Belize.  Its hot.  From there we left for Barranco, A super tiny Garifuna village thats about an hour down a dirt road.  It was quiet and beautiful and just felt wonderful.  I loved it.  So finally it was time to think about where we were sleeping.  We spent a wonderful night in the little Maya village of San Antonio.  It was absolutely beautiful.  The village is built in the mountains, homes of thatch with dirt floors.  We slept in a bunkbed style guesthouse, but the real magic was our meals.  We arrived after dark, and were met by a little barefoot lady with a flashlight.  We walked up a steep hill until we arrived at her home.  Chicken soup and rice by candlelight,  afterwards a discussion about Maya history,  complete with us being shown maya relics that the son had found in the woods.  He talked about how many ruins there are,  many still  yet unexplored!  I bought a pound of coffee from the lady,  and watched her roast the beans right there.  These beans had just been shelled, and picked from the trees that grew behind her house.  (Finally good coffee!!!)  I woke up and bathed in the creek the next morning before we left for the Blue Creek Caves.  (Now this part was cool)  Its an hour long semi strenuous hike alongside the river.  You climb the final hill, and there, right in front of your eyes, is a scene straight outta "The Jungle Book"!!  This massive cave entrance, maybe 100 ft in diameter, with class III rapids pouring out of it just pops outta nowhere.!  Suffice to say, I was psyched.   We crept into the water, staying to the right side to avoid the current.  For about an hour three of us guys worked our way back into the cave,  using handholds where we could, fighting against the current to work our way back into the cave.  Im guessing this wouldn't be ok to do at a tourist attraction in the states :)   We finished off our weekend by visiting a set of Mayan ruins, Nim Li Punit.  All in all it was a wonderful weekend and it felt really really really good to be out and about, rather than staying cooped up in a classroom.  

Running out of time...hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the transition into fall!  Stay outta the heat!

Jacob