Grace's Peace Corps Adventures

Getting ready for school and Erica’s farewell party!

Saturday September 3, 2011
Today I helped Bernadina set up her Std. 3 classroom at San Marcus. She is beginning her internship to finish her associate’s degree. I am excited for her because I remember my internship a couple years ago. She is quite nervous. There was lots of work that needed to be done. The teachers before them like to leave their classroom dirty.

After I began to help Bernadina I then went to PG that night to go Erica’s going away party. She had such a great party at her host mother’s house. It was a big Garifuna celebration with drumming and BBQ! It was very touching and sentimental! We all said our good bye toast… I will miss you Erica… but, since we live the closest in the states I think we will continue to be close good friends!

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GLOW Trip

Thursday September 1, 2011

Today the GLOW girls finally went on our planned trip to Lubaantun and Columbia River. They raised enough funds to take a charter and have lunch.

We went to Lubaantun ruins. The Maya ruins at Lubaantun 1.3 miles north of San Pedro Columbia, are built on a natural hilltop and display a construction method usual in the ancient Maya world (though typical of southern Belize) of neatly cut small limestone blocks. Belize’s then chief-medical officer, Thomas Gann, amateur archaeologies, bestowed the name of Lubaantun (Place of the Fallen Stones) in 1924. History does not record whether Gann’s naming of the site was inspired by his own practice of dynamiting temple tops to remove earth and rocks. More professional work has taken place since 1970 and much of the site is now cleared and restored.
Archaeologist postulate that Lubaantun, which flourished between AD 730 and 860., may have been an administrative center regulating trade, while nearby Nim Li Punit (the other ruin nearby-which I have also been to) was the local religious and ceremonial center. The Maya site comprises a collection of five plazas, three ball courts, and surrounding structures. Lubaantun is known for the numerous mold-made ceramic figurines found here, many of which represent ancient ball players.
We were lucky and the man in the office gave us great insight of Lubanntun and the missing crystal skull.

The girls enjoyed themselves!

After we went to the ruin we went to Columbia to have a picnic. San Pedro Columbia is around 20 miles northwest of Punta Gorda. It is the largest K’ekchi Maya community outside of Guatemala. Columbia (as locals call it) was established by K’ekchi families who left Pueblo Viejo to look for new farmland around 1905. The village has seen boom and bust cycles with mahogany and cedar feeling, chicle collection and, in the 1970s and 1980s, marijuana cultivation. There are currently around 1500 people in Columbia.
After the delicious picnic that Ms. Maria cooked (fried chicken, mash potato, rice and beans and juice) we all swam in the river, but for Beth because she didn’t want to get wet before her long bus ride to Belmopan. The current was very strong, but I had brave GLOW girls that jumped in the deep water and me and Bernadina would catch them to bring them to the land so that they didn’t just keep floating down the river. My GLOW girls aren’t the best swimmers because we don’t have big rivers in Laguna. We just have little shallow creeks that they are used to swimming, bathing, and washing in.

When leaving we dropped Beth off at the junction because she had to go to Belmopan and catch her plane the next day. We were all sad to say good bye. I had so much fun while Beth was here!

GLOW first aid session

Wednesday August 31, 2011

Today Beth taught my GLOW girls about survival first aid! The girls enjoyed it very much. Thank you Ms. Elizabeth (Laguna villagers had a tough time remembering Beth’s name because they are not used to saying the “th” sound. For example the number three is pronounced “tree” and the word “the” is pronounced “da.”)

Hopkins

Monday and Tuesday August 29 and 30, 2011
I took Beth to Hopkins because I have never been there before and I wanted to experience something new with her. On the way to Hopkins Beth and I stood on a crowded bus for awhile (she had to stand longer than me).

Hopkins is located off the main southern highway. The coastal Garifuna village of Hopkins is a fairly popular spot for travelers looking to soak up some sun and culture. Smaller than Dangiriga, Hopkins is a good place to meet other travelers to base yourself exploration in surroundings areas. The beaches in Hopkins are decent, though, outside the ones kept clean by the owners of the properties behind them, they aren’t always free of trash (littering is always a problem in Belize). Dolphins and manatees are spotted regularly from the beach.

Founded in 1942 by people from Newtown, a nearby Garifuna settlement that was destroyed by a hurricane, the village is named for Frederick Charles Hopkins, a Catholic priest who drowned in the waters here in 1923.

Kim the Peace Corps in Hopkins enjoys living in Hopkins. She said her village fits her loud personality! Kim was a fabulous host. She took Beth and I to the shop and then to dinner to get the local Garifuna food Hudut (which Beth had- it is the mashed plantain one with fish) and I had the mashed banana one with fish!