Sightseeing and Spanish

Our country manager in Belize, Ed, has sent this report on how the group are doing and what they are up to...

On Saturday all of the Trekkers will arrive back in Belize after a month of very intensive Spanish. The school that Trekforce uses has been fantastic and have been incredibly kind and welcoming. Each of the Trekkers has had one-to-one tuition, which at times can be very hard work, but it has paid dividends and everyone that has put the effort in has improved lots.

During this time everyone has been living in pairs or threes in small houses hosted by local families. Everyone loved this even though at first there were a few awkward silences as the families don’t speak a word of English. The families have been brilliant this year and have put up with some appalling Spanglish!

The language school has also laid on lots of extracurricular activities such as soap-making and local dancing – which have been very entertaining to take part in.

As the lessons only happen for half the day – everyone has had the chance to relax by the beautiful Lake Peten and enjoy the amazing sunshine that we have had for our entire stay.

Weekends have been exciting too and everyone has been free to travel independently in Guatemala. Most of the Trekkers went to Tikal, the Mayan ruins that were filmed in “Star Wars”, and sat on the temples to watch the sunset. Most too ventured south this weekend to see Antigua, an attractive small town in the south of Guatemala that is surrounded by active volcanoes.

After a farewell meal and a few drinks the whole group will be picked up on Saturday morning to start the next phase of the Trekforce experience – either diving or teaching in small schools in Belize…

Teacher Training

Those that are teaching are about to start a 4-day course in how to teach. This covers everything from how to project your voice and get the attention of the class, to how to plan lessons. During this time we have guest speakers coming in to talk to the Trekkers including the Deputy Minister for Education in Belize.

Diving

Those with less of an appetite for teaching are heading to the islands for a week of scuba diving on the Mesoamerican barrier reef. It’s a very Caribbean feeling island and a difficult place to get stressed. They will be diving with Belize Diving Services, which is run very professionally by an American couple.

Updates on the teaching phase will appear as soon as the UK office receive the next report....

Language Course Gets Underway

The group arrived safe and sound in Guatemala at the beginning of April to embark on 4 weeks of Spanish school. The school is in San Jose and the teachers have been extremely welcoming, much to the delight of the volunteers who admit that the phase is surpassing their expectations!

The weekends are free for the volunteers to explore the area some more, catch up on emails and mix with the locals so they take advantage of this and make sure they see as much as they can before the weekend is over!

The first weekend at language school fell on the Easter weekend, so the volunteers headed to Flores, an extremely small town in Peten, Guatemala. It is located on an island in the lake Lago Petén Itzá, connected to land by a causeway. The town celebrates the Easter weekend with colour and dance and the volunteers joined in with the festivities.

The majority of the group chose to go to Tikal for the second weekend of the language phase, the largest of the Mayan ruined cities of the Mayan Civilisation. There are thousands of ancient structures in Tikal but only a fraction has actually been excavated. This includes six very large Mesoamerican step pyramids which are over 60 metres high.

For films buffs out there, Tikal was also used during the filming of Star Wars….


Now in their third week, the language course continues to run strong. The volunteers are living with host families in San Jose, close to the school, and attend Spanish lessons Monday to Friday from 9am-5pm. When they return from their day of language school many sit down to dinner with their host family, or eat out with their fellow volunteers. Either way they are living and breathing a lively and fascinating culture. An experience they are sure not to forget for a long time!

Mail can now be sent to a new PO Box number in San Ignacio:

PO BOX 266, San Ignacio, Caya, Belize. If you have sent post to the old PO BOX in Belize City, don't worry, post is being redirected.

We suggest that you give 2 weeks for post to reach Belize.