Snorkeling Adventure and Trip Wrap-up

On our last full day, despite the winds, we were able to take a half-day snorkel trip out to the Hol-Chan Marine Reserve and to Shark-Ray Alley for some amazing fish-viewing. Our guides Eddy and Felipe split us up into 2 manageable groups and we spent an hour in each location. Hol-Chan offers amazing reef swimming along a natural cut (channel) in the reef, which is the second-longest in the world. In our group, Eddy was excellent at ensuring that everyone got a view of some of the wonders of the reef, including moray eels, leopard-spotted eagle rays, puffer fish, hermit crabs in some funny homes, sharks, barracuda and a variety of beautifully colored (and delicious) indigenous fish.

The coral formations and vegetation themselves were marvelous, and swimming in 30 feet of crystal water with other-worldly scuba folk far below us and shimmering neon reef denizens all around us was wondrous. The kids got some great pictures, but even the best do not do the experience justice.

We enjoyed a pizza party that evening as a group, and had a surprise visit from Barry & Dixie, who brought us each a print of a fun group picture Barry had taken the day before on our Caye Caulker boat trip. A great memento of the day! Barry was already thinking about how to improve the trip even more for next year – hard to imagine that’s possible, but we’re looking forward to his ideas!

The final morning was relaxing, with some time for sun, shopping, and last-minute hair-braiding (expert beach braider Janelle was shocked by the extent of Carly Church’s mane!)

The trip ended with a smooth 20-minute hop from San Pedro to Belize International Airport, then equally easy jaunts to Miami and Boston. We arrived at midnight on the dot, and our faithful volunteer driver John Trovage was there on cue in the trusty warm Brooks busette to take us back to Brooks in style. With the arrival of Mrs. Gustafson here on campus this morning, the trip is officially over and we are left with beautiful memories of an amazing trip. As is their trademark, the Brooks kids made a phenomenal impression everywhere they went – we felt a bit like Mr. Becker, basking in compliments from adults of all ilks concerning the kids’ warmth, politeness, and impeccable behavior. We adults may have organized the trip, but they made it what it was.

Bravo, everyone!

Hasta luego …

Mr. Grant & Ms. Perkins

The Beach at Last

We made it to San Pedro! (no wireless here, only pay services, so getting pix up on the blog is a challenge - sorry! How is it that we had wireless in the jungle but not in the town? hmm!)

Yesterday was our longest travel day of the trip, starting with a 7 a.m. departure from Gallon Jug, a 2-hour ride (unpaved roads) to Hill Bank Field station, where Carlos picked us up in his speedboat and toured us through the New Lagoon to the Lamanai archaeological site. He gave us a proper tour of the site - pretty hot but the view from the High Temple is amazing! We arrived at the High Temple with a large group of US Army reservists who were in the country undertaking a humanitarian effort and building some schools. At the top of the temple Guy looked over at a young man standing near him and recognized a boy he had wrestled against in Pennsylvania last year. In true Brooks grappler fashion, he threw him off the temple - the ultimate Maya takedown. Just kidding. He did realize what a small world it is, though!

Carlos then took us the next hour - 45 miles - down the New River and we saw a ton of wildlife .. including a great view of an adult croc. We also saw several boats of Mennonite fishermen. Ask your kids how these Amish folks found their way to Belize, and what they add to this country!

We made it to Belize City, got our ferry tickets and lugged ourselves and our bags onto the high-speed ferry. A bit more than an hour later we had made it up the coast to Ambergris Caye, and found our hotel. Little Jake headed straight for the TV, and I let him!

Today we are starting slow, and had a visit from Barry Bowen at breakfast. We met him around noon at his dock (their main home is here) and he and Dixie took us aboard their boat "Lancha Verde" to a neighboring island, Caye Caulker, for lunch.

It was a fun ride and a nice visit to a very different island!

Tomorrow is our last full day, and we have an afternoon snorkeling adventure planned. As if jaguar and crocs aren't enough, we're going to add sharks and rays to the mix. Anyone sorry they sent their kid yet??

All is well here! We miss you all but not the snow...

Teach the Children Well...

I’m going to let the pictures speak for themselves on this one – we spent the morning at our favorite stop on this trip, the Gallon Jug Community School, which serves the children of the folks who work out here. Run by 2 young Americans, the school now has 80 children who are first generation English speakers and have the opportunity to get an excellent early education.

The Brooks students had been in touch with the teachers by e-mail over the last week or so and had developed lesson plans in 2 subjects – mostly science and art. They gathered their own resources and came down with lessons and supplies and taught 2 full classes each today, with recess in the middle.

The children were incredibly excited, as they have come to look forward to this visit every year. The Brooks kids did an amazing job and the teachers (3 American, 2 Belizean) are always thrilled for the extra support.

We also carried down a new LCD projector, a DVD player and a lot of art and sports supplies for the school, as well as 2 new soccer nets, which we will install tomorrow. Many students want to go back tomorrow, as these children steal your heart; once you've been here, you never forget them.

Tonight, a lovely meal in the dining room of Chan Chich Lodge, and then we'll head to Silvester Village to watch the regional round of the national spelling bee (seriously). We'll cheer for the kids we taught today.

Tomorrow we'll be riding, having a quiet day with nature walks on the trails around Chan Chich and exploring the unexcavated Maya ruins around us, and we'll spend our last night here having an amazing BBQ on top of the Upper Escarpment, a huge rock promontory that juts 1,000 feet over the jungle floor and allows views for hundreds of miles. Equipped with chairs, tiki torches and a bonfire set up, it's an amazing place to watch the sun go down. Barry Bowen has hinted that he may even fly up some fresh shrimp from his aquaculture operation in the south to add a seafood flair to the meal. A great way to end this leg of the trip!

Getting the lay of the land

We spent the day exploring Gallon Jug, including Sylvestre Village, where the locals who work the farm and hotel live, and the beautiful lake Laguna Verde. We found canoes but no paddles – so improvised in true Brooksian spirit! You'll be happy to know we saw no crocs this year...

We also saw the coffee plantation and visited the coffee processing plant, where we enjoyed the aroma of barrels of dark roasted beans and nibbled some dried cacao nuts – confirming that both taste better with sugar!!

In the afternoon the first group of riders headed off for a 1.5-hour jungle ride, and, for the first time in the 5 years we’ve done this, saw a JAGUAR along the way! Woo-hoo! This blogger is incredibly jealous!

Tonight, homemade emapanadas courtesy of Sylvia, then a treat from the real world – Jackie, a transplanted Texan whose husband Zander Bowen runs this operation, invited those addicts in the crowd to watch Lost at her house nearby.

Tomorrow is our day to take over the Gallon Jug Community School – we’ve been preparing for a few weeks and are very excited!!

Trek to Gallon Jug

Yesterday we woke early (relatively speaking) to be fed, packed and prepared for our day-long journey to our next stop – Gallon Jug farm, owned by Barry and Dixie Bowen. A few of the kids had had a touch of “Jaguar Paw’s revenge” overnight, but they were amazingly strong and got it all together for the trip – we are so proud of them! After a 45-minute bus ride we reached the ancient Maya city of Xunantunich, where we climbed the largest pyramid, El Castillo. The views were spectacular and the 3,000-year-old frescoes are breathtaking. We’ll have more time and a proper guided tour at our second Maya stop in a few days – today was just a practice run.

We lunched at Hode’s, a nearby hotspot, and got to Spanish Lookout for the ferry by 1:30. When I say ferry, erase all thoughts you have in your mind. This ferry is a small barge on thick metal cables hand-cranked by a stalwart captain who goes back and forth the 50 feet across the Macal River all day long. At the other side were Barry and Dixie Bowen, our hosts, and Ben Dodge, who runs Chan Chich Lodge. We stacked our bags and some students in the back of Barry’s pickup, stuffed the rest onto Ben’s Suburban, and headed the hour north to Barry’s farm through private roads overseen by armed guards.

We arrived at Gallon Jug, got the students settled in their new space, the loft above the barn, and made our way over to Chan Chich for a cold drink and a swim in the gorgeous pool before having our first dinner cooked by Sylvia and Ida from Silvester Village. The Belizean spaghetti never tasted so good, and everyone slept well.

Note to Frisina/Griffins: No allergic reactions whatsoever. He slept like a baby and woke up hungry and happy. We’ll keep an eye on him, though!

Happy Baron Bliss Day!

Today is a national holiday in Belize in honor of Baron Bliss. Short story I have heard is that he was a baron from Germany/Austria/somewhere who sailed here in the 1930s but was too ill to leave the ship, so admired the beautiful country from his stateroom right up until his death. He loved the country so much from afar, despite never having set foot on Belizean soil, that he left Belize all of his money, and with it the government was able to begin some real infrastructure improvements.

Today the group went cave tubing, and since the author did not go, she will reach out to a guest blogger to fill in the details. Take it away, Darby & Andrew:

First we had a 45 minute hike through the rainforest. We saw things such as a gum tree, a growing pineapple, an alligator tree, etc. We were carrying our inner tubes with us the whole time and were told to keep them away from the poisonous spiky trees (which we did). We all laughed as Mr. Grant huffed and puffed through the rainforest. Our guide Pablo was awesome because he was very knowledgeable about the caves. He had also toured Leonardo diCaprio and a Victoria’s Secret model (Giselle) – we of course were much more impressive than that.

After the hike through the jungle, slipping and sliding on the muddy trail and trying unsuccessfully to avoid the fire ants, we made it to the fifth opening along the cave system, where we left our tubes and trekked for 10 more minutes to the 6th opening water hole. We jumped in right away because we were all sweating and Pablo showed us how to climb the rocks so we could jump off into the crystal clear waters.

We spent about a half-hour swimming and exploring, then went back to our tubes, turned on our miners’ headlamps and launched in our tubes into the dark cave system downriver. First Pablo took us to a tiny hidden side cave where we had to crawl through a small tunnel by sliding on our stomachs through the shallow water, scraping our heads on the stalagmites above us.

We each enjoyed a clay mask from the inside of the tunnel and each came out with a different design of “warrior paint” on our faces. Halfway through we bumped into a huge group from a cruise ship, and seeing that group made us really happy we had a small group and our own guide.

We then went back to the main cave and continued our tubing expedition, ending up at the cave right outside Jaguar Paw.

“Cave tubing was in fact not a lazy river, as it was described, but was workout central.” Andrew Frisina

“Cave tubing is the most fun you can have with your …. ah, never mind.” Mike Nickerson.

“We saw a scorpion spider!” Darby


Thank you, guest bloggers.

Tomorrow we get up earlyish and head to the busses for a 9:00 departure. We will tour the Maya site of Xunantunich, lunch in San Ignacio, then head north to Gallon Jug to meet up with our hosts, the Bowens, and start the next leg of our adventure.

Hasta mañana!