Clark-Peterek Belize

St. Benedict Butterflies Girls Club

The St. Benedict Butterflies Girls Club recently invited Coach Zuniga from Toledo Community College for a volleyball session.  Coach Zuniga is the husband of one of St. Benedict’s teachers, Mrs. Leticia Zuniga, and has led his volleyball team to international titles. The girls were very excited to learn the basics of volleyball.

 

We started out the session with some warm ups and stretching, followed by instruction.  We learned the very basics of hitting and serving, and practiced getting the ball over the net.  Coach Zuniga was very patient with the girls, and despite the heat, the girls had a great time.  Now every chance they get the girls are at volleyball net practicing what they learned from Coach Zuniga and ready to show anyone who will watch. 

 

Thanks Coach Zuniga for your hard work and patience.  We had a great time and really appreciate your help! 

Japan International Cooperation Agency

As we are approaching the final weeks of our service in Belize, we have begun to say goodbye to so many. Last week we said farewell to Haruka, Yuki, and Noriko, our friends and fellow development volunteers living and working in the Toledo District.

Haruka, Yuki, and Noriko are Japanese Overseas Cooperation Volunteers serving with JICA, part of Japan’s international development assistance effort. Like Peace Corps Volunteers, JICA Volunteers serve a two year term working with community members in capacity building and institutional development.

Both Haruka and Yuki worked at local schools assisting and training teachers in Physical Education. Noriko worked with the Toledo Development Cooperation. Haruka worked alongside John at Little Flower R.C. School, and both Yuki and Haruka lived in our apartment complex.

We have really enjoyed getting to know and working with Haruka, Yuki, and Noriko, and they will be greatly missed.

International Day for Biological Diversity

Every year on May 22 people around the world celebrate the International Day for Biological Diversity, showing support for conserving the Earth’s biodiversity.  This year’s theme was invasive alien species, a major threat to biodiversity. 

This year Sustainable Harvest International, an international organization that provides farming families in Central America with the training and tools to overcome poverty while restoring our planet's tropical forests, chose St. Benedict R.C. School as the site for a tree planting ceremony as a part of the Green Wave.

Teachers, students, parents, government officials, and community members gathered in the school yard as students planted a mayflower tree.  Despite the heat, it was a successful day and students are taking great care of the new mayflower tree in the yard.   

Forest Home Methodist School Cricket Team

The end of May marked the beginning of Cricket Season in the Toledo District.  John is an assistant coach of the Forest Home Methodist School Cricket Team.  The team competed in their first game defeating Mafredi Methodist School.  Their next game was against Peter Claver School in Punta Gorda.  The boys did a great job communicating and working together and went away with the win.  This has been a great experience for John, and he has really enjoyed learning more about the game of Cricket.  Check back for more updates on the Forest Home Methodist School Cricket Team. 

Moro Dance

One of the highlights of the Toledo Cacao Festival was the Moro Dance performed by villagers from Santa Cruz at the Maya site of Lubaantun.   The dance was brought to Belize by Mayas from Guatemala for cultural preservation and includes twelve dancers dressed in brightly colored clothing, wearing masks, and carrying swords.  The dance tells the story of two cultures, the Christians and Moros, battling it out to rule the land. 

The temples of Lubaantun provided the perfect backdrop for the dance, and the costumes were beautiful.  Despite the heat, the dancers seemed to enjoy battling with each other during the performance.

We enjoyed the morning very much and we are so glad that we were able to take part in this very special cultural event. 

 

Museum of Belize

We were recently in Belize City and decided to make a stop at the Museum of Belize. Located in downtown Belize City at the north end of Queen Street near the Central Bank of Belize, the Museum was built in 1857 as Her Majesty’s Prison and housed prisoners until 1993.  It was reopened as the Museum of Belize in 2002. 

The museum houses some of Belize’s most treasured artifacts.  One the first floor we were taken on a journey through time, learning more about the tiny settlement to the bustling country it is today, through photographs, stories, tools, and household items and other artifacts.  Also very interesting was the quite extensive stamp collection of the country dating back to 1837.   The second floor houses Belize’s permanent collection of the best artifacts recovered from the country’s Maya sites.  This included ceramics, carved flint, stelae, stone jewelry, and jade carvings.  There is a replica of the Jade Head found at Altun Ha, the original is located in a vault at the Central Bank.  We were amazed at the sizable insect collection and display.  This is a must see for any insect enthusiast. 

We had a great time touring the Museum of Belize, and we can’t believe it has taken us this long to check out the place. 

Belize Sugar Industries Ltd.

Along the banks of the New River, just south of Orange Walk Town at Tower Hill is Belize Sugar Industries Ltd., a sugar mill that manufactures raw sugar from sugar cane. 

 

Sugar cane was introduced to the Corozal District in the late 1840’s from the Yucatan.  In the 1950’s around 2,000 acres of sugar cane was planted.  Today over

40,000 acres of land is used for sugar cane farming in the northern lowlands of Belize and sugar accounts for over 60% of the country’s agricultural exports. 

 

Trucks loaded with sugar cane line the road to the sugar factory, where the cane is crushed to extract the sugar.   Eight tons of cane is needed to produce one ton of sugar.  The sugar is loaded onto barges boats transport the sugar down the river, along and along the coast of Belize to the Port. 

 

On our jungle river tour to Lamanai, we saw boats headed towards to the mill, and barges being loaded for transport.  It was very interesting to see this operation up close from the river.  

 

 

 

Lamanai

While we were in the Orange Walk District visiting our friends Melissa and Coy, we took a day trip to the Maya site of Lamanai.   

South of Guinea Grass, on the New River Lagoon, Lamanai is about 2km from Indian Church Village.  Lamanai is one of the few sites whose original Maya name is known. Lama ‘an ayin is translated to ‘submerged crocodile.’  Numerous representations of the crocodile can be found throughout the site.   

Lamanai was constructed around 1500BC, and became a prominent site during the Pre-Classic Period.  It was occupied until the seventeenth century.   At the height of the city’s power with a population exceeding 35,000, Lamanai's trading influence extended over the borders of present-day Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Belize. 

The first detailed description of Lamanai was recorded in 1917 by Thomas Gann, a medical doctor and amateur archaeologist known for making many discoveries of Maya sites in Belize, including Lubaantun in the Toledo District.  Archaeological excavations began in 1974 and were lead by David Pendergast of the Royal Ontario Museum.   Current projects at the site have involved teams from Indian Church and the surrounding villages and are mostly directed at artifact analysis.   

We began our journey through the jungle by boat in Orange Walk Town.  Our tour guide, Mr. Wilfrido Novelo of Jungle River Tours, was very knowledgeable.  Throughout our trip on the New River, Mr. Wilfrido stopped to point out native and exotic animals, plants, and birds.  We spotted bats, iguanas, turtles, great blue herons, and so much more.  Mr. Wilfrido also shared local history and points of interest.  We stopped along the banks of the Belize Sugar Industries, where we saw barges bound for port being loaded with sugar.  We also stopped along the banks of a local rum distillery and saw spider monkeys swinging from the trees.   

When we arrived at the site we shared a traditional Belizean meal of stew chicken, rice and beans, potato salad, and fried plantain.  We spent some time touring the museum and its amazing collection of artifacts.  Mr. Wilfrido shared the history of Lamanai, the significance of the artifacts found there, and his personal experiences at the site working with archaeologists to uncover the mystery of Lamanai.   

After a tour of the museum, we headed to the site.  Today only 5% of the 700 buildings at Lamanai have been excavated and explored.  One of the most impressive temples was the High Temple that towered 35 meters above the forest floor.  The view atop the temple was amazing.  Also very impressive was the stucco mask of a ruler carved on the front of one of the pyramids.  A few howler monkeys even watched as we explored the site.   

After a day walking back in time touring this sacred site of the Mayas, we boarded the boat and head back towards Orange Walk Town.   

We had a great time visiting Lamanai.  As Peace Corps Volunteers in Belize, we are lucky to experience such a rich history and culture right in our own backyard.  

Parque Nacional Tikal

Over the Easter Break we headed to Guatemala for a few days to check out Tikal, one of the Major sites of the Maya Civilization.

 The magnificent ruins of Tikal are set within the Parque Nacional Tikal, a protected nature reserve, located just west of the Belize/Guatemala Border in the Peten.

Tikal was occupied during the Preclassic and Classic periods, from 300 BC-900 AD.   It was rediscovered in late 1800’s.  The archaeological research and restoration of Tikal began in the 1950’s, and in 1979 Tikal National Park was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

We stayed at La Casa De Don David, a quaint little hotel in the village of El Remate.  El Remate is famous for its woodcarvings and is set along the eastern shore of the Lago Peten Itza.  El Remate is about 30 km south of Tikal and was a great base. 

We arrived in El Remate on Thursday evening, and spent the night exploring the village and enjoying the sunset.  The next morning we woke up bright and early ready for a day at Tikal.  According to past visitors and guidebooks transportation to Tikal is affordable and readily available, with taxis, buses, and collectivos running on a regular basis.   After about an hour, we finally were able to get a private collectivo headed north.  We later found out that Good Friday is a national holiday in Guatemala and no taxis, buses, or collectivos are required to run.  

We arrived at the park mid morning eager to begin exploring.  Over 1,000 structures are scattered over 500 square kilometers, with many of the still hidden beneath mounds of earth.  Several temples tower above the jungle’s canopy rising more than 60 meters.  The site is truly amazing.  We had a great day exploring through the jungle and climbing up the Maya temples. 

We returned to El Remate and once again enjoyed a beautiful sunset over the lake.  The next day we headed back to Belize to meet my parents at the airport.  Though our trip was short, we had a great time, and we are so glad that we visited Tikal. 

Happy Earth Day!