We are now living with a local family, and going to Spanish language school every morning for 4 hours! Our new home is in a residential area of Antigua and we walk about 20 minutes to school each morning. Our host family provides three meals each day but Sunday, and conversation in Spanish at each meal. We don't eat with the family (there are three children aged 10, 12, and 15 and the two parents) for the most part, but someone usually sits with us to speak Spanish (and make us speak to them!). We are living on the top floor, [View Full Entry]

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We decided to climb one of the active volcanos outside of Antigua yesterday morning! The tour was to take 7 hours altogether, with a two hour hike up the volcano. We were picked up a little after 6:00 am at our hotel and rode in a van with the rest of our group (all under 30) to the base of the volcano. We were greeted by our guide (this is a national park, and the guides are very professional), along with several dogs, a very friendly young pig, and persistent boy who followed us all the way up the volcano looking [View Full Entry]

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After an 8 hour bus ride (first class), then a taxi ride and then another one and a half hour bus ride (this time on a local bus), we are in Antigua, the former colonial capital of Guatemala. On the way here from Flores, we went through rainforest, jungle, into farmland and then into almost desert before climbing into the mountains to Guatelmala City. The city is huge and sprawling and poor for the most part. There are armed guards in many places, since crime is high. A guard hailed a taxi for us at the bus station and made sure [View Full Entry]

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We visited Tikal today. The site is more hidden in the jungle than Chichen Itza in Mexico....so not as intially spectacular, but more impressive close up! I will attach a website for those of you who want more info on the history of Tikal.... Because it it located in a large national park, there is a lot of wild life. We were there during the mid day period, so we didn't see much: the best was a troop of spider monkeys (2 moms with tiny babies on their backs included) and a fox. There were lots of impressive trees, many with [View Full Entry]

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We left Belize this am, first in "collective" taxi to the border and then a collective mini bus to Flores. The collectives collect passengers til they are full to bursting....it cost $3.oo for a 2 hour trip! Belize was really wonderful! The people are charming and kind and helpful and the country itself is beautiful. We spent our last few days staying at the Parrot Nest in Bullet Tree Falls (named after the rapids there in the Mopan river...and the trees which are made of very hard wood...bullets will bounce off them). The Parrot Nest was great....the manager, who is the [View Full Entry]

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We are now staying at the Parrot Tree in Bullet Tree Falls outside of San Ignacio, near the Guatemalan border. We took a local bus from Belize City. Kids..it was an old school bus so I felt like I was on a field trip! It look a little more than two hours and was quite comfortable (and cost about $3.50 each). This area has a large Hispanic population, sizeable Chinese and Lebanese populations, and Mayans, and Americans! Our little hut has a palm thatch roof, and is near the river. There are lots of iguanas and butterflies here...! We went tubing [View Full Entry]

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We have decided to stay on here for another day....it's relaxing and friendly place to be! And, as you can tell by now, a hard place to leave... Today we took a boat trip to another part of the reef and then on to Ambergis Caye..this island is really built up now..full of cars and people (50 thousand in the main town) and shops and hotels...It's much nicer here! Snorkeling today was good..we saw a giant "ball" of fish all swimming together.. a moray eel, a giant lobster, and spiny black sea urchins..along with the usual colorful fish and coral. We've [View Full Entry]

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We had a busy day on too little sleep..(our neighbors were partying until the wee hours last night). I visited the school this morning. It is the only school on the island and is a Catholic school. It goes to 8th grade and the kids who want to continue have to travel by boat to either Belize City or Ambergis Caye for middle and high school. The principal told me that there is a push to build a high school since more and more parents want their children to finish high school. Up til now, most stopped at 8th grade. I [View Full Entry]

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We are in the midst of a cold front, believe it or not....Everyone who lives here is freezing, and we had to ask for blankets last night! It was warm enough to go kayaking this am, but tonight is cool and rainy. We moved to a less expensive hotel today, away from the beach... It is near a school, so I'm attaching photos for the kids! The next day: It rained hard all night....! Today had a few sunbreaks but was windy..so still no snorkeling or swimming... But it is warmer now... We went jogging this am, since it was cool [View Full Entry]

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After spending part of a night freezing in the Miami airport, we arrived in Belize City yesterday afternoon. Today we took the boat over to Caye Caulker, where we'll stay for about a week. The population in Belize is very diverse (for my students: you already know this since we read about it!) There is a large African/Caribbean population, Chinese, British, and Mennonites...everyone speaks English, but the local dialect is hard to understand. It is beautiful here...today was windy, but mostly sunny. There is a full moon tonight over the water....palm trees and mangroves everywh [View Full Entry]

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