Day 3 - Maya Center

Hello from Maya Center, Belize. Today has been a fabulous day and the team has done a great job!! Everyone had a great night of sleep and they woke up ready to go. After breakfast this morning we headed to the St. Jude School to begin our work project. Unfortunately in Belize not everyone is on the same time schedule. Many of the people are very laid back and don't really stick to time deadlines. This morning our materials had not arrived at the school yet so we had some time to kill. Lucky for us there were many children from the village that were starting to gather around us. Our kids were more than happy to play soccer and fly kites with them. While we were waiting we met Liberato, the school's principal. He was very appreciative of our help and expressed his gratitude to our entire group. The supplies arrived and we got ready to work. Our job for today was to dig the hole that the basketball post will be in. This may sound like a pretty easy task in America but in Belize it's a completely different story. After about 2 inches the Earth is complete clay and very difficult to dig. Needless to say it took a few hours to dig a 3 foot by 3 foot hole that was 3 feet deep. Tomorrow we will begin mixing cement to hold the post. (The first photo is the finished library that the students framed last year. Now, they are using it for a classroom.)

After lunch we headed down the street to the Mayan Museum. We met Julio who runs the museum and he began showing us artifacts that you would find in a traditional Mayan home. The groups had the chance to press sugar cane and it definitely wasn't as easy as it looked. We watched some traditional Mayan dancing and some of our kids took a turn learning a Mayan dance. Their favorite part was making (and eating) tortillas that were then baked over a traditional Mayan stove. Tomorrow we will meet up with Julio again and learn about making chocolate.

Bella - This morning we went to the St. Jude school to begin our work on the basketball court. We met many children and we played catch and soccer and I really got to know some of the kids there really well. We also began to dig the whole for the basketball hoop. The hole had to be at least three feet deep. I was given the job to fill buckets of water to use for the cement. Over all today was a productive day.

Andi - Today we went to Maya Center and began to build the basketball court. We dug a 3 foot hole for the basketball hoop. I experienced using a hammer for the first time :) We played with a lot of kids that were adorable. We played soccer, tag, relay races, and I taught them how to do a handstand and cartwheel. We also made homemade tortillas. Today we had a very fun, and productive day.

Hannah Fisher - We got to Belize fine. Today we started on the basketball court and we began to dig a hole for the pole of the hoop. We also got to play with the kids and that was really fun to play with the kids. We also made homemade tortillas at the Maya Center Maya Museum and we learned about the culture of Mayans.
I miss you guys and I hope everything is okay back at home and I wish you are having a wonderful Holy Week.
Love,
Hannah (Fishy, Fishy)
P.S The shake I got at the airport was awesome hahahah thanks.

Channing - The plane ride to Belize was a little bit long but it was good! When I got off the plane it was REALLY HOT!!!! Yesterday we visited Mayan Ruins. They were really cool! We climbed one of the temples and the view was AMAZING!!! I took some pictures so I can remember the experience. Today we started working on the basketball court. We also played with the some of the kids in the village. That was a lot of fun!! After that we went to a museum and made tortillas. It has been fun so far! Can't wait to see you!!

Madison - Our plane trip got very boring after a while but after a while, we finally reached Belize. Just waiting outside for the gates to be opened you could feel the difference from Indiana and Belize. Once we got to the cabanas things kinda chilled out and we got to go to the zoo. Just saying Howler Monkeys are officially under my freaky animals category. Then the second day we drove for what felt like forever. Today we had a productive day. I got to dig a hole 3x3 and then I played with a bunch of kids for the rest of the time. Lilliana and Josaphina mostly hung out with me. Then we went to the Maya Center Mayan Museum were we made homemade tortillas and saw a bunch of stuff related to the Mayans. Now I'm heading to bed after a game of mafia. NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!