We began the morning by visiting Rio Frio, a very large open cave system with a stream flowing through it. Unlike our canoeing trip, this cave was visibly open at both ends and easy to walk through. Archaeologists have determined that the Mayans used it for offerings during certain times of the years, but no human remains have been discovered. A short stop, but interesting to see.
The main stop of the morning was at Caracol, a large Mayan archaeological site. It was an extremely important city to the Mayans and had up to 200,000 inhabitants (more than present day Belize city). In fact, the main pyramid at Caracol is still the tallest man-made structure in Belize, a fact made even more amusing considering the site was only discovered in 1937!
Although this is a massive city of great historical importance, there actually wasn't too much to see. Compared to Tikal, it was much easier to walk around and get a feel for the place. There are a couple reasons for this. First, Tikal was discovered earlier so excavations have been going on for much longer. Secondly, all of the excavations at Caracol are being done by a single husband/wife team and their students, whereas at Tikal there are at least 4 different groups working on it. This makes for very slow progress at Caracol. However, the parts that we did see were pretty impressive. The main pyramid was interesting in that it was constructed in 3 unique levels, and from the ground you can only see the first level. As you go up you begin to see additional levels...so weird! We also saw an entire colony of oropendolas which was pretty funny. It was a more laid-back tour around the site, but quite interesting.
Level 1 of the main temple
Level 3 of the main temple
Sculpture on the temple
Astronomical Plaza
We had a lovely picnic lunch before heading to Rio On Pools--a series of waterfalls and pools to swim in. One of the falls gave a nice back massage and another pool was deep enough for a relaxing swim. This was a great way to cool off before we returned to Hidden Valley.
Back massage!!!
The family swimming around...or hanging out on a sand bar
Day 5 (Wednesday)
Well our time in the jungle comes to an end. We had breakfast at Hidden Valley and then set off by road to Hopkins Bay. This trip took most of the day over VERY bumpy roads, but we were treated to some smooth sailing with paved segments. We did get to make a nice stop for some zip lining, including one line over 1/2 mile long. This was quite enjoyable for everyone, even my mom (who is scared of heights).
Ready for some serious business
WHOOOOSH
We did eventually arrive at our resort, and it seems that being greeted by a drink is customary (hey, I'm fine with that!). I am sitting in front of the pool and looking at the ocean while sipping a mango daiquiri as I finish this entry. I pity certain individuals stuck in arctic wastelands who are having blizzards right now (not naming any names). Anyway, hope everyone is doing well. Until next time!
So Belize has turned out to be more amazing than I expected. It is just full of natural beauty. Also, it is a bit cooler than Guatemala, which is handy considering that we don't have any air conditioning here. I will give you a brief rundown of our activities the last couple days.
Day 3 (Monday)
In the morning we took a trip to go cave canoeing at Barton Creek. This was interesting because in each canoe one person would paddle and one would hold the lamp. Madeline volunteered to paddle since I was designated photographer. The views in the cave were really nice, and we saw some Mayan artifacts (old pots, some bones from sacrifices). There were also fruit and insect bats flying around. Some areas were a bit tight, but Madeline did an excellent job navigating.
Deep in the cave
Returning to the light
After canoeing we made a stop at a butterfly farm where we learned about the life cycle of the butterfly. They had a butterfly house with 14 species of butterflies. My favorite is still the Blue Morpho, although the Green Malachite and Glasswinged butterflies were also popular.
One of the main attractions of Hidden Valley is the plethora of hiking trails and waterfalls on the property. After lunch we decided to do a short hike to Butterfly Falls, a picturesque waterfall with a deep pool for swimming. As it turns out the hike to the falls was a bit more challenging than anticipated, but the reward made the toil worthwhile. The waterfall was not to be believed, and we had it all to ourselves. I haven't been somewhere so idyllic in a very long time. I will let the pictures speak for themselves.
So this is it, we are on vacation at last! Saturday turned out to be incredibly crazy. Without going into all the details, let me just say this: Fuck Delta. Basically they delayed my sister's Boston-Atlanta flight so that she would miss the Atlanta-Belize City connection, and therefore miss Belize City-Flores, Guatemala connection (only 1 flight per day). And the delays were never explained. There were several hours of negotiations on Friday night to find a different route to get her there, but nothing came up except for 'hope for the best.' So here is what has happened thus far on our trip.
Day 1 (Saturday)
We had to get to the airport quite early for our flight, but the real problem was whether or not Madeline would make it at all. It turns out that on top of the "expected" 30 minute delay, there was an additional 30 minute delay due to mechanical issues, meaning that her flight was set to arrive a mere 18 minutes before the Atlanta-Belize flight would depart. For those of you unfamiliar with the Atlanta airport, it is HUGE. 18 minutes is not enough. And after hours of negotiations the night before on alternate flight routes, things weren't looking good. Luckily, we were finally able to make contact with a helpful Delta supervisor--Michael H. He was as unhappy about the delays as we were, and told us that he would hold the plane for her if she ran to it (he was also holding another plane for 10 people from her flight). So lo and behold, Madeline manages to make our flight and the family is off to Central America!
We then had a 4 hour layover in Belize city, during which we had lunch, filed a missing baggage report for Madeline, and shopped for some cooler clothing for her--wearing jeans in 100 F weather is a bit of an issue. We then had a flight on a single-propeller plane to Flores, Guatemala. Quite a trip! It was a bit smokey (they were clearing land for farming), but really fun to look over the land during the flight.
Our plane--open seating, only 4 other passengers
We were then driven to La Lancha Lodge. It was a lovely drive since the sun was setting, and we were given a view of how people here live. Let me just say I am thankful for my standard of living. While everyone here is very kind and appears to be rather happy, living in a shack near the lake doesn't quite seem ideal to me. As for the Lodge, it was heavenly. We were greeted with fresh juices and a nice view, and just had some time to relax. We then had a lovely dinner overlooking the lake and off to bed after a long day of travel. Needless to say, it was a jam packed day that ended significantly better than it began.
La Loncha Lodge
Day 2 (Sunday)
Super early morning since we needed to leave around 6 a.m. to go to the Mayan ruins of Tikal. This was a two-pronged approach: beat the crowds and beat the heat. Just for reference, Sunday's high was 103 F. So yeah. We needed the early start so as not to die in that weather. So we hopped in the van and had a nice picnic breakfast on the way to the site. Nothing is nicer than corn cakes, fruit salad, and toast if you have to get up at the crack of dawn! And let me just say, the papaya was to die for. I am not an early morning person, but I would get up if that were waiting for me every time!
Madeline helping to serve our breakfast--yum!
We got to the park a bit after 7 a.m. so it was still "cool." For those of you who don't know about Tikal (which I would assume is most of you considering I had never heard of it before this trip), it is one of the largest Mayan archaeological sites in the world. It was a very powerful capital city and active between 4th century B.C. and the 9th century A.D. Population estimates vary, but they think that there were about 80,000 inhabitants during the height of the city's influence. Needless to say, this is a pretty impressive city. While only a small part of the ruins have been excavated, what you can see is awe-inspiring. In particular, there are a few large temples that you can climb--these give you a spectacular view both of the Tikal site and the surrounding jungle. It was really amazing to be around that sort of history. (Information about Tikal) Below I have included a few of the pictures from the day.
Temple 1
Living Quarters for Aristocracy
Main Plaza
In addition to the amazing architecture, we also saw some pretty amusing fauna. If I told you about all of them we would be here forever, but some highlights were monkeys (howler and spider), crocodiles, parrots, a grey fox, oropendola, and coati. These last two were endlessly fascinating, so they deserve special mention.
Now the oropendola is a thoroughly bizarre bird in just about every way. They are quite pretty: black with a bright yellow tail and red beak. One bizarre thing about them is they make odd hanging basket nests. It is quite odd to see a tree filled with them. Now, that would be enough to attract my attention, but the really strange thing is their call. Part of it sounds like a radio or tv cracking, then they do an odd singing as they sort of throw their head forward and look like they are going to fall out of the tree. It is the most unusual thing I have ever seen! Here is a video I took, and sorry for the quality, but YouTube really didn't have any better examples.
Our next stop in the tour of interesting creatures is the coati. Some of you will probably laugh at me for liking them so much, since they are kind of like the raccoons of Central America, but I think they are adorable. The variety found here is the white-nosed coati, and when we first encountered them they were spread out in an almost herd-like configuration. It was quite a sight! We also managed to witness two coati fighting, which was rather amusing. Here are some of my favorite shots.
Coati...so cute
Coati fight--a lot of noise, not much followup
The herd!
Anyway, we had a wonderful morning at Tikal. By the time we finished our tour at 12:00, it was definitely over 100 F. We were overjoyed to get back in the air conditioned van and head back to the lodge. The idea at this point was to have a nice lunch and relax a bit (pool/shower) before taking a van ride across the border to our next resort in Belize. Unfortunately, this plan was sped up significantly when my dad went to ask what time we needed to leave: 30 minutes ago. So we threw our stuff into our bags and ran to the van. Don't really know why they didn't tell us that we needed to head out, but whatever. So we got in the van and began our journey to the border where we were to be picked up by guides from Hidden Valley Inn. Several hours and a very bumpy ride later we managed to arrive at Hidden Valley. Once again we were greeted with fresh juices, and this time a hand massage too--talk about a nice welcome! We had dinner and finally collapsed after yet another hectic day. And so ended our first 2 days in Central America.
So, it all began with me asking for information regarding what teaching materials I needed to bring. In our pre-departure webinar, we were advised that packing certain teaching materials would be a good idea. Considering that all I knew about my class was "secondary school, 50 students," I had no idea where to begin. So I contacted CIEE to ask for more details about my classes so that I could figure out what materials would be most suitable.
I can't say I ever expected the answer I got. You will be teaching 10th and 11th grade biology. Uhhh, what? I thought I was going to teach English? Well, as it turns out the Thai schools love it when they get teachers with backgrounds in math or science, so when they heard I was a bio major, they figured it would be great to have me teach it. So I will primarily be teaching bio, but I may also have some English classes (I will find out when I get there). The nice thing about this is that I have a solid background in the subject, they provide the book, and the curriculum is largely set. So there is a bit less ambiguity involved than in some other teaching assignments.
Anyway, that was the big surprise for today. I also found out there will another girl from the program in the same town as I am, so that should make things a bit easier. As for now, I am getting ready for Belize/Guatemala since we leave tomorrow morning. I will have my laptop with me so I will try to post updates while there, but if not I will be sure to tell you all about it when I return. Later!
Well, I have begun my preparations. Today I went to the travel clinic, and luckily the only shot I still needed was the typhoid vaccine (thank you medical school for all of those absurd vaccine requirements). However, I did find out that because of my location and other medical conditions (I'm looking at you migraines) the only malaria medication I will be able to take has to be done once daily. And I have to take it for a month after I return. And also for while I am in Guatemala/Belize. <_<
So basically I am going to start taking doxy in a few days and I won't get to stop until at least the end of November...oh joy! I just have to be sure to eat a meal when I take it so I don't throw up all over the place, but other than that there aren't too many side effects.
I also made a trip to REI today to get a water purifier today after being warned by 2 people in addition to the travel clinic doctor about water quality in Thailand. And apparently traditional filters aren't good enough (since they only eliminate bacteria and protozoa), so I got to spring for a fancy-schamncy UV purifier. Who knows. At least in theory this should help cut down on my illnesses those first few months. We shall see!
Other than practical/medical concerns, I have been trying to figure out wardrobe. There have been mixed messages as to attire (i.e. whether or not pants are acceptable for women, sandals are allowed or not, etc.). Some schools require uniforms for their teachers as well, but I really don't know what is required of me. So planning my packing is proving to be difficult.
Additionally it has been suggested that we should bring teaching materials. While I acknowledge that this is a good idea, I find that it is very difficult to actually implement. For instance, I have only been told I am teaching secondary school. There is a huge difference between 7th and 12th graders in terms of how you approach teaching. Also, I won't have any idea as to their ability levels until I arrive, so I don't want to get too much material that might be significantly above or below their level. Conundrum!
Anyway, that is all for now. I am also busy trying to get ready for our trip to Belize, so everything is getting quite complicated. I will talk to you all later!
So I now know where I will be going come May! Satrisrinan School in Nan Province, Mueang Nan District, Nai Wang subdistrict. All this basically means you can just type in Nai Wang, Thailand to google maps and find me in northeastern Thailand near the border of Laos, directly east of Chiang Mai (Map of Nan, Thailand).
As for the school--it is a large, public, secondary school. According to the information I received, there are 3,000 students and I will be teaching about 50 students per class...EEEKK!!! I wasn't really expecting older students or that many of them, but at least I have some time to mentally prepare myself for the task. Below are some pictures provided to me of where I will be teaching.
I also got information on my living situation. I will have an apartment with a private bathroom about 10 minutes away from the school. Considering that the average high in April is 99 degrees, I was thankful to hear that my accommodations should also have a fan and air conditioning. It will not have internet access (booo!), but I will have internet at school and there should be an internet cafe near my house. Unfortunately, it seems likely that I will have to take anti-malarial medication during the duration of my stay (my bed even comes equipped with mosquito netting).
Well, that is all for now. I am excited to have this part figured out. My tickets have been purchased, so April 30th is the official departure date! If you guys want to read more about the town where I will be living, here is some information courtesy of wikipedia (Nan).
To be honest, I'm not really sure where to start with this. I have only done a blog once before, and I didn't keep up with it all that well. However, I did look back at it and found that it brings back very fond memories, things that I had all but forgotten even though they only happened a few short years ago. So I have decided that for my next great adventure I am going to try to write everything down so I don't forget it.
As most of you know, I made the decision at the beginning of this year to leave medical school at MCG after over 2 years. This was a difficult decision that came after significant consideration, but the bottom line was that I had become exceedingly unhappy with both my studies and my life. Simply put, medicine was not meant to be my future. So I left, with no idea as to what was in store for me in the months and years to come.
As fate would have it, my dad made a wonderful recommendation. He suggested that I take the time I have now to go teach abroad. In that time, I would be able to experience something new and also reflect on what I want out of life. I took this to heart and started looking for programs, which lead me to CIEE Teach in Thailand. I had to move fast, since the application deadline was only about a week after we had discussed teaching abroad as a possibility, but I made the deadline and was accepted to the program...YAY!!!
As of right now I don't know exactly where or who I will be teaching. I will be in charge of English classes for students anywhere from 1st grade to 12th. As for location, I am less likely to be in Bangkok and I won't be in the far south (due to local violence), but beyond that I don't know. I should be hearing my school assignment any day now. I do get paid for my work and I will be provided with faculty housing as well as most of my meals. Traveling is encouraged, which is a plus since I have always wanted to travel in Asia and this will be my first trip there.
I will be leaving on April 30th (the flight is 23 hours...yuck) and will be staying for at least 6 months. I may extend this to a years depending on various circumstances. I hope to update everyone as frequently as possible, but I don't know what my internet situation will be like. Also, before I leave I will be busy getting ready and won't have much to say--still have to move out of my Augusta apartment, prepare for this trip, and go to Belize/Guatemala for a week!!
So I suppose that will be it for now. I will keep you informed of everything I am doing, but I also want to hear from all of you. Please keep in touch!
