Belize 2013: Day of getting things ready...

June 14, 2013

We got up and had a fantastic breakfast. They served a variety of breakfast foods, but I had eggs, bacon and toast. The pancakes were awesome and I did have those when they were available. The fresh fruit served every morning was awesome. Pineapple, watermelon, cantelope, mango, papaya (didn't care for either of those) were tremendous!

The restaurant... (makes my mouth water to see this picture)

We "acquired transportation" from an employee at Windy Hill and went into Santa Elena Primary School. This was our first exposure and MY GOODNESS was it amazing! The students were so welcoming and the faculty was overly helpful. Miss Debby (vice-principal) and Mr. Medina (principal) showed us around. They explained their needs and concerns and we were able to get a grasp on what our goals should be. Mr. Medina took us back to Windy Hill so we could eat lunch there.

My partner in crime (Ms. Debby) and I (photo credit: Schweigers)

Little ones came to chat with us. Not sure what I was doing.

The grotto that Change For Belize helped fund.

Transportation was so interesting. David told us not to worry about it, but that he would take care of that part.... All you had to do was ask and be patient and a ride always became available. Trying to transport 4 of us was never an issue, either.

We had lunch (I had hot chicken salad, awesome) and then went to San Ignacio to the church where Fr. Leo and Fr. Lorenzo lived and worked. Fr. Lorenzo met us there and we toured the church. I met the sacristan there, Mr. Chun (at least that is how he pronounced it, his first name was Damascus) and he shared much of his life story with me while the others looked around with Fr. Lorenzo.

Mr. Chun

While were were there a group of high school girls and their teachers showed up. They were from an All-girls Catholic high school in Dallas. We visited with them a bit and told them of our plans and they talked about making arrangements to attend masses with us and the chalk guy presentations. (more on that later)

Fr. Lorenzo took us to the "lumber store" (very small and very limited) and then to the phone store. Buying a track phone in the US and then getting a new SIM card in Belize will be the way to go from now on. My Iphone became a HUGE problem and I ended up being charged well over $600 and cut off from my internet use. I had checked through 3 different venues before I left about my phone and all three gave me bad information. I have a complaint into ATT and will hopefully have all of it erased from my bill before too long.

Fr. Lorenzo drove us around

Fr. Lorenzo took us back to Windy Hill and we swam for a bit and then cleaned up for a late dinner. Fr. Leo and a couple friend of Pat and David's was supposed to meet us at 7 for dinner. We entertained Fr. Leo from 7 until 9:30 when the others arrived. This was a great evening! I learned that Louis (the husband in the couple) has attended OSU during the summers to earn his graduate degree. My uncle Kenny did a similar program to earn his masters, so it was cool to hear this. He was a Poke. We shared our love of cheese fries and Stillwater. It was fun. Rosieo (the wife) and I love to watch NCIS with GIBBS! I will always think of her when I sit down to watch that show. Made some real connection for future employment as a teacher in Belize, IF I ever wanted to head that direction.