Two weeks down!

What a second week we have had! Our teacher candidates have assumed many of the teaching responsibilities from their host teachers. The elementary teachers have had the opportunity to switch teachers and learn from teaching students in different standards. While many our secondary teachers have been teaching the same classes for the better part of week 2. Many of the current high school teachers had to travel inland with their students for the yearly senior field trip. This allowed our UNCW teachers to lead the high school classes on their own. Both the elementary teacher candidates and the high school teacher candidates have done an outstanding job. In fact, I’ve even had the pleasure of working the student lunch cantina during the day. The proceeds from the student lunches served go to an annual faculty trip at the end of the year. The teachers travel for a week of celebration to places like Las Vegas, Puerto Rico, Miami, Monterrey, etc.

We head inland Saturday morning to explore all that Belize has to offer! Our itinerary looks like this:

· We depart from San Pedro Town in the morning for Belize City on the passenger ferry. It is around a 1 hour commute to the mainland by boat. Upon arrival, we will visit Old Belize in Belize City for a couple of hours. See the site here: http://www.oldbelize.com/

· We have hired a tour operator to pick everyone up from Old Belize and take us to the Belize zoo in Belmopan in the afternoon (http://www.belizezoo.org/)

· After our tour of the zoo, we arrive in Caves Branch for our first night of accommodations and an evening of relaxation. We plan to river tubing on Monday afternoon. See the web site here: http://www.cavesbranch.com/

· We depart Caves Branch on Sunday afternoon for the foothills to the jungle and the town of San Ignacio (http://www.belizex.com/san_ignacio.htm)

· We will arrive in San ignacio on Sunday evening by bus. We intend to stay in town for four exciting days and will depart on Thursday morning. Our accommodations are at Cahal Pech…as described on their website: “Cahal Pech Village Resort is located in the heart of the Mayan world, San Ignacio, Cayo District, Belize. We offer professionally guided tours of local and other Mayan ruins in English and Spanish, as well as access to Mayan Healing, Culture and Art. We also offer Eco-tours, Jungle Adventure, Horseback Riding, Reef Diving and more. Relax at our Pool, or see Belize’s Beaches and Caves, Waterfalls, Sink Holes and Zoo.”

Sounds like fun, huh? See: http://www.cahalpech.com/.

Our tours may include the following
o http://www.tikalpark.com/ - Wikipedia says, “Tikal (or Tik’al, according to the more current orthography) is one of the largest archaeological sites and urban centers of the Pre-Columbian Maya civilization. It is located in the archaeological region of the Petén Basin in what is now modern-day northern Guatemala.”
o http://www.belizex.com/xunantunich.htm - Belize Explorer says, “Xunantunich is located across from San Jose Succotz, a few miles from the western border. The partially-excavated and largest pyramid, El Castillo, rises 130 feet above the main plaza and offers an impressive Panoramic View of the Belize's Cayo District and nearby Guatemala.”
o http://jaguarpaw.com/ - From their website, “Jaguar Paw is an all inclusive Belize Resort that is located in 200 Acres of the Rainforest on a River and Cave System. On the grounds activities abound. From Cave Tubing on Caves Branch River system or Crystal Caves - Rock Climbing and Repelling - Zip Lining through the Jungle Canopy, and so much more.”

· On Thursday morning, we travel North for the village of Orange Walk and a river boat day tour of Lamanai (http://www.lamanai.com/index.htm. We will explore the mayan ruins maybe even spot a Keel-Billed Toucan! From the travel Belize website, “The Maya Site of Lamanai, one of Belize's largest ceremonial centers, is located on the banks of the 30 mile long New River Lagoon in North Central Belize. With one of the longest occupation spans in the Maya World, Lamanai was occupied continuously for over 3,000 years. The Lamanai Archaeological Reserve also contains a museum, the remnants of two 16th century Spanish churches and a colonial sugar mill that was established in 1860. Set in tropical forest and providing spectacular views from several of its large temples, Lamanai provides a unique experience into the culture of the Maya and the biological diversity of the tropical forest.”

· On Thursday evening we travel to Corozol Town. A quiet city found on the North end of the country and home to many of the teachers in San Pedro. The country also lies on the border with Mexico. See the website here: http://www.belize-vacation.com/belize/corozal.htm. We are hoping to use our time to visit a Mayan archeological site, Cerros, “an important Mayan trading center during its heyday from 400 B.C. to 100 A.D.”, and the Community Baboon Sanctuary, “a unique conservation effort bringing together eight villages to protect the population and the habitat of Black Howler Monkey”.

· We leave for Belize City on Saturday and back to San Pedro Town for the final two weeks.