Video Short: Wonders Under the Sea

The following video was shot and edited by Ryan A. of the reef off of the southern portion of South Water Caye and the Whale Shoal reef about 15 miles offshore. Enjoy!

Day 14, Sunday, March 8, 2009: Blue Creek, Cultural Night

The last night of our stay at Blue Creek, our group walked down the rutted path to the house of a local Mayan, Geraldo. There we experienced true Mayan culture. We sat in a loose circle, our bare legs stretched out over the cold, sod floor. A washbasin was located in the corner of the home. Three pairs of large brown eyes peaked shyly around a wooden partition, waiting in anticipation for the music to commence. A large wooden mass draped in a tarp was set just off center in the simple room. The home was sparsely decorated, except for the essential items needed for living. Three men, including Ignasio—the local Shaman who we had met two nights before—walked over to the draped instrument, and pulled the tarp away from its shiny, unblemished surface. The wood was a reddish mahogany, the grains hardly visible in the low light conditions. People pulled digital cameras from their sweatshirt pockets, and snapped pictures of the enormous xylophone that lay before them. It stood about three feet off of the ground, supported by four thin mahogany legs. Conical shaped amplifiers dropped down from each wooden key to provide a loud, unfamiliar, yet pleasing sound. The three men began to play with their wooden sticks, the vibrations resonating from the polished wood. A man stepped from behind the wooden partition. In his hand, he held a tattered, navy bandanna. A woman soon followed, her floor length green skirt billowing with each step she took. He whirled the threadbare cloth above her head. The man called the woman to dance with a twirl of cloth, and in return, she complied by shuffling to the music. The dance was almost primal, like a call to mate, yet expressed through a series of shuffles and steps. They asked us to join them in their dance. It was relatively simple. We all participated in the awkward dance. The boys did not have any cloth to twirl, so they promptly removed their shirts to complete the picture. It was a hilarious sight, these American teenagers joining in the celebration of Mayan culture, flailing their arms awkwardly to the tropical music without a care in the world. The cameras flashed as well as the smiles. The bodies undulated to the music, packed tightly together in the stuffy room. The air was hot and sticky with the sweat of the dance. The Mayans intermingled with us until we didn’t know who was who. The bodies swayed disjointedly to the dance, and on that warm, dark night, I felt a sense of culmination. This was the perfect way to end our trip because the situation itself was imperfect. The imperfection was what made it beautiful: a mix of humorous dancing, and an old, stooped over Mayan man dancing crazily in the corner—largely due to the amount of cashew wine he had previously consumed. The eccentricity of that moment imprinted a memory in my mind that I shall never forget, and in that experience, I realized that our last night in Belize could not have gone better any other way.

- Devon L.

Day 14, Sunday, March 8, 2009: Blue Creek, Final Jungle Hike

On our final day of M-term 09 at Blue Creek, a final jungle hike was offered to us. They told us it would be difficult compared to our previous hikes and not everyone may be able to handle it. We all woke up that morning to eat breakfast and when breakfast had ended, around 10 of us set out on the journey. They called it a vertical hike, and we soon found out why. We climbed the steep mountain one by one following the path to the top. We were assisted by vines, rocks, trees and other plants as places to hold as we struggled up the hill. At our starting point, our guide, William, told us the fastest he had ever made it to the top was in half an hour. We all agreed to try and beat that record. After about 5 minutes of hikin,g we realized this was impossible. The hike was too difficult for all of us to do it in such a short period of time. We made our way gradually up the mountain until we reached the top around an hour to an hour and a half later. We definitely didn’t break the record, but all had lots of fun and had gained a new sense of accomplishment. The majority of the group had never done anything quite like this before and now that they have, I feel we gained a sense of accomplishment of something some don’t usually spend my time doing, like hiking. The hike was rugged and tough but I think we all had lots of fun and learned something new.

- Henry L.

Day 13, March 7, 2009: Blue Creek, Community Service

Today was a rainy day, but the day when we had planned to do community service at the school. So, after breakfast (and a particularly heavy rainstorm), we head out down the path in our ponchos and rain jackets to the school. At the school, we helped by working on the grading of the field in front of the school which had a hill of rocks and dirt that needed to be moved. Others worked on cleaning up some garbage around the property. Some also worked on building bookshelves with Greg. Patty supervised the planting of some royal palms in front of the school and some coconut palms around the side and back. Other students worked with machetes to clear a portion of the soccer field. We were proud of our work and felt we made a difference.

- Linda H.

The community service day was one of my favorite parts of the trip. I enjoy helping other people by doing work, so it was great. I worked with Mr. Drossel, Roberto, Alex, and Lorenzo to build a bookshelf for the community center at the beginning of the day. Luckily we had a circular saw, so we could work faster than just having a hand saw. I was able to use some of my carpentry skills.

While we worked on the bookshelf, other students and teachers worked on clearing a large dirt and rock pile in the square at the center of the school buildings. The dirt was spread out and rocks were placed strategically to fill in holes around the area. While some kids were trying to level out the land, they found a small red snake that you could hold. Also, while Matt was trying to break a large rock near the road with a mallet, he tipped it over and there was a huge tarantula that was carrying an egg sack that it was trying to protect. They removed the tarantula to a safe place.

After lunch, I was able to plant coconut trees with Olivia and Lucy L. This was nice because now I know they will eventually have beautiful palm trees all around their school.

- Cian C.

Day 12-13, Friday, March 6, 2009: Blue Creek, Homestays

After dinner on our second day at Blue creek a local twelve-year old girl named Albeena, picked Lia, Sylvia, and I up and walked us into her house in the village. The house where her family lived was very small and consisted of bare uneven concrete floors, a thatched roof made out of palms, and no furnishing other than a freezer, a small table against the wall, and a few plastic lawn chairs. Three hammocks hung from a beam across the wall and after the three of us claimed one we sat on the floor with Albeena, her younger brother Kyle who absolutely adorable but very shy, and her older sister Maxiana. We tried to talk about the things that we had in common, but there weren’t many. Maxiana is 22 and she’s never gone further than a few miles outside of her home, she went primary school but never went to high school, she considers a big night to be borrowing a DVD from a neighbor, and she spends her days making corn tortillas with her mother. Who is a much older woman missing her two front teeth that doesn’t speak any English… She was so old that I was astonished that she had a child who was not even three.

As you can see it was hard to find common ground with Maxiana, who seemed to be like a mother to her two younger siblings, but we were able to make conversation because of the things that were different between us. We showed Albeena hand games that we played when we were younger, and music and TV from home (it was such a relief that we remembered our ipods) and they showed us their crafts which we were sure to buy during the special market the village had for us on Sunday. The three of us went to bed at about ten because we were so tired and had to wake up at five the next day. Maxiana told us to turn the light out whenever we were ready, but it wasn’t until we were tucked into the hammocks and the lights were off that we realized that we were sleeping in their beds and they were using flashlights and candles for light in the other room because we turned off their only light. We asked if they were okay with that though I know we all felt unbelievably bad, but they insisted it was fine We were so appreciative that they offered the little that they had to make everything more comfortable for us, and how genuinely nice they all were as a family.

Even though our home-stay wasn’t as glamorous as some peoples or as hardcore as others (some watched movies with the families that they were staying with, others weren’t even allowed to stay in the house) it is the thing that I’m most proud of doing on the whole trip. I feel like it’s something that made me appreciate everything I had a little more and know how blessed my life really is. We exchanged addresses with the family so I’m hoping to hear from them soon, and I’m planning to send a care package with Lia and Sylvia.

- Lucy L.

The opportunity we got on this trip to do a home-stay with a Mayan family was a life changing experience. The home-stay evening started after dinner when the children of the families came up the hill to our cabins at Blue Creek to get us. My partner was Alia so as we walked down the hill with the boy that came to get us. We started talking and learning about his life. When we got to their house, the whole family was extremely friendly. Aside from the thirteen year old boy that picked us up, there was also a seventeen year old son, an eleven year old son, a nine year old daughter, and a twenty-two year old daughter and her husband with two sons of their own that are one and nine. That whole family lived with their mother most of the time while their father works in Belize City. Something that was a huge eye-opener for me was thinking about the way I get grossed out when I have to go to the bathroom at a gross gas station, but these families don't even have bathrooms. They have outhouses that are basically a wood structure that have cockroaches and tarantulas crawling around with a hole in the ground. Even though they may not have as many things and toys as we may have at home, they find their happiness from things that are far greater than that, like their families and friends.

- Olivia C.

Day 12, Friday, March 6, 2009: Blue Creek, Howler Monkeys and Ethnobotany

Today we got up at 5:30 AM to go on a hike to hopefully see Howler Monkeys. We hiked down the path to the village to meet the students who had gone on home stays the night before. Most of them had a good experience. Then, we hiked about 1.5 miles up the rocky road to where Pablo, our guide, was hoping to find some monkeys. We were hoping to see them from the road without having to explore the jungle. It turns out we were in luck and we saw a pair of them hanging out in the trees, it was cool. After hiking a little further down the road looking at different flora and fauna, we turned around and began our hike back to camp which was now longer due to the fact that it had been raining and the dirt road had become quite muddy.

At about 11:00, we again headed down the path to bring the school supplies we had brought to the Blue Creek Roman Catholic Elementary School that was just across the bridge. The students in the lower grades had a musical presentation planned and sang some songs and danced for us. Then, we each sang our national anthems. Afterwards, we were able to visit some of the classrooms and interact with some of the other students and their teachers.




After lunch, we went on a Ethno-Botany hike where we learned about different plants that had certain cultural significance. We ate some heart of palm and made gum from a gum tree, for instance. It was a relaxing hike and very informative.





That evening, Ignasio came to speak to us and told us some of the history of the people who reside here in Blue Creek, some of their customs, like marriage, and about Shamanism. The students found the talk interesting, especially when he began to speak about Shamanism. After his talk, we turned in for the night.

- Linda H.

Howler Monkey Hike

We awoke at 6:00 in the morning to the sound of shuffling feet and the zippers of ponchos in the cabins. Blurry eyed and worn from the hike the day before, we ventured slowly from our cabins and began trekking down to the village. Our guide, William, took the lead and led us down a rough gravely road. He began explaining how the howlers enjoy sitting near the road and how lucky we were that we didn’t have to venture into the jungle because the hurricanes made travel very hard. Although we were tired, we were excited to see some wildlife. We trekked along the road, the occasional car giving us a quick wave and a whole lot of dust. William pointed out a Mennonite that passed us on a dirtbike. We asked William about the war with Guatemala and after dismissing the possibility because of various peace conferences he pointed out the road we were walking on led straight to Guatemala.

After about 45 minutes, we spotted the monkeys. It had begun to drizzle, but we immediately perked up at the sight of two howler monkeys sitting on a branch. They were scratching each others' heads and snuggling together. Apparently Howlers spend 75% sleeping, 20% socializing, and 5% gathering food. We used binoculars to zoom in on the two monkeys, their faces were black and their fur was fluffy and shiny.


We ventured on to check out hanging bird’s nests that hung from trees. The nests were like hotdogs hanging from branches. The birds flew into them to put down food to feed their young. At this point it was raining pretty hard, so we began the arduous trek back to breakfast. The road turned to mud and stuck to our feet, making our legs extremely heavy. We became quite drenched, but finally we arrived at camp to a scrumptious meal of biscuits, eggs, beans, rice, and papaya juice.

- Alex C.

Visit to Blue Creek R.C. School

During our four day stay at Blue Creek we took about 2 hours to go down to the Blue Creek R.C school. When we got there, everyone in the school gathered together in the middle of the school in a big square around us. Then they sang some songs and did some dances for us. The kids who did most of the dances were five and six years old and they were so cute. The last thing they shared with us was their national anthem while they raised their Belize flag. Once theirs was done, we sang our anthem. Not everyone knew all the words, so some people sang louder than others and made everyone sound better. I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say thank you for the Blue Creek R.C School for welcoming us into their school. After all the sharing we took about an hour to walk around and sit in on their classes and a couple of people played some of the kids in chess. They were very good and I think everyone of us lost. It was really fun being able to see how they learned and how different their classrooms and their whole school were so different than ours. I had a lot of fun and I’m sure everyone else did too. All the little kids were so cute and very fun to talk to. We talked to them about what books they liked and other things like that

- Liam C.

Ethnobotany Walk

After lunch on Friday, our guides from the previous day's cave expeditions came back to take us on guided tours of the jungle, where we identified plants and trees, and learned about their traditional uses in Maya culture. It took our group a walk of only 100 yards into the rainforest to discover about twenty medicinal herbs and plants, a tree bearing fruit that can substitute for coffee, and "vegetarian macaroni," (the stem of a tall green plant with a beautiful pointed red and white kind of flowery head). It was amazing to watch our guide Pedro look around the forest like a chemist browsing his solution cabinet. He even showed us soldier ant colonies, explained their ecology, and advertised their effectiveness as ingrown nail clippers when pinched at the abdomen and directed toe-ward. I had my journal with me, and I was vigorously sketching and taking note of every weird palm tree and every spiky stalk. For the rest of the trip, people were asking to borrow my journal to get the notes. I was happy to lend them, it was cool to see everyone so interested. I loved Pedro's reverence for the harmony of the rainforest. He said the Mayans have been living in ecological harmony with the rainforest for thousands of years, taking only what they need. I thought of slash-and-burn agriculture, which was widely used in Maya culture, as it is not ecologically sustainable. I needed to look at it a different way. The Mayans lived a subsistence level, generally, and were sensitive to the power of the rainforest. They knew it could provide everything they needed if they acted responsibly: snake bite treatment, tonics for jaundice and a cure for malaria...It was pretty cool. I was pretty blown away.

- Sylvia C.

Day 11, Thursday, March 5, 2009: Blue Creek, Caving

Today we had cave hiking planned. At 8:30, we set out in two groups to explore two different caves. One by land and the other by water. The caving by land involved some spelunking and both teachers and students enjoyed the challenge. The caving by land involved climbing through a rocky area to the cave mouth where they removed their outer clothing to reveal bathing suits and swam into the cave mouth. At 12:00, we had lunch and then at 1:30, the groups switched so that all would have the chance to explore both caves.

- Linda H.


Wet Cave

During our stay at Blue Creek we went into two different cave systems, a wet cave and a dry cave. This entry will be about the wet cave exploration. We started off the journey by doing a 10-minute hike to the cave, from which water was pouring out among the rocks. We changed out of our hiking gear and into our swimming gear and put on our lifejackets. We jumped into the water, which was fairly cold. Our guide, William, told us that we had to climb up 3 small waterfalls throughout the cave. The depth of the water in the cave would go from 2 feet to unknown depths where no one could touch the bottom. In between the first waterfall and the second, most of our group decided to head back to the entrance because a couple were scared and others were getting very cold. William, 4 students, and I remained and decided to continue to the end of the cave. It was an arduous task climbing up the waterfalls, but it was very satisfying once we accomplished the swim. The current was very difficult to swim against when near the waterfalls, so we had to try and find corners to hold onto. All the walls and rocks were covered in a thick layer of slime, which turned out to be very dangerous because we were in constant danger of falling when walking up the waterfalls or across rocks in the water. During this whole adventure in the cave we were surrounded by darkness because we only had two lights with us and they were both very weak. When we reached the end of the cave we were greeted by a large waterfall. This made us very happy and we swam around underneath it for a couple of minutes until our guide told us to head back. It was very fun going back because we got to slide down all the waterfalls even though I ended up slamming into lots of rocks on the way down. When we got to the beginning of the cave we dried off and went back to camp for lunch.

- Mata M.

Dry Cave

It started with a hike up a half of a mountain and that is where we saw the cave opening. We entered the cave and saw a tiny little hole that we had to squeeze in to. Once we were in the real cave it got really cool; there were tons of stalagmites and stalactites. First the tour guide showed us some ancient pottery that the Mayans made in the cave. Then we went deeper into the cave, turned of all of our flashlights, and listened to the cave sounds. At the farthest point we could go, he showed us the places that the jaguars sleep, and they looked like holes with a cleaned out smooth area in the back of them. It was a great experience and I want to try something like it again.

- Matt H.

Day 10, Wednesday, March 4, 2009: Move to Blue Creek

We left South Water Caye, Belize about 9:00 AM to go to our last stop on our trip, Blue Creek Lodge, Belize. On the way to Dangriga, we made a short stop at Man O'War Caye to see the birds that inhabit this island. At Dangriga, Alvin picked us up with the bus, we picked up our boxed lunches and headed South to Blue Water Creek. After about 2 hours, we arrived at Lubaantun, a late Classical period, Mayan excavation site. We ate our lunch there and then explored the ruins. After our exploration, we continued again for about six miles to Blue Creek, where the villagers met us and helped us with our bags about half a mile up a trail along the river to where we would be staying. The setting is lovely and there is a main cabin where we have a kitchen where our food is prepared and facilities to use. There is also a deck overlooking the river. There are cabins for the boys, girls and teachers to use. The sounds from the river and local birds make for a very peaceful setting. For the evening, we just settled in and enjoyed listening to the sounds of the rainforest.

- Linda H.

Man O' War Caye

We traveled to Man O' War Caye in the morning on the way to Blue Creek. Getting closer to the island the smell of bird poop was over welling. The island was covered in birds, they flied around our boat and would catch sticks that we threw up. The island had Brown Footed Boobies and Frigate Birds. The female Frigate birds had these really funny red chests and would puff them out when a man came close. The two bird species lived off of each other. The Frigates couldn’t touch the water, not even for food, so they would eat the Boobies’ vomit. In return the Boobies were protected from other birds.

- Lorenzo A.

Visit to Lubaantun

Before we reached our destination of Blue Creek, we stopped in a Mayan village to visit some ancient Mayan ruins. They were amazing! The ruins were built in a stair formation and were very massive. The guide told us how structures were built on top of these ruins so the people would be closer to the gods. Each structure was built without plaster. The stones were carefully broke into pieces to fit together tightly. It is incredible how these ruins still exist today. Though some had collapsed, most of them were clearly displayed. We saw a large playing field where the Mayans would play a game called Maya Ball. When standing in the middle of all the ruins, you could almost feel the history seeping out of them. Witnessing this piece of history was phenomenal.

- Alia K.

Day 9, Tuesday March 3, 2009: Whale Shoal Caye Snorkeling

Whale Shoal Caye is a remote reef in the middle of the sea. It is a pristine reef that is a good 10 minutes from the closest island. The coral formation here was spectacular. There was much more diversity and a higher density of corals. There were literally fields of fan corals. With their purple and gray colors, they swung in the current collecting food. None of the other reefs compared. You could easily see fifty plus species of coral in a ten-foot stretch. Whereas on other reefs, you may have to search the whole reef. It is interesting to see that this reef will actually develop into an island. The reef dies off, sand builds up, and an island is created. Some of the highlights were schools of Queen Triggerfish, French Angelfish, and Grey Angelfish. We also saw shoals of fish (mixed species) swimming together which we did not see at the other reefs. There were also huge schools of Blue Tang. Finally, what took the trophy was a four to five foot Barracuda that was easily ten inches in diameter.

- Ryan A.

Day 8, Monday, March 2, 2009: South Water Caye, Night Snorkel

The night snorkel was amazing. We all got our flashlights, put them in plastic bags, and went into the water under the stars. We saw some great things such as a really cool octopus that would change color and spread his body like a parachute to catch its food. Then we saw an eel, but only its face, and it had a bunch of teeth and it was hiding under coral. It was very cold, but it was worth it. The underwater life at night was far less crowded than during the day. It was amazing.

- Matt H.