Belize - November Update!!

Jungle training

Jungle training began at Gracie Rock with learning essential survival skills such as Basha building, first aid and casevac training, dangerous flora and fauna, jungle navigation, belt kit packing and use, machete issue, use and sharpening. Team building exercises and jungle night walks also helped us acclimatise to jungle conditions and develop into a solid team.

We then trekked into deeper jungle to set up our jungle training camp. Here, Al, Adam and Javier (our ex-Belize Defence Force jungle warfare instructor / laughing jungle ghost cat) led us through a wide range advanced bush craft skills including planning and building jungle camps (with all the mod cons of a long drop, fire and slops pit, water collection and washing points), shelter, fire and trap building, cooking (including chicken killing and skinning). Training culminated in ‘solo night’ - an opportunity for each team member to individually put their skills to the test by each being given an isolated spot and surviving for an afternoon and night alone.

Everyone survived the night and we celebrated the completion of training with a night of apparent luxury (and debauchery) at our very own ‘Jungle Jim’s’ bar at Gracie Rock.

Project

With training complete, we headed to San Ignacio for our project briefing from Dr Jamie Awe - Director of the Archaeological Research Institute of Belize. Dr Awe galvanised the group with his explanation and images of Mayan history, spirituality, geological characteristics of Belize, past and current archaeological projects and the nature of caves and Mayan artefacts often found within. We were set the challenge of surveying the Peccary Hills area of Belize for any possible limestone caves - an area that is currently unexplored.

We immediately headed to the Peccary Hills, trekked into the project area and began of week of building one of the best jungle camps ever made. Once all basha’s, Pallapa’s, trails and camp mod cons had been built we began our project in earnest. This essentially involved selecting areas to investigate, trekking into those area’s and hunting for any possible cave entrances.

Within the first week we had discovered three separate and enormous cave systems. These have since been GPS marked, entered, explored, mapped and documented. These caves typically have small entrances requiring crawling on our stomachs through tight tunnels before they open out into huge cavernous linked cave systems. It seems the Peccary Hills are so riddled with caves they are almost completely hollow. Full documentation of the nature, geomorphology, characteristics of the caves and possible indications of Mayan inhabitation was made each night and has so far included a numerous animal bones, a possible Mayan cooking area parts of a possible Mayan necklace.

The group now has one more week on project to find any further caves in the area before setting off on Trek.

More news soon!

Trek Completed, Now Time for Some Well Deserved Rest and Relaxation

Trek has been around the Chiquibul National Park and despite being in the middle of the rainy season, the group only had 1 night of rain! The dry weather meant that water was a little harder to find, so the route was changed slightly, but the guys still made it to Caracol on last day of trek to see the fantastic Maya ruins there.




This week the group has said goodbye to James, Kelly and Rich who have completed their expedition, but the rest of the guys are all headed to Caye Caulker for a weeks diving in the warm, crystal clear waters and a few cold beers!!

One of the water sources along the way.

Aching legs don't stop the team racing to the top of the ruins!!

Project Completed, Now onto Trek!!

After 2 weeks of hard work by all the group we have completed all of the projects at Elijio Panti. We a new super-duper long drop. New steps down to the water fall and a changing room at the bottom of the steps for swimming in the waterfall. This really improves the facilities at the park and means that they can push for tourism to make money to support the protection of the park. Well done guys!!!

Team Gets Stuck Into Project

The Team have thrown themselves into their project in the Elijio Panti National Park. On arrival special incense was burnt as an offering to the Jungle Spirits.

The Team digging the longdrop dug 5ft in one day;

Another group of trekkers started constructing the frame for a fire shelter;


















Whilst another group was working on maintaining the steps which take you down to a beautiful waterfall;


















As all this was going on the admin team whipped up a delicious lunch of tortilla and hummous!

The Team will spend a further 6 days at the waterfall site. They will then move up to the Cave site, where they will be making the steps that take you up to the Cave, an old Mayan offering site.

After that it is off on a six day trek through the rainforest...

08B2 have completed jungle training and are heading off to project site …

After a rather wet ride from the airport everyone arrived in high spirits, met by their staff team. After an initial few days at Sylvester Village learning amongst other things first aid, camp layout and machete use the group headed out into the trees.

The first night in the jungle was quite noisy with the bugs, mosi’s and sounds of trekkers falling out of their hammocks! Soon getting the hang of jungle living the next few nights were a lot more comfortable. The group was treated with a visit from a troop of spider monkeys who dropped by to see what was going on.

The last day of jungle training was spent learning jungle survival skills with the help of Tino our Belizean Jungle Warfare Instructor. Learning shelter building techniques, water collecting methods and about the plants and animals the trekkers had a great day. The highlight for some being Sophie pulling the head off a chicken!!

As I type the guys are loading up their transport with all the rations and equipment they will need for the next two weeks on project site. The group will be undertaking important maintenance in the Elijio Panti National Park, including building a fire shelter, upgrading the step network, clearing some new trails and building a changing area at their beautiful waterfall.

Keep checking in to see how the guys are getting on ….

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!