Belize- November Phase 09 Update

Elijio Panti and Mountain Pine Ridge Trek

Trek began in San Antonio where we met our guide Javier, and after unloading the landy, realized we’d forgotten our cooking pots and utensils- a great start.
After a good telling off from Boo we continued on our way to Elijio Panti Ranger Station and crossed our fingers that Javier could scavenge some pots from his wife’s kitchen. We were in luck, and spent the night playing cards and shivering amid Belize’s freak cold front. Fran and Rich very much regretted not packing their sleeping bags.

The next day saw us follow the perimeter of Elijio Panti while marveling at Javier’s jungle expertise, from navigating without equipment to telling the exact time without a watch. Doug parted with his bot fly in the river and we all became accustomed to the many many hills that we would encounter.

On Christmas Eve we found ourselves leaving the jungle and following a barren road that, with the baking heat and orange sand made it feel like a desert. By early afternoon we had arrived at Big Rock waterfall and after scrambling our way down the practically vertical walkway we plunged into the pools for a well deserved shower under the falls. Greg managed to scare away the few remaining tourists by recreating something similar to the ‘Herbal Essence’ adverts while the rest of us plucked up the courage to throw ourselves from some very slippery rocks into the pools. Back at camp, Boo and Doug had been busy creating a winter wonderland between the pine trees- its amazing what a couple of santa hats and a bit of tinsel can do!

Christmas morning bought with it a much needed lie-in, but with the smell of pancakes cooking on the fire we could not resist and practiced our pancake making skills until we were no longer able to move. And with lunchtime came more food treats, with fresh pineapple salsa, heated beans and corn tortillas – a far cry from pour usual soda crackers and chickpeas. The highlight of the day came in the form of Secret Santa as we presented each other with our thoughtful gifts. Among these gifts was a rasta hat, complete with dreadlocks for Greg, a cheerleading vest for Rich and a book for Dr Doug.

So with our hearts warmed we made a start on Christmas dinner. Bring on Plucky, Clucky, Lucky and Dead – aka The Chickens. Lauren, Mike and Greg were the lucky 4 to be selected for the chicken sacrifice and under Javier’s instruction took up their machetes for their first experience of live food preparation. Christmas ended on a high with Sweet Tings Carrot cake and hot chocolate. I’m sure it’s a day none of us will forget.

Boxing day saw us parting company with Kent, Mike, Liam and the landy as they went back to field base to recuperate for a couple of days. Little did we know that the next 2 days of trek would be the hardest. We set off bright and early for a whistle stop tour of Mountain Pine Ridge, frolicked at Rio On pools for long enough to cool off from our baking morning walk, and reached Rio Frio cave in time for Rich, Fran and Justine to literally stumble over a large boa constrictor (Rich squealed the loudest!)

Our final day of trekking was largely uphill and in some places very steep. Fran fell through some brambles and became very tangled waste deep while Justine took her first first tumble of the trek much to the amusement of Rich.

The almighty Javier became unnerved when we stumbled upon the trail of some wild peccary and proceeded to arm himself with sharp spears from the trees. We weren’t reassured by his advice to dump our bags and climb trees should we get attacked so continued onwards hoping that we wouldn’t encounter a 200 strong herd!

We arrived at the Five Sisters Waterfall feeling exhausted and ready for a day of relaxation. We said goodbye to Doug and awaited the arrival of Kent and Liam who were trekking back from fieldbase to meet us. Little did we realise that Kent and Liam had trekked to the wrong camp and spent the night alone with only ½ a tin of tuna, ½ a packet of soda crackers and a lime….survival rations indeed!

Meanwhile, back at camp group mentality was taking its toll on the food situation and Kent and Liam arrived to find us bickering over our supply of noodles. Their dire night in the jungle made us hang our heads in shame and we were soon back to our happy selves frolicking in the waterfall.

All in all, a very enjoyable trek with some fantastic memories!

Guatemala

After a new year celebration dressed as pirates on the beach it was time to move on to Guatemala for our Spanish language phase.
We arrived in San Jose and were introduced to our Spanish host families. What more can we say except that they were very Spanish!

Feeling somewhat bewildered and overwhelmed by how little we understood we looked forward to our lessons and spent the rest of the day getting to know San Jose – particularly its beautiful lake and many steep hills, and its phenomenal ice cream shop!Morning lessons on grammar and vocab proved challenging for the following 4 weeks while our practical lessons saw us become experts at making jewelry, tortillas, empanadas and digging plantains in the community garden.

Poco a poco (little by little) we were all able to communicate a bit better with our families and left with at least a basic level of conversational Spanish. Liam, on the other hand, acquired a somewhat more impressive level and silenced us all with a speech at our graduation ceremony.
We left Guatemala having been fed a hearty diet of corn tortillas and icecream and weighing significantly more than when we left the jungle.

A crash course of teacher training now sees us set for our teaching phase and tomorrow we split – boys and girls – as we head to our villages and host families. We’re a little apprehensive, but excited for our new venture!

A special mention must be made with regards to FlapJack – the new Trekforce kitten. The group stumbled across him whilst celebrating their final night together at a local Indian restaurant. Needless to say Jade took little persuasion – and FlapJack now joins the Trekforce

Team – Welcome FlapJack!