After dinner, we meet back up with Sean and Jen and they lectured on the various species of fish we will see while on our snorkel trip tomorrow. To help identify what the students are seeing, they have devised a game called Fish Bingo. While the students are snorkeling, they will be using underwater writing boards and pencils. We will see how it all goes tomorrow.
Brooke - It has been 3 days since I blogged last. So much has happened. On the fifth day, we worked on the work site again. That was the day where we handed the gifts out to the kids. The smiles on their faces were priceless. All of the kids that got Stray Dog shirts lined up by Bella and they took a picture. It was cute. After getting done with the worksite we went to the Jaguar Preserve to go tubing. There were a lot of rocks. It hurt if you hit one. The next day was the last day in Maya Center. It was really sad. I am going to miss the kids so much. I paid one of them $3 just so I could take his picture. It was worth it. In the afternoon some of us went back to the work site to play with the kids one last time. I gave every one of them two hugs, some of them three and said goodbye. Today we came to Tobacco Caye. The first part of the day we spent traveling here and the second part we went snorkeling. I didn't really like it. Salt water kept getting in my snorkel. Then I went to dive down, and accidentally inhaled. I almost puked. It was gross. I can't believe we only have three days left. I will miss it.
Mary - So the last time I blogged was when we went to the cocoa farm. The day after that we gave the gifts to the kids. They we sooooo happy when they got them. I gave my soccer shoes to Carlos for his soccer team. We worked on laying the concrete on the basketball court but we didn't get very far because we had to make the concrete which we didn't have the supplies for at first. Then after working we had a long drive to go tubing. Tubing was awesome!! I ate a termite and it was interesting. It was a little bit minty. It took a while to get down the river and along the way we did an exercise on saving people who had broken backs. Which were Mr. Phillip and Mr. Hunter. My group won and we saved Mr. Phillip. And the other group tried to sabotage us. After that we went back to Maya Center and had a pretty relaxing evening. The next day we laid more concrete and only got half way through. We said goodbye to the kids. I wanted to go to mass Thursday and Friday. I miss going to mass together as a family. And I am going to miss having Easter with you guys. This is very different for me not being with you guys. After laying the rest of the concrete we had a laid back afternoon. After lunch we listened to Ernesto and Aurora talk about the beginning of Maya Center and how they met. The rest of the evening we didn't do anything. Today we woke up ate breakfast and packed to leave for Tobacco Caye. The boat ride was cold and fun. When we got here it was amazing. There are so many palm trees, which I love. I am rooming with Brooke. We got settled in and ate lunch. We had rice, conch, and potatoes. Then we toured the island and got ready to snorkel. Snorkeling was so cool. I say many sting rays, one that swam a foot under me (it was five feet long, SO SCARY!!!) I saw a lion fish which was awesome. When we got out of the ocean I was very cold. We came back to our rooms and played volleyball. That is all that has happened up to this point. I miss you guys a lot and I really want to see you. This is the longest time I have been away from home and its hard. I love you guys!!!! Can't wait to see you!! <3
Genna - So far the trip has been awesome. Today we got to the Caye and got fitted up with our snorking gear, tested it out and went snorking. While we were snorking we saw a huge sting ray it was bigger than me! I wish I got pictures. Thats all that really that happened so far..so love you mom!
Julia - The last time I blogged was on day 4. In the morning during day 5, it rained a LOT. Which is unusual, since its the dry season. Since it was raining, we couldn't work. So, we passed out the gifts to the children. Bella had brought a bunch of Stray Dog shirts, so everyone (including the teens and adults) were happy with what they got. All the books and other donations I brought were taken. After the rain ended, we finished handing out gifts and then poured the concrete into the outline for the half-basketball court. After we were finished at the school, we went tubing. Its not what people usually think of tubing. Its not being pulled behind a boat, but sitting in an inner tube and floating freely down a river. There is a 15 minute hike to get there, which is through the jungle at Jaguar Preserve. There was a termites nest on the way, and almost everyone ate one. I didn't though, because that's WAY out of my stretch zone! The other people said that it tasted like mint. Then when we were tubing, we had to 'rescue' Mr. Phillip and Mr. Hunter as a leadership-type game. We've all adjusted to the heat and the trip just keeps getting better. On day 6, it was our last day at Maya Center. :( I'm so sad because I've really developed a bond with a little girl named Zinaida. She's an adorable seven year old, and is super sweet. Since I won't be able to come back, I'm super sad that I won't be able to see her, Marroquin, and many others. We finished what we could at the school. Then Ernesto and Aurora (Marroquin's parents) told us about their lives coming to Maya Center. Today, (day 7) we went on the bus to Dangriga and got on a speed boat about 45 minutes out to Tobbacco Caye. Its still beautiful here, with the same HUGE piles of conch shells. I also tried conch for the first time! It tasted pretty good. We have two new guides: Jen and Sean; who are from England. They are the marine biologists at the island. They're both super funny, and we went snorkeling with them. We didn't see much, but that'll be for tomorrow. Bye!
Hannah Feder - It feels like it's been such a long time since I last blogged. Just saying for the leadership groups, team Spaghetti has won twice in a row. Our team consisted of Genna, Andi, Nathan, and I. The first challenge was to build a structure out of dry spaghetti, tape, and a string. The structure had to hold a marshmallow, whoever's marshmallow was the highest won. The second challenge was an egg drop. We had 20 straws and tape. Many people lost, but ours survived, we actually had no hope in our structure at all. On day 4, we went to make chocolate, it was dark chocolate, so it tasted pretty bad. On day 5, we started building the basketball court, for our project. After that we gave out free t-shirts and toothbrushes to the kids, we went tubing. THERE WERE SO MANY ROCKS!!! On day 7, which is today, we took a boat to Tobacco Key. We learned how to properly snorkel and we met Jen and Sean, who work with the TCMS. When we went snorkeling, we saw sting rays, they were pretty cool. The only problem was that I kept swallowing the salt water. The Caye is actually pretty small, it's about the size of the school. The Caye is about 5 acres, but Sean says that slowly more sand is emerging and the Caye is getting larger. I want to see the sunset, so talk to you later
Hannah
Cassidy - The last day I blogged was day 4 when we were on the cocoa farm. On day 5 we woke up and went to the basketball court and built the frame. We also gave the gifts that we brought to all of the little kids. Seeing their face was amazing. After that, we went tubing in the cold water. ( after a hot day like that it felt really good ) On day 6 we went back to the basketball court and we poured the concrete into the frame. We didn't finish pouring the concrete but we did finish about half and we will hope the community finishes it. After that we heard the whole story about how Maya Center was created. The rest of the day we kind of just hung out all day playing with each other. Today we woke up, had breakfast, and then got on the bus and drove to Dangriga. At Dangriga we then took a boat on about a half an hour boat ride and arrived at Tobacco Caye. Then we went snorkeling and got a bunch of salt water in my mouth. We saw about three 5 feet sting rays that swam right below me.( I kind of got a little freaked out ) then we ate dinner and talked about what we are going to see tomorrow when we go snorkeling. EASTER'S tomorrow!!!!
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