Pirates of the Caribbean

With all PADI open water and advanced certificates gained the only thing left for 08B1 was to dress up as pirates (and parrots!) and sail off into the sunset! The guys had a great time diving seeing sharks, rays, turtles and a whole host of fish. As luck would have it, it was also ‘lobster fest’ Caye Caulker’s annual lobster festival whilst the group was there.

Fieldbase is currently putting the finial little bits together for the summer expedition - Trekforce Ceiba Creek …

Last day at school

There were a few teary goodbyes as the trekkers waved farewell to their schools, host families and villages which have been their home for the past 7 weeks. They all did an amazing job with principles commenting on their hard work and the benefits of having them.

At Iguana Creek John and Tori completed their playground to the delight of all the pupils. One of the teachers Earl Said “we would never have had a playground if John and Tori hadn’t been with us, we are very grateful.” Tori also hand made a flag for the school which is now proudly raised on the flagpole every morning.

Clare and Sara were very sad to leave as they had become very close with their host family. They will be keeping in contact by mail to let them know what new adventures they have been on. Earlier in the week they put into practice the first aid skills they learnt in jungle training, when one of the children from their host family cut her leg badly on a piece of glass. They handled the situation brilliantly cleaning and dressing the wound and calming everyone down. A quick trip to the hospital and all was well.

The schools in El Progresso were over the moon with Sophie, Synnoeve and Aileen’s fundraising efforts. They managed to raise a whopping $2000. Aileen used some of the money to re-floor the three classrooms at St Peters. Normally the children suffer from the dusty concrete floor, but now they have brand new lino floor. Lily said “It was pretty emotional seeing how excited they all were about it, especially as we had fundraised the money for it”. Up the road the whole school came out to wave Sophie and Synnoeve goodbye and the principle was full of thanks for the fundraised money.

During the past week at Duck Run II Alex and Kieran have been really busy; Kieran finished laying the concrete for the raised walkway between classrooms and both lads worked on a playground, getting two towers and a wooden bridge up in just over a week! The school had their graduation on their last day and Alex gave a speech congratulating all the students and thanking them for their time at the school.

The students at Calla Creek got a treat when Eloise and Kat gave out letters written by children from Eloise’s Auntie’s primary school back in the UK. The children from their school have all written letters in return. On their last day the girls held a sports day, with sack and skipping races, the children had great fun and they both said it was great to finish on such a high. Eloise and Kat both received a thank you card, for all their hard work, signed by all the children at the school.

We’re really proud of all the hard work and effort the trekkers have put in during their teaching placements. The principles and students are all incredibly grateful for all that they have done. Pats on the back all round!

Trekkers organising charity beer festival

Aileen, Synnoeve and Sophie are putting on a fundraiser this Saturday in the form of a charity beer festival. They are hoping to raise a good few thousand dollars for their schools. Aileen said “we are going to spend the money on renovating the school classrooms” Sophie added “also to improve the sewerage and toilet system”. Keep checking the blog to find out how the event goes.

Elsewhere teaching is in full flow…..

Eloise and Kat have there own little classroom which the children have decorated with all their work. They teach a small group from each class throughout the day, Infant I and II in the morning and Standard I and II in the afternoon. Kat say “Having a smaller group means we can make sure everyone understands what we are teaching”. After observing a morning class it is great to see how the children respond to Eloise and Kat and the progress they are making.

With all the rain we have been having their school was closed at the start of the week as the teachers couldn't get there! Returning on Wednesday Eloise said "It's sooo good to be back in our classroom. All the infants came up and hugged us, it was such a good feeling".

John and Tori's playground at Iguana Creek is coming along well. Even though it isn't yet finished the children are still lining up in their break time to play on it!

Alongside building the playground they have been assisting with classes and at the start of the week their school had a visit from the Minister of Education. John and Tori got the oppertunity to tell him all about what they have been doing at the school and in Belize.



In the near by village of Duck Run II Alex and Kieran have been busy with a mixture of teaching, football and building! They are helping their school by building a concrete walkway between classrooms. This will come in very handy as the rainy season is now upon us. In an inter school football tournament, which was held a few weeks ago, both the boys and girls teams triumphed over the other local schools. Alex and Kieran were there cheering them on and said they were really chuffed for the teams especially as they beat the teams from some of the other trekker’s schools!

Over at La Gracia Clare and Sara along with teaching have been taking the girls for football practice. Maybe they are hoping for a rematch with Duck Run II!

Sara teaches the infants she says that her knowledge of Spanish has come in very useful for explaining things that the children don't yet understand in English. Clare teaches some of the older children and is helping them to prepare for their exams. Both are extremely close with their host family, so close in fact that Clare says “It’s going to be so sad to say goodbye, I might try and sneak one of the kids home in my rucksack!”

The Teachers make an impact in first week

The trekkers have just completed their first week of a two month teaching placement in the Cayo district of Belize. Their tasks and responsibilities have been wide reaching from taking full classes of 6 year olds, running an hour's PT lesson in the morning, helping the less able children with their reading skills, or helping out at the regional girl's football tournament in San Ignacio.

Kieran and Alex in Duck Run Two found themselves both teaching a lesson on fractions, to separate age groups. Kieran recalls "It was easier for Alex as he had an older group who had a grasp of the idea, whereas I had a younger age group and found it a bit more challenging".

The guys have already been involved with the local community during their first week, as Alex says, "There's a football pitch across from our school and we've found ourselves there every night training with the local team".

Lily, along with her teaching buddies Sophie and Synnove in El Progresso, have found their placements so far to be a real cultural eye opener. She says, "We don't have electricity at our homestay, there's 50 chickens in the garden and it's really hot! This morning we got up at 5:30am to go for a run and when we came back we did some sit-ups and the family's children were looking at us as if we're mad!"


Lily is also going to try to undergo some fundraising, as she says there are a lot of projects that the school wants to accomplish, but it is all hampered by the constraints of funding. She has also been running practice sessions on playing the tin whistle, which she has brought over from her native Ireland, and hopes that the children will be up to scratch before their Mother's Day performance this afternoon!

Tori in Iguana Creek School already fundraised money before she arrived for a worthwhile project for the school. Her teaching buddy John thinks he has come up with a 'super-duper' plan for an amazing playground he has designed using his new found building skills in the jungle phase of the expedition.


He says, "They started on a playground already and it is just a few chopped down trees stuck in the ground. I've designed a playground of monkey bars, slides and climbing bits for the kids, which will be a fantastic extra way for me to help the school. With the fundraised money Tori has, we can get proper tools and materials and make it so it will stay there for a long time".

The pair have also been writing tests this week for their classes on Geometry and Maths.

Check back soon for more information about how our teachers are getting on in their teaching placements....

Meanwhile in fieldbase, preparation is already hotting up for our July project in Belize in the Chiquibul national park.

Back from Guatemala, to teach in Belize

For our Trekkers, the month of April has been filled with an array of cultural experiences and exciting trips during their Spanish language phase in Guatemala. Living in the town of San Jose on the banks of the Lake Peten Itza, everyone had another new wide-eyed experience, having been confined to the depths of the jungle for the previous two months.

Each morning, everyone has woken up to rice or tortillas, with beans (and eggs, if they're lucky) to start the day at 8am with 4 hours of one on one Spanish tuition. Some are quite advanced in their knowledge of Spanish, and others are learning "Buenas Dias" for the first time!

Their afternoons are filled with activities such as football with the locals,

visiting a local school, learning about Mayan medicine, taking part in the town's parade,

learning to make rope from bay palm, jewellery making, a boat trip, tortilla making, an archaeological tour, dancing lessons, or just swimming in the lake.


The Trekkers stayed with local families in the town, where they could practise their Spanish in a real environment and get to know more about the local way of life.

It has been a month of new experiences and learning a lot about Guatemala and the Spanish language (with a few parties inbetween....!).


Now, those who are continuing their Trekforce experience have arrived back in Belize, and are about to go through a week's teacher training programme, preparing them to be rurally placed in pairs around the Cayo district of Belize.

Chiquibul projects one their way to completion

Trekforce North:

• Since completing their trek through the Maya mountains, the North Team are nine days into phase 2 of the boundary clearance, with nine days remaining until the Opening Ceremony (2:00pm, Tuesday 25th). Enjoying the added fitness since the trek and now expert machete skills, they are making faster progress, and have cleared to a point 7.4km from their start-point at the Macal River, with a further 4.4km of boundary line to demarcate, to complete their expedition objective.

• The dry season is well under way, and the water table in the western Chiquibul is receding beneath the limestone hills. On Saturday 15th, they moved their base-camp (BC) to grid reference: BP 767 669, midway between the east/west boundary line and a mediocre water source, discovered by a recce team and park rangers on Tuesday 11th.

• Tomorrow’s resupply will provide the team with two Millbank bags to filter the water (in addition to the usual sterilising treatment of Iodine and/or boiling),15 packets of Tang (fruit drink powder, to conceal its murky flavour) and as many jerry-cans of fresh water as they can carry, in addition to any letters and parcels sent from home.

• Water for washing is in short supply, and team members are putting their wet-wipes to hard use.


Trekforce South:

• …completed construction of the Ranger Station in time for the Opening Ceremony on Friday 14th. A British Army helicopter flew assorted dignitaries (Commanding Officer of the Belize Defence Force BDF Col Tapia; Deputy Chief Forestry Officer Marcelo Windsor; Natalie Rosado of The Nature Conservancy) and film crews from two Belizean TV news channels to the remote location by the Guatemalan border.

• The OC was also attended by TFW Country Manager, Rafael Manzanero (CEO of TFW’s project partner FCD) and senior Park Rangers. All those present thanked the volunteers for their outstanding efforts, and spoke of the huge contribution to the management of the Chiquibul.

• After the OC, when the helicopter had left, the team and less important visitors began the two-day hike out to Natural Arch, the location for the team’s rest day on Sunday. A Trekforce Landrover and BDF army truck will transport the team from there on Monday (17/3/08) to the start of their trek phase in the Eastern Chiquibul.

• They don’t know it yet, but after seven days moving south exploring this untouched region of forest, they will rendezvous with canoes and the equipment required completing the last 26km of their journey down the Raspaculo Branch of the Macal River over two days. HOW EXCITING IS THAT ?!

Teams Complete Mammoth Trek

The North and South teams have successfully completed their crossing of the Maya Mountains in small groups over the last 2 weeks. With big smiles when they reached Caracol, the groups sat and watched the sun set after an amazing 9 day trek which saw them making their way through tough and untouched jungle.

Trekforce HQ is still waiting for images of the trek as all cameras are on project while the groups work hard to get ready for their opening ceremonies next week but here are a few for now....

Trekking is hard work. The volunteers must carry everything with them so they can set up camp each night...



Ice cold drinks are always a welcome sight after the Maya Mountain Trek...



The North Team celebrate at the top of Caracol...



Then the finale- watching the sun set over the jungle canopy and listening to the calls of primates and birds...